It is for sitting...

After 3 days of trying to make the beams for the house we are going to build, we got sort of fed up with it, and decided we were going to make a chair (for it was missing in the place were the shopbot is)...
So we found some wood, and started cutting:



Again, as always, we had a lot of trouble converting files and stuff... before we were able to get it into some kind of format the shopbot would eat.
We then set the jog speed (speed it uses to move without cutting) too high, so it skipped a couple of steps, and fucked up our pieces.
But, since we are persistent, we actually finished our first real chair.

So lo and behold!



After that we continued making some pcb's with the modela...
Interesting fact here: in Holland we have been using copper clad boards that are too hard for the mills... so it not only makes the mills blunt, it also cuts less good.
I'll shortly post more detailed info about what stuff to use.
I myself made a LCD controller board you can see here:



It can write 'hello' on a LCD screen.
Cool eh?

Shopbot

We have been using the shopbot to do some milling of the beams for a frame that Haakon (head of the house) wants to have inside of the lab...
We actually have used some stupid ways of milling, and after three days figured we could do the same in around 15 minutes as opposed to 3 hours... but that's why we are here of course...


On a different note, today was also for relaxing... so we slept till 3ish, had a slow start, and after dinner I sat in the sauna for about 40 minutes with Jasper, one of the Swedish guys who is planning to open a lab in
Malmo, Sweden.
He managed to convince me we should walk back trough the snow bare feet and with just a towel... stupid of me to agree really...

Stff

After a lot of mucking about with software, we are finally getting somewhere, using the shopbot and Deskproto (which actually is dutch milling software). Check out our site:
Stff

And finally we did see it...

Yeah! after a full day of talking, walking around with material, trying different styles of construction (got a nice cardboard modular construction kit now) we went outside to get to the shopbot... and there it was...
Pictures are taken by hand (no tripod, i'll get one tomorrow) so not so sharp... but hey! It's real polar light!!

Stiff

This morning we started off at a convenient 9.30... because people just keep on working at the lab, they go to bed really late and naturally we have to start later. Just how i like it really...

After breakfast we set down at one of the big tables in the lab, and had an introduction by Haakon (head of fablab, farmer, construction- and electronics-specialist and just general real-nice-person) and after that Neal spoke some time about fablabs and what they are about. We then all did a proper introduction of ourselves and when the time for questions came, Bas (my colleague from the Waag) suddenly came up with this idea to make a sort of 'modular house' with integrated power supply and network. This was received with so much enthusiasm, that we are now part of the 'stiff' team... 'Space, the final frontier' (yeah i know...).

We are already designing the way it should look and work (working with wood here, we are not going to use any steel, no bolts or whatsoever) and have have just picked up some lexan (don't know if the spelling is right, it's a sort of layered thin plexi) to use for tests with some light.

Yesterday, before we went to bed, we had a talk with two of the guys already working here (and they showed us the shopbot, talk about your cool tool). They were really surprised on the issue we had with the laser cutter back in Holland. They completely agreed that brand of cutter is not an issue, and for the matter of software compatibility, they said 'making sure that it is compatible is part of the fablab!' and they sort of laughed about the whole thing...

So for now i'll continue on our design rules of the house we are going to build (of which i'll tell more later on).
By the way, we had a nice walk in the snow, but no polar light yet, for it's clouded...

Snow!

So we have arrived in the lab! And there is snow, polar light (i have been promised, haven't seen it yet) a lot of beautiful wooden lodges, in one of which we can get to sleep this night.
About that, when we landed in Tromso (good flight by the way, no delays) the cabin crew said; "Have a pleasant afternoon" after which we walked into complete darkness... There is light here (pay attention, light, no sun) between 9:30 and 14:00... between that... complete darkness.

So here at the lab there are a lot of people from all over the world, and we have just been talking to some guys from Norway, who are planning to start a couple of labs further down... fun thing is, when we arrived everybody came to us, to meet and greet (and ask where we are from) and then just went on with whatever they were doing... really used to visitors i guess. But it somehow makes you feel at home, like, nobody tells you what to do (we had to ask for a place to sleep) or where to get coffee (found that soon enough tough).

So great place, really nice people, beautiful scenery (mountains, fjords, little lights on the sides between the threes...)
But now i smell pizza, so more later on...

loose ends

So. from here on this blog will be in english, for tomorrow i will leave for Norway to stay at the Fablab there for four weeks... and since all communication there will be english (or, perhaps, norwegian)...

Why, then, am i going to Norway for a month? Well, the Waag Society is sending me there to follow a course about all fablab related. So we will be learning about the machines, the material, various ways of construction and realization and of course things like human resources and communication with local institutions (schools, SME, etc.) in relation to the Lab.

here i will post all my experiences, together with all the technical stuff they (Americans, norwegians and i believe, some people from Kenia) will teach us.
So not all will be nice bedtime reading that is to appear on this blog. I will try, though, to include some stuff about polar bears, glaciers and darkness (of which we will have a lot).

Commenting (specially to things technical) is not frowned upon. It's always good to be asked for explanations, for it helps to put the matter learned in the proper context.

For now, i'll continue wrapping up here at Pakhuis de Zwijger... and probably laser some acrylic this afternoon... you just can't get enough acrylic with cool designs...