Spring 2014 Maker's Club

Welcome to the Maker's Club. My name is Dan Kirkpatrick. I am a lifelong programmer, inventor,
and entrepreneur. I am a parent of two ACS children, Calvin and Corinne. I am volunteering my time
to head up the Maker's Club, along with ACS teachers Dr. Read and Mr. Furlow. The club receives no
funding from ACS, although the school has provided access to the classroom, computers, and
electronics toolkits used by the Digital Skills class.

I conceived of the idea for the Maker's Club based upon my personal experiences with the Maker
movement. I have seen the joy and excitement children of all ages experience when presented with
hands-on DIY electronics and programming projects.

The learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math offered by these projects are
as varied as they are fulfilling. We'll cover the basics of programming, electronics, robotics, and CAD
(computer-aided design) through a number of student-directed projects. Through these projects, we
will introduce concepts of physics, electronics, design and engineering, algebra, trigonometry, and
calculus.

Students will be instructed and assisted with basic programming skills. In addition, the students will be
able to choose among four specialties, Programming, Electronics, Robotics, and Design. The
specialties will include hands-on projects to enhance the learning process.

Programming
Programming serves as the foundation for many Maker projects. All participants will be taught basic
programming skills using Scratch and C. Students wishing to specialize in programming will be
offered additional instruction in JavaScript or Python.

Electronics
We will be working with breadboards, Arduinos, and discrete electronic components to learn the
fundamentals of electronics and circuit design. The school has generously offered the use of their
Arduino electronics kits to the club. These kits, however, must remain at the school, and must be
disassembled at the end of each club session. I have put together several additional options that can be
purchased for a modest cost that allows the students to take their projects homesee the Optional Kits
page for more details. The participants will learn how to prototype circuits using a breadboard, how to
solder, and the basics of electronic circuitry.

Robotics
Students choosing the robotics route will be taught the basics of robotics design, learning how to drive
sensors and motors to build autonomous robots. This route will require one or more of the optional
robotics kits. See the Optional Kits page for more details.

Design
Students choosing the design route will be taught the basics of FreeCAD and SketchUp, two free
software packages that can be used to design 3D components that can be printed on 3D printers or
milled on CNC routers. Participants will be taught the processes required to control 3D printers,
including the use of a component slicers and printer controllers. Designs also can be sent to one of the
3D printing and milling service companies available in the greater London area.

Optional Kits

I have assembled a number of kits that the students can purchase and take home with them. I have
worked with the members of the Surrey-Hampshire Hackspace and the London Hackspace to source
the electronics components in bulk to minimize costs. No profit is made by myself, although kits
include a very modest surcharge that is donated to the hackspaces for their efforts in designing and
assembling the kits. In all cases, the costs of the parts are comparable to or cheaper than anything
available commercially. If you have your own Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or electronics starter kits, feel
free to bring and use them instead.

Electronics Starter Kit 30 This includes all the components needed to get started with basic
electronics circuitry. Contents include an Arduino Nano, an Arduino Shrimp with UART, a
breadboard, and basic electronic components needed to complete a number of projects we'll
implement in class.

Arduino Uno Electronics Starter Kit 55 This includes everything in the 30 Electronics Starter Kit,
as well as on official Ardiuno Uno, for a total of 3 Arduino devices!

Autonomous Robotic Car components 15 Includes everything needed to build an autonomous
robotic car, including an Arduino Nano, motors, wheels, and the car chassis. The design for this
is provided by a member of the Surrey-Hampshire Hackspace, Albert Hickey, and has been
used by a number of primary and secondary schools to teach circuitry and programming.

Raspberry Pi Robot Kit 30 This is a robotics kit that is built around a custom PCB, designed and
built by a member of the Surrey-Hampshire Hackspace, Alan Wood. The kit consists of a set of
motors, motor controllers, and robotics components that can be used to build autonomous
robots that use a Raspberry Pi as the controller. The kit requires a Raspberry Pi to be purchased
separately.

Raspberry Pi Model B with 8GB SD Card 35 This is the legendary Raspberry Pi computer. This
comes without a case, keyboard, mouse, or connecting wires.

Nophead's Mendel90 3D Printer 615 In my experience with 3D printers, this is the most advanced
and polished of all of the RepRap open-source 3D printer designs available. It is designed
and sourced by the Manchester-based Chris Palmer, known by his online moniker, Nophead.
Nophead is among the most active and well-respected contributors to the RepRap world of 3D
printers. The kit takes around 30 hours to assemble, and requires some skills with wiring,
soldering, and electronics assembly.

Surrey-Hampshire Hackspace Mendel90 3D Printer Price yet to be determined, likely 500 The
Surrey-Hampshire version of the Mendel90 3D printer. This includes a number of
modifications on the original Mendel90 based on experience gained from building more than 50
3D printers. Parts are sourced in bulk when >20 orders have been received by the hackspace.
The members of the hackspace donate their time and skills to assist with the assembly and
tuning of the printers.
Online Resources

Maker Resources:
http://makezine.com/ - The Make magazine helped to jumpstart the worldwide Maker Movement back
in 2005. In addition to the magazine, Maker Media publishes getting started kits and books.

http://www.makerfaireuk.com/about/ - The 2014 UK Maker Faire is a 2-day family friendly festival of
invention and creativity, bringing together over 300 hackers, crafters, coders, DIYers and
garden shed inventors from across the globe people who love to make stuff and who want to
share their passion with the public. I attended the 2013 Mini Maker Faire in Brighton with my
childrenit was a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend it to others with similar
interests. This year's UK Maker Faire is held in Newcastle on April 26-27, with Mini Maker
Faires being held in Brighton in November and in London in December.

Electronics Resources:
http://www.element14.com/community/welcome A community of electronics hobbyists, presented
by Element14, the company selected by the Raspberry Pi foundation to manufacture and
distribute the Raspberry Pi computer. The Element14 TV section, in particular, has a number of
excellent video tutorials to get people started with electronics, Arduinos, and Raspberry Pis.

http://winkleink.blogspot.co.uk/ - A personal friend of mine, his Arduino-compatible robot will be the
basis for one of our projects in the Maker's Club. Like me, he also has a passion for teaching
children the joys of making things with electronics.

Coding Resources:
http://www.codecademy.com/ - The primary source that we will use in our Maker's Club to learn to
code. Excellent online tutorials allow for self-directed learning in a number of programming
languages, including JavaScript, Python, HTML/CSS, PHP, and Ruby.

http://www.programmr.com/ - Another resource for learning to code in a variety of languages.

http://scratch.mit.edu/ - Scratch is a free programming language developed at MIT aimed at teaching
children basic logic and programming skills.

3D Printing Resources:
http://www.thingiverse.com/ - The largest online repository of 3D printable designs, all available for
free. Users can upload, download, and modify designs of 3D parts.

http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap The RepRap was the original open-source 3D printer. Their website is
a fountain of information on a variety of 3D printer designs.

CAD (Computer-Aided Design) Resources:
http://www.freecadweb.org/ FreeCAD is a free and open-source CAD software package that allows
people to design 3D objects with a graphical user interface.

http://www.openscad.org/ OpenSCAD is a free and open-source CAD software package. Unlike
FreeCAD, OpenSCAD uses a programming model where designers create 3D objects using a
simple domain-specific programming language.

http://www.sketchup.com/ A closed-source CAD software package that comes in free and for-pay
versions. Although it is a general purpose CAD tool, it focuses on the creation of architectural
3D objects.

Online Stores:
Here are a number of stores I have purchased from in the past. I am not affiliated with these in any
way, but I have found them useful for purchasing electronics and services.

http://www.makershed.com/default.asp The official store for Make Media, containing a wide range
of books, kits, and projects

http://oomlout.co.uk/ - A UK-based online shop that provides a number of starter kits for Arduinos and
basic electronics. This is where the Arduino kits used by ACS are sourced.

http://uk.farnell.com This is where I buy many of my electronics supplies. They offer excellent
prices and product availability, but you need to know what you are looking for.

http://hydraraptor.blogspot.co.uk/ - Nophead's Mendel90 3D printer, available for 615 (includes VAT
and shipping). I personally own a Nophead Mendel90 and a Makerfarm I3 Prusa. Through my
involvement with the maker community, I also have worked with a variety of other 3D printer
designs, including the Printrbot Simple, RepRapPro Ormerod, MendelMax, I2 Prusa, and a
number of other custom designs. Nophead's Mendel90 is the highest quality 3D printer I have
seen for under 2500. The kit takes about 30 hours to build, and does require some expertise
with electronics, soldering, and kit assembly.

http://www.shapeways.com/ - The first and largest online 3D printing service. They are capable of
printing user-designed objects in a number of materials, from plastics to ceramics and metals.

http://www.3dprint-uk.co.uk/ - A local London-based 3D printing service. Using a type of 3D printer
known as an SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) printer, finished parts are capable of having higher
accuracy than is capable from most hobbyist 3D printers. Prices start at 0.10 per cm
3
.

Glossary

Arduino: A single-board microcontroller. This is a small computer of sorts, with a variety of flexible
inputs and outputs that can be connected to input devices, sensors, and motors. Due to its
flexibility, simplicity, and low cost, it serves as the brains for a variety of electronics projects.

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardUno
http://shrimping.it/blog/shrimp/

Raspberry Pi: An inexpensive single-board computer developed by the UK non-profit, the Raspberry
Pi Foundation. Based on a MIPS processor and a Broadcom chipset, it is a fully functional
computer capable of running the Linux operating system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/

UART: Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter. This is used to communicate with and program
microcontrollers, and commonly uses a USB or a serial interface.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_asynchronous_receiver/transmitter

Breadboard: An solderless electronics prototyping tool that allows people to design and test electronic
circuits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadboard

RepRap: The name given to open-source 3D printer designs capable of printing plastic parts. RepRap
printers are designed to be self-replicating, capable of printing many of the components used by
the printers themselves. Common RepRap printer designs include the Mendel, Mendel90,
Prusa (I1, I2, and I3), and Rostock.

http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap

Solder: Solder is a fusible metal allow, typically with a low melting point, that is used to join together
electronic components. Solder typically comes in the form of a spool of wire, and requires a
soldering iron to melt the allow to fuse components to a circuit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder

PCB: A printed circuit board consisting of a plastic substrate, copper etchings for a circuit, and
mounting points that allow electronic components to be soldered to the circuit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printed_circuit_board





Hacker: A word with many definitions--for the purposes of this class, a hacker refers to a hobbyist that
makes innovating customizations or combinations of retail electronics and computer equipment.
A primary distinction between a hobbyist hacker and a security hacker is that the hobbyist
hacker creates and makes things, while a security hacker breaks things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(hobbyist)
http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html

Hackspace: A co-operative space where makers and hackers meet to design and build electronics,
computers, robots, 3D printers, and much more. Most hackspaces are run by non-profit
organizations aimed at promoting knowledge and skills with making and creating things. I am
affiliated with the Surrey-Hampshire Hackspace and the London Hackspace.

http://sh-hackspace.org.uk/
https://london.hackspace.org.uk/

Slicer: A slicer is used in the 3D printing and milling processes to take 3D objects designed in CAD
programs and generate slices. Each slice represents a single, thin 2D layer, and contains
special codes, known as Gcodes, to control a 3D printer or a CNC mill. 3D printers print
slices layer-by-layer to build up 3D objects, while CNC mills cut away empty spaces in a block
of wood or metal to cut away 3D objects.

http://slic3r.org/
http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Cura
http://kisslicer.com/
http://reprap.org/wiki/Skeinforge

GCode: This is the most common language used by 3D printers and CNC mills used to control the
robotic motors to build 3D objects. Developed in the 1950s and standardized in the 1960s, it
was utilized by CNC equipment. With the advent of 3D printing over the last 30 years, GCode
became the de facto standard used by hobbyist and professional 3D printers.

http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code

FDM: Fused Deposition Modeling, the most common technology used by hobbyist 3D printers.
Essentially a hot glue gun mounted to robotics, this technique melts and deposits plastic,
usually from a spool, layer by layer to build a 3D object. The primary patent regarding FDM
expired in 2009, sparking an explosion in interest in 3D printing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling

SLS: Selective Laser Sintering, another technique used by some commercial 3D printers. This
technique uses powder plastic, ceramic, or metal that is fused together by heat using a high-
powered laser. The patent for this technique expired in January 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_laser_sintering

SLA: Stereo Lithography, another technique used by some 3D printers. This technique involves the use
of a liquid resin that hardens when exposed to ultraviolet light. The resin is composed of plastic
polymers, and is similar to fingernail polish and to resins used in dentistry. The resin is
exposed to light that comes from a laser or from a light projector, building up 3D parts layer by
layer. This technique is patented by Chuck Hall, and is owned by 3D Systems, although the
patent expires in 2015.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereolithography