3D printing Archives

Have you every wanted to try welding? Maybe you have always wanted to learn to build your own furniture or learn to use a 3D printer. If you are a woman in the Pittsburgh area, this is a great opportunity for you to try these classes for free.

International Women’s Day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. TechShop is celebrating International Women’s Day by offering FREE classes to all women on Tuesday, March 8th.

TechShop is a maker space located in Bakery Square. What’s a maker space you ask? I happen to work at TechShop and while I might not be qualified to use all of the equipment in the shop, I am more than qualified to tell you about all of the things you can do and make at TechShop.

Think of TechShop kind of like a gym or fitness center, instead of treadmills, free weights and an akward area where people are supposed to do situps, TechShop has all kinds of equipment that members can use for making things. Everything from laser cutting machines, to welding, to a woodshop, as well as a large area that is not-so-awkward where everyone can work on projects.

Once you are TechShop member, and you have passed the SBU class (SBU is TechShop speak for safety and basic use), you can come in to use that piece of equipment whenever you want. The SBU classes cost between $50 and $150, so this is not only a great chance to learn a new skill but also to check an SBU off your TechShop bucket list.

Free Classes for Women on March 8 @ TechShop Pittsburgh

Here is the schedule of classes for Tuesday, March 8. You MUST call the front desk (412) 345-7182 or come into the shop to register. The front desk is open from 8:30am to 10pm. The shop is open to members from 8am to 1am.

10:00 am – Woodworking // Woodshop SBU
10:00 am – Welding // MIG Welder SBU
1:00 pm – Furniture Basics [Pre-requisite Woodshop SBU]
1:00 pm – Sand Blasting & Powder Coating SBU
2:00 pm – Textiles // CNC Embroiderer SBU
4:30 pm – Basic Metal Shop SBU // Make a Metal Bottle Opener
5:00 pm – Welding // TIG Welding SBU
5:00 pm – 3d Printing // Printerbot SBU
5:30 pm – Laser Cutting // Trotec Laser SBU
6:00 pm – Metal // Ironworker SBU
6:00 pm – Circuits & Stuff // Electronic Instruments
7:00 pm – Woodworking // Shopbot SBU
7:00 pm – Blacksmithing Basics // Leaf Wall Hook

Interested in learning more about TechShop?

Everyone is welcome to stop by the shop for a tour. Click here to sign up.
Friday, March 4 – TechShop Happy Hour from 5pm-8pm. Tickets are $10, or you can enter to win 2 ticket here.

Cities Can Help to Shape an Equal Opportunity Maker Movement (nextcity.org)
‘The Looming Entrepreneurial Boom’: Kauffman Weighs In (theatlantic.com)
Entrepreneurs Take On Manufacturing (hbr.org)

Image by maltman23 via Flickr

I have been waiting for MakerFaire to come to Pittsburgh for years!!! I have been a follower of Make and Craft – both are magazines/blogs published by O’Reilly Media. The Make magazine folks organized the first Maker Faire in CA back in 2006. It was a live festival of all things creative, handmade, DIY and hacked. Since 2006 – Maker Faires have been held all over the world.

Maker Faires have included demonstrations of all kinds of neat things. I had the opportunity to see Bre Pettis, who is a maker/hacker extrodinairre, give a talk on the 3d printer back in 2009 at ROLFcon. You can check out a video of his presentation about rapid prototyping and the 3d printer at ROLFcon here. I left ROLFcon thinking Pittsburgh needs to have a hacker space of our own.

Fortunately – others were thinking the same thing. In May 2009, HackPGH opened a hacker space in the uptown neighborhood to provide a workshop space where makers could come together and well, make stuff. HackPGH has hosted and continues to offer many classes on things like lock picking, LED Flowers and crafts.

Maker Faires are meccas of making things. I know many a Pittsburgh who has traveled to Detroit or beyond to attend a Maker Faire.

This weekend the fun comes to Pittsburgh! The first Pittsburgh’s Mini Maker Faire is this Sunday, October 23, Noon-6pm at The Children’s Museum. The event might be called mini but they have a mighty line up of makers who will be showing off their projects and offering workshops. You can check out the entire list of makers here.

Here are just a few of the things that will be demonstrated on Sunday:

Cheese Printer – Matt Stultz, one of the co-founders of HackPGH will be there demonstrating the cheese printer.

: photo via Maker Faire Daily

Pittsburgh Lock Picking Club

Yes, Pittsburgh has a lock picking group! This city has something for everyone. Not sure about lock picking – I wouldn’t have thought much of it before either but then I read this fascinating article from a 2009 issue of Wired about the Ultimate Lock Picker.

The Traveling Pittsburgh Craft-o-tron Machine

This is an awesome collaborative project of artists and hackers. But what you really need to know is that this is a vending machine where you can get a crocheted pierogi.