Creation Station: La Quinta's MakerSpace

Desoldering: An Introduction Please be careful not to burn yourself.      Not everything permanent has to be permanent forever. Our intentions may be that we should solder a part into place and never touch it again, but that didn't stop us from putting the wrong part in place or having the wrong part to begin with. This is where desoldering comes in. Desoldering is the process of removing solder OR components from a solder-situation you'd like to change.  The techniques and concepts involved in desoldering can also be applied to soldering things together and will promote a better feel for what works with soldering in general. Practice may also increase your confidence. Lets take a look! Basic Principles of Desoldering      Lets talk about solder! For the rest of this article we will be referring to the properties of leaded solder. We're not going to get technical here, but lets start out by saying that solder loves to stick to and spre...

PLA RECYCLING: Coaster! A transcript William : "Hello Makers! For today's Makercraft Live! project I made a simple coaster out of slumped PLA scrap! Unfortunately, today's project may not be one you can do at home unless you own a 3d printer and print a lot!  To follow along at home, you will need:  -PLA filament or scraps- Make sure all of your plastic is PLA -An oven you have no intention of eating out of. I bought this one just for hobbies -A pair of scissors to cut plastics to size -Protection: Oven Mitts and a ventilator Wither the scraps come from failed 3d prints or adhesion and supports which help successful ones, if you 3d print for very long you'll find yourself with lots of this scrap material laying around. We will begin by using scissors to cut our material down to size. Cut down to whatever size and shape you want to show up in your final product. Once we have them cut to size, we can begin to put them in our oven safe containers....

By Michele McNeilly Thank you to everyone that watched the MakerCraft LIVE! video on making your own Infinity Fidget cube.  Supplies :  - (8) cubes (wood, plastic, etc.)       * 3/4 Inch cubes were used in the video  - Duct Tape       * Fun tape can make cube more colorful  - Scissors  - Infinity Cube Story Template Page (Optional)  - Glue or double-sided Tape (Optional for adhering story template) Directions : 1. Place your cubes in a set of two rows of (4) cubes right next to each other.  Using four pieces of duct tape, tape the cubes into four groups of (2) cubes. (2) Top-Left, (2) Top-Right, (2) Bottom Left, (2) Bottom Right 2. Turn the entire set on it's side and use one piece of duct tape to connect to middle (2) cubes together.  Repeat on other side. 3. Lay your set of cube so that the first step is laying face down on the surface.  Use two pieces of duct tape to connect...

3 Examples of Sourcing Basic Electronic Parts A strip of RGB style LEDs, 1 SITUATION 1:             "We need more color and light in our lives!"      A common project for the modern electronics hobbyist is fun, colorful room lighting. There are many ways to come to a solution for this project, but we will only look at one. You can use a strip of APA102 RGB LEDs controlled by an Arduino to produce a programmatically controlled light sequence to fill a room with lights which might enhance other entertainment or be nice to look at on its own. You will also need an adequate power supply of the appropriate voltage (In the case of most APA102 that will be 5v but be sure to double check. Arduino are most commonly 5v). Be sure to buy a high quality power supply. You can also commonly find strips such as these available with a controller and power supply if you don't want to have a whole bunch of fun programming your own lights. These ...

Makerspace Live! - Pi/Arduino Blink A Transcript REFERENCES: https://raspberrypihq.com/making-a-led-blink-using-the-raspberry-pi-and-python/ Transcript:       Will:  "Hello Makers! Today on Makercraft Live we're going to make some LEDs blink! Blinking LEDs on and off is a common introductory task when learning about microcontrollers. We will be performing the same blinking LED example on both an Arduino nano and a Raspberry Pi 4 in order to show that although there are fundamental differences between these microcomputers they may also be used to produce similar results. We will also walk through the very basics of setting up a Raspberry Pi. We may occasionally venture into topics which are outside of the scope of this tutorial but we will try to keep it simple. Be sure to visit our Facebook and other social media and be sure to come in once we are again open to the public. Here's the stuff you're going to need: A Raspberry Pi: any edition ...

By Michele McNeilly   With the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been cases of fear, isolation and devastation that we watch every night on the news.  But out of this pandemic we have seen stories of courage, strength and generosity that have emerged from all points around the world.  We see our First Responders and Medical Professionals battling everyday to help those affected by this virus, risking their personal health to help others get better, to live and to thrive.  Our essential workers in the food and grocery industry work their day to day jobs stocking shelves, getting food to our families to make sure no one is left in hunger.  But this is also a time for Makers to offer their aide in the battle.   In the last few weeks there has been a global effort for anyone with a sewing machine or 3D printer to offer their services for local hospitals and healthcare facilities by making essential personal protective equipment (PPE). PPEs are clothing, ...