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We’ve been lucky to have The Milwaukee Tesla Coil Builders bring their crazy contraptions to Maker Faire Milwaukee and put on an amazing show (you may remember Knight versus Tesla Coil from 2015.) Well, we were not disappointed in 2016, as they were back with an even better show, including a Faraday cage that people could stand inside while the Tesla coils did their thing.

Plans are in the works to have The Milwaukee Tesla Coil Builders return again in 2017… Who knows what they’ll come up with this year!?

Did you happen to see Hand Of Man at Maker Faire Milwaukee in 2016? Hand Of Man is a 26-foot long hydraulically-actuated human hand and forearm which is capable of picking up and crushing cars, and a glove device that controls it. Visitors were able to operate the hand and pick up (and drop) cars during the Faire.

We’re busy gearing up for 2017, but wanted to share this great video that shows some of the action from last year. Enjoy!

If you attended Maker Faire Milwaukee in 2016 you may have provided us with your zip code. If you wondered why we asked for your zip code, it’s to help us measure the reach of the event, and it’s really interesting to see where people came from, and how far they traveled to get to Milwaukee.

Check out the map above for the results. While the largest concentration of attendees is from Wisconsin (and specifically Southeastern Wisconsin) it’s amazing to see the different parts of the United States that people came from.

The Maker Movement is truly a global phenomenon, and we’re proud to be a Featured Faire, and the largest FREE Maker Faire in the U.S., and we can’t wait to see where 2017 attendees come from.

We’re excited to announce that Maker Faire Milwaukee will be back in 2017, and we’ve even got a date confirmed. Mark your calendars now for September 23 & 24, 2017!

We hope you’ll join us for our fourth year of Maker Faire Milwaukee, and look forward to bringing together makers of all kinds in the spirit of sharing and learning from each other.

If you want to keep up-to-date with announcements about the event, please sign up for our mailing list.

Sometimes it’s the simple things that are the most awesome. Ben Nelson applied as a Maker with the name D.I.Y. Dad and Friends and wanted to have something at Maker Faire titled “World’s Largest Doodle*” and it turned out amazing.

Ben’s got a great write-up on his blog about it. In a 20’x20′ booth he covered the floor with paper and provided 800 crayons for kids and adults to have some fun making drawings, doodles, art, or whatever.

The one suggestion we had for Ben’s project was to point a time lapse camera at it, so we could see it fill in over time, and he did just that. Here’s a video from the first day.

*Disclaimer: As Ben notes, this may not be the “World’s Largest Doodle” but it is the largest Doodle we’ve had at Maker Faire Milwaukee. Of course there’s always next year. 🙂

Adrian (our Nerdy Derby Champion) got a bit of help from Vishal at Milwaukee Makerspace in creating a photo kiosk to be used at Maker Faire so we could capture some of the Nerdy Derby action.

Here’s a few fun shots, but there are plenty more you can view over at Dropbox! Check them out! Maybe you’ll see yourself. 🙂

We’ve been working through the list of Maker submissions from our Call for Makers and we’ve now got 80 Makers approved and listed on the site!

Check out the list of Makers for 2016!

And don’t worry… There’s more coming! We’ve got a new batch in the queue and should have over 100 Makers listed on the site by next week.

If you haven’t submitted an application yet, there’s still time and space! We’ll have the Call for Makers open until August 1, 2016. We’re also still looking for Speakers, Workshops, and teams to compete in the Power Racing Series.

Westport Mini Maker Faire

For many involved in Maker Faires, they are about seeing and experiencing amazing things, and getting excited and inspired. Maker Faires are a lot of fun! But there’s another side, which involves the business community.

At the Westport Mini Maker Faire local businesses have found that Maker Faires are a great place to showcase new products, find new customers, and connect with suppliers, distributors, partners, and investors. (Check out the article The unexpected business impact of Maker Faire for more on the successes they’ve seen.)

Here in Milwaukee, there are a number of opportunities for businesses to get involved with Maker Faire. At the highest level, sponsoring Maker Faire Milwaukee helps us to continue to put on the largest FREE Maker Faire in the United States. Interested in sponsoring? Find out more!

If sponsoring the event is beyond what your business can do, we’ve got other opportunities for involvement. Get in touch with us via email at sponsors@makerfairemilwaukee.com to discuss.

Giant Clock

We’ve already told you about the GIANT CLOCK you’ll see at Maker Faire, and since we’re just a few weeks out, we thought you might like an update.

Tom

Tom Gralewicz at Milwaukee Makerspace has been leading the efforts, and putting time in every day to get this clock up and running for Maker Faire. The pneumatic nail gun makes putting nails in place quick and easy!

LC Gears

The small gears were all laser cut using one of the laser cutters at Milwaukee Makerspace. (Yes, they have more than one laser cutter!)

Motors

The gears are driven by these motors mounted inside wooden frames.

Gears

The smaller acrylic gears drive these larger wooden gears, which move the cubes.

Wood

The large gears were cut from 4×8 sheets of plywood using the (recently completed) 4×8 CNC Router at Milwaukee Makerspace. Here’s some of the 4×8 sheets showing where the parts were cut from.

Warning

With the large gears and strong motors, the clock is powerful and (slightly) dangerous! Warnings were needed…

Wood

More wood…

Wood

And more wood…

Arduino

Of course there’s an Arduino to help control everything…

GIANT CLOCK

Tom is 6’3″, and the clock will be about 8 feet tall by 16 feet wide.

The next two weeks are going to be a bit hectic, but the GIANT CLOCK should be up and running (and telling time) before 9am on Saturday, September 26th, 2015 when Maker Faire Milwaukee officially opens!

Thanks to Girl Scouts of Southeast Wisconsin and Girls in Tech for helping the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and the Milwaukee Makerspace test out some concepts for Maker Faire Milwaukee at the Girls in Tech event at Alverno College on June 23. Over 90 Scouts helped us build a trebuchet (gravity catapult), and they got some first-hand experience with our 3D printer, too.