Join today’s new revolution in creativity and community: hackerspaces. Stop letting other people build everything for you: Do it yourself. Explore, grab the tools, get hands-on, get dirty…and create things you never imagined you could. Hack This is your glorious, full-color passport to the world of hackerspaces: your invitation to share knowledge, master tools, work together, build amazing stuff–and have a flat-out blast doing it.
Twin Cities Maker co-founder John Baichtal explains it all: what hackerspaces are, how they work, who runs them, what they’re building—and how you can join (or start!) one. Next, he walks you through 24 of today’s best hackerspace projects…everything from robotic grilled-cheese sandwich-makers to devices that make music with zaps of electricity. Every project’s packed with color photos, explanations, lists of resources and tools, and instructions for getting started on your own similar project so you can DIY!
JUST SOME OF THE PROJECTS YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT INCLUDE…
• Kung-fu fighting robots
• Home-brewed Geiger counter
• TransAtlantic balloon
• Twitter-monitoring Christmas tree
• Sandwich-making robot
• Interactive Space Invaders mural
• CNC mill that carves designs into wood, plastic and metal
• Telepresence robot that runs an Internet classroom
• Toy cars that are ridden by people
• Bronze-melting blast furnace
• Laptop-controlled robot fashioned from a wheelchair
• DIY book scanner
JOHN BAICHTAL is a founding member of Twin Cities Maker, a hackerspace organization that has been collaborating for almost two years. Based in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, Twin ities Maker has its own rented warehouse complete with a welding station, woodshop, classroom, and ham radio transmitter. Baichtal has written dozens of articles, including pieces for AKE, the D&D publication Kobold Quarterly, and 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. He has contributed to Wired.com’s GeekDad blog for four years and blogged at Make: Online for two, publishing more than 1,500 posts during that time. He is now writing a book about Lego.
Table of Contents:
Foreword 1
Introduction: The Bleeding Edge of the DIY Movement 3
It’s All About the Community 3
Hackerspace U 5
The First Wave of Hackerspaces 7
Hackers on a Plane 8
The First Hackers 9
Hackers and Crime 10
Pranks 11
A Love of Community 12
Project 1: Karate Champ Game 15
Hackerspace Profile: The Hack Factory 16
The Hack Factory Space Details 16
The Project 17
Project 2: Sudo Make Me a Sandwich Robot 29
Hackerspace Profile: NYC Resistor 30
Space Details 30
The Project 31
Basic Building Steps 36
Further Reading 37
Project 3: Networked Geiger Counter 39
Hackerspace Profile: Tokyo Hackerspace 40
Tokyo Hackerspace Details 40
The Project 41
Further Reading 48
Project 4: Glass Block LED Matrix 49
Hackerspace Profile: Hive13 50
Space Details 50
The Project 51
Project 5: Bronze-Melting Blast Furnace 57
Hackerspace Profile: Quad City Co-Lab 58
The Project 59
Project 6: Milkymist VJ Console 65
Hackerspace Profile: /tmp/lab 66
Space Details 66
The Project 67
Further Reading 74
Project 7: White Star Trans-Atlantic Balloon 75
Hackerspace Profile: LVL1 76
Space Details 76
The Project 77
Further Reading 87
Project 8: Twitter-Monitoring Christmas Tree 89
Hackerspace Profile: Alpha One Labs 90
Space Details 91
The Project 91
Project 9: Live Wire Go Game 99
Hackerspace Profile: BrmLab (Hackerspace Prague) 100
Notable Equipment 100
Space Details 100
The Project 102
Project 10: Hack Signal 109
Hackerspace Profile: Hack Pittsburgh 110
Space Details 110
The Project 111
Proeject 11: TARDIS Photobooth 119
Hackerspace Profile: Pumping Station: One 120
Space Details 121
The Project 121
Project 12: Interactive Space Invaders Mural 129
Hackerspace Profile: Metalab 130
Space Details 130
The Project 131
Further Reading 138
Project 13: Telepresence Robot 139
Hackerspace Profile: XinCheJian 140
Space Details 140
The Project 141
Further Reading and Viewing 149
Project 14: The Polyplasmic Arcophone ..151
Hackerspace Profile: The Perth Artifactory 152
The Project 153
Project 15: DIY CNC Router 159
Hackerspace Profile: Harford Hackerspace 160
Space Details 161
The Project 161
Building the Model 166
Converting the Model to Toolpaths 166
Further Reading 168
Project 16: LED Matrix Gaming System 169
Hackerspace Profile: Forsknings-avdelningen 170
Space Details 170
The Project 171
Additional Resources 178
Project 17: MAME Cabinet 179
Hackerspace Profile: theTransistor 180
Space Details 180
The Project 182
Project 18: Book Scanner 189
Hackerspace Profile: Ace Monster Toys 190
Space Details 190
The Project 191
Further Reading 198
Project 19: OpenDuino 199
Hackerspace Profile: syn2cat 200
Space Details 200
The Project 202
Further Reading 208
Project 20: Project-a-Sketch 209
Hackerspace Profile: HAC:Manchester 210
Space Details 210
The Project 211
Porject 21: Power Racing Car 217
Hackerspace Profile: Milwaukee Makerspace 218
Space Details 218
The Project 219
Project 22: Party Land Pinball Game 227
Hackerspace Profile: Garoa Hacker Clube 228
Space Details 228
The Project 229
Further Reading 234
Project 23: Store Front Music 235
Hackerspace Profile: Collaborative Research Association of Social
Hacktivity 236
Notable Equipment 236
Space Details 236
The Project 238
Further Reading 245
Project 24: Wheelchair Robot 247
Hackerspace Profile: Noisebridge 248
Space Details 248
The Project 250
Conway’s Game of Life 255
Additional Resources 257
Do It Yourself 259
Spread the Word 260
Decide on an Organization Type 261
Name Your Group 262
Hold Meetings 263
Create Bylaws and Rules 264
Choose Leaders 265
Raise Money 266
Find a Space 268
Equip the Space 270
Make Improvements 273
Keep It Clean 273
Secure the Space 274
Be Safe 274
Resolve Conflicts 275
Share Everything 275
Recruit New Members .276
Teach Classes 277
Help the Community 277
Now What? 278
Hackerspeak 281
