Given that the last AwesomeShop covered the basics of generators, it was time for some practical application. Using some basic kits purchased from our friends at Kidwind along with some recycled cardboard and hot glue, we built our own mini wind turbines. Because the materials are so simple, cheap, and easy to tear down and rebuild, we were able to quickly experiment with homegrown blade designs and arrangements in order to generate the most wattage possible.

I did my best to provide only barebones instruction. I simply laid out the parts on a table, and asked the makers to go for it based on what they had seen and heard of wind turbines. In this way, the makers learned more by their own trial and error as well as the trial and error of others, and less by dictation of designs and concepts by a “teacher.”

We generated a chart of outputs for each turbine, and used the chart to discussed blade design/arrangement and its associated output. This made things a bit competitive, but in a healthy way. The makers shared designs and ideas, and worked together to help each other understand which designs would work best.

One of my favorite parts of this AwesomeShop was our decision to have the class outside! It was a beautiful day after all, so why not? It is fun to make things together with others, but even more so to do it in the open air on a gorgeous day!

A few members of our partner hackerspace OmniCorpDetroit are participating in the The Great Global Hackerspaces Challenge. Thirty hackerspaces were invited to participate in the Challenge to help the goal of improving education around the world with technology. With less than two months and only $900 in funds the teams rose to the challenge and produced some amazing results. OmniCorp designed a DIY Laser Tag shield for the Arduino microcontroller so that youngsters could build and program their own Laser Tag game. For an afternoon Sprintshop, the OCD folks came over to the Makerspace to show our makers how to solder together a circuit board and test the Laser Tag kit. Fun Stuff! This summer, we will go much deeper into circuits and microcontrollers with the makers so that they might someday be able to create their own interactive devices and games.

Unfolding the mysteries of electromagnetic induction…this could be the most important AwesomeShop yet!

Today, we taught the makers how to produce their own electricity by making an ultra simple generators out of magnets, a bolt, a hand-wound coil of enameled wire, and a drill. This hands-on way of explaining the functionality of a generator with the simplest ingredients possible seemed quite effective.

We also explained the difference between alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) by simulating an electronic circuit using people. We all gathered ’round in a Cumbaya circle of sorts, and pretended that we were electrons moving back and forth in the case of AC, and in one direction in the case of DC. I had been attempting to explain AC and DC using whiteboard diagrams, but I think that this proved to be a much better way of doing so. I plan on using the “people as parts” method of explaining electronic concepts in the future.