{"id":6660,"date":"2016-04-11T13:56:17","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T18:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sector67.org\/blog\/?p=6660"},"modified":"2016-04-11T13:56:17","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T18:56:17","slug":"march-monthly-meeting-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sector67.org\/blog\/2016\/march-monthly-meeting-2\/","title":{"rendered":"March Monthly Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/a>

Listen to the Sound\u00a0of Science\"1-IMG_1386\"<\/h2>\n

Liam kicked\u00a0off the presentations with his\u00a0Arduino audio synthesizer project. \u00a0In essence, Liam used an Arduino Uno running many clock dividers to emulate tones. \u00a0He programmed the Arduino to accept MIDI serial commands\u00a0so it’s effectively operating as a MIDI tone generator with really limited resources. Liam’s presentation engaged many interested audience members – great job, Liam!<\/p>\n<\/a>

Lon’s Dragon<\/h2>\n

Sound’s like a great movie, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

Lon has been a metal artist for many years. \u00a0He always wanted to create a cool metal-sculpted gargoyle for his former home in Minnesota but never got around to it. \u00a0After moving\u00a0to Madison, Lon started tinkering with the idea of a metal-art dragon.\"Lan's
\n\"Close<\/p>\n

The metal “Dragon Bell”\u00a0is still a work-in-progress; created with a recycled argon gas tank, various types of metal, glass beads, guitar strings, and of course stained glass wings. Modification are still being considered… flame thrower nostrils maybe?<\/p>\n

Lon also shared a book of some of his other creative metalworks. \u00a0Thanks, Lon!<\/p>\n

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Photo Lightbox\"Joe's<\/h2>\n

Joe needed a light solution for use in photographing some very shimmery (and difficult\u00a0to photograph) nail polish products. \u00a0Rather than having to move the product multiple times to get just the right lighting, Joe used \u00a0Neopixel LED lights and an Arduino<\/span>\u00a0to control the lights. \u00a0Joe can encircle the subject and control individual lights rather than having to move the product. \u00a0In addition, Joe can control the brightness, hue, and color of the lights necessary for capturing the perfect image.<\/p>\n

Bright idea, huh?<\/p>\n

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Plug In Hybrid Conversion Packs<\/h2>\n

Eric gave a talk on surplus plug in conversion Prius packs that were originally sold by Hymotion (cells from A123) to take a standard Toyota Prius and turn it into an all electric (most of the time) electric car that plugs into the wall to charge. \u00a0The advantage of these packs is that you can get about 20 miles of almost all electric power, the problem is that Hymotion was sold to A123 (who subsequently went bankrupt) so there’s no longer any service available unless you talk to Eric as he owns and operates EVPowers hybrid vehicle repair<\/a> and is a battery\/EV wizard! \u00a0He walked us through what’s inside the battery and how to go about diagnosing them.<\/p>\n

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Look Who Made the Finals!<\/h2>\n

Three teams from Sector67 recently entered a makers competition sponsored by\u00a0Infymakers<\/a>.\u00a0All three teams\u00a0were selected as\u00a0finalists for a $10,000 award.\u00a0The teams were:<\/p>\n