RepRap Build-a-Thon

Concept

Join the HacDC and and the Baltimore/Maryland RepRap User’s Group (RUG) for a weekend of RepRap fun! Save the weekend of January 24/25 for our RepRap Build-a-Thon. Initial plans include a range of activities, including hands-on group construction a RepRap Darwin from the ground up starting with laser-cut acrylic parts. We are also planning on having several local RepRap builders on hand with their machines, and hopefully able to demonstrate them in operation, making stuff!

We would also like to invite some of the local technology media/blogosphere folks, and take the opportunity to not only demonstrate what these machines can do, but also to talk in general about the implications of readily-available (and self-replicating) rapid prototyping machines. Certainly a great opportunity to chat with some RepRap pioneers, have a chance to participate in a hands-on build, and to generally have a good time with some local hackers.

More information coming as the plans develop- watch this space! If you are interested in helping out, please let us know via the mailing list. If you have contacts in the local technology media, or know someone in the trade who would be interested in this kind of event, please let us know! See the movie post below for a time-compressed version of RepRap construction by one of the original designers- the time represented by the video is about four hours. Given enough participants, we should be able to do something similar in our two days!

Project Plan

In order to get this project under way, it will be important to have a schedule that is workable, given that we have a month and a half or so to plan and execute the event. Thanks to Nick for this first cut at what needs to be done. Over the following week or so, we will identify folks to take these action items and give them a due date.

0) Ensure the venue is sufficient

1) Solidify the schedule for the event:

• We have the Auditorium from 08:00 Saturday Morning to roughly 09:00 Sunday Morning
• Due to church activities, we'll have to shift quietly into the HacDC space or our Workshop until roughly 13:00 Sunday afternoon, when we move down to the Dining Room.
• Then we have the Dining Room until Monday morning.
• Do we need to schedule time on Friday night?
• Are we going to have classes, mini events, talks, etc? If so, what? We should try to make the event something that people can come check out for an hour, as well as have specific talks, classes, events, demos that people need to be there for at a specific time. (Otherwise, some people might not show up!)

2) Solidify the budget

• This event should be free and open to the public, like all HacDC events
• What are we going to realistically need/want to provide? Food? A machine for HacDC? Etc.

3) Publicity/Future

• How frequently do we want to blog about it on hacdc.org, possibly cross-promote on nycresistor.com, or other sites? Thingiverse?
• When do we want to really start hitting make, etc.
• What are we calling the event? Are we committing to doing something like this annually? Quarterly?

Proposed (DRAFT) Agenda

The draft agenda is available as a Google Docs spreadsheet- you can see the current version here. Current DRAFT Agenda