Mat fab

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The Material Fabrication Sessions

Developing and sharing design techniques & hands-on fabrication skills useful for making material objects. Facilitated by John Magolske.

What, Where & When

What: An informal class covering the use of shop tools, with a focus on project-based learning.
When: 8:00pm till ~9:30 most Fridays (monitor the discuss list for exceptions)
Where: Noisebridge, 83C Wiese, San Francisco (near 16th St. BART). Map: [[1]]
Who: Folks interested in learning how to use tools to make physical things (you?)
Cost: Free, but people may be asked to pay for the cost of materials from time to time. Donations of tools or money to buy tools for Noisebridge are welcome.

The Plan

The plan is to cover in our weekly sessions the basics of how to:

  • use fabrication tools: hacksaw, vise, drill press, bench grinder, lathe
  • use some basic layout tools (machinist's square, scriber, centerpunch)
  • create and read dimensioned drawings that fully define mechanical parts
  • understand and follow safe shop practices

An initial project we're focusing on is making a small, portable book-press suitable for making pocket booklets. While we'll be going over the use of traditional basic shop tools, we also encourage thinking outside the box.

Additional project ideas / activities for consideration:

  • Enclosures for electronics projects (we're a bit limited in this regard until we manage to obtain a break press and some other basic sheet-metal working tools.
  • Vegetable scraper
  • Artwork & artifacts to spruce up the Noisebridge space (lighting fixtures, space organizing thingies...)
  • Using a sewing machine to make booklets
  • Making booklets that describe how to make booklets and tools used for making booklets
  • Sewing shop aprons & fabric tool organizers
  • Musical instruments (& then maybe segueing into a Friday night jam session with said instruments)