Hacker Guild » Kris

Soldering Halloween project & Arduino servo motors

Kris — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 18:52:33 +0000

On October 19th, we had the Hackers in two groups again. The new members worked on building a circuit using LEDs, wires, a battery, and a PCB. Older members had another Arduino session that included an introduction to servo motors. We also reviewed Ohm’s Law with the group as many of them will need to be aware of it for the day’s project as well as moving forward with their robots.

A video posted by HackerGuild (@hackerguild) on Oct 10, 2014 at 4:26pm PDT

A video posted by HackerGuild (@hackerguild) on Oct 10, 2014 at 6:57pm PDT

Soldering and Arduino

Kris — Sun, 05 Oct 2014 18:32:14 +0000

After taking a month off for everyone to get back into their school schedules, we started up with a few new members! One of the last things we did before the break was to take a member survey. The mentor team felt this would be the best way to figure out what direction to go for the next few months. The feedback was great and the areas that really stood out as key interests for the kids were soldering, Arduino, and robotics/electronics. In the open feedback area, we had a bunch of great ideas from the kids. A couple of my personal favorites were ‘game hacking/Minecraft modding’ and ‘Raspberry Pi’. They really provided some great feedback, and the sum I took away from it was this; they are having fun with each of the projects, and, they have good ideas to take their own knowledge forward. This was so great to hear from them!

On October 5th, we had a soldering session for our new members, and an Arduino session for existing members. The new members walked through safety, building a simple circuit using a kit, and making their first soldering connections. Existing members had a refresher on Arduino. Both groups will eventually be joining together to build their own robots!

Stop Motion Movies

Kris — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 18:23:19 +0000

On August 17th, the Hackers worked in teams to create their own stop motion movies. Using papercraft, Legos, action figures, and other items they brought, they created some true masterpieces. After everyone had completed their movies we enjoyed viewing them as a group.

Enjoy the movies:

Hardware dismantle

Kris — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 18:10:23 +0000

On July 20th, we decided to have a day to dismantle hardware. One of the things the mentors had discussed was that many of us grew up building, and taking apart, our own computers. This is unfortunately becoming less and less common these days; most computers come as a device that is sealed up so the kids don’t necessarily have a lot of access to the pieces that make up a computer. We thought it would be eye-opening to get a bunch of old hardware and dismantle it. This allowed for discussion about what each removed part was, what it functioned as, and how it looked to each of the kids. Another great idea one of our mentors had was to keep a list of each country they see the parts coming from. I believe we had more than 10 different countries represented; this was great for the kids to see, a glimpse of how much was involved in the building of each of the devices they use.

Web Development with Twitter Bootstrap and Brackets part 2

Kris — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 18:03:06 +0000

On July 6th, we continued (see previous class) our web development classes using Twitter Bootstrap and Brackets.io. The kids did a great job and we hope to see them continue to build their own sites.

SpaceX Rocket Launch

Kris — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 06:01:56 +0000

On June 22nd, we had a very special event! Space X sent us incredible model rocket kits to build and launch. The kits were so well engineered and we felt extremely fortunate that they were nice enough to send one for each Hacker. (As you can see, the parents and mentors had a great time as well)

Web Development with Twitter Bootstrap and Brackets

Kris — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 17:34:19 +0000

On Sunday, June 8th we all met at the Microsoft Store to have a session about web development. The Hackers were taught how to modify the html and CSS of a pre-built Twitter Bootstrap theme. We installed the Brackets.io open source code development software and it was a great help. An example page for their sites is located at http://mentor.hackerguild015.org/

We were incredibly grateful to Microsoft for the use of their facilities.

May the 4th – Stormtroopers and Rockets

Kris — Sun, 04 May 2014 18:02:10 +0000

On May the 4th, we had a special Star Wars event! The kids got together to build their own Stormtrooper helmets. It was a fun build, and resulted in some wonderful and unique troopers! Check out the pics.

They also got to launch pressurized 2 liter bottles! One of our mentors build a launch pad using PVC, parts from a sprinkler, and a bicycle pump.

Once we had all worked up an appetite, we had a potluck at Admiral Ackbar’s Snack Bar that included Greedo’s Burritos, “That’s No Moon” Meatballs, Yoda Soda, a watermelon Death Star, Boba-Fett-ucini, Lightsabers, and TIE Fighter Ties.

May the 4th Be With You.

Crossbows and Matchstick Rockets

Kris — Sun, 27 Apr 2014 16:36:17 +0000

On Sunday, April 27th, the Hackers met for a fun day in the park. First up, they each crafted a pencil crossbow; using pencils, pens, rubber bands, and straws. The kids had a blast seeing how far they could send the straws flying.

Next, they built matchstick rockets; using matchstick heads, tinfoil, paperclips, and careful supervision of a lighter. Our launch platform was a nearby BBQ grill.

Papercraft Stop Motion

Kris — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 15:44:00 +0000

On Sunday April 6th, the Hackers got together to create Stop Motion movies. They divided into teams and picked out some favorite Papercraft characters, as well as action figures or props that they had brought to film. As a mentor, it was extremely enjoyable to see they work together to plan out how the characters would interact and how the storyline would progress. I think you’ll agree that they created some true masterpieces.