Member Meeting Minutes for February 3, 2010

Agenda

• Welcome New Members
• Recent News
• Upcoming Events
• Council Election
• Wall Debate

Minutes by Agenda Topic

Attendees: Matt S., Dean, Marek, Mandy, Andy, Matt M., Chris (New!), Bonnie, Isaac, Val, Lorrie, Forest, Logan, Willy, Gwen, Doug, Derrick, Jon Speicher, Joshua Smith

Welcome New Members!

• Welcome Chris!
• Welcome Willy!

Recent News

• Powerpoint Karaoke 2 Fridays ago.
  • Jim may have some video of it. We should get it!
• Atari Punk Console workshop last Friday was a great success. All kits were sold, some twice. :)
  • Anyone who would like to get a kit but didn't have a chance, we have 25 more boards. Tell Matt S. or Andy if you are interested
• We have a wall! It separates the workshop from the main shop area.
  • There is video on the blog!
  • Finishing touches remain. More discussion later.
• Trash!
  • During the wall building, the big trashbins were bagged up. This sucked.
  • So: loose trash goes in bags, not in the big bins.

Upcoming Events

• This Friday (Feb 5): Intro to Documentation Lighting w/ Bonnie and Matt M.
  • How to set up a light box at home
  • Bring cameras and projects to photograph!
• This Tuesday (Feb 9): Make:PGH at HackPittsburgh!
  • Two speakers - Matt M. and Laser Harp, Marty and MakerBot
  • Surprise guided project!
  • Open discussion
  • NOTE: We need presenters for March, April, etc! Send email to info@makepgh.org
• Wednesday (Feb 10): Discussion of Electrical buildout
• Next Friday (Feb 12): Hacker Olympics!
  • Matt S. will get us started with our parallel Olympics. Details will be announced leading up to the event.
• Friday After (Feb 19): Arduino + Gumband SMS
  • Sayan will show us how to use Arduino, a prepaid cellphone, and gumbands API to collect data from the Arduino
• Sunday, Feb 19: Next members meeting
• Friday, Feb 26: Intro to Ponoko
  • Forest will teach us about the Ponoko laser cutting service

Logan suggests a class on Mead! Ideas seems well liked

Council Election

Nominees:

• Marty McGuire
• Andy Leer
• Matt Stultz
• Matt Mets

Motion is made to vote in all nominees by claim. Seconded.

Motion passes with all "aye"s except for one abstention.

Wall Debate

Matt S. makes a proposal:

• spackle the wall to cover seams between plywood
• cover the bottom ~8 feet with whiteboards (which we have already)
• shelving above for longer-term storage
• move projection screen to the new wall
• clears the current projection wall for shelves and workspaces

Doug makes a proposal:

• projection screen in the center
• shelves on either side

No decisions have been made.

Special Guest

• Lawrence M. Hayhurst - Head of CMU Collaborative Machining Center
  • Proposed that CMU combine its disparate and limited machine shops into a larger collaborative shop
  • Trying to bring attention to this idea by example.
  • Inspired by Berkeley community machine shops.
  • Aware of other companies in Pittsburgh that also like the model. Might be able to make donations.
  • Might be able to help us acquire/test machines?
  • And help teach people how to use them!
  • Wants to make sure real machining skills are passed on!

Action Items

• Anyone
  • Take charge of the wall!