And now the post you’ve all been waiting for… our July workshops!
This month we have four exciting opportunities for you to get your feet wet creating 2D designs you could then cut out on the laser etcher, using electronics, and learning how to use the Arduino prototyping board— all getting you well on your way to making something really awesome!
Inkscape for Laser Cutting Saturday, July 17 2-4pm Cost: $50 for non-members This workshop is an introduction to Inkscape, focusing on the tools needed for laser cutting. It is appropriate for those who have never used or have limited experience with Inkscape. During the course, you will create your own 3”x5” design and have it cut it out in 3mm thick Birch using the laser cutter. This workshop requires a laptop with the latest version of Inkscape installed and a mouse with a scroll wheel.
Inkscape for Laser Cutting will also be held on: Thursday, July 22 7-9pm Cost: $50 for non-members
Introduction to Electronics Saturday, July 24 2-4:30pm Cost: $50 for non-members This workshop covers everything you need to know to get started in electronics. We’ll start from the basics of electricity and work our way up to using integrated circuits. Fading, blinking, and dimming LEDs help demonstrate key electronics concepts. You’ll leave this workshop with a kit of everything you need to build the circuits we cover.
Intro to the Arduino Thursday, July 29 7-9pm Cost: $50 for non-members This workshop will cover the basics of the Arduino. We’ll go over what it is, what it can do, and why you’d want to use it. We’ll also go over a couple of basic programs. This course is great for people who’ve never programmed before and have no microcontroller experience. We’ll give you an Arduino, a breadboard, and some simple components. This workshop requires a laptop.
One of the questions we get about the laser is “What do you make with it?”. Recently, I’ve been showing off our card motors as a thing that we’ve designed, but it really isn’t about what we make, it’s about what you make.
Whether you’re into electronics or earrings, games or gizmos, the laser can help you make your thing. It’s fun to watch too, so we’ve added a laser camera to the shop. Now you can watch your job cut from the comfort and silence of the workspace.
If you have an idea, but haven’t been able to figure out Inkscape, we’re offering an Introduction to Inkscape for Laser workshop next Saturday. You’ll learn about vector graphics, what the laser expects to see, and how you can get your design to come out awesome.
Procrastination can lead you down a pretty funny path sometimes. A lot of you have asked us about flyers, business cards, brochures, and we’ve mostly just shrugged and pointed at the website. Those things are important in a business, and it’s not like I don’t know that, but they’re fairly low on the stack of important things to do, and as I’ve said many times, I’m interrupt driven.
Last night, business cards jumped to the top of the stack because we’ve been doing some work for the Seattle Central Creative Academy Portfolio Show and around 6PM or so, we figured out we didn’t have anything to hand out at the show. We have some nice veneer and a laser, so the most straightforward thing in the world for us to do is engrave and cut a business card. Right?
So since this is one of those ‘straightforward’ things, and we have a big sign that says MAKE SOMETHING AWESOME on the wall, we started bouncing around ideas of what would make an awesome business card. Would it be rounded corners? Or maybe a cool die cut gear or something? Should it fold up and become something else? The hours started to tick away. How about making something useful? What can you make useful in a 2”x3.5” rectangle anyway?
I started to wander down the path of a DC motor. A simple fold here, a bit of wire, a magnet. This could maybe work. Duncan and I pulled out the notepad. To make a DC motor, we’d need to wind a rotor, stick some magnets on the side, and have brushes. Kind of complicated. Brushless DC might be simpler; more awesome. 11:30PM, time for Inkscape. With Duncan driving and an evolving idea, we start figuring out what we have at the shop, and whether or not we can do this in the time we have left. Magnet wire? Yes, we have 5lbs of it. Magnets? hm. only a couple, but good enough for a prototype. Time for calipers, some wacky design and more caffeine. By 3:00AM, we have a design. Cut, assembled and Photographed.
Tonight we’ll see if we can drive it with an Arduino. Maybe add our actual information to the card. In the meantime, I’ve started in on a simple veneer card. a 3mm plywood press-fit brushless DC motor business card might not fit in everyone’s wallet.
For those of you who would love to learn to create files that can be used by the laser, this workshop is for you!
Inkscape for Laser Cutting Saturday, June 26 2:00 - 4:00pm Cost: $50 for non-members This workshop is an introduction to Inkscape, focusing on the tools needed for laser cutting. It is appropriate for those who have never used or have limited experience with Inkscape. During the course, you will create your own 3”x5” design and have it cut it out in 3mm thick Birch using the laser cutter. This workshop requires a laptop with the latest version of Inkscape installed and a mouse with a scroll wheel.
For the workshops available this month, scroll down to the entry “June Workshops.”
And now for another pretty project by Dave Cole of the Phinney-Bischoff crowd. Dave gets his paper patterns cut here at Metrix and he takes them home to his rolling mill to make rings and pendants. He’s just started an Etsy store offering his bespoke jewelry at remarkably reasonable prices.
The freshly lasered paper patterns
Ready to go to press, or rather, the mill
A whole lot of finished (almost) finished product :)
Meghan has been hanging out at Metrix for the last couple of weeks working on set of exoskeleton arm extensions for use in Karst, her installation performance art piece. She’ll put them on and use them to set off sensors along a hallway, which in turn will cut sound elements. I can’t wait until it’s done and we can see some footage of the exoskeleton in action!
Say you have a handsome lodge or clubhouse with empty walls that are just begging to be decorated, but you feel uncomfortable hanging out with the heads of dead animals. What’s a person to do? Why, obtain a deer trophy fabricated from of rustic and animal-friendly birch, of course!
One of our regulars, Alec Wadzita, put together the design. He’s offering the smaller birch deer trophy (~22x16x17cm) for $100 and the larger birch deer trophy (~26x37x29cm) for $150. If you want to get your hands on one of these beauties, get ahold of Alec at vegantrophies(at)gmail.com.
Summer is a great time to start learning how to make things. With the extra daylight (and time, for those of you on summer break) you can learn to make some amazing things. We’re here to help you out with that. June will have our standard electronics workshops and Arduino workshops.
Intro to the Arduino Saturday, June 12 from 2:00 to 4:00 Cost: $50 for non-members This workshop will cover the basics of the Arduino. We’ll go over what it is, what it can do, and why you’d want to use it. We’ll also go over a couple of basic programs. This course is great for people who’ve never programmed before and have no microcontroller experience. We’ll give you an Arduino, a breadboard, and some simple components. This workshop requires a laptop.
Programming for the Arduino Sunday, June 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 Cost: $50 for non-members If you can make your way around the Arduino IDE but you get lost when it comes to programming it, this workshop’s for you. We’ll cover programming basics like functions, loops, and branches. We’ll use these programming tools to make an interactive LED light show. This class requires an arduino and breadboard. This workshop requires a laptop.
Introduction to Electronics Sunday, June 27 from 2 to 4:30 Cost: $50 for non-members This workshop covers everything you need to know to get started in electronics. We’ll start from the basics of electricity and work our way up to using integrated circuits. Fading, blinking, and dimming LEDs help demonstrate key electronics concepts. You’ll leave this workshop with a kit of everything you need to build the circuits we cover.
Whether you’re into 
Say you have a handsome lodge or clubhouse with empty walls that are just begging to be decorated, but you feel uncomfortable hanging out with the heads of dead animals. What’s a person to do? Why, obtain a deer trophy fabricated from of rustic and animal-friendly birch, of course!