Knight versus Tesla Coil
You see a lot of amazing things at Maker Faire, and this year we ended the event with Jake from Milwaukee Makerspace throwing on his suit of armor (the one he spent hundreds of hours making) and doing battle with our large Tesla coil.
Here’s Jake setting up his suit of armor to share with the crowd at Maker Faire Milwaukee. Below you can check out the video Knight versus Tesla Coil!
Update! Here’s another angle of the action!
Thanks for another great year!
We’d like to give a huge thanks to all the makers, speakers, workshop leaders, volunteers, and attendees at Maker Faire Milwaukee!
This year we had over 175 makers willing to share their projects and their passion with a record crowd, and we couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. (We also saw 45,390 attendees come though the doors of Maker Faire Milwaukee!)
We hope you were inspired by what you saw, and left Maker Faire with the desire to learn new skills, and make new things.
From the staff at Maker Faire Milwaukee, thanks again, and we’ll see you next year! 🙂
Maker Faire Milwaukee – Day 1
The first day of Maker Faire Milwaukee is complete, and we welcomed over 29,000 visitors through the doors. There’s a lot to see at Maker Faire, so here’s a few photos of what you missed, as well as a time lapse video of the crowd… And don’t worry, we’ve got another day to go!
Join us on Sunday, September 27th, 2015 from 10am to 5pm for the second half of Maker Faire Milwaukee. There’s so much more to see!
#MakerFaireMKE – Follow & Share
Remember when Chris Messina proposed using the pound sign for categorization and eventually it became known as the hashtag? Well, it doesn’t matter if you remember it, all you need to know is that #MakerFaireMKE is a great way to follow the posts about Maker Faire Milwaukee, and to share your posts with others.
If you’re a twitter user, check out #MakerFaireMKE for the latest, including posts letting you know what’s happening when on Saturday and Sunday. If Facebook is more your style check the #MakerFaireMKE posts there!
Meet the Makers – Chris Adams
Tell us about yourself.
When I’m not busy with my family or job, I enjoy building, tinkering, robots, woodworking and programming. In 1979 I bought my first computer, the Ohio Scientific Superboard II with 4K of RAM. I am a member of ChiBots. We meet once a month in Schaumburg, Illinois. Now that my kids are a little more independent, I can spend more time building stuff.
What are you presenting at Maker Faire Milwaukee?
I will be showing both of my Doctor Who robots. Nigel the Purple Dalek is almost 5 feet tall. My daughter Barbara drives Nigel like a tank, with 2 joysticks. She wears a headset so she can talk like a Dalek through an Arduino based voice modulator. When Barbara is not available, I operate Nigel by remote control. We will also bring K-9, a replica of the “tin dog” from the Doctor Who series. I built K-9 in 1982 while I was in college. K-9 was controlled by Vic-20 computer or a wired Atari 2600 joystick. His movements and speech could be programmed. Just recently I dug K-9 out of storage and started rebuilding the 33 year old robot dog. Read the whole story about K9.
Why is making important to you?
I was always fascinated with gadgets, machines and tools. When I get something, I want to know how it works. If it doesn’t work, I’ll fix it. I have a hard time sitting still, watching TV or reading. I’d rather be building, fixing or improving something.
What was the first thing you remember making?
As a very young kid, me and my brothers would play with Lincoln Logs and make cardboard box forts. We were allowed to use my dad’s tools. I remember making a sail out of an old curtain and attaching it to our wagon. It was square like a Viking ship sail. The wagon was very fast (and dangerous).
What have you made that you are most proud of?
Currently my favorite is the Purple Dalek. I like watching peoples response to this Purple Beast when we take him out to conventions and events.
Given an unlimited budget, what would you make?
I don’t know. Definitely a huge well equipped workshop. Possibly a giant autonomous robot named Malph. Maybe a small electric powered camper filled with tech toys… Give me the money and we’ll find out.
The First Preview…
Our team of organizers and volunteers have been working hard this week, and there’s already a handful of things set up at the Expo Center. Makers will start loading in over the next two days and fill up even more space, but here’s your first preview of what we’ve got in place so far.
It’s a Schedule!
You’ve been asking for it, and now you’ve got it! The Maker Faire Milwaukee 2015 Schedule is now available! We’ll have printed versions at the event, but you can peruse the online version now.
Start planning your weekend… it’s gonna be action packed!
Meet the Makers – Jessica and the PRT Rollers
Tell us about yourself.
I am a Milwaukee-based artist and Area Head of Print and Narrative Forms at UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts. I was traditionally trained in printmaking and book arts, and create large-scale print assemblages, artist’s books and hybrid media works. As a printMAKER and educator, I’m passionate about facilitating hands-on, communal workshop environments in and outside of the classroom. I, along with UWM and (now) MIAD students, often offer live printmaking events around the city.
What are you presenting at Maker Faire Milwaukee?
Last summer, I joined a group of Milwaukee Art Museum Print Forum members and we traveled to the UW-Manitowoc campus to see the “Really BIGPRINTS” steamroller event. I caught the bug and wanted to bring a similar event to Milwaukee! Presenting at Maker Faire is a wonderful venue for offering visitors a chance to ink and print their own works of art alongside Milwaukee-based emerging and established artists. At this event, established printmakers, Melissa Wagner Lawler and Jenie Gao along with several advanced printmaking students will be printing their enormous woodcuts! Bringing the community together and having people with ranging skill levels working in tandem is a wonderful way to showcase the Printmaking discipline and incredible talent in the area.
Why is making important to you?
I travel extensively and have learned traditional and ancient printmaking, binding, and paper craft techniques through shadowing master artisans. The process of making has been a catalyst for interaction. It transcends language and facilitates a deeper understanding of individuals, their cultures, traditions, and histories.
What was the first thing you remember making?
When I was a toddler, my dad created a pig-like form out of clay and gave me an orange-sized ball of wet clay. I embellished the creature with what I though looked like polka-dots, but really looked like warts. I still have it.
Given an unlimited budget, what would you make?
That’s a good question. I would love to start up a collective printshop that offers after school and weekend programs (centered around citizenship and collaboration) for talented youth and young adults. Members would learn printmaking and paper craft techniques via assisting with publishing endeavors, community projects, and workshops. I think it would be an amazing extension of what we do in the Print and Narrative Forms classrooms at UWM.
Meet the Makers – Bob Trocke
Tell us about yourself.
I have always loved math and science and problem solving and doing overly ambitious things with my hands. I knew I needed to be an electrical engineer as soon as I found out what that was. I love learning and acquiring new skills.
What are you presenting at Maker Faire Milwaukee?
I’ll be driving my full-scale replica R2-D2 around the faire. I officially kicked off this project in 1984, though I’ve made a lot more progress recently than in those first couple of decades. When I learned about the R2 Builders Group at a Discovery World Star Wars event a few years ago, I realized that most of the original barriers were now gone. R2 is a work in progress, and may never truly be “finished”, since there will always be a better computer or sensor to add.
Why is making important to you?
I grew up learning that when you need something, you make it, and when something breaks you fix it. My grandpa and dad were great tinkerers and makers, so I was lucky to have a pretty decent basement workshop, but most people didn’t have this. Now I love to see people walk into Milwaukee Makerspace who say they don’t know how to do things but want to learn, and a bunch of people jump in to help. There is so much generosity in the maker community.
What was the first thing you remember making?
My older brother Tom would make cool electronics projects and fix tube radios, and I idolized him and followed him around like puppy (which he did not appreciate). He told me to go down to our basement and build a flashlight from scratch, and then he might let me do more things with him. I used time-honored wood and nails construction, but it worked.
What have you made that you are most proud of?
That would have to be my daughter Kyra. It’s been fun working on her programming, though she is slowly turning into a Dalek. Or maybe a teenager.
Given an unlimited budget, what would you make?
I’ve always wanted to build a giant robot with six hydraulic legs that I could ride around, where each of the legs is based on the arm of a Caterpillar excavator. An unlimited budget would definitely help.
Meet the Makers – John Olafson
Tell us about yourself.
My name is John Olafson. I’m the VP and Co-Founder of SeeMeCNC. I am originally from the Seattle area, and moved to the Midwest when I was 13. I’ve been a maker and tinkerer my whole life. I grew up working on cars and dirt-bikes and motorcycles, but also spent a lot of time taking other things apart like electronics. I remember how I used to get in trouble sometimes when I’d get a birthday or Christmas present, I’d run in my room, where I had a pretty sweet workshop under my loft bed, and i’d take whatever it is I got apart to see how it worked. Most of the time, i’d get it back together before anyone found out. Sometimes they wouldn’t work. Those were the things I used to try to create other cool things out of, like mods for my RC cars etc…
What are you presenting at Maker Faire Milwaukee?
I’m bringing our amazing 3D printers to Milwaukee for the first time for us to show off what we do. I’ll ALSO have some of our newest products, our SeeMeFPV line of multi-rotor parts for FPV racing and fun fly multi-rotors. It’s become a major hobby/addiction for me and a few of the other guys around the shop like Guanu and JJ. So we decided to launch our own line and bring our amazing community and customer service to the world of FPV racing and multi-rotors.
What was the first thing you remember making?
The first thing I remember making was model cars. My dad had a lot of the old hot rod models, and I can remember making a lot of those, and painting them (poorly, I can’t art!)
What have you made that you are most proud of?
The thing i’m most proud of making is definitely the 3D printers. I’ve seen so many people using our machines for amazing, life changing things, such as the e-Nable project and other assistive technologies, and to be a part of the process in any way is truly awesome. I’ve met some really great people that do so much more than I could even think of. When they share what they created on our machines with us, it makes the whole shop kind of go ‘awww’ knowing that we’re helping people help others.
Given an unlimited budget, what would you make?
Hmm, unlimited budget, what would I make? For me personally, I think an electric car. It’s been on my list for a while to build a car I could drive to the shop and back. I have a big truck, as we drive all over the country to Maker Faires and have to haul our trailers full of stuff, so that’s not too economical when I’m home 🙂