2015 Halloween Challenge winners + Mythbusters!
Announcing the winners of this year’s Halloween Challenge who were decided at the last Maker Monday! We had 12 submissions in 3 categories this year. The first place in each category gets $25 in prize money and the overall judge’s choice winner gets two free tickets to Mythbusters!
Costume 1st Place – Satyr by Jonathan
Build log here
Decoration 1st Place – Motion Activated Skull by Tim 
Video here
Prop 1st Place – Contoured Mask Spacer by Gordon
Overall Judge’s Choice – Trick or Treat Rube Goldberg Style by the Hansens 
Video here
Congrats to all the winners and thanks to all the participants! You can see all the submissions here. As a bonus to all our members, Mythbusters has offered a 20% discount to all MakeICT members for the show in Wichita on Dec 1. Use code MAKEICT when ordering tickets online at WichitaTIX.com or by phone at 316-303-8100.
See you again next year for another Halloween Challenge!
2014 Board Election Results
Thanks to all that joined us at our annual meeting and potluck. Voting has ended for our 2014 board of directors and here is your new board:
President – Dominic Canare
Vice President – John Harrison
Secretary – Mike Doolittle
Treasurer – Jens Torell
Director at Large – Tom McGuire
Director at Large – Barb Davis
Election results are available here. Thanks for your participation and we look forward to another great year at MakeICT!
September 2013 Update
September is a busy month for us. We are now meeting weekly to work on the microbus project. Every other Monday we host public hours at Bluebird. Every other Wednesday James, MakeICT president, hangs out at the makerspace and is available to help with any electronics projects. We’re hosting another Instructables workshop, this time with Lumi. At the end of the month is the mini Maker Faire in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We hope to make with you this month, so come visit us!
September 5: Bus Thursday
September 9: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
September 11: “Watt is this!?” Wednesday with James from 6 to 8 pm at Bluebird
September 12: Bus Thursday
September 14: Instructables Print It with Lumi Workshop
September 19: Bus Thursday
September 23: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
September 25: “Watt is this!?” Wednesday with James from 6 to 8 pm at Bluebird
September 26: Bus Thursday
September 28: Tulsa Mini Maker Faire
August 2013 Update
Over the last month we’ve made stuff with Sugru, learned how to cut stuff out of foam, and sent the first plastic through our new 3D printer. Coming up in August we have another Instructables build night where we will build stuff from a grab bag of assorted electronic parts. There will be a training workshop to learn how to use the new 3D printer. MakeICT member James has started hanging out at the makerspace every other Wednesday to help with any electronics questions (watt is this!?) or repairs. There is a microbus that needs some TLC and we need someone to spearhead that project. We are also planning a clean up day at the end of August to get the space more organized and could use help from everyone that day. See you at Bluebird!
August 12: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird – Instructables build night with Jameco grab bag!
August 14: “Watt is this!?” Wednesday with James from 6 to 8 pm at Bluebird
August 17: Intro to 3D printers from 10 am to 4 pm at Bluebird
August 26: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
August 28: “Watt is this!?” Wednesday with James from 6 to 8 pm at Bluebird
August 31: Clean up and organizing day starting at 10 am at Bluebird
July 2013 Update
A lot is happening around here! We are making good progress on building our very own 3D printer. We had a fun maker gathering with lots of food, including smoked bacon from an Arduino-controlled smoker. We had a booth at the Kansas City Maker Faire where we displayed maker Dustin’s awesome LED PONG game. We made our first cuts with the CNC milling machine. What’s next?! Be sure to come to the open house the evening of July 15 when we will be playing with rubbery Sugru (it’s kind of like Flubber!). If you are interested in learning how to do your own CNC work, don’t miss the foam cutting workshop, which will serve as the first step toward learning how to use MakeICT’s CNC milling machine. See you there!
July 15: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird – Instructables build night with Sugru!
July 20: Intro to CNC – A Foam Cutting Workshop
July 29: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
This will be our first month participating in an Instructables build night. Watch for another similar event in August where we play with a 555 timer.
3D Printer Build Started!
The parts are in and we are starting the build of our very own MakeICT 3D printer! We are building a RepRap Prusa Mendel using this guide. Excited?!
June 2013 Update
What do you plan to make this summer? Need some ideas? Need a place to build stuff? Need help? MakeICT exists to help with those needs. In the month of June we have multiple opportunities for you to come and see what we’re all about. We have new equipment available to members, like a small lathe and drill press. The CNC router is going to be operational soon and we will host a workshop to train interested people how to use it. And, if that’s not enough, we are acquiring the parts to build our very own 3D printer! Come make with us!
June 3: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
June 15: Annual Cookout and Maker Gathering from 6 to 10 pm at Bluebird (invite your friends!)
June 17: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
MakeICT members will also begin hosting Teen Tinker Tuesdays in partnership with the Wichita library on June 4. If you are interested in volunteering at one of these mid-afternoon workshops for teens, post here, and please spread the word to any teens you know who may be interested!
Do you have any completed projects that you made and would like to share? It would be awesome to highlight local makers here on our website, so send us a note if you would like to submit something or know someone who should.
Don’t forget to participate in our forum where we are planning our trip to this year’s Kansas City Maker Faire and discussing things like electronic ignition of fireworks!
May 2013 Update
MakeICT has the following events planned for May. We hope you can come out and make with us! If you have workshop ideas, send us a note!
May 4: 3D Printer meeting at 1 pm to begin the process of building a 3D printer for our makerspace
May 6: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
May 20: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
May 24: Toner Transfer workshop at 1 pm
If you are interested in becoming a member of MakeICT, join us on one of these dates and ask how you can get involved.
RC Car Hack Wrapup
There she is. A beautifully hacked, piece of junk, remote control car. Earlier this month, 20 Wichita makers got together for a MakeICT workshop to learn how to do something cool with the Arduino microcontroller. The workshop, led by MakeICT member Ivan, taught us how to replace the cars on-board IC with an Arduino Nano to take control of the differential motors and then add a sonar device to provide information about the car’s surroundings as it moved. Ivan did an excellent job of explaining pulse width modulation, frequency, duty cycle, H-bridges, and basic sonar theory. By the end of the 4 hour workshop, the 10 cars were being controlled by the Arduino, negating the need for a remote, and when the sonar sensor told the car it was approaching an object, it would stop, back up, turn right, and continue forward.
Some of the challenges we experienced during the workshop were the inconsistency of the manufacturing of these cars. The boards inside the cars were different, some with surface mount components, some with through-hole components, and that required some attention on an individual basis to make sure each car would work. We also used extremely cheap AA batteries for the workshop which drained quickly. Next time we will invest in higher quality power sources!
Thanks to everyone who participated and a big thank you to Ivan who organized and led this workshop. He has put the details of the hack on his blog, including the Arduino code. Be sure to check it out!
The kit for the MakeICT RC Arduino workshop.
Ivan educating us
Hacking the cars
April 2013 Update
MakeICT has the following events planned for April. We hope you can come out and make with us! If you have workshop ideas for us, send us a note!
April 8: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
April 13: RC Arduino Workshop at 1 pm (all RC kits have been reserved, but you can still join us to watch and learn)
April 23: Public hours from 7 to 9 pm at Bluebird
TBD in late April: 3D Printer Special Interest Group Meeting
We are also excited about the CNC Router that was generously donated to us. If you are interested in learning how to use it or can help teach others, let us know in the forum. We plan to host a CNC Router workshop in May.
In March, MakeICT signed up their first paying members. We now have approximately 20 official members of MakeICT. Membership benefits include an ID card that gives you access to our space at Bluebird during their business hours as well as voting rights at member meetings. We suggest a donation of $10/month as membership dues. If you are interested in becoming a member, join us for one of our workshops or during our public hours and ask how you can sign up.