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Open House! Jan 17, 6-11pm


Please feel free to repost the below text to everyone you know!  We want to fill the space with makers!Saskatoon Techworks is Saskatoon’s hackerspace. We are a non-profit community of people with a common interest: making things. We have built a shared workshop where members can share tools, work on projects, and socialize. We have many tools for electronics, wood and metal working, and arts and crafts. We even have our own home-made CNC mill!We are holding an open house on January 17th at 6-11pm which is free for the public. We will have projects and demonstrations to check out, free food and drinks, and live entertainment.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to make things and wants a place to meet people and work on projects, Techworks is the place for you. Come by on January 17th and meet the crew!

Saskatoon Techworks is located at 220 20th Street West in the Two Twenty Coworking space, Studio D in the basement. For more info, visit our website: sktechworks.ca.

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TechWorks Open House!

Tuesday January 17, 2012 we will be hosting an Open House from 6-11pm.  Admission is free, so come check out what TechWorks is all about.  Chat with current members, see some of the cool projects, get some free munchies, maybe take Goliath for a spin…  Find out why TechWorks might be a good place for you!

We are located in Studio D of the Two Twenty (220 20th St W).  See you there!

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Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 14th

Our next monthly meeting is next Wednesday, Dec 14th at 7pm in our secret basement laboratory (Studio D, 220 20th St W). Note that this is not on the usual 2nd Tuesday of the month, since many of our members can’t make that date. If the new date causes problems for anyone please let us know ASAP!

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Project Showcase: TouchCNC Android App

I have been working on an android app that allows you to control Ryan’s CNC router (“Goliath”) directly via touch. After a few iterations, I’ve got an app that I’m quite happy with. It supports circles, rectangles, lines as well as freehand. The app also lets you specify your cut area and cut depth on the fly (check out Tic Tac Toe take 2 for a good example of why defining cut area on the fly is useful). Check out the forum thread that describes the app in more detail.

Here are some demo videos of the app in action:

Smiley face demo (full demo of all features)
Tic Tac Toe, take 1 (first trial)
Tic Tac Toe, take 2 (continuation of first trial)

Thanks to Ryan for designing such an incredible machine and to Albert for filming/editing.

– Jeremy

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Analog game day: Nov 27

Yes, analog games! Board games, card games, whatever. We’ll have a big stack of games on hand, but feel free to bring your favourites. Sunday, November 27th, starting noonish. As usual, all are welcome to join us.

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Our CNC capabilities just got a boost.

I want to give a huge thank you to Robert at GRZ Software LLC.  He has graciously donated a license to Saskatoon TechWorks Inc for his awesome CAM software “MeshCAM“.  It’s the bridge between your 3-D CAD file and the CNC Router.  I’ve used this program in the past and it is extremely powerful yet easy to wrap your brain around.  Even better, it’s the “MeshCAM Art” version which can take images as the input so you don’t need to know how to use CAD programs at all!

Robert even threw in a license for “CutViewer CNC Simulator“.  This lets you run a virtual cutting process and see what the finished piece will look like before cutting (it’s never quite as you drew it thanks to round cutting tools, inside corners, etc), and see if your program is going to break a bit before it happens!

Please check out the linked websites for more info on both programs.  We will be hosting a workshop/tutorial on them and if you or your employer have a need for some CAM software you should definitely consider MeshCAM.

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Next meeting: November 8th

It’s that time again! Our next monthly meeting will be held on November 8th in our secret basement lab (Studio D, 220 20th St W). Everyone is welcome, so come on down and check us out if you’re curious.