Invention

Mar 06 2014

Maker Media Supports Fab Lab El Paso!

We salute the leaders of the Maker Revolution, Maker Media who inspired and continue to inspire many tinkerers and DIYers, from hobbyists to engineers, with fun, innovative projects and news on cutting-edge personal fabrication tech. They have generously donated a “Fab Lab Launch Kit” of Make: books, Make: magazines + special issues, notebooks, etc. to help us spread the Maker Revolution to El Paso and the borderplex area.

Come take a look at our library, flip through Make: magazine to get your Maker on.

Feb 06 2014

Stay in Control with MaKey MaKey Inventor Kit

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Banana spacebar? Alphabet soup keyboard? Super Mario Brothers Play-Doh controller?

No, we haven’t lost our minds (yet). Welcome to the quirky, marvelous, inventible world of MaKey MaKey, where with just alligator clips, USB connector, and a circuit board, you can turn anything—no, seriously, anything—into a controller or keyboard.

If you are the unimaginative type, you might not be immediately impressed. So here’s some videos for uninteresting people like you to get you inspired and overcome your life-long ailment of being a boring person. Then you can be awesome like the team members behind MaKey Makey, who generously agreed to sponsor the first fabrication workshop at Fab Lab El Paso!

Stay tuned for more information on the date, time, and reservation process for the event.

For electronic music fans and/or vegetable+fruit lovers out there, watch this.

In the meantime, feel free to dream up new, creative, and wholly unnecessary ways to make controls, keys, and buttons for the purpose of making pew-pew sounds, playing a musical masterpiece, breaking the high score on a favorite game, or whatever else you can think of.

Have fun and don’t forget to share your ideas with us!

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Jan 04 2014

3D Printed FPV Quadcopter “Crossfire”

This open-source, customizable FPV Quadcopter “Crossfire” has all 3D printed main body, top plate, arms, legs, pad, and GoPro (camera) case. The rest of the basic electronics and hardware include motors, ESCs (Electronic Speed Controls), battery pack, flight controller, and some screws. The whole package was designed to be under $200.

The printable parts of the design by Mike Bristol is available on Thingiverse with detailed instructions on assembly. There’s also a healthy thread of questions, comments, and complaints from citizen drone enthusiast who have already or are planning to attempt this build. If you are planning to give it a try, you are not alone!

Sep 19 2013

Google Science Fair 2013

Yeah Science! What are you doing tonight? These kids (ages 13-18) are doing the same thing they do every night—try to ~~take over the world~~ make the world more awesome! And they’re using maths and science to do it. Check out their amazing projects in the 2013 Google Science Fair and start dreaming up a great project of your own.