To the uninitiated, the Maker movement may be equal parts exciting and intimidating. On the one hand, it seems like anyone can go about building their own gadget thanks to low-cost microprocessors and 3D printers. On the other hand, soldering, milling, and following open source design plans seem like such technical skills that were, until recently, not really taught in schools. Makespace Madrid wants to make Making look a lot less scary by publishing its own Maker Survival Guide and they’ve turned to the Spanish-based crowdfunding site Goteo to do so.
After starting the space about a year ago, the group at Makespace Madrid started to receive interest from people outside of the community looking to get into the Maker lifestyle. What Makespace found, though, was that there weren’t a huge amount of resources to get people started easily. In turn, the group decided to create their own book that would outline a variety of simple projects to guide consumers to become prosumers. If funded on Goteo, Makespace will be able write quite an extensive series of chapters on everything from 3D printing to making rubber moulds and basic Arduino builds. And, by meeting their stretch goals, the guide will move onto advanced projects, such as DIY hologramming and synthesizing sounds with fresh fruit. A complete list of the chapters is below, with projects marked with “(O)” representing stretch funding sections.
Introduction to the maker movement.
- FAQ .
- Working in a workshop (O).
- Tools.
- Precautions.
- Experience at Makespace Madrid: hints, errors, lessons learned.
- Electronics with Arduino.
- Introduction to Arduino.
- Getting started with Arduino.
- Practical examples using Arduino.
- Other Arduino variants and derivatives (O).
- Arduino Yún (O) .
- Internet of Things or how to connect objects to internet.
- What is an Internet of Things.
- Bluetooth and mobile connectivity.
- How to connect a thermometer to the web.
- Processing and Android, how to use it to connect your objects through your mobile.(O)
- 3D Printing.
- Introduction to 3D printing using free hardware and software.
- Clone Wars project – genealogy and miracles (O)
- Design for 3D printing.
- 3D printing workflow.
- Hints to callibrate your 3D printer. (O)
- Recycling plastic: extruder machine to make 3D printing plastic filament
- Milling for PCB production.
- Introduction to milling.
- Preparing the workspace and precautions.
- Workflow to produce PCBs.
- Other uses of desktop milling machines. Practical examples with step by step instructions. (O)
- Laser cutting.
- Introduction to laser cutting.
- Preparing the workspace and precautions.
- Workflow.
- Silicone rubber molds.
- Introduction to creating low-cost silicone rubber molds.
- Preparing the workspace and precautions.
- Workflow to make one-sided molds and casting with rigid polyurethane.
- Vinyl cutting.
- Introduction to vinyl cutting.
- Workflow.
- Step-by-step instructions to replicate our best projects. (O)
- Holograms.
- Sound synthesis with fresh fruit.
- Using “sugru” for daily tasks.
- Interesting maker initiatives, spaces and projects running in Spain.
- Glossary.
If successful, the group – made up of more than 50 members – will be able to publish their guide under the Creative Commons license, opening up their projects and knowledge up to Makers and would-be Makers worldwide. With 20 days remaining, at the time of this writing, the campaign has reached €4,050 of its €4700 goal, but, because I really want to make music with fruit, I hope they can get to their stretch goal of €8,050.
Personally, I think that this project is one well worth funding. The group isn’t asking for a whole lot of cash, but with the small amount they’re requesting, Makespace would essentially provide a free text book for anyone wanting to start a Maker curriculum at their school or Makerspace. I can picture my own alma mater, CalArts, following each chapter of the survival guide over the course of a semester until every art student graduated with the ability to make complex technological projects with low-cost tools. If you’re with me, head over to the Goteo page and help this group out.
