Build Madison 2019

Posted on by Chris Meyer

Build Madison

Build Madison is back!

The 24-hour community “create-a-thon” returns to Sector67 on November 16 at 10am. Project presentations (open to anyone) begin at 10am on Sunday, November 17.

We’re excited to announce the 8th annual Build Madison at Sector67.  Build Madison is a 24 hour hackathon that gives you the opportunity to set aside some time over the weekend to finally get to that project you’ve been thinking about for a long time!
The weekend starts out on Saturday, November 16th, at 10am, when we’ll host short idea pitches to form teams/work alone – then when 10AM on Sunday swings around we’ll have short presentations on results and/or sharing of lessons learned (aka: why my project didn’t quite get done in time!).
That’s as simple as it is – take the 24 hour period as seriously or as inquisitively as you’d like. In the past, projects have varied from very sophisticated to very basic, software to hardware, art to engineering – so don’t feel like your concept isn’t going to fit in – it will.
 
For more information, please register at the Build Madison website: http://buildmadison.org/
Who: Anyone interested
What: 24 hr hackathon
Where: Sector67 – 56 Corry St, Madison, WI – short ride on your bicycle and not far off the bus route
When: November 16th at 10AM through the 17th, with project presentations (open to anyone) starting at 10AM on the 17th
Why: A great excuse to focus on a project for a weekend and meet with other interesting folks too
This is a FREE event. Check out the prior project summaries at: http://buildmadison.org
We hope to see you on the 16th!
Posted in Uncategorized

2019 – Latvian Summer Camp 3×3

Posted on by Laima

In 2019, Sector let a printing press take an adventure across state lines to support more art and learning at the Latvian Camp in Michigan. Scroll down for pictures of the classroom, projects in progress and the final results of this venture.

The workshop before any students arrived.
Sector’s printing press on the left here.
Students ranged in age from 12 and up.
Many discussions about roller pressure, paper type, color layering happened while gathered around the press.
Final projects covered a wide range of styles and colors.
This young lady made some excellent timelapse videos of the carving process that helped visitors see how the carving process actually works in real life.

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: , , , ,

July 2019 Workshop – Code with Python and edit bacteria using CRISPR-Cas

Posted on by RV

A bioengineering workshop was conducted at Sector67 on July 15 & 18 – 2019, that bridged concepts in genome editing and computer programming. In this hands-on workshop, students edited a bacterial genome using the new and exciting CRISPR-Cas9 system and performed string manipulations using Python to visualize and code the cellular editing process.

In the wet-lab part of this workshop, students prepared Petri plates to grow bacteria.  The cultured bacteria were then incubated with multiple components constituting the CRISPS-Cas9  system (http://www.the-odin.com/diy-bacterial-crispr-refill-classroom-kit/)  to edit the genome.   The cells were then grown on Petri plates containing a growth medium that selects for the edited cells. 

In the computer lab the students learnt basic string manipulation code in Python to identify a target sequence in a genome by scanning, a process perhaps similar to the mechanism of CRISPR-Cas9. 

The class was capped at eight students and this allowed students to perform both the wet-lab experiments and spend time on the desktop computers to learn and code in Python.  The workshop was spread over two 4-hour days, July 15 and July 18. The genome editing experiment was conducted on the first day and the Petri plates were incubated for cell growth.

   The students came back the second day to look at the results and learn to code.

All eight students had  success in their editing experiments !


Stay tuned to more classes and workshops along these lines. 

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: , ,

American-Made Solar Prize Networking Meetup 17th 7PM

Posted on by Chris Meyer

We’re excited to host a connector event for the American-Made Solar Prize on June 17th at 7PM. Stop in for a discussion on solar power (speaker TBA), meet with potential team mates, hear about existing challenges and future advances in the field.

$3,000,000 in prize money is available through the contest, which is open to any competitor – the submission deadline is coming up on July 16th, 2PM E.T. First round winners (20-40 submissions chosen) receive up to $50,000 in prize money to work forward on their idea for further submissions with subsequent rounds featuring $200,000 and $500,000 in prize money allocated to winners.

YOU can participate to win a $1,000 award just for identifying industry areas that can use attention from entrants by July 5th.

The submission form is available on the contest entry website in the resources tab, linked directly here for convenience. Effectively you need to prepare a 2500 word maximum statement, a 90 second video (with no production value efforts), and some team information to create an entry for a shot at $50,000 in prize money.

Hope to see you June 17th for more information on the competition!

Posted in Uncategorized

Still Working Hard!

Posted on by Chris Meyer

We’ll keep you posted but currently:

No Sector67 classes

09/08/2019 – Drop-in tours resume on the hour at 4, 5, 6PM Fridays

until we have time to set up our shop.  Thank you for your continued patience, if you’d like to help with construction/building out the shops please feel free to sign up on the construction mailing list .  If you’re interested in general news/activities/etc you can sign up on the general mailing list (both are Google groups, just request to join the group, it’ll say “closed to members” because you haven’t asked to join yet).  If you’d like to sign up for a membership please contact us at the top right of this page.

Thank you!  Chris

Posted in Meetings, News

Thank You Google Madison For Your Support!

Posted on by Chris Meyer

Google’s Madison office has generously supported a volunteer appreciation event to recognize the thousands and thousands of volunteer hours that have gone into building our new, permanent, home.  

Many Google employees have given hundreds of hours of their time to ensure the success of our construction, everything from sweeping the floor to pouring concrete and painting have helped to move the project forward.  We enjoyed food and beverages courtesy of a Google grant and had a great time catching up with many people who have been able to help so far in the project.  

We’re not done yet!  There’s still plenty of time to lend a hand 🙂  For project updates and volunteer opportunities feel free to join the mailing list.

Our biggest, sincerest, thank you to our volunteers – without your help we’d still be looking at a big hole in the ground!

Posted in Uncategorized

Build Madison 2018

Posted on by Chris Meyer

Build Madison

Build Madison is back!

The 24-hour community “create-a-thon” returns to Sector67 on November 17 at 11am. Project presentations begin at 11am on Sunday, November 18.

We’re excited to announce the 8th annual Build Madison at Sector67.  Build Madison is a 24 hour hackathon that gives you the opportunity to set aside some time over the weekend to finally get to that project you’ve been thinking about for a long time!
The weekend starts out on Saturday, November 17th, at 11am, when we’ll host short (11AM on Sunday swings around we’ll have short project presentations and/or sharing of lessons learned (aka: why my project didn’t quite get done in time!).
That’s as simple as it is – take the 24 hour period as seriously or as inquisitively as you’d like. In the past, projects have varied from very sophisticated to very basic, software to hardware, art to engineering – so don’t feel like your concept isn’t going to fit in – it will.
 
For more information, please register at the Build Madison website: http://buildmadison.org/
Who: Anyone interested
What: 24 hr hackathon
Where: Sector67 – 56 Corry St, Madison, WI – short ride on your bicycle and not far off the bus route
When: November 17th at 11AM through the 18th, with project presentations starting at 11AM on the 18th
Why: A great excuse to focus on a project for a weekend and meet with other interesting folks too
This is a FREE event. Check out the prior project summaries at: http://buildmadison.org
We hope to see you on the 17th!
Posted in Uncategorized

2018 – Latvian Summer Camp 3×3

Posted on by Laima
For the 2nd year in a row, Sector67 has supported budding makers from across the US by lending equipment for use at a week long, all ages summer camp in Three Rivers, Michigan.
Every August since 1981, the Latvian Center Garezers hosts 3×3: a week long Latvian language immersion experience.  People of all ages, from all over the US and abroad convene at Garezers to strengthen their ties to the Latvian culture, improve their Latvian language skills, and learn new things about Latvian culture, past & present. Garezers isn’t the only place that hosts a 3×3 camp, but it is the closest one to Madison.  Most classes offered during that week fall into one of two categories: the “talking” classes (think more like a guided discussion on topics relating to Latvia, often with guest lecturers from abroad) and the “doing” classes (silversmithing, the Latvian kitchen, pottery, and more).

 

In 2017, Laima pitched the idea to offer a new class where we’d use new technology to create Latvian art. To make this work, Sector67 lent several 3D printers and a 40W laser cutter to supplement the vinyl cutter that Laima had access to. Chris has also been kind enough to also be “on call” whenever we run into problems that need extra technical help.

 

The focus of the class is:
  1. To introduce folks to new technology:
    • Show them how to use open source software to create files that these machines can interpret
    • Learn how to run the basic machine functions
    • Become more comfortable searching for online answers to problems encountered while using these machines
  2. THEN use this new technology to make Latvian-inspired items
  3. And finally, to help those who are interested learn where/how to purchase similar machines and/or to find resources that are more local to them so they can continue learning about and using this new technology

This class is capped at 8 students, and each student typically wants to try a little bit of everything. Once they get over the initial shock of having to learn at least 2 new software programs in a short amount of time, the class takes off and starts to think creatively and play with the materials on hand. What follows are the 2018 results of this class – fun stuff!

 

 
  
  
  
 
And just bc photos are fun (and Laima failed to post these in a timely manner in 2017 – WHOOOOPS), here are the 2017 class projects:
  
  
  
  
Posted in Classes, Projects, Thank You! Tagged with: , , , , ,

FIRST Robotics Competition Machine Shop

Posted on by Chris Meyer

Sector67 is proud to partner with Tormach (Waunakee, WI) to provide a mobile machine shop for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) in 2017 and 2018 for the Seven River’s WI Regional Championship as well as the World Championship in St. Louis (2017) and Detroit (2018). We’re generously supported in this effort by Alliant Energy, Tormach, Zendesk, Miller, Dremel, Milwaukee Tools and King Trailer Company – who have worked together to provide cash, equipment, tools, and resources to make our mobile workspace a reality!

In March, 2017 Alliant Energy donated an old F550 service truck and money to purchase a suitable trailer to house our equipment:

This provided us with a capable platform to haul a lot of equipment and weight anywhere we needed to be.  The next step was to figure out what could fit in the trailer and to sort out what size workbenches made the most sense:

Tormach committed to providing a 440 milling machine, staff, and finances to help with other equipment to fill the trailer.  We decided to build dedicated workbenches that would house equipment only used on the trailer.  The first step was to weld up frames and build durable wood workbenches that would hold up to the abuse of riding in a trailer all over the country:

Most importantly they seemed to fit as planned!

We’d been collecting a lot of smaller equipment that wasn’t a good fit for our shop, but would be a great asset on a mobile work platform where you couldn’t afford the footprint of larger tools.  Other equipment was purchased or were timely donations, Madison Kipp Corporation was able to contribute a portable welding exhaust collector that was just collecting dust around their shop (yep, that’s a pun folks):

Which was a nice match for a pair of MIG and TIG welders and plasma cutter contributed by Miller:

Ultimately we split the equipment into cold working tools we could keep indoors, and a hot working table that could be placed wherever was appropriate for the venue.  We’ve had to weld and work inside the trailer, inside a loading dock, and outdoors depending on the situation but it works out well with the fume extractor and light weight welders.

We attended the 2017 La Crosse Seven River’s Regional FRC and had a great time working out the bugs and testing out the equipment:

We ended up with some jobs that were well beyond the capability of the equipment, but in the right hands no job is too complicated:

Teaching all of the kids how locks work is an added bonus for the teams who were out of the competition:

At the end of April 2017 we geared up to head down the St. Louis for the world championship and many many more teams to support:

The magnitude of the competition is tough to grasp, but we’re looking at roughly 20,000 students around for the contest!

 

and lots of broken robots to help repair:

A bird’s eye view of the machine shop:

We had a great time partnering with some local volunteers who brought in a bunch of their own machine tools to lend a hand with repairs as well.

 

This year we’re just finishing up at the Seven River’s Regional Competition and are excited to head to Detroit for the world championship:

The process is pretty simple, student participants stop over and ask for help, the request is documented in case we need to follow up/etc:

and then we do the best we can.  Sometimes we’re working from a napkin sketch, other times teams have a fully FEA’d (Finite Element Analysis, effectively a computer simulation of strength) part that’s been worked on for months but just broke:

Overall we could never run these outreach opportunities without generous support from our sponsors – Alliant Energy, Tormach, Zendesk, Miller, Dremel, Milwaukee Tools, and King Trailer Company.  We’re always looking for more contributors to help cover our costs and improve services.

Alliant’s contribution of an old service truck has been invaluable in many other ways, we’ve been able to pick up and move tons of iron for the iron pour:

and many piles of salvage materials to allow us to build our permanent home:

And we’re looking forward to more All Hand’s On metalworking activities a little closer to home!

 

Posted in News, Thank You! Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Opportunities To Get Involved

Posted on by Chris Meyer

Thank you for your patience while we’ve had a tough year!  We’ve had a lot to look forward to but many challenges in getting there.  If you’d like to help us build our permanent space at 56 Corry St please sign up on the construction mailing list (just click request to join group, will say “group members only” on the page) and stop in to volunteer when you can.  Tasks range in experience levels, so you can put your expert skills to work or help out where needed and learn as you go.

We’re still raising money for our permanent home, you can donate (without fees) here, every bit counts!

We have a deadline to move by April this year, which has unfortunately meant we’ve been unable to keep up with membership requests and building construction.  If you’re interested in signing up to use the workshop, please use the contact us button at the top right to send in an e-mail and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can, regrettably this may take some time.

Posted in Uncategorized

2018 Iron Pour – February 10th!

Posted on by Chris Meyer

FeLion Studios and Sector67 are proud to announce our 8th annual partnership on a community iron pour, taking place on February 10th at Sector67 – you can RSVP on Facebook here

You can purchase heart moulds online now and pick them up any Friday from 1-7PM at Sector67; – we have two hearts for $30 which can be customized to your liking and forever cast into iron:

Pile of Hearts

Creating your own heart is easy, you can modify any aspect of the mould:
Scratch Demo 2
Scratch Demo
Just remember a few rules:

  • Mould modification is messy, so lay the mould on a cardboard box or plastic bag to dispose of the excess sand.
  • Remember to draw everything backwards, it’s a mould, not a finished product, so everything will be reversed when it’s poured!
  • Sharpie your design first and carve following your lines
  • Use any pointy implement you’d like but we’d advise against using any power tools as they can create dust that you don’t want to inhale (AKA: wear a mask with power tool work)
  • Return your moulds a few days before the pour up until EARLY the morning of the pour (late turn ins will be turned away this year – SORRY!)

 

Even if you aren’t interested in making your own cast iron artwork, please join us for music, great company, and a fun spectacle while the iron is poured.  FeLion is always looking for supporters to help make the event happen every year.

IMG_2901

IMG_2920

IMG_2926

2018 Timelapse Videos:

Video from the bicycle rack
 
Video from the front of the building

Here’s some cool videos/pictures from prior years as well:

2012 video and image summary

2013 video and image summary

Posted in Businesses at Sector67, Projects Tagged with: ,

Help Sector67 and Chris Meyer

Posted on by Scott Hasse

On September 20th, 2017 Chris Meyer, the founder and driving force behind Sector67, was seriously injured in a freak accident caused by a propane explosion while working to help build out the new Sector67 facility. Now Chris and Sector67 need your help!  Please see our Go Fund Me page for more details of the accident, the project and how you can help.

Posted in Uncategorized

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