Then we made some music with the Drawdio mini-project.

The kits came from Adafruit. They also had some really good instructions.

Everyone was able to get theirs to work and we were able to create some cool sounds.  We still have more kits that you can buy. Contact Anca at Techliminal if you are interested. Check out the rest of the photos on Flickr.

First Andrew showed off a key chain wind up LED light.

You can find them if you Google “crank LED flashlight”. Andrew got his at the Exploratorium Gift shop. Then Mike showed is Pelteir can cooler.

He did all the machining and welding himself. However he said that he could not draw heat way from the Peltier unit fast enough so in fact he ended up with a heater. He is working on a new design with better heat sinking that should take care of the problem. Hopefully when he is done he can come back and show us the results.

After that Sam, our speaker for that evening, described the MakerBeam.

MakerBeam is attempting to create an open hardware mini-T system. It is like 80/20 but at a smaller scale and is for quickly making frames for PCB boards and other equipment. Eventually they want it to be flexible enough that you will be able to make robots using the system. The funding for the project came through Kick Starter. It is a really cool website for funding all types of projects from art and books to crafts etc. Check it out if you have project of your own that you need funding for. Currently MakerBeam has alpha prototypes and are in the process of redesign for the betas. They have lots plans for the future so keep an out eye for them.

After that we had some fun playing with some art cards including

.

We are having another meeting on the Tuesday the 9th at the reMake Lounge where Maker Beam will do another demo and we will have more art cards. For those of you who have not had a chance to see this stuff I hope you can come!

After testing all the bots developed some interesting refinements including various antenni, motor, and battery locations

Then there were some fast and furious races (or at least circles). Check out some of the videos below.

Lets Race!

The Championship

Trying to figure out the instructions on a wearable text display

Had  a great meeting at Tech Liminal in Oakland. It was the kick off for Electroween. They will be meeting every Tuesday night in October. Stop by and work on your costume, or other Electric Halloween projects.

Here are the photos

More details in the Make:SF Wiki

Last night we had a great turnout at Instructables HQ with a mix of regulars and new folks who decided to drop by before the dorkbot-sf meeting downstairs.

I posted a few more photos to the Make:SF Group on Flickr.  If you took photos last night, please add them to the pool!

As usual, presenters, you are encouraged to add a one line blurb about your talk to the wiki.

We had free back issues of the magazine, as well as T-Shirts for those who presented. (as well as some electronics kits, snacks and beverages!)

See you then!
-Andrew

Photos from the meeting are here:
Make:SF meeting photos

We have a new Flickr group pool, so feel free to join and upload photos!
Make:SF Flickr Pool