Sign up now using EventBrite.  Only space for 15 attendees! http://lvl1diypcb2013.eventbrite.com/

This is the Arduino you’ll be etching!

Chinese New Year got you down?  Even though its easier than ever to have your own PCBs made in China, being able to roll your own is a valuable skill to have, from simple-but-large designs, to the annual 2 week hiatus in electronics manufacturing known as “Chinese New Year.”

On Saturday, March 16th, Learn how to make your own PCBs using nothing more than some copper-clad board and dangerous household chemicals!  Walk away with yet another Arduino clone!

You’ll walk in with all the knowledge you need to perform toner-transfer PCB etching using Muriatic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide. The process is described in more detail here: http://www.meatandnetworking.com/projects/toner-transfer-and-muriatic-acid-etchant-making-pcbs-at-lvl1/ Hone your soldering skills on a bare copper board, and blink an LED with the finest!

All you need for this workshop is yourself! If you want to test your Arduino, bring a laptop with the latest Arduino IDE installed.  If you already have an FTDI cable, buy the FTDI-less ticket.

Once again, sign up now and sign up often! LVL1 Members get a discount! Sign up now using EventBrite.  Only space for 15 attendees! http://lvl1diypcb2013.eventbrite.com/

Team Sign ups here: http://lvl1makefoodnotwar2012.eventbrite.com/

It’s time for another 24 hour hackathon!

This October, from Saturday the 20th to Sunday the 21st, pit your building skills against 9 other teams attempting to assemble the finest food-flinging machines in the world!

Your challenge is to build a machine in 24 hours (or less) that can fling the tastiest foodstuff the longest distance with the most style.  Teams can bring in any supplies they want (up to $150 worth– We will be asking for receipts at the door!), but you can’t put anything together until the start of the competition.  From then on out, it’s a free-for-all to build your contraption using the supplies you’ve brought in alongside the supplies at the LVL1 hackerspace.

As with last time, buy only one ticket per team!  One ticket gets your entire team in the door! Try to think of a team name before you show up!

At the end of the competition, teams will judge eachother in the following categories:

• Taste: How delicious is it, after being flung?
• Distance: How far did you fling it?
• Ingenuity: How well-built was your flinger? How crazy?
• Appearance: Is your food recognizable on the other end?

The rules:

• $150 budget, not counting parts from the boneyard at LVL1
• Must be built in 24 hours (nothing preassembled!)
• Team size is unlimited (in either direction), but 3-6 is recommended

This Saturday, January 21st, there will be a KiCad Workshop from 1pm to 5pm.  Sign up here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2696636713.

KiCad is a free utility for designing and laying out printed circuit boards.  Printed circuit boards connect your circuits together without the need for breadboards and jumper wires.  With circuit prototyping services cheaper than ever, it’s simple to turn your design into a real, working board.

This workshop will cover the basics of KiCad, from Schematic Capture, to Board Layout, you’ll walk out of the workshop with the knowledge necessary to take your circuit ideas from dream to reality.

If you’re already familiary with Eagle, KiCad has a number of advantages, including unlimited board size, up to 16 copper layers on your board, multiple sheets of schematic, and more.

Please install KiCad before coming to this workshop.  If you have any problems, or questions, don’t hesitate to let us know.  If you need help installing KiCad, show up early and we’ll try to help you out.

SIGN UP HERE http://digitalarduino.eventbrite.com

We will build and program an electronic game and in the process learn LED’s, tri-color LED’s, pushbutton switches, speakers and Arduino programming.

More info here: http://wiki.lvl1.org/Digital_for_Arduino

I am teaching.  I hope you can come.  Put your Arduinos and Freeduinos to good use!

Brian

Signup at EventBrite http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2562787366

Saturday, October 22, 2011 and  Sunday, October 23, 2011

2:00 PM - 6:00 PM (ET)

Don’t have a sumobot for this years competition and Halloween party? Want to be one of the cool kids? Do not be afraid the friendly folks at LVL1 are here to help.

Learn the basics of building a Sumobot! It’s a small autonomous 10cmX10cm robot that doesn’t like sharing the ring. More information about Sumobot competitions can be found here.

All parts, tools and equipment needed to build it will be provided. If you already have a FTDI cable for programming the microcontroller, you can save $15 with that ticket option. If you do not have this cable, purchase the full ticket including FTDI cable. A FTDI cable is common with Arduino variants and is very reusable.

http://wiki.lvl1.org/Sumobotsclass

10 total seats are available. Sign ups are open  http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2288210098

-Fire Tim

We are having a Car-B-Gone workshop at the space this afternoon. Sorry we did not get the Eventbright announcement up. Just show up to build your very own Car-B-Gone tonight at 8-ish. If you do not know what a Car-B-Gone is… it is another fine Mitch Altman project. Read about it here

Following the Car-B-Gone workshop will be the ever popular Beer-B-Gone workshop. Hope to see everyone there.

Brian

There will be a beginner beekeeping class at LVL1 on Sunday 3/13 from 2-4.  As people get more interested in gardening and learning where their food comes from urban or neighborhood beekeeping is gaining in popularity. I will bring every type of equipment I own plus pictures of things I don’t.  You will learn what can be expected if you decide to get some bees.  Why would I want bees you ask?  They make honey.  They help your garden.  They make honey.  They help your neighbors garden.  They make honey for goodness sake! There will be no bees at the class. This is a perfect opportunity to find out if beekeeping is something you want to try.  I’ll be bringing some honey to sample.  There is no cost for this class.

Todd W.

Remember daylight savings is Saturday night!

CMKT Circuitbending Workshop, Friday March 11th, starting at 7pm.

We start by building a simple tool, a Bending Buddy, that will help everyone learn how to solder, drill plastic and mount components. This device will aide in their exploration of circuits. After that, we would have a broad overview of topics that would including basic pitch bends and types of potentiometers, several ways to wire an audio output, other types of bends (distortions, glitches), types of bendable toys, reading schematics, and working with ICs, breadboarding, and prototyping. People are encouraged to bring projects in-progress or any problem-projects to share/brainstorm. Students would come away with a circuit-bending tool, a basic understanding of circuit bending, and some ideas about how to further control their toys with external circuitry.

$20 for the class. The $20 covers the materials for the bending buddy, helpful circuit bending reference sheets, and the materials used in the instruction of the class. We will also have other kits and components for sale “a la carte”.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=130027143736128

LVL1 will be hosting an Android development workshop on Feb. 16th you can sign up one the Eventbright page. Previous programming experience is highly recommended.

• 7:00pm – Meet and greet, Eclipse and Android SDK help.
• 7:30pm – Mobile app case lessons presentation from Jay Garmon
• 8:00pm – LVL1 Android Development Workshop led by Mike Borsuk
  • Android intro / history / OS architecture overview
  • API overview
  • Development tools overview / setup
  • Build / deploy ‘Hello World’ sample app to emulator and device
  • Give users choice of a few sample apps to build and deploy, help with customizations for interested users
  • Optional: display and discuss a custom hardware platform running running android as well as some commodity devices running custom Android builds

For any questions about this workshop please email workshops@lvl1.org