Yearly Archives: 2010

plant wheels

By hans | Published: September 4, 2010

New layers are being added to the carousel, and its slowly transforming into a man-eating plant!

Posted in Builds | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Quote for the day

By lnzy | Published: September 4, 2010

“You are not going to win with brakes”

Posted in Events | Leave a comment

Madagascar Institute finally does something for the children

By hans | Published: May 28, 2010

At Maker Faire San Mateo, ran The Wheel aka the carousel for lots and lots of people, including packs of children. Most of them couldn’t even reach the pedals, though many tried. We had about 5 or 6 people fall off the ride, none of them children. I guess that jungle gym training is good […]

Posted in Events | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

carousel time elapse

By hans | Published: May 20, 2010

Gaylen set up a time elapse camera above the carousel at Moscone West, so you can see the whole spiel, from setup to party to teardown:

Posted in Events | Tagged , , | 1 Response

The Carousel at GadgetFest/Google I/O

By hans | Published: May 20, 2010

No one got hurt, though we had about 6 people fall off. The stagehands were super helpful so we got out in record time. Next, Maker Faire!

Posted in Events, Parties | Tagged , , , | 1 Response

Mada in Popular Mechanics

By hans | Published: May 4, 2010

See for yourself, a Popular Mechanics love song to our very own Hackett! Some of us were behind him while it happened: Welcome to the Academy of Mechanical Arts and Ballistic Sciences

Posted in News | Tagged , | 1 Response

the next carousel test, now with fire and LEDs!a

By hans | Published: May 4, 2010

Thanks to J&M Special Effects just down the Gowanus four blocks, we ran a completely legal test of the entire carousel complete with 4 propane cannons and a tower of LEDs, all powered from the electricity generated by the generator on the middle. That means it all works! Sure, there were some kinks so now […]

Posted in Builds | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

carousel at a party

By hans | Published: April 25, 2010

Thanks again to Drew and Josh and all for letting us use their space! We worked all week on the carousel and had plenty of room to build, test and ride it. Then a party showed up at the space, and so we added that extra special mada touch to the party. Plus Mia brought […]

Posted in Parties | Tagged | Leave a comment

back when we built things with jets

By hans | Published: April 19, 2010
Posted in Events | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Response

how do we get this damn thing together?

By hans | Published: April 19, 2010

After a big production push in the mada shop, we moved over to the super big Gowanus Hotel space for the final assembly. Up until this very moment, we had a clear, simple idea of how these 8 custom plywood-wheeled bike things would go together. We threw that all out the window when we got […]

Posted in Builds | Tagged | 1 Response

It’s alive!

By hans | Published: April 18, 2010

Yesterday, we finally figured out the angle on one section, so we had to take it for a spin. The whole thing was just held together with C-clamps so we were fucking stupid to be going that fast. Everyone survived and much fun was had. Today was the first test of the whole thing bolted […]

Posted in Builds | Tagged , , | 2 Responses

carousel progress

By hans | Published: April 16, 2010

The carousel is coming along, tomorrow is the big first test! Here’s where we were as of last night:

Posted in Builds | Tagged | Leave a comment

Upcoming Classes

By hans | Published: April 12, 2010

We have three classes coming up this month: Beginning Mig Welding with Hans, $50 ($30 for members) plus a $10 materials fee. Sign up here for: tomorrow, Tuesday, April 13th 7-10pm Thursday, April 22nd 7-10pm Lis is also teaching the ever popular Make Your Own Absinthe in two sessions, 4/27 and 5/4 at 7pm. Sign […]

Posted in News | Leave a comment

first carousel wheel test

By hans | Published: March 23, 2010

We ran a test of the whole plywood wheel/axle/frame assembly and no one lost their balls in the process. Next carousel work shift: this Thursday afternoon 5-10pm. (video by Rivka) (video by Lindsay)

Posted in Builds | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

meeting notes

By hans | Published: March 15, 2010

We had a good meeting last night, we set the open shop days, ironed out membership details, discussed the carousel projects, and some even fixed the bandsaw. Hackett, Melissa, Mia, Leif, Julia, Rivka, Gaylen, Lindsay, Kim!, Hans, and Lis were in attendance. Lindsay testing the plywood wheel: Mia, Gaylen, and Melissa fixing the bandsaw:

Posted in News | Tagged | Leave a comment

New Open Shop Days/Hours

By hans | Published: March 15, 2010

At this meeting, a bunch of us signed up for our monthly open shop day duties, all full members should pick a day per month. Also, full members should post on the calendar when they’ll be there other times. Here’s what we have so far: Gaylen – 1st Tuesday 5-10pm Hackett – 1st Sun noon-8pm […]

Posted in News | Tagged , | 1 Response

Madagascar Lingo

By cautionMike | Published: March 12, 2010

madagascar squint: welding process perfected at the madagascar institute which eliminates the need for eye protection. This term (as far as i know) was coined by touch. gear Obtainium: free crap (off street, donated) we magically turn into “art”. NotAmerica: anywhere but here Veronica

Posted in Events | Tagged | 1 Response

Jet Bike Photos

By cautionMike | Published: March 6, 2010

[flickr-gallery mode=”photoset” photoset=”192913″]

Posted in Events | Leave a comment

popesiversary xi: the siege of mada

By hans | Published: February 16, 2010

To mark Popesiversary! it was essential to reproduce the effect of standing around in the cold while dodging fireworks aimed directly at the eyes. We opened fire from the backyard up to the fortified windows of the third floor. The window opened a crack and answered with a steady stream of roman candles. And no, […]

Posted in Events, News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

On VBS.tv’s Motherboard

By hans | Published: February 11, 2010

VBS.tv recently came by and spent the afternoon hanging out at the shop, and dug thru our archive of video footage, and put together a pretty nice little video about us:

Posted in Events | Leave a comment