Freeside Atlanta

Some of you may have seen our most recent monster creation at Alchemy or Atlanta Mini Maker Faire - The Infinity Portal. The Infinity Portal is a 10 foot tall archway with a 7 x 4 ft infinity mirror inside of it. The mirror is made with two-way acrylic, so you can push on it to warp the effect for people on either side of it. It is lit with addressable LEDs, so there is a counter-rotating rainbow vortex in there too. You may remember seeing our write-up about prototyping the design a few months ago. Defying all expectations, the thing actually survived both events that we brought it to! So we're really happy with it and will find a place to keep it in the mean time. We actually (surprisingly) did a pretty good job of documenting this build, so we cut it together into a video to show how we built this huge, epic piece of art. Enjoy!

Again with the weekly (more or less...) list of delectable offerings by Freeside, your friendly local dragon and hamster breeder. Sunday, 10/20: Freeside Laser: Basic Usage and Safety at 2pm Learn how to use Freeside's new Laser Engraver/Cutter ( wiki page ). You'll learn how to use the software toolchains to cut or engrave vector and bitmap artwork into a variety of materials. And after the class, you'll be eligible to schedule a one-on-one session an approved user to supervise and assist with your first project, and thereby gain authorization to use the laser unsupervised. That's right. Just you and the laser. $40/person. Pay on Meetup. Tuesday, 10/22: Chump Car Build at 7pm Ever wanted to race a car, build a moving art project, or learn to work on a car? Here is your chance to do one or all three! Please join us at Freeside to learn more! And it's totally free, man. And simultaneously... Tuesday, 10/22: Open House at 7:30pm Where the house is open,

Step right up, ladies and gents!  Never seen such fine taxidermy before?  The best in all the land! I see a lot of disappointed faces - you there, reading the article!  You some kind of Internet-dwelling, city slicker?  Oh, you are.  Very well then - that's totally not  a problem!  What's that you say?  What's going on?! Welcome to the Trading Post - tales from the wild and unsane  world of hackerspace skills trading. One of the key benefits to being part of a community of skilled people with diverse backgrounds is that you're surrounded by opportunities to try something new and learn from each other. Whether you're into taxidermy, python, arduinos, or rebuilding arcade machines, you can leverage your skill set to learn new skills from other hackerspace members.  If you successfully find a match, then that's what we at Freeside call The Gift of the Magi moment.  Cherish it. This week, I promised Paul I'd get his website hosted and up and runnin

It's about time for Atlanta Mini Maker Faire 2013 (10/26). LearnToSolder.org and Freeside Atlanta are once again hosting a free Learn to Solder tent. Last year's tent was a huge success, teaching around 100 kids (aged 4 to 80) how to solder together a basic electronic kit. This year, we hope to double that number, but we need help! We've got all the supplies, irons, solder, project kits, helping hands, band aids and burn gel. What we need are volunteers to supervise and mentor the kids in constructing the kits. These kits are simple, and designed for first timers, but gives them something they can be proud of and show off. You're there to help troubleshoot (solder bridges, cold joints), teach (show them how to do the first joint), and supervise (make sure they know which end of the iron is the hot one), etc. Sign up for a shift (as many as you want!) today! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ah20TrVBysxUdGVKSHd5a0VDV183UEJWamhSX1ZVNlE&usp=sharing Informat

Hello to all. I hope you're having a fabulous week, made even more tantalizing with the following offerings from Freeside for your enjoyment and edification. Sunday, 10/6 Liberated Tech Pre-Build and Build  at 1pm Tuesday, 10/8 Chump Car Build  at 7pm and Open House  at 7:30 Wednesday, 10/9  TED Talks and Discussion Night  at 7pm Thursday, 10/10 CryptoParty at 8pm Saturday, 10/12 Bicycle Repair 1  at 3pm and  Freeside Build Day (and potluck)  all afternoon. And if  when you head over to one or more of these events, go ahead and take pictures, share ideas, dig yourself eye-ball deep, and make the space a part of yourself, just as you are a part if it. Have ideas for classes or events at the space? Get in touch ! The only limit is yourself. -Kendra

Great numbers turned out to fight the good fight on Thursday. Together we faced the mural and, each in our own hearts, said words over the icon that had been the auditorium mural. I had hated the mural, but in spreading the first layer of grey-green over the inaccurately spray-painted earth, I realized that I did not hate it, but loved it, in its passing, as a metaphor, a cautionary tale. It represents what happens when art and science are separated. Like a guitar tuned to .05 Hz below standard. Like a sculpture slowly collapsing from lack of structural support. The moon, so obstinately shining on the far side of the sun, was a reminder that only together can artists and engineers accomplish beautiful and functional things. We should all take care to remember that, as we move forward into a brave new age that contains 3D-printers, makerspaces, and DIY culture. Engineers, do not sneer at the BA's of the world. Artists, do not abstain from telling technical types that their desig

It's been about a year since my last Kickstarter, a failed attempt to launch a mini USB host Arduino compatible mirocontroller platform. I am back for a double helping of humble pie. This time, my project is a Bluetooth 4 enabled automotive power distribution unit (PDU) and solid state fuse block. I go into great detail of the details of the project at my website motobrain.net and at the Kickstarter page . Suffice to say, it is a really smart, smartphone programmable, PDU with 8 outputs and 4 inputs. The inputs are used to link outputs logically with other circuits (either OEM circuits or custom switches or sensors). It is a very flexible system. For example, you can setup your aux fog lights to turn on with the ignition BUT it will also turn them off whenever you turn on the high beams. The PDU can sense the ignition and you can program circuits to turn on the in response to the ignition and by linking the high beams to one of the inputs you can program the PDU to shut down t