So it was, yesterday AltLab meetup was full of win.
It started with someone showing off his project, Laser Tag… no, no laserish paintballish kind of laser tag, it was more graffiti tagging, but using a laser pointer, a video projector, a camera and a kind off nifty software :)
Everyone played with it, and headed back inside, it was a kind of chilly in the back alley.Next, João Neves and me went on a date with Violeta… It was a kind of threesome, but Violeta is AltLab Cupcake 3D printer!I tried printing a part from a Wallace, bat as usual, Violeta didn’t finished the print, and I was using my computer, so the plot thickens! :(

 

The problem is in the printer, now we’re certain of this! We scavenged AltLab junk… err… the nice and very organized warehouse for ATX PSU, and tried a few, but that didn’t, so we plugged the original one back, and it worked! Violeta is printing again, at least two parts for Franky (a mini-mendel) without a hitch, the future will tell us.

 

And the pièce de résistance was the first test of a stereo lithography printer… “what?!!?” it’s a 3D printer using photo sensible resin as a medium, very impressive piece of technology. They made some exposure tests to understand how long they need to expose the resin for a perfect cure, it’s around 15 seconds and they-re ready for the next layer :) A full of win day!

Don’t worry, he’s mostly harmless!
Basílio, a goodfella, a Lobster, a good friend and a Google SketchUp ninja!

Well, yesterday was AltLab meetup day, and the plan was: make a 3D model of an X axis carriage for a mini-mendel.

It was a success! After a few hours using Google SketchUp, we’ve managed to create a darn good looking carriage.
The next step will be print it and assemble it.

At least it’s what she said! Violeta… the printer, I mean :)
From the beginning, tuesday it’s meeting day atAltLab and I’ve discussed with Mauricio the possibility of using the Mini-Mendel with an adapter, a Pen Holder to write the pcb’s layouts. The X axis carriage from the Mini-Mendel was disassembled and after I’ve finished assemble it, it looked a little wobbly, and we don’t want a wobbly printer!
So, Thingiverse to the rescue, and we found theMendel Mini-Carriage, and of we go… to the Makerbot!!!
This was my first interaction with a 3d Printer, and everything went well… until… when the print reached about 1cm of height, the extruder decided stop the extrusion… damn!
We started over, but there was a suspicion over the laptop, so we’ve tried using the SD Card to print… it didn’t work! Now the suspect is the version 3 firmware… and the laptop… it’s a cabala or lack of luck :p
Did we give up? No, of course not, we’ve selected a smaller piece of the Mini-Carriage and pressed “BUILD”, and all went as expected, the first piece of the Mini-carriage was a success!
Let’s try another… and all went well.. until the 1cm of height… the extruder failed again :p
It was getting late, so we’ve closed the shop for the day… err… night.
But not everything was lost, we’ve plotted a plan to develop a Gen8 electronics, just wait for it :)

Today went back to AltLab for a little learning experience. A great friend of mine, Fernando Afonso, came to Lisbon to the launch of MEO Kanal, a product he helped bringing to life. Since he was here, he was invited by AltLab to give a small workshop on “PCB Making… The Fernando Afonso way”. :)The method used was Toner Transfer, where you print the circuit layout with a laser printer on cheap magazine paper (the more glossier is better), then, with the toner side over the copper side and woot… the “sandwich” off it go into a slightly modified laminator (around 10 times) and the it’s submerged in freezing cold water.The low quality magazine paper it’s easily scrubbed off the pcb and it’s ready to the acid bath.
We used Acid Cupric Chloride as etchant, when the pcb is submerged  it turns into a… kryptonite green… spooky I say!

In the end we’ve got a Generation 7 Electronics pcb for the Prusa Air… next step, buy the components and soldering it :D

The response from the students, teachers and organizing comittee was great and we look forward to colaborate some more with the people of Vila Verde in the near future!

In total we showcased 7 projects.

Drawdio – An esoteric electronic instrument invented by some folks at MIT exploring the conductivity of graffite on paper or just common water. The user closes the electronic circuit through touch, triggering sound through a small speaker. Showcased by Ricardo Lobo and João Gonçalves.

GroundSpines Graffiti – The laser tagging prototype developed at xDA, inspired by theGRL laser tag system. This project was originally developed by Tiago Serra, Tony Gonçalves and Victor Martins to beautify abandoned buildings in Coimbra. Showcased by Pedro Salgado.

RC Micro Machines – Originally developed through a sprint session with people from the different AZ Labs, maintained by Nuno Barros, Ricardo Lobo, João Gonçalves and Pedro Salgado. Showcased by Nuno Barros.

AnonMirror – An interactive installation about social activism in our society. Made by Filipe Cruz using OpenFrameworks, Kinect and a wrapper developed by Victor Martins.

MakerBot – Ricardo Lobo showcased and did some live maintenance fixes on “Catarina”, one of the two AZ Labs Cupcake Makerbots we have. Printing some whistles and showingThingieverse.

New Picasso – A kinect controlled robot that paints the floor. Users wave their hands in front of the kinect to send commands through Arduino to the servo motors of the robot. Project by Guilherme Martins, Pedro Salgado and João Gonçalves.

Teleforma – Project by Ricardo Lobo, João Gonçalves and Mécia Sá dealing with the relationship that people have with speech and conversation. The project is based on a mechanical physical interface that allows two users to translate visually the form of their speech.