Funny enough Ryan and I had caught up over a cup of coffee Tuesday and were
talking about the scheduling of this. If we want to get this rolling in
May it would have to be towards the end of the month. We had debated a few
different days of the week, and Wednesday was in the running. How do people
feel about Sunday afternoon/evening events. Late enough that it doesn't
interfere with Sunday morning/lunch engagements, but also avoiding the
whole work running late/evening meeting issue. It was just a thought we had
but we were keen to give it a try and put it out there and see what
happens. We could aim for late May and post in a couple of places. We were
also working on a little logo, etc., and getting a signup form setup online
to gauge interest.
To take it back another step this would be a general greater Pittsburgh
area 3DPrinting group. Kind of like the ham clubs, or hackaday meetups.
Anyone who wants to know more, wants to share, wants to fix, wants to watch
is welcome... basically a living extension of the forums and a place for
onlookers and experts alike to get together and share the love. So while it
is a great place to host the "How do I get started"/"What printer should I
buy"/"How do I design a part" talks, it also is a place for the people to
bring their printers with them to show them off and was poetic on the
design descisions - or to get help fixing them. It's also a place to share
the latest tips and tricks and see where the discussion takes us. Maybe
even eventually growing into "build days" or group buys, so certainly
something like a "Build your own fire suppression chamber" could be either
a talk or an activity. It's basically a lot like a shop: a welcoming place
where a lot of interested people can meet and all share and work on
expanding their horizons on the topic of 3d printing. It would be everyone
from the "I've never seen a 3d Printer before" or "I heard of this
Kickstarter - what is it" to "I'm printing PETG at 250 and my infill is
under-extruding - why?". So everything from NOOBs to people running 3D
Hubs or doing production prototypes for engineering shops.
But we have to walk before we run. All the grand plans in the world are
just an idea without execution. RIght now there are a lot of these groups
online, and a few even meeting "live" through the power of hangouts, etc.,
but really as we know, it's awesome to get together in person and really
make the connections face to face. To start we'd keep it simple and the
goals small, the goal would be to meet about once a month in a rotating
location, and treat it kind of like a HackPGH Friday night thing - a short
topical presentation then some snacks and an open discussion/show and tell.
It's a general 3D Printing group open to the public, so we wanted to make
sure it was available to all. We wanted to kick it off at HackPGH and have
recurring meetings there, but it will also hop around a bit to capture some
of the suburbs as well, where there has also been some interest and
inquiries and invitations to host future events as well. Try and be an all
inclusive group and through that give people a gateway to HackPgh. We have
some interest from a couple of guest speakers as well so that should be
cool.
Anyways, just wanted to throw that out there.
As for the Max, I know Ryan has been cranking on it, and a few more things
were going to be tidied up. He and I are getting together on this soon.
All the work on the shop stuff could be a good demonstration or point of
discussion for the group, but definitely the shop stuff would not be
beholden to the group or shouldn't be considered a "3D Printing Group"
thing. I know astroprint has been setup for the max and I believe the
other one is coming for the M2, and things like an IOT power kill switch or
Fire Proof Box would be a great idea for a shop project or even friday
night round up. Unattended Printing I'm sure will be a point of discussion
for the group, as the photos continue to make the rounds and new ideas come
to the forefront.
Also let me know how the Big Box goes - I know Matt just got his and I
can't wait to hear how the dual goes on that. I've seen it demoed, and with
their new materials it was cranking out some great prints. I haven't dipped
into the Titan waters yet, but the Volcano has become a favorite and they
do good work as a whole.
Sorry if i missed anyone's questions or comments - was typing this up as
they came in!
Chris
On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Joshua Roehrig <joshua.a.roehrig@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
What is this group about? Making a fail safe box for the 3D printers that
include a fire extinguisher, web cam, and emergency stop button via
internet so that prints can be done overnight?
Or is it simply just printing stuff?
On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 3:23 PM, j. eric townsend <jet@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Count me in -- I did an opensource hardware group a few years ago but it
was just 2 or 3 of us that had repraps and cupcakes. I have a Big Box Dual
with Titans in the queue and just ripped my mendlemax 1.5 down for parts.
I'd prefer the 2nd Wed (if we're voting), 3rd/4th is typically the
Borough meeting which I try to attend.
On 4/29/16 12:51, Geno Soroka wrote:
We had someone email the board about meeting 3d printer hobbyists in the
Pittsburgh area. I told them about the 3d printer group that Chris Yohe
and Ryan Priore were thinking of starting.
I was thinking, Tesla Club doesnt need to meet twice a month. I have not
been doing much with it recently (although I do have plans). Do you guys
want either the 2nd or 4th Wednesday of the month for the 3d printer
group?
If not, if someone else wants one of those Wednesdays, let me know.
-Geno
Secretary | HackPGH
Pittsburgh’s First Makerspace
1936 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
/http://www.hackpittsburgh.org/
--
J. Eric Townsend
<http://www.flatline.net>
HF: KG6ZVQ
PGP: 0x335E5548 / 75DB 5C22 FD5D F33E B1FA D5BA B429 EA93 335E 5548
