Deconstruction...
Welcome back everybody!
Well it's now Tuesday evening and the Makerspace is almost back to normal after the brilliant chaos that was Deconstruction and Recycling.
It all started so innocently with a small (actually not so small) pile of unwanted stereos, computers, printers and other bits and pieces. These had been found and donated by various means - "Neighbourly" providing most of the best items. As each of our 4 new groups arrived they surveyed the pile and got to choose one item.
Then the deconstruction began...
It gathered pace...
Until full chaos ensued...
It was simply great. Parents and kids alike - a good day!
Why do we do this exercise?
Components for experimentation aren't always cheap. And there is a perception that once something has been 'used' or 'broken' it's just rubbish. But a computer, printer or stereo has a lot of parts inside and many of those parts are useful for the young tinkerer. Whether those components are used to create something purely artistic (Franko-bots anyone?) or functional - fans, motors, speakers, power supplies... There's plenty of scope for projects to be made from recycled materials.
Also, as we pull things apart there is an exploration of how things are put together. We have a power supply and amplifier on hand and we power up (or try to at least) anything that looks interesting.
We now have a healthy collection of parts and we'll be looking for interesting ways to use them. Watch this space...
Our Returning Groups...
Our 2nd year groups were both either finishing or starting their light signs. Our younger class finished off theirs and the plan was to get into designing a project for the 3D Printer. But the powers of the internet conspired against us and the TinkerCAD server went down just as we started getting things going. So we'll be trying that again this week.
The older "Guinea Pigs" group got straight into designing their signs using Easel...
...before jumping onto the soldering irons and putting together the base boards. We took the opportunity to learn about Voltage Regulators on the way as this project is powered by USB (5 volts) and LED's only need 3.3 volts.
All good stuff!
See you next week.
Nigel