The Sector67 membership enjoyed the first monthly meeting of 2017 with some of their fellow craftsmen/women presenting current projects, completed ideas, and tidbits about upcoming events and gadjets. John showed us his subchaser model, Bob gave us an informative presentation on the C.H.I.P, Tim and Sara showed appreciation of our Director Chris Meyer for repairing a laser cutter for their school, Luke showed us how to make metal flowers, Adrian shared some of his designs for work he did for a client, and Scott and Quincy capped the night off with some information on classes for younger makers, hackers, designers, et cetera.
Members attentively listened as the presenters showed & told us what they are currently working on, have recently finished, or as the shared a tidbit.
Here is John immersing us all in his presentation of a 110ft WW2 subchaser boat. The table size model captured many marvelers as he told us how he designed the deck with wood, used a 3D printer for the people, and created brass deck rails. You can see more of John’s work here.
John pointing out the measurements of a tugboat he is working on. The original boat itself was built in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
This is a close up on the subchaser. The detail on the pants of the commanders are very artistic. Notice the bolts in the weapons and the trunk off to the left. 
Here in the aerial view, you can see more ammo in the trunk, the full range of the weapon, a third sailor holding another clip of ammunition, as well as, the search light at the right side of the model.
Bob was our second presenter of the night who mangled my brain informing us on the C.H.I.P (a small computer with 4GB capacity, and its ability to be substituted for the Raspberry Pi Zero if you don’t need HDMI and a bunch of other stuff. Thanks, Bob, for showing me that hardware is more than my cellphone.
Bob shared his pleasure of exploring the small computer and told us that the C.H.I.P actually has 512mb of ram, a 1ghz processor, and 4 gigs of storage space. According to Bob, the C.H.I.P is cheaper than a Raspberry Pi depending on your use case. Bob also mentioned that you could get one of these for about $9.
Next in line was Tim and Sarah who gave thanks to Chris Meyer for repairing their laser cutter. Their affection for Chris and Sector67 genuinely infected the crowd as they demonstrated how the cutter lacked precision due to some initial calibration issues. Tim, Sarah, and I spoke afterwards and I learned that Tim works at the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Sarah has been a student at Sector67 where she learned to solder and use the 3D printer.
Tim and Sarah takes time to pose for me following the monthly meeting
Tim showing us one of his students WSBVI holding her cross that was cut using the Full Spectrum laser cutter that Chris fixed.
Sarah describing the path of the laser and alignment challenges.
Here you see Tim showing us the hero who usually works behind the scenes.
Luke’s fascinating metal roses are a wonder. The rugged artistic expression of such a delicate lifeform is great. Take a look at the detail in the petals and the near perfect accuracy of the cuts and bends that Luke actually did by hand. I am looking forward to Luke’s next project!
Take a look at the detail in the petals. Amazing!
Luke shown here telling us how he started his project.
I captured some images of some rough cuts while Luke was speaking.
Sideview of a completed metal rose. Slightly bent copper tubing makes up the stem. Copper cuts makes up the leaves and petals on this one.
Here is Adrian unveiling some new signs for Alt Brewery, a gluten free brewery, on the near north side. Adrian told me that he likes working many tools at Sector67 for his projects.
Adrian is an industrial designer that recently completed some “bottle caps signs” for a client of his. He brought us some pictures and discussed some of the challenges he met while designing them. While speaking to me, Adrian told me that he likes Sector67 for all of the tools and the great networking. In fact, Adrian found out about Sector67 from a friend.
Adrian explaining how the the lighting in this model illuminates the whitespace inside and around the logo.
Lastly, Scott and Quincy shared some of their success in running a youth class around metalworking with hand tools the in the past month. They’re hosting another class coming up soon if you’re between 6th grade and high school and interested – learn more and sign up here.
