Regular Member Meeting 2014 05 13

Time and Location

May 13, 2014

Called to order at 2013 by Dan B.

Members present: Dan, Mirage, Ben, Kevin, Katie, George, Travis, David, Phil, ITG, juri, Shawn

Others present: Rob, Bobbie, 2 others.

Quorum? need 14.

Quorum met? Called Lee for quorum on one proposal.

Approval of Previous Meeting's Minutes

Regular Member Meeting 2014 04 08 (not voted on)

Recognition

Dan: Thanks to all for the help at USAEF. Reminds all that if you want to represent Hac at such events, you don't need approval.. just commitment. Thanks to those are pursuing the free legal help that has been offered.

Ben: Travis, mirage and all that have helped with getting the spiffy new 3DPs!

Director Reports

President's Report

Wants to know what we need to change in order to have enough members at the monthly meets in order to reach quorum. Please provide feedback as to whether on not we need to change the meeting time or other ideas.

Vice President's Report

n/a

Treasurer's Report

Here is the financial summary spreadsheet for April 2014: File:HacDC Financials 2014 04.pdf. We gained 3 members in the past month: Harry Detwiler, Travis Brown, and Robin Bell. We lost one member, William Gibb. We have 48 dues-paying members in good standing, 9 dues-waived members, and 3 members who are behind on dues. We have filed IRS Form 990-N (Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax for small organizations whose annual gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less).

Project Awesome

Here is the Project Awesome spreadsheet for April: File:HacDC PA Projects-2014 04.pdf. Between less income from dues/donations and higher expenses from the truck rental for the SEM, there was no surplus this month and thus no Project Awesome dividend. :(

Secretary's Report

My pleas to the gods to slow the Earth's rotation by a few hours a day have, sadly gone unanswered. Unfortunately, this means I'm resigning my position as Secretary.

I'll still be around, but have become too neglectful of things secretarial to continue holding the position in good conscience.

Director-at-Large Reports

Ben

nada

Zach

Nothing to report at the moment, I was traveling a lot this past month. El Presidente and I looked over the donated 60" TV LED issues last night, and Dan is going to see if he can rustle up a replacement for the ONE DEAD LED that is keeping the screen from working.

Project Awesome Reports

Project LASER

Dan cleaned the laser from the Splat run. It was quite nasty. We're considering buying a more powerful laser as the current laser is at the edge of the kind of utility we want. Looking at replacing guides with rails to increase accuracy and lifespan.

Project KITBUILD

In preparation for the 2014 Summer School session, Project KITBUILD foresees a related kit build for rookies in late June or mid-July. Because Summer School participants are required to buy their own supplies, none, or little, of Project KITBUILD's funds would be used unless soldering irons need mending or more power strips are needed.

It would be fun to have a more advanced kit build before or around that time. More on this under New Business.

Project SUPPLIES

Last month's expenses included:

• ~$100 for 2kG 3mm PLA filament.
• ~$5 for batteries.

Next month's expenses are expected to include:

• New end mill bits to replace broken drill bits for PCB pre-milling/drilling.
• 3D printer supplies/parts.
• SEM supplies/parts.
• Possibly parts for the optical table if not funded otherwise.

Project EXPANSION

Have not ordered bandsaw yet, been busy with USASEF.

Project SPACECAM

Kevin: going to leave projector cart with instructions near arcade machine. We need to to work towards cleaning the meeting room, getting rid of some of the older furniture. For the upcoming summer classes we need better infrastructure (bandwidth) and the space should be more functional.

Dan & Ben: we should get rid of the arcade machine.. Ben will try to get in touch with owner, whoever that may be.

Member Reports

Dan B

Wants to start working on rewiring (power and ethernet) of the meeting room. Could use help. Will re-post request for help on list-serv. Kevin can help on Sundays.

mirage335

USASEF

USASEF was absolutely awesome. We had several demos, including Dan Barlow's plotter, a logic analyzer, some amateur radio equipment, possibly a working byzantium node, Dan Barlow's HeNe laser projector, and my own working Category:BiosignalAmplifier. Our table was by far the best staffed and best equipped of any local hackerspaces.

Travis picked up a free Cube printer from 3DSystems. Hopefully, this 'appliance' 3D printer will help guarantee we have an operational printer at all times.

After making contact in person, and proceeding with some follow-up, SeeMeCNC shipped us a free Rostock Max kit, the absolute best-value printer on the market. Julia Longtin is taking care of assembly for that printer, as well as Shawn Wilson's own Rostock Max.

Given we now have two 3D printers, including one of the proposed types, I consider the budget approved (officially unconditionally, unofficially conditionally) at last month cancelled, with no plans to spend it.

Photolithography PCB Fab

Modified an EEPROM timed UV exposure box, laser cut new PCB exposure jig, and improved software toolchain. Have now fabricated full-scale high-resolution PCBs suitable for complex circuits.

Practice is required to evenly develop/etch the PCBs. Follow the tips at Category:Photolithography_PCB_Fab .

Parts Library

Generic high-quality parts library under construction in mini-drawers. Emphasis is on the ability to rapidly prototype high-performance 2.7-3.3V analog and digital circuits.

Unnecessary Mess

Two members lost valuable cleanup time straitening out work surfaces. That time could otherwise have been used to free up more space instead. Apparently, making it absolutely clear this behavior is highly unhelpful has been insufficient. Wish we had RFID logs to personally draw attention to the individual responsible.

To be clear, this does not refer to the legitimate mess created during 3D printer commissioning, which was easily and neatly packed up this morning.

New Business

Proposal on having Ben become the Secretary and Travis becoming Director at Large (taking Ben's place). Passed (Thanks Lee!) by member vote. Dave Mc. is no longer Secretary.

via Alberto

It would be attractive to have a more advanced--Project KI on having Ben become the Secretary and Travis becoming Director at Large (taking Ben's place).TBUILD sponsored--kit build before or around the 2014 Summer School session in conjunction with an AVR programming-related workshop. Please chime-in via the Members list if you feel you can run 2 - 4 workshops on AVR programming and you and Project KITBUILD can look into getting a custom PCB manufactured to serve the curriculum. (The Late) Elliot Williams has already expressed that he would be honored to have the Eagle files for his AVR project board reused or modded. Perhaps his newly published book can serve as a course supplement. I'm pretty sure I can finagle an instructor copy from Make Books gratis.

New Members

Brian: Oceanic, EE, interested in 3DP and PCB Duly voted in.

Rodney: previously visited a few years ago, cyber security. Interested in Beagle bones. Duly voted in.

Adjournment

Adjourned at 2127 by Dan B.