Hi folks,

My name is Dave Cross. Jared Perez - local DJ and Ableton Live User Group leader - suggested I visit here. I live in Middleton and work for the UW (computer stuff, not a researcher).

I'm starting a business making high-end custom music controllers for performers. Some of you may know about Matt Moldover? He built his own dream controller after years of work. My goal is to do that for other professional musicians - those without the time or patience to do everything themselves.

Anyways, I'd love to be involved with this collective in any way. I'll try to keep up with these forums and contribute when I have the time.


Dave

Thanks for the intro, nice to meet you

There are quite a few of us related to UW one way or another. For now we're meeting monthly on the first Tuesday and looking for space to locate Sector67 in the next month or so, at that point we'll ramp up meetings and start membership dues for anyone interested in using Sector67 tools and equipment, it'll always be free to come and hang out though.

Have you built many electronics projects previously? You'll probably want to start with something a little simpler that what Moldover built but it's certainly not hard to get to that level in a hurry, the electronica audio effects aren't super difficult to generate and there are a lot of people working in that area, as you said, getting an interface that makes sense and works with the artist is the tough part

You can grab an RSS feed of the forum here if it's easier for you to check that periodically?

Hope to meet you at the next meeting!

Thanks for taking the time to respond. My first controller I built in 2006: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/08/1 ... eton-live/

I'm taking the custom PCB route this time around - that mess 'o wires is embarrassing IMHO.

I really like etching a board, I've found that even if you do point to point/etc and it works once you can never ever get the second one to work. The only thing with etching a board is that you're guaranteed to make mistakes on the first one, but after you get them worked out you can make thousands with no additional issues.

If you need help etching/laying out/etc a board let me know. I'm not an expert but I've been making boards for a few years now and have a lot of the beginner quirks worked out of etching them at home, after you get through the first iteration or two then I've found it's appropriate to pay out ~$30/board online and get them made, but that's an expensive way to work out the first round of bugs.

Hi all. I'm Dave, from Cross Plains. I'm a mechanical engineer at Isthmus Engineering, a custom industrial automation company. At home I make stuff, but almost exclusively structural and mechanical, no electronics. And that's a good bit of why I'm here: I'd like an intro to DIY controls with the various devices available these days.

Since I get to do a lot of design and assembly professionally, I may be able to help out with physical analysis, finding sources for mechanical components, and tips on manufacturing methods.

Hope to run into a few of you at the session on August 29.

Dave

Hi! I am [under 18 not putting name]
I am in central Wisconsin, if there is anything online I can do online to help I will.
I want to learn how to make electronics and make software, however I am not
that good at it yet. All I have to make things with is my 40 watt soldering iron
however that is good for now.

When I am in Madison visiting sometime or if I end up going to school there I will drop by.
But I am trapped here until then.

-Error1954

Conor here, I am 25 live in Sun Prairie and work for the UW in IT. I love building cool projects with my computers and my fiancee loves them as long as I keep them together long enough for her to use them too. My favorite project so far is my NAS server, holding all my tv recordings and movies from my MythTV computer.

Hi all. My name is Scott and I live on the near East side of Madison. I subscribed a while back and have been lurking, and was very pleased to see the space is about two blocks from my house. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I've had a life-long interest in DIY and hacking, and finally have the time to put out an introduction. With two young kids a lot of my former hacking time is now spent on other pursuits (although one of my strongest interests is integrating hacking and parenting, and I do spend a fair amount of time pursuing that).

I now spend most of my professional time consulting (I work for a small local firm), working on enterprise Java middleware.

Academically, I have a BS EE + CS major from UW '95. I worked on campus at ADP and then DoIT during that time.

Project-wise, some of the more interesting stuff I've worked on is:
* From scratch 2 axis (stepper motor) robotic 200 CD changer (second place '94 UW engineering expo individual award). The thing was the size of a small fridge, and my iphone now holds more music .
* Small-scale plastic injection molding machine (using plans from a book by Vince Gingery). I've used this to make toys with the kids.
* ~500 watt wind generator from the plans by Hugh Piggott (http://www.scoraigwind.com/axialplans/index.htm). I have all the molds, coil winders, etc. for this project if anyone is interested.
* This summer we started a tree house, including fabricating Garnier limbs for tree attachment (pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53600968@N ... 867651528/)

My current interests are mainly:
* Metal working and fabrication, including welding (oxy/acetylene mostly), sheet metal work, lost wax and sand casting (aluminum primarily), and metal lathe work.
* Wood working
* Arduino, although I have really only dabbled so far
* Practical alternative energy projects

I have followed a lot of the RepRap type projects, but haven't taken the leap to try and build one. I have worked on small-scale CNC mill setups and have quite a bit of CAD experience.

I look forward to meeting some of you, and might be able to make one of the upcoming meetings.

Scott

Scott, you and I overlap on interests quite a bit (and stage-of-life realities). I've got a bunch of scrap aluminum at home waiting for me to figure out how to cast it, and I remain impressed by the fellow at BrickArms and his molding-at-home operation. But my kid (18 months) is proving to be a frequent project as it is.

Hope to run into you at one of the events!

Dave

Hi, I'm Sarah.

I'm a graduate student in food chemistry and engineering at UW. My thesis is on chocolate, but I also love homebrewing. I've done small scale metalworking for awhile now and am very excited by the possibility of having a place where I can hammer/solder without drawing the ire of my apartment neighbors. Working with PMC is my next goal. I'm also hoping to learn lost wax casting eventually.

Cheers!