Looking for Simple Solutions

Sometimes the motivation for picking a solution to a problem is to be able to do something interesting. Finding a complicated solution to that problem is easy when you have a CNC machine, because complexity comes free! There are other times though when you need to try to find the simplest solution that will solve the problem. That doesn’t necessarily mean that your solution won’t also be interesting, but just that “being interesting” is not the main driver.

Read how Bill Young solves a complex problem with a simple CNC solution in his Medium post.

ShopBotters at Work

Have You Ever Wanted to Build Your Own Arcade Game?

Then you'll want to take a look at this video and series of photos. Friend of ShopBot, Eric Schimelpfenig, has built a stand alone SketchUp arcade game... complete with sound, lights, and a built-in fog machine!

Regarding his building of the game: "This wouldn't have been possible to do in any kind of a short timeline/profitable way if it weren't for CNC. After I cut the panels I was able to assemble the cabinet in about 20 minutes. That's because I was able to design in all the detail in SketchUp and then mill it in the computer. Every fastener, drill hole, etc. was all done with the ShopBot. I literally cut the parts and pulled them right off the machine to test assemble the first time."
 

Shelter 2.0 Introduces the Lima Shelter

iFurniture, a company affiliated with the Fab Lab in Lima, Peru, recently contacted Shelter 2.0 with interest in one of their designs. They were looking at housing options for the thousands of people in the area that had been impacted by recent flooding. When they told the guys at Shelter 2.0 that they were building one of their designs using the original GitHub files, it acted as a catalyst for them to complete improvements on the design that they had been working on. These improvements included making the design more material efficient.

Learn more about the design changes made, and some of the issues they have encountered, in this post on Medium by Bill Young.

ShopBot on the Road

More Travels in the Name of Digital Fabrication in Education

May and early June was the time to visit a number of digital fabrication labs in middle schools, high schools, and community colleges around the US. Some labs are fine tuning their plans after being in existence for a year or more, while some are just starting their journey.

PENNSYLVANIA: The Chevron Lab at Intermediate Unit 1 (IU1) near California, in Southwestern Pennsylvania, has a thriving program. They recently added three Handibot® Smart Power Tools (with rotary indexers) to their suite of digital fabrication tools. One will reside in the stationary lab, one will ride in the mobile lab, and one will be available at a tool lending library.

NORTH CAROLINA: The Charlotte Mecklenburg School System added digital fabrication to their curriculum in the 2016 - 2017 school year. Two high schools have ShopBots: Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology, has one as part of a 3D lab. The tools are also used as a part of the home construction and automotive programs. Olympic High School in Charlotte also has a full sized ShopBot for use in their School of Technology Entrepreneurship & Advanced Manufacturing and with Project Lead The Way.

OHIO: The installation of the digital fabrication lab at Brady Middle School in Pikesville, OH (near Cleveland) was completed at the end of May. After the ShopBot PRSalpha 4 x 8 and a ShopBot Desktop were installed, Christie Kohn and Jake Miller, interim managers of the lab, invited 6th, 7th, and 8th grade teachers for a tour and “make and take.” Even the teachers from areas not a part of STEM education got inspired to use the digital fabrication lab with their students.

LOUISIANA: The Chevron Fab Lab NOLA at Delgado Community College in New Orleans is reaching out to the community to share its resources. Fab Lab manager Sam Provenza and Sallye Coyle hosted a diverse group of teachers and community leaders from Delgado Community College, local public and private schools, and extracurricular programs that are a part of Bricolage Academy and the Youth Empowerment Project.

For more details on Sallye Coyle's visits to all of these locations, as well as photos, see her recent ShopBot blog post.
 

May's Digital Fabrication for Educators Workshop 

The first of three Digital Fabrication for Educators Workshops offered at ShopBot took place in May.  Teachers traveled from as far as Oregon and Ontario, Canada to attend the 2.5 day session. Two of the groups returned to ShopBot for advanced work after having attended one of the regular two day trainings approximately a year ago. The faculty from Fanshawe School of Design in Ontario, Canada, were digital fabrication newbies, and went home confident that they could now run (and teach) on the ShopBot and laser cutter that they have in their new lab.

Drew and Ben, from Fanshawe School of Design (London, Ontario, Canada), show off their work at the end of day two of the Digital Fabrication for Educators Workshop. If you look closely, you can see the same design file etched with the laser cutter and machined with a ShopBot, which is part of the workshop's cross-platform training.

Where to Find ShopBot This Summer

June 19-23 • SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference – Louisville, KY

June 22-25 • AAW's 31st Annual International Symposium, a joint symposium with The Furniture Society – Kansas City, MO

July 16-18 • TIVA – Irving, Texas

July 19-22 • AWFS • Booth #10074 – Las Vegas, NV

July 31-August 6 • FAB13 – Santiago, Chile

Digital Design and Fabrication Class

Beginning Digital Design and Fabrication
July 31 – August 4, 2017
Port Townsend School of Woodworking
Port Townsend, WA

Taught by Thea Eck, owner of Hosta Designs and who previously worked for ShopBot Tools, this 5-day class offers any type of maker, whether they are a designer, woodworker, teacher, or artist, a beginner-level investigation into digital fabrication software and tools.

Attending AWFS in July?

Then why not plan to join us for a drink and a bite to eat? We'll be hosting a cocktail party at The Barrymore (99 Convention Center Drive) on Thursday, July 20th from 5:30pm-7:30pm. If you'd like to attend, please RSVP to marketing@shopbottools.com by Friday, July 14th. We look forward to seeing you there!