Thursday (Jan 19): HeatSync Labs Goes Up in Spaaaaace!

Patrick's Talon heads for the sky on an Aerotech K695R motor. Photo by Chris Anderson

(Thurs Jan 19) 7:00 pm|az @ HeatSync Labs - Kipp Hall

This Thursday, January 19th, we'll be hosting a talk on model rocketry by Geoffrey from the Superstition Spacemodeling Society. We will be going over the effects that modern technology has had on rocketry as a sport and a tool for teaching the next generations of engineers and scientists. Geoffrey has seven years of rocketry experience and has achieved the High Power Rocketry Level 3 rating, the highest NAR rating achievable and has competed nationally with the local club, who has been number one for six years straight.

After Geoffrey's talk, Ryan will be going in to where the lab fits in to all of this. We have all of the tools in the space to make these model rockets from scratch, whether it's 3D printed, or machined, so why not put them to use? It's the perfect hobby for people of all ages and interests, what is cooler than making highly explosive things fly up in to the air?

All HeatSync Labs meetings are open to the public for free; Cover charges are for Scottsdale night clubs! If you really want to give us money though, t-shirts, membership and sponsorship subscriptions will be available and hustled aggressively by our volunteers.

HeatSync Labs is located east of Robson on Main Street at:
140 W Main St.
Mesa, AZ 85201

(Friday) Hot Topics!

Beware of Sharks! Photo by Betsy Weber

This Friday, HeatSync Labs will be hosting the latest in our series of unfortunately titled lightning talk nights, Hot Topics! Much like Ignite, TED and Noisebridge's Five Minutes of Fame, these talks give the community the chance to show off all of the awesome things they are working on. We've an exciting lineup this time around:

• Ryan Rix - Introductions to Hot Topics
• Jasper Nance - Easy Peasy Anodeezy
• Prescott Ogden - Five Most Important Skeinforge Settings
• Jim St. Leger - Driving Electric: First hand impressions of living with an electric car
• Hunter and Tanner Schineller - Introduction to Glass Fusion
• Ryan Rix - Hackerspace Management
• Will Bradley - RFID Interlocks
• Michael Christianson - Rebelhold

Hot Topics will be this Friday starting at 7:00 PM sharp. Bring a friend, and bring something awesome to work on afterwards!

All HeatSync Labs meetings are open to the public and free. If you really want to give us money, though, we will be accepting donations and selling tee shirts, Arduinos and more!

HeatSync Labs is located east of Robson on Main Street at:
140 W Main St.
Mesa, AZ 85201

Thur (Dec 15): Converting a Kawasaki Ninja to Electric

(Thurs Dec 15) 7:00 pm|az @ HeatSync Labs - Kipp Hall

We bumped into Barry Greig at the Phoenix Maker Faire this year and were wowed by his awesome electric conversion for his Kawasaki Ninja 250R. Come on down to the lab where Barry is going to roll the bike right into the lab! He'll be talking about:

o Donor Bike Selection
o Motor Selection
o Jackshaft - Purpose and Fabrication
o Battery Pack Construction
o Battery Management System (BMS)
o Controller and Contactor
o Motor Mount Fabrication
o Instrumentation and Low Voltage Electronics

Join us this Thursday at 7:00pm to see this thing up close.

All HeatSync Labs meetings are open to the public for free; Cover charges are for Scottsdale night clubs! If you really want to give us money though, t-shirts, membership and sponsorship subscriptions will be available and hustled aggressively by our volunteers.

HeatSync Labs is located east of Robson on Main Street at:
140 W Main St.
Mesa, AZ 85201

Wed (Dec 7): Arduino Night

The HeatSync Labs Arduino Wall. Photo by Jacob Rosenthal

We're sure to be busy for this Wednesday night's Arduino night. First, if you started your Arduino with Mitch Altman but didn't finish, tonight is a great night to stop by and finish up! Plus we've got the Mesa Arts Creativity Festival working group stopping by to arduino-fy an upcoming installation. And of course we'll be hosting all the usual Arduino hackers. Stop by, bring your project, and play with our toys.

All HeatSync Labs meetings are open to the public for free;  Cover charges are for Scottsdale night clubs!  If you really want to give us money though, t-shirts, membership and sponsorship subscriptions will be available and hustled aggressively by our volunteers.

HeatSync Labs is located east of Robson on Main Street at:
140 W Main St.
Mesa, AZ 85201

Reminder: This Saturday Mitch Altman will be Teaching Arduino For Total Newbies!

A completed Boarduino! Photo by Benjamin Hollis

Hope you've registered if you're interested in learning to solder, code and hack with Mitch this Saturday! His Arduino for Total Newbies class is officially filled up! If you're registered, this post serves as a reminder to be there, though you probably did not need it! Be sure to arrive before 1:00 PM on Saturday so that we have time to set up and get ready for the class.

Just because the class is full, it doesn't mean that you can't show up though, and hack on something! Mitch will be hanging out before and after if you'd like to just hang out and chat, or show off the cool project you've been working on! We will also be working on a special secret HeatSync video project, as well! So stop by, whether you're soldering, storyboarding, hacking or any other awesome things you can come up with!

This Friday (Nov 11): Hot Topics and Steampunk Street III!

Photo by dreamexplorer. Distributed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

Friday 11 November 2011 7:00 pm

Hot Topics - Lightning talks!

Hot Topics is our unfortunately named lightning talks series modeled on events like Ignite, Ted, and Noisebridge's Five Minutes of Fame. Talks are <5 minutes and generally revolve around creation and hackerspace culture.

Tentatively Scheduled:

• Jacob Rosenthal - Introductions Photo Tour of Hackerspaces
• Justin Benore - Anodized Screen Printing
• Chad Stearns - The Mathematics of Musical Harmony
• Willow Bl00 School Factory, Space Federation and Game Save (pre recorded at 1:02:00)
• Intermission
• Scott Bailey - Draw bot build update
• Ben Rady - Hack N Cheese (pre recorded)
• Katherine George - SouthWest Scrap Exchange
  An Introduction to Reuse Centers

Don't be scared, its totally informal and fun. Send an email to jacob@heatsynclabs.org with your topic and title and we'll look to program you for this month or next.

Mesa Artwalk - Steampunk Street III

ALSO 2nd friday is the Mesa Artwalk. This week, Steampunk Street 3! Don't miss the awesome people, costumes and art.

All HeatSync Labs meetings are open to the public for free;  Cover charges are for Scottsdale night clubs!  If you really want to give us money though, t-shirts, membership and sponsorship subscriptions will be available and hustled aggressively by our volunteers.

HeatSync Labs is located east of Robson on Main Street at:
140 W Main St.
Mesa, AZ 85201

This Saturday (22 Oct): Halloween Hack



Only at HeatSync Labs! Photo by David Huerta

Come down to HeatSync this Saturday for our first Halloween Hack night! We'll be open tonight and all week with our tools and resources for you to start working on a kickass costume or prop. From knitting to sewing, from laser etching to lathing, to electronics and soldering, we will be at the Lab making awesome things.

This hack night also opens up our Halloween contest; either Send us a video showing off your completed work, or drop by on Halloween and our judges will pick their three favorites to win $5, $20 or $50 in gift cards! So let's get hacking, and make something awesome!

Saturday (Oct 15): Mini MakerFaire Phoenix!

MakerFaire WordCamp trip 09. CC-BY by jeremiah.andrick

Makers, Hackers, Do-ers, Tinkerers and Breakers of the Valley unite! This Saturday, HeatSync Labs will be hosting the Hacker Pavillion at Phoenix's Inaugural MakerFaire.

Maker Faire is a newfangled fair that brings together science, art, craft and engineering plus music in a fun, energized, and exciting public forum. The aim is to inspire people of all ages to roll up their sleeves and become makers. This family-friendly event showcases the amazing work of all kinds of makers – anyone who is embracing the DIY spirit and wants to share their accomplishments with an appreciative audience.

We will be hosting a ton of awesome things in the pavillion, including Scorche's awesome Lockpicking village and Schuylar's Makerbot 3D printer along with the rest of our awesome Young Makers! Our good friends at Local Motors will also be on hand showing off the Rally Fighter and the plans for their next Open Source car!

The event promises to attract the Valley's best makers, so don't miss out! We'll also be hosting a supar seekrit MakerFaire After Party near the event, so make sure you come by and say Hi and get an invite!

Phoenix MakerFaire 2011 is located at 3rd Street and Roosevelt in downtown Phoenix and will be starting at 11:00 AM, ending at 7:00 PM.