It's an Atari Punk Console Noise Dolly! The Potentiometers are in her arms! When Jimmie told me he could turn toys into electronic instruments, my first thought was "Creepy Doll Orchestra." Now I'm one doll closer to realizing my vision. This weekend, I'm going to LASERCUT a little stage for them to play on.
It's Magic! And you can learn it too! This week and next, Jimmie will be hosting a series of workshops for you to learn how to turn your own toys into wonderful oddities.
Did you notice that we also have kits back in stock! You betcha! TV-b-Gone! MintyBoost! Open Heart! Buy a kit then drop by and learn from the master himself. Jimmie is only here for another week and a half! Don't miss out on the magic. Sign up NOW!!

the Fluxamascanner 3D scanner
Chording Keyboard prototype
Motion sensored skulls with LED eyes
3d casts of moon craters and Pure Data Frequency Modulators
and cute laser cut keychains that amazingly double as bottle openers!!

It's all fun and games here friends! And don't forget about our May classes:

Intro to the Laser cutter
Basic Electronics for Artists
Laser Eastern Woodblock Printing
Hop to it Hackers!! We'll be waiting!

Listen up geeks: you do not want to miss what's goin' down in the labs this Spring. We have new classes and old classics seeking open minds and able hands to help us hack and hot wire our way out of winter. Behold-It's Springtime in the FabLab!

MARCH
13: Intro to the Laser Cutter 10am-1pm $65
18&25: Electronics for Artists 7-10pm $100(includes parts)
20&27: Lasercut a Pinhole Camera 1-4pm $55

APRIL
3: Intro to the Laser Cutter 10am-1pm $65
22: Programming Workshop 7-10pm FREE

MAY
1: Intro to the Laser Cutter 10am-1pm $65
5,9&12: Laser Cut Japanese Woodblock Printing $125
6,13,20&27: Introductory Arduino 7-9pm $200 (includes parts)

Sounds like fun, don't it! Visit our online store for detailed class descriptions and to reserve your spot!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions for super slick hacker savy classes?
e-mail krystal@as220.org

That's right folks, lasercutting is back with a vengance in the AS220 Labs. We're slicing and dicing our way through the dark days of winter, and this is your chance to get in on the fun! Didn't get a spot in this Saturday's sold-out class? Not to fear friends of the lasercutter, there's another class this Monday with 3 spots open!! Can't make it then? Then sign up for Broken Hearts Lasercutting on Saturday Feb.13th or almost-but-not-quite Leap Year Lasercutter on Feb. 27th and get your piece of laser glory. Come on, you know you wanna! Visit the online store to sign up!

AS220 Labs has been asked to participate in a pilot project of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms: The Fab Academy. We're one of ten Fab Labs around the world to offer instruction and guided investigation of mechanisms, applications, and implications of digital fabrication. If you are interested in participating in the Academy, please send a short letter of introduction to shawn@as220.org. This is a 40 week program, roughly equivalent to taking the class "How to Make (Almost) Anything" at MIT. Tuition is $3,500 for the whole year, and we'll also be offering access to individual 2 week certificate programs. For more details, see the Fab Academy site or contact shawn@as220.org.

AS220 Labs now has a complete set of the famous Electronotes newsletter, the seminal analog electronic music publication from the seventies and eighties. It is a great collection of theory, schematics, full-blown synthesizer designs, beginner tips, and obscure analog knowledge. The collection is available for research purposes (and no, we're not putting it online because we aren't the copyright holder).

More about Electronotes here.

AS220 Labs produced a limited edition of 5 deluxe drawbot kits last month. We're going to see how it goes before doing another batch, so for now they're Sold Out. Here are the instructions for building the AS220 Labs drawbot kit.

The raffled Makerbot has finished its long journey from Providence to Tempe AZ, where it is now ensconced in the workshop of Becky Stern. She writes in her Sternlab blog:

I recently won a raffle for a Makerbot Cupcake CNC machine, which is a DIY 3D printer. The raffle was held by AS220, an awesome hacker/etc lab in Providence. Thanks a million, guys, it works great! You can find the file for the little mushroom that I printed (John Park modeled it) in the Thingiverse.

Wednesday, June 24
7:00 - 8:30 PM
AS220 Labs
115 Empire St., 2nd floor

Come down to AS220 Labs and join the Pd club for it's first meeting!

Pd (Pure Data) is a graphical programming language and open source project with a large and growing user base. Pd is widely used by artists to create interactive computer music and multimedia works, and to some extent is interoperable with its commercial cousin Max/MSP.

The Pd club will be a periodic, informal gathering (a "patching circle") where Providence-area "patchers" can work together, exchange ideas, trouble-shoot, and learn from one-another. The club is open to all, from beginners to experts. Artists, students, teachers, programmers, hobbyists, and the "just-curious" are welcome. The only requirements are that you like a challenge and have a laptop.

On the agenda for the first meeting will be an introduction to Pd by Shawn Greenlee. Shawn will cover the basics of patching, working with sound, and handling communication with Arduino boards and MIDI devices.

Before the meeting adjourns, we'll get beginners up and running and determine the summer schedule for meetings.

What to bring: your laptop with Pd-extended installed. Pd-extended is available (for free) at http://puredata.info/downloads

More about Pd from the Pure Data portal.

4 weeks, Tuesdays in June
June 23rd, 30th, July 7th, July 14th
Instructor: John Duksta Workshop cost: $100 + $100 materials fee = $200
Materials fee includes an Arduino and all components needed for the class. In the AS220 Labs space, 2nd floor, 115 Empire Street, Providence

Sign up here!

It's official. This past weekend we hosted Zack Hoeken of Makerbot Industries and NYC Resistor and built a Makerbot with the help of about a dozen workshop-goers over the two days. Reprappers Bruce and Nick Wattendorf arranged the whole event; Nick is shown in the photo above, working on the Makerbot with Zack. The Makerbot we built is #48 in the lineage of Makerbots.

Thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets! We sold a total of 107 tickets, and received a $100 match from board member Brian Jepson (thanks Brian!). The raffle closed at midnight last night, at which point Arley-Rose pulled a name from the glass jar. Drumroll please... and the winner is...

Rebecca Stern of Tempe Arizona.

Congratulations Rebecca!

Check here for a full list of everyone who bought tickets and threw their names in the hat. The current batch of Makerbot kits is sold out, but we will be trying to get an order for the AS220 Labs bot in the July batch.

Take a chance on winning this homebrew CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) three dimensional printer! The Cupcake CNC is truly the cutest rapid prototyping machine ever. This piece of equipment will be the one built from a kit at the 3D printing Summit on June12-14th at AS220.

We'll even give you a training and some plastic to start with. The winner will be selected on June 14th, 2009.

Our goal is to raise enough money to buy a second Cupcake kit that can live at AS220 Labs. The maximum number of tickets sold will be 150. Oh, and we'll ship anywhere in North America.

Buy a ticket at the AS220 Shop.

Bruce Wattendorf is organizing AS220's first 3D Printing Summit featuring Makerbot and RepRap demos and howtos. It will be held at AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence RI on June 12, 13, and 14.

The team will be building a MakerBot, a DIY open source 3D printer. The build will be organized as a series of sessions, so you can help AS220 build a MakerBot and learn about electronics, 3D printing, and the design of the bot. The meeting will kick off Friday night, June 12 at AS220 Labs (2nd floor) from 7-8:30pm to come up with a schedule for the weekend.

Sessions will from 10am to 2pm Saturday and Sunday and will be held in the Performance Space.

There is no charge for these sessions, but you can help AS220 by entering in a raffle
to win a MakerBot of your own. Details in the AS220 Shop.

For more information about the specific 3D printing platforms, visit:

http://makerbot.com
http://reprap.org

For more info contact Bruce at bwattendorf@gmail.com or 401-339-5625.

It's a three dimensional microcontroller! Program it using the Arduino software environment (arduino.cc), hook up buttons/sensors/motors, make it play music; whatever you would do with an Arduino!