One of our members, Mark Frost, recently made up some custom awards for a group at his church. Here’s what he had to say about this project:
Every summer for 30+ years some guys from church have been doing a golf trip. I’ve been going for the last 15years or so and have recently taken over the “hardware” aspect. In previous years we would order engraves plaques, mugs, glasses, embroidered towels, etc. But this year I figured I’d take production “in-house”. I grabbed the church and resort logos, threw the text on top and engraved squares I cut from a 2’x2′ MDF board from HD
Mark Frost via slack.com
This is a really great example of the kinds of projects that our members are able to create quickly at Workshop 88! What could you make with a laser cutter/engraver?
Multi-material fabrication of signs at Workshop 88!
One of the challenging aspects for getting visitors to Workshop 88 is that our location is not obvious for first-time attendees. We have long joked that if you made it to our door, you must be the type of person who belongs at a makerspace, because sometimes it can seem like you really have to want to find us in order to get to Workshop 88.
Of course, we want everybody to be able to find Workshop 88! One of our members, Gail, has taken the initiative to make some signs for various uses at Workshop 88.
One sign was made with a 3d printed logo and also has solar lights attached to it for illuminating the sign after the sun sets. The other sign was made with one of our vinyl cutters and is used to direct people in for classes.
If you’re in the downtown Glen Ellyn area on Thursday evenings, you are likely to see at least one of these signs welcoming you in to our open house hours. Please stop by!
New video featuring our brand new heat press at Workshop 88
This week we introduced a new tool to the Workshop 88 inventory – a heat press for making custom t-shirts, mugs, hats, plates, and anything else that you can put heat transfer material on.
As you can see from the brief video above, we also tried out some laserable heat transfer material. Probably more testing is needed, but after a bit of clean-up on the shirt, it was deemed a successful trial.
Here’s a video showing the features and how to use the heat press:
What would you make with Workshop 88’s heat press? Come to our open house and find out more about becoming a member of our community!
AFFILIATE LINK BELOW – CLICKING THROUGH SUPPORTS WORKSHOP 88
END AFFILIATE LINK HERE – IF YOU DON”T SEE ANYTHING, TRY DISABLING ADBLOCKER
This is one of the best power adapters you can get for running your Raspberry Pi projects. Why? The built-in power button for easy cycling on and off of your Raspberry Pi while you are building your latest and greatest project with it. This is easily one of the best upgrades you can make to any of your RasPi builds – no more unplugging and replugging the USB adapter!
Last night, new member Julia designed and printed a book ring to help her hold a book open with a single hand while reading. This was a very cool project that went pretty quickly from start to finish. She says she will make some refinements to her design and print a new version soon!
We are thrilled to announce a class we are hosting at Workshop 88 (June 12th) and at Fox.Build (June 26th)! Here’s the details:
When – Wednesday, June 12, 2019 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Where – Workshop 88
What – This class is a collaboration between Workshop 88 and Fox.Build and will be taught by Gail Jo Kelly. She has been 3D printing since 2014. The class will be directed towards people that are new to 3D printing. She will explain how 3D printing works, within the context of the 3D printers at the makerspace. There will be printers on hand for demonstration. Information will cover the process of obtaining a file for print, preparing the file in the compatible format for the printer, using the related software interfaces, along with how to load the filament (materials) and features of the 3D printer. To view 3D printable items, take a look at https://www.thingiverse.com for examples.
There is something that every maker who dabbles in electronics eventually needs – a bench top power supply.
Sure, you can get power from all sorts of source – a battery, an arduino, or a raspberry pi will all work sufficiently for many quick or small projects. But there are good reasons for having a power supply as one of your tools used for developing electronics.
They are reliable. A battery is only going to provide you with a known voltage for so long before it starts to drain.
They are adjustable. Maybe you think you are only going to be constructing circuits powered by 5V, and therefore you figure you can always either use an arduino or a 5V regulator and be perfectly happy. But eventually you will need to use different voltages, and the power supply is the way to go.
They are configurable. A decent bench-top power supply has the ability to work in either Constant Voltage (CV) mode or in Constant Current (CC) mode. The way it usually works is that you set a maximum current that you would like the power supply to give to your circuit. If your circuit draws less than the maximum current that you have set the power supply will work in CV mode and will provide whatever voltage you have set. If, however, the circuit draws the maximum current that you have set, then it switches to CC mode and will reduce the voltage to maintain that maximum current. This helps you to test circuits without risking damage to components.
They are affordable. Like practically any tool, the sky is the limit in terms of what you could spend. But, switching power supplies are relatively low-cost and a great option for most electronics hobbyist. Below is a link (affiliate link – thank you for supporting Workshop 88) to a power supply that at least one of Workshop 88’s members uses for projects at home.
AFFILIATE LINK BELOW – CLICKING THROUGH SUPPORTS WORKSHOP 88
END AFFILIATE LINK HERE – IF YOU DON”T SEE ANYTHING, TRY DISABLING ADBLOCKER
Jim made this Arduino-driven LED pun prototype at the space on Red Nose day, 5/23/19. The front was black spray paint on clear acrylic, laser etched to let the light shine thru. Some more details here.
Photo of new sign at the parking lot outside of Workshop 88. Photo credit: Gail Jo Kelly
Earlier this week, one of our members noticed that the name of the parking lot outside of Workshop 88 had been changed – it used to be called Schock’s Square, and now it is called Pennsylvania East. Some of us thought that was a rather dull name compared to Schock’s Square (the street name is Pennsylvania Avenue) and got us to wonder about who was the Schock of Schock’s Square, anyway?
Another member took the initiative to call the Glen Ellyn Public Library to see if they had any information about the history of Schock’s Square, and a few days later we received the following email from Amy Franco, one of the librarians:
Thanks for your super interesting question about the origins of the name of Schock’s Square in downtown Glen Ellyn! No one at the library knew anything about it, and we couldn’t find anything about it in any of our traditional resources. So I called Harold Prichard, one of our longtime Glen Ellyn residents and he told me a fascinating story:
George Schock owned a gas station where the square now is in the 40s and possibly the 30s, during a time when there was a gas station on nearly every corner of Glen Ellyn. At George’s station, when you pulled in, they’d check the tires and all the gauges, clean the car, and everyone who worked for him was really nice. George’s station was a few cents more than his competitors’, but his regulars were willing to go there because of the great service and nice people he had working for him.
George would invite some of his regular clientele to join him in the back of the shop for a glass of whiskey while the car was being checked and filled. On Christmas, he would have a huge buffet at the gas station and many locals would stop by. Overall, he was extremely successful and in Mr. Prichard’s opinion George Schock was held in the same esteem in town as the McChesney, Miller, and Young families.
George had two young boys working for him, Ken and Will Major. George taught them about entrepreneurship and how to maintain a clientele, and eventually encouraged the Majors boys to open their own gas station around the corner from him at Crescent and Park where there is now a condo building. Willard Major’s obituary (attached) makes note of running Ken and Will’s Union 76 Service Station from 1955-1985.
I’ve also included a (somewhat grainy) copy of George Schock’s obituary from 1966 in the Glen Ellyn News. The text reads:
George J. Schock, Veteran Business Operator, Dies
George J. Schock, a Glen Ellyn business operator for nearly 40 years and owner of Schock’s Service Station, died early yesterday morning at Central DuPage Hospital after a short illness.
Born in Chicago March 27, 1903, he had lived in or near GLen Ellyn all his life. At the time of his passing he resided on Naperville rd. south of Wheaton.
His marriage to the former Kathryn Pegg took place in Glen Ellyn.
The deceased was the oldest service station operator in the area in point of continuous service. He and his brother, Paul, now of Morris, founded the station at its present location. Paul left the business many years ago. George was one of few service station operators owning his own premises.
Survivors in addition to his wife and brother include a son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Mary Ellen Schock of Glen Ellyn, and a daughter and son-in-law, Joan and Donald McLeese, also of Glen Ellyn. Also surviving are eight grandchildren, George, Kathy and Brian Schock, and Don, Dick, Doug, David, and Katie McLeese.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time. Arrangements are being handled by the Leonard Memorial Home of Glen Ellyn.
From private correspondence with Amy Franco, librarian at Glen Ellyn Public Library. Reprinted with permission.
This is a fantastic example of what you can learn from your local library! Workshop 88 has always had a great relationship with the Glen Ellyn Library and other nearby libraries. Our members tend to be curious people, and when we get stuck on a question and are unable to find the information we want it is really great to be able to ask for help from the staff at the library.
George Schock obituary (Image credit: Glen Ellyn Public Library)
But then I spotted a brake light cover in a parking lot in place of the trailer hitch. I really liked that idea better and considered it as an additional safety feature. The brake light version of the cover wasn’t difficult to find and was about $12.
The brake light was easy to install and connect to the electrical wires, but I still wanted to add my personal spin (customization).
So I 3D printed a cover for the light. You may have noticed my personal logo (mashup of G and J) in place of my picture on my social media accounts.
So of course that is the logo I used for the cover. The logo is the negative (empty) part so the light shines through.
Even though I measured multiple times, I still produced multiple iterations of the printed item. I consider it prototyping, until the item fits and I run out of ideas on how to improve it. I went through 3 iterations for this 3D printed project. I tried rounding the corners of the cover, but that was even more difficult to size to fit over the red light.
Measurement of Hitch Brake Light
The light measured 3″ but the cover ended up being 3.32″ in order to fit over the light.
Since the brake light cover itself runs through the hitch with the lock, I just used zip ties to attach my cover over the brake light. The zip ties will have to but cut and replaced of course, when I actually use the hitch.
Have you tried the measure app? (iPhone) It’s cool how it saves the measurement number in the picture.
For pre-existing 3D printable items (.stl files) that I don’t download from thingiverse.com, I design myself using tinkercad.com. A free web-based, easy to use CAD type software with starter shaped objects to drag and drop. Like the square I used to create the hitch cover. The printed iterations were done on my PowerSpec Pro3D printer. No rafts or supports were needed. I prefer to 3D print items that don’t require rafts and supports since they leave rough edges after they are removed. The print time was 1 hours and 52 minutes for the final version with the 2 inch sides. (deeper cover)
Dimension Details:
Final 3D
Printed Project Dimensions
3.32″ square, outer dimension
.03″ wall thickness
.21″ side hole opening for larger zip ties (so tie can reach around)
.14″ smaller holes at bottom for drainage
2″ side walls
2″ Trailer Hitch with Cover Over Tail Light
Do you have your own 3D printing project or want to learn more about 3D printing? Stop by Workshop88 on a Thursday night between 7pm and 9pm to share it with us. Select the date you can stop by and RSVP on Meetup.com
