Freeside Atlanta

This is the first of what are (hopefully) many installments of Hacker Trips - encounters of the first and fourth kind with other hackerspaces throughout the country.  Freeside knows no bounds; our members appear and disappear throughout the world!  We're coming to your hackerspace and it's gonna be OK!  My own travels are likely going to take me to the DenHac sooner rather than later, so I'm definitely planning to report on that. Tallahassee, Florida.  The word Tallahassee  means "abandoned fields" in Seminole.  It is a town of about 180,000 residents, home to FSU and FAMU colleges which turns the city into a ghost town during winter and spring breaks.  Tallahassee kind of looks like a shrunken Atlanta - complete with its own perimeter, airport, and transit system.  I grew up in Tallahassee.  I have fond memories as a child of traversing its fine ground water drainage system that linked all the neighborhoods together, and some parts of downtown, like the ol

For our art project for Alchemy this year, we plan to build a huge archway in the forest with a portal to hyperspace. This is no easy task, so we decided to do some small-scale prototyping so that we can look into some of the challenges of this build and play with different effects to see what looks the coolest. Our design is based around an infinity mirror, which is a cool device that is build from one regular mirror and one two-way mirror. Lights placed in the center echo between the two mirrors until they fade too low to be seen. The viewer looks through the transparent side of the two-way mirror and can see the effect move with their perspective. Kevin and Edward working with the assembled frame. That's the two-way mirror in the foreground.  I had some help with the build from Kevin and Edward, who came in for the Tuesday night open house and got recruited to the project. Nathan (not pictured) also joined in to help, so we had 4 people working on it. We also ma

Howdy e'rybody! Just wanted to give you a little update on the awesome that is Analog Game Night. We're now up to bimonthly, with board and card game fun to be had on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month. Last Thursday was the first time we went for the second night a month, and given only two days' notice,  we still had 11 people show up to play Isla Dorada  and The Good, The Bad, and The Munchkin . There was also poi, Chex mix, a yoga demonstration, and excellent taste in beer.  So now you know. Y'all come now, and bring games, friends, and beer if you're so inclined and of age. It's a good time, and has been a great way to introduce new folks to the space. Incidentally, I am also learning to make videos and work a DSLR, so we made this time lapse video of the first few hours of the evening. Enjoy.

We just got the news we won a LulzBot AO-100 3D printer as part of their giveaway contest! Our submission landed us a spot in the 8 finalists out of over 200 submissions.  We even got a shout-out about Dr. Glass' original  medical research ! Check out the announcement !

Tuesday [7:30p]: CNC Build Project, Public, Free. Freeside veterans, Preston and Eldon, will be leading this project to assemble and tune a smaller CNC for high-precision work, then design and build a full-size 4' x 4' CNC mill for the space as well. http://www.meetup.com/Freeside-Atlanta/events/113727692 Tuesday [7:30p]: Open House, Public, Free. We host this meeting every Tuesday so that people can check out the space, chat with members of the organization, and get together to plan projects, events, and classes. http://www.meetup.com/Freeside-Atlanta/events/113155422/ Tuesday [8:30p]: Introduction to Basic Electronics, Public, Free. Chris Moore and Wayne Salhany explain basic electricity and electronics concepts that you can use in your next project. http://www.meetup.com/Freeside-Atlanta/events/113583832/ Friday [8a-6p]: Telecommute from Freeside, Members-Only. Members, come join your other telecommuters at Freeside and “work” remotely. S

Have you been itching to donate things to Freeside, but you’re not sure what we need? Have you been looking for volunteer opportunities to use your awesome skills?  This monthly post shall be your guide, henceforth! Look for all these things in our up-to-date Wishlist , the next time you're out and about and wondering what extras you could throw in the cart to bring on down! We're always looking for new opportunities to facilitate projects/education in the space. New equipment can help us do that, so we decided to make a wishlist of some of the things that we need for the space. Volunteer Opportunities: Electrical wiring: running new outlets, and...other activities... Woodworking, construction: help with shelf/hutch building for electronics, help with member storage build-out Mural Art: artists, pick a spot on the wall and make it yours!  We also want input on designing logos for each of our zones Consumables: ABS: Our 3D printers need more spools in a variety o

This Week at Freeside Tuesday [7:30p]: Open House, Public, Free. We host this meeting every Tuesday so that people can check out the space, chat with members of the organization, and get together to plan projects, events, and classes. http://www.meetup.com/Freeside-Atlanta/events/111247782/ Tuesday [8:30p]: Introduction to Basic Electronics, Public, Free. Chris Moore and Wayne Salhany explain basic electricity and electronics concepts that you can use in your next project. http://www.meetup.com/Freeside-Atlanta/events/111334442/ Friday [8a-6p]: Telecommute from Freeside, Members-Only. Members, come join your other telecommuters at Freeside and “work” remotely. Coming Up Next at Freeside Please note that Analog Game Night moved, due to a schedule conflict! Analog Game Night will resume to its regular schedule of first Wednesday of the month starting in May. 2013-APR-10, Wednesday [8p-11p]: Analog Game Night, Public, Free. Come get your board