Workshop 88

I have written previously about my SONOS speakers and my family’s frustration with the app that controls them.  See SONOS Speaker API Overcomes App Limitations  In that blog post, I resolved my wife’s biggest issue with the SONOS app. She now has a two-button device that plays and stops her favorite playlist on the speakers in the basement.

But my biggest pet peeve remained unresolved until recently. Each speaker has its own, independent volume control. This is a double-edged sword. It’s great…

For over a decade, I’ve wanted to attach an action camera to my bicycle helmet to make time lapse and long form videos. Now that I’ve worked out many of the kinks you can check out the cool results on my HYPERBIKE YouTube channel.

In 2017 I attached a 3D printed PLA GoPro HERO 3+ mount to my bicycle helmet (the same helmet, sans stickers) but it had some serious problems. The footage was too jittery to use, video stabilization was not as advanced or as available as it is today. More…

I collect bottle openers, one for each vacation destination or brewery visit. They’re kept in chronological order on a rack I made in 2017 from the oak cabinetry panel of our old kitchen refrigerator. To be honest, it was 80% full the day I finished it nine years ago. Keeping them under the 3D printers and over the PCs in this high traffic area is problematic, they are frequently knocked down. I needed a new sensible extensible solution.

It makes more sense that they’d be kept…

Workshop 88 had a Makita track saw rail without a saw to go with it so I thought I’d try designing a 3D printed sled for the saw. Workshop 88 has a few circular saws so I was looking for a way to make a “universal” sled. Luckily, I found that a surplus steel bar originally for hanging file folders was a good fit for the tool mount slot at the front of the saws.

I learned a couple of interesting things in the process, like somehow the Ryobi battery operated saw magically…

It’s springtime in the American Midwest, which means flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, the grass is getting greener, and at my house the fountains need to be set up for the summer. This fountain pump was struggling for a day then stopped pumping altogether and started rattling loudly. When I went to order a replacement pump I realized this was already a replacement pump from only 3 years ago, so I thought I’d do a little digging to see what went wrong and see if anything was…

Members of Workshop 88 makerspace have been involved with hacker conventions and badge culture where they would design, program, fabricate and distribute badges at hacker conventions like THOTCON.

These devices were made in 2014 for THOTCON 0X4

These badges each utilize an FS1000A RF transmitter and and XY-MK-5V RF receiver (similar to this) to build two way radio modem, S11145 UV Sensor, and a Funduino Pro Mini Arduino compatible micro-controller. The THOTCON 0x4 badge…

A lot of dust can be generated in the workshop, especially with power tools. The dust is neither healthy nor pleasant to breathe. Effective air filtration in small workshops need not be expensive or complicated, here we show how to make a cheap effective versatile air filter for dust and particles from a box fan, furnace filter(s), and 3-D printed clips (or the handyman’s secret weapon: duct tape).

For years in our wood shop we’ve used this 20″ box fan with a fine 20″ wide furnace…

Here’s how we threw together a quick vacuum sweeping helper to keep the workshop clean using scrap wood, screws, 3D printing, and shop tools including using four saws five ways.

A super nice thing about the makerspace is the wide variety of tools that are readily available, this project used (in order):

• A piece of scrap plywood
• The table saw with crosscut sled to straighten the rough cut sides of the triangle
• A pencil, nail, and scrap wood as “Hacker’s Compass”
• The drill press…

Visitors are first greeted by our charming entrance, then our charming members. Our creative and knowledgeable community is one of our greatest strengths (not pictured here).

The makerspace is divided into five areas, the first is the general meeting room. This area is primarily used for meetings, classes, laser cutting/engraving, 3D printing, crafts, and projects.

The next area is the workshop / woodshop where makers can do just about…