rippowamlabs

Zane brought his students over the finish line – and what was produced exceeded even his expectations …

Some Weekend soon, we are going to break out all the scopes and look at some stars! Stay tuned!!!

The students in our 3D Printer Onramp class arrived at our space last week with little or no knowledge of the world of rapid prototyping.  But, by the end of yesterday’s class, they had built their own Ender 3D Printer, flashed its firmware and learned to use Cura design software. And, now, the words CAD, g-code, firmware  are now part of their vocabulary.

We’d like to thank our teacher, Toby Cowles, for doing a great job teaching this class!!

 

 

The students in the 3D Printer Onramp class are having a blast during the build process!

The next step is to flash the firmware and to learn about the 3D modelling software.

So much learning and so much fun!!

Make sure to swing by Stamford STEMfest at Mill River Park on Sunday (September 30th). It all begins at 10 am and we’ll have a whole bunch of friends with us.

Zane will be there with his telescope. Toby will be there with his 3D Printer. John will have his motorized skateboard. Ron will have Speakerbike – tugging the Adirondack Chair he built (on his newly built bike trailer)! Many of the students taking classes at Rippowam Labs will also be there, showing off the robots they’ve created in the past year.

This is always a great event, so don’t miss out!!

We’ve got yet another cool STEM learning opportunity lined up for the Stamford area.  Local resident Zane Landers, who has been written up in Sky&Telescope as well as Time magazine for his work in astronomy, will teach students how to build a telescope powerful enough to see the rings of Saturn! (He’s holding the telescope you will build in the picture below.)

No experience is necessary for this. Students of any age can take part! The class will happen at our very own Rippowam Labs makerspace and all tools will be provided.

He’s built his own telescopes – and even ground his own lenses, so you’ll be working with an expert. His mission in teaching this class is to get as many people into astronomy as possible. And the telescope built in this class will be made to last.

The class will be held on Saturdays (October 27th and November 3rd) from 1 pm to 5 pm.

More info is available here …

We spent yesterday morning moving our new laser cutter into the space. This thing is a whopping 700 pounds and we could not have done it without our friends Bryce, Frank and Carl!!!

But, most of all, thanks to the wonderful generosity of Ben and Maria DeMott, a couple from the Waterside section of Stamford, who kindly donated this machine to us. This will be a powerful tool in our mission to promote STEM education in Stamford. (After we get it running, we have plans to invite the kids from the Trinity Park housing complex over. They’ll get a huge kick out of designing/building their own projects with it!!)

It was really incredible. It took us less than three hours to move this beast!! Thanks to Ron for planning the move and making it as easy as possible. He made this whole thing quite easy, when it just as easily could have been a nightmare!!

We hope to have the cutter in operation soon, so stay tuned for all the updates!!

PS Thanks to Anne for sponsoring a BBQ after the move!! The food was great and the brewskis were refreshing!!!

This is easily one of the best learning opportunities we’ve ever offered! Over the course of two 4-hour sessions in mid-October, students will learn how to build their very own 3D Printer – and then learn how to use it.

This is perfect for the person who has always wanted to dive into 3D printing – but never knew the right way of doing it. Local teen STEM phenom, Toby Cowles, has found the right printer at the right price and created a clear and easy-to-understand learning module that will make anyone a 3D printing maniac!

The kit contains everything needed, so when bring your 3D printer home after class, you are ready to hit the ground running.

Click here to learn more.

This is the first official time we’ve offered this class – but the results were nothing short of AMAZING!!

Ron Morse led two local teenagers – who had ZERO experience in using power tools – through a course that taught them the safe and skillful use of equipment that everyone should know to use.

Our Teens made some slight mistakes along the way – but they eventually got the hang of it. The final product showed just how much they learned!

The great thing about Ron was that he stressed SAFETY above all else! No one was going to get hurt in his class. But, after seeing that the kids had a healthy respect for the power tools, he set them free to do what they wanted. They actually developed some really serious skills!

One of our students even personalized his chair ..

The great part about this class is that it can be offered on nights and weekends throughout the rest of the year. So, if you weren’t able to attend this class, you can arrange your own classes by e-mailing me here.

If you’ve never met Ron before, you really should!! He’s got so many skills and abilities. He’s a Stamford treasure – and Rippowam Labs legend – who is willing to share his talents, skills and tools!!!!!!!! We all think he’s a great guy and I know you’ll like him too!!!

The students in our tutoring program have been having a lot of fun with their self-balancing robots. We make it balance using nothing more than batteries, a microcontroller, DC Motors and some code! This one balanced itself for 20 minutes before I shut it down …

We got the official word  and we’re bummed.  Yes, STEMfest has been cancelled … and postponed until the Fall.

But if you still want to see some cool science projects, come on down to our makerspace at 425 Fairfield Avenue in Stamford (2nd floor [above Longford’s Ice Cream]), to take a tour of our space and to see our Robot Army in action!

We’ll have some refreshments available – and you’ll be able to see our new collection of power tools available to our members.

Yup, STEMfest being cancelled is a very bad thing. But you can still visit Rippowam Labs, where it’s a science fair every day!!!!