Hub Talks

The aim of Hub Talks is to get people talking about projects they've made, or are making. The idea is to inspire other people, show examples of what can be made at the Hub, and generally build a community around making.

Each month we plan to have a headline speaker who'll describe one of their projects in depth. After the presentation there will be an opportunity for a Q&A, and for anyone else to talk-about or show-and-tell their own projects in a more short-form/ad-hoc fashion.

October 18: John Dunkle will present his Chemistry Lab Kit: I call it the OER Chemistry Lab Kit (OER for Open Education Resources). I began working on it about 3-4 years ago while teaching online chemistry for the Community College. I was inspired by a need to make chemistry labs more authentic than 'kitchen chemistry', which was the case for the courses I taught. I wanted to introduce automation to introductory chemistry students at a reasonable cost. I have put together a kit that uses the Pi Pico W to control instruments basic to running chemistry experiments. The Core lab kit includes 3 servo driven syringe pumps, a load cell scale, temperature sensor and heater. There are separate Experiment Modules for running specific experiments.  I have written programs in Python to calibrate the pumps and scale, as well as some basic experiments. The lab kit is built from 3D printed, laser cut and purchased electronic parts. I would like to demo the Color Wheel experiment at the presentation.

September 20: Luko Krnan & Stephen Warren. A series of short talks on projects they've made. Luko: Metal chess pieces on a lathe, with leatherwork for the pad on the bottom & the electronics and software of our wood CNC machine. Stephen: Building a new router table top with Vcarve and the CNC machine & LASER cut painted heraldry "jigsaws".

August 16: Steve Poehlman. Learn about how we combined several projects found on the internet into the automation found around the Creator Hub. We'll talk about the automation that helps with the lasers, woodshop and lighting at the Creator Hub.

July 19: Steve Undy will talk about the RFID readers he designed for the Creator Hub. This involves ESP32 microcontroller programming, KiCAD PCB design, etc.

June 21: Stephen Warren will talk about the lanterns he'd made for medieval re-creation activities. This involves KiCAD PCB design, microcontroller programming, design with OpenSCAD and Inkscape, LASER cutting/engraving.

Registration is free.