Madagascar Institute

October Classes

Becky Stern — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 11:37:31 +0000

Intro to MIG welding w/ Hackett
Tues. Oct 9, 7-10pm
$60 incl materials
MIG welding is the handy hot glue do-all kind of welding, the primary kind of welding used in making traincars, art, cranes, etc.

All sorts of people have come through Madagascar Institute knowing nothing about a shop and have become capable metal workers; get your start here. This class focuses on the hands-on experience of welding. You will learn a little of the theory and tech behind it, but mostly you will get a feel for the manual skill of welding.

3-D printing on the Makerbot Replicator w/ Colin
Sat Oct 13 2-5pm
$65 incl. materials

3-Dimensional printing. Think hot glue gun attached to a robot who can push forward/back(Y), left/right(X), up/down(Z). It’s that simple really. Or is it? Come find out for yourself.

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing. Dissimilar to cutting, milling, or lathe work, 3D printers draw from nothing to something. Layer by layer, creating a solid 3-dimensional object that can be held in your hand. From what you might ask. We will be printing with ABS filament. ABS is the same material LEGO are made of. The main idea we should take away from such tool as the 3D printer, is that we can make anything. You Can Make Anything! No experience neccesary!

EL Wire costume workshop w/ Becky Stern
Tues. Oct 16, 7pm to 9:40pm
$95 incl materials.

Just in time for all hallows eve, you’ll leave this class ready to light up the halloween parade. Or prepare yourself for the dreary winter and the change of seasons by lighting up your bike, your stilts, or your boots!

Learn to use EL wire to make light-up clothing and accessories in this hands-on workshop with Becky Stern, director of wearable electronics at Adafruit Industries. Bring a bag, stiff hat, a prop, pair of shoes, your bike or other item to cover with EL wire. Each student will receive an EL starter pack from Adafruit plus extra goodies. Tools, sewing supplies and adhesives will be available for use. No prior experience necessary.

Intro to TIG welding w/ Jim
Wed Oct 17, 7-9 pm
$60 incl materials.

TIG is the new MIG. The coolest thing about TIG welding is that TIG allows you to see exactly what is going on as the weld is executed, up close and personal, without being showered in splatter. Plus you don’t have to wear those bulky gloves.

This 3-hour introductory class will teach you the very basics of TIG welding. Artstar, professional welder and the 2nd biggest muscles at Madagascar Institute, Jim Tessen will familiarize you with TIG welding and give you the tips so that you can come back to the shop and practice on your own.

6hr MIG/TIG combo class w/ Jim
Sat Oct 20, 11-6pm
$125 incl. Materials

In this all day mig/tig combo class, artstar Jim Tensen will walk you through everything you need to successfully learn to weld. First, you’ll some basic theory, then you’ll learn how the MIG machine works, general safety, why you won’t get electrocuted, etc. Then you’ll move on to actual welding. Running a bead and tacks, butt joints and fillet welds. Finally, Jim will show you how to visually inspect and test your welds. You’ll also learn how to cut and grind your steel.

Then you’ll do it all again with the TIG welder.
This is our newest most popular class. No previous welding experience neccessary.

Dueling Mechanical Bulls, Maker Faire edition

Hackett — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:39:26 +0000

Small, barefooted people prepare to be humiliated. On the right, MB does an ancient dance of Canadian nerd rage. In the center we have Townsend: stunned; Leif showing his ability to slouch and lean on an invisible wall; Dale Dougherty and Philly, eyes asparkle, documenting. In the background are mocking reminders that we once had a space program. (Photo by gluetree on Flickr)

After a frenzied week of work the Bulls and all that was required to make The Show (costumes, signs, t-shirts, scheduling, kicky little neckerchiefs) got made and done, we got the things set up and running.

I WORE MY PLAID SHIRT JUST TO RIDE THE BULLS WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO TAKE OFF MY COWBOY BOOTS?
Photo by (Andrew Kelly for New York Hall of Science)

They did not work for more than a half an hour at a time, and were getting repaired more than they were running, but it is “Maker Faire”, not “Works every time right out of the box without a hitch Faire”, and we got a nice demonstration on the whole concept of weakest link.

The controls are just for show. Colin waves his hand, people fly off. That is how it works. He can do the same trick with your hat or your head. Do not piss off Colin. (Photo by Andrew Kelly for New York Hall of Science)

Cleaning the shirts you find in the trash is such a hassle, and kind of bougie sell-out. We just leave them encrusted with the hobo vomit and garbage juice, slap a silkscreen on, and call it “Dirty Merch”. You cannot complain about the smell if we warned you.

Vending table. We should have had a bar.

This is the shot of the kid wiping out. Notice the can’t look must look expressions of glee and horror on the faces of the crowd. Young bones heal fast.

Bouncy bouncy mat in its flaccid state

Jim and Colin remount the welded plate and axle. They did not notice that the top plate was bent down from the stresses of running, leaving another repair for later.

A part would break or shear or bind up- we would fix it, and then the next weakest bit would fail. Pins sheared, steel plates bent, welds broke, universal joints seized- the Bulls would work perfectly for a good twenty minutes, then start laboring and acting wonky. We would run increasingly unthrilling rides until the over-stressed motors would cause the electrical system to burst into flames, then we would shut down, repair. Repeat with new problem. With that said we got some great runs out of the thing, were one of the cooler things at Maker Faire, and made a child cry. Even better than making the kid cry was his mom, who berated him for being such a wuss.

This might look like a shot of Jim welding, but he is just pointing to the spot for Becky Stern to focus her laser beam eyes. Gingers have powers.

If you look closely, you can see that this bull mask still has a child’s head in it.

MB removes rainwater from the mat with the power of bouncy bouncy.

I am sure this photo looks a lot better if you biggerize it.

Meanwhile, the Bulls are barely working, at best. The big problem(s) was with the complicated moving parts we made from scratch- steel wheels on a steel plate, rocker arms and drive shafts. For some reason (and this is especially embarrassing to me, as I have devoted a good portion of my life to ripping off and reusing) none of us ever stopped to think “why the fuck are we re-inventing the wheel” (and in this case the metaphor is the literal thing. That is a rare enough phenomenon I am not sure there is a word for it. In this case, we were literally reinventing wheels, with crappier, less-round wheels.), and instead got bogged down in the turd-polishing of a complicated system where corners we did not even know existed (anyone think about case-hardening the wheels, or tempering the plate? Neither did I. I barely even know what that means.) got cut. Slow collapse ensued.

Becky included this photo just because she looks cute. (Photo by John De Cristofaro)

The guy in the middle spent days working on his costume, then took three hours of public transportation to get to Maker Faire. He was pissed at first that his was not the only bull-themed thing, but he came around quickly.

This rider does not know what he is getting in to. Colin does, and it amuses him.

Colin’s Powers dismount another rider.

Gaylen had the “well, duh” moment, but not until we were humping the Bull base into the back yard- why didn’t we use a truck hub and axle instead of making a complicated, breaky one from scratch? A finished, rated, road-tested axle, a part that rests on millions of dollars of R&D and thousands of hours of work from trained engineers, a part that is backed by the whole of industrial civilization and the constant threat of lawsuits, a part that is designed to withstand stresses we will never encounter (fat dude on the bull vs two thousand pound truck turning a corner at forty miles an hour) every day, all day, for years and years. That part that does the job so much better than the thing we sunk tons of money and time into costs $50, and I have a pick of different styles. Amusingly, it is a solution we have used numerous times, a solution that never occurred to me.

More photos in Becky’s Flickr set, Colin’s Flickr set, and add yours in the comments below.

Ride the Dueling Bulls at Maker Faire New York 2012

Becky Stern — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:13:47 +0000

Madagascar Institute will be in full bloom at Maker Faire New York 2012 September 29 and 30. We’ll be up on the hill near Coke Zero & Mentos– come say hi, ride the bulls, and pick up a t-shirt.

Hackett to speak at “Beyond Thunderdome – The Science of the Apocalypse”

Becky Stern — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:38:57 +0000

Beyond Thunderdome!: An Evening of Beer, Science, and the Apocalypse
Wednesday, August 22, 2012 | 7:15 PM – 8:45 PM
Lolita Bar (basement space), 266 Broome St.

Earthquakes! Disease! Technological meltdown on a global scale! The Empiricist League’s second FREE gathering will take place on Wednesday, Wednesday, August 22nd at 7:15pm at Lolita Bar’s basement space (266 Broome St., NYC). The program is as follows. Please RSVP at Facebook.

The Fate of the Species: Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and How We Can Stop It

Fred Guterl is an award winning journalist who has been writing about science for more than 25 years. He is currently executive editor of Scientific American. Mr. Guterl will speak to the Empiricist League about his new book, The Fate of the Species, in which he explores the various threats to humanity’s continued existence – from superviruses to global famine to killer machines.

Jet Engines, Flamethrowers, and Obtainium: How to Survive the Apocalypse in Style

Chris Hackett is an Adjunct Professor at NYU, founder and Director of the Madagascar Institute, and host of the Science Channel’s television show Stuck with Hackett. Mr. Hackett will speak to the Empiricist League on how to rebuild civilization from the detritus of a lost culture – particularly car batteries and Drano. He has not been arrested in over a year

Death from Above: How Hypernovas, Orange Dwarves and Red Giants Will Destroy Planet Earth

Dr. Jennifer Donovan Meyer is a world-class roller derby skater and postdoctoral research fellow at Stony Brook University who studies gas and star formation in other galaxies. Dr. Meyer will speak to the Empiricist League about astronomical threats to our planet.

For more information visit www.empiricistleague.com.

July/August Classes: Welding and EL Wire!

Becky Stern — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:14:11 +0000

July/August classes at The Madagascar Institute (sign up on EventBrite):

6 hour MIG/TIG combo with Jim Saturday, July 28, 2012 11AM – 6PM

EL Wire with Becky Stern – Materials Included Saturday, August 4, 2012 7PM to 9:45PM

Beginning MIG welding w/ Hackett Saturday, August 4, 2012 from 12PM to 3PM

Beginning TIG welding w/ Hackett Monday, August 6, 2012 7PM – 10PM

Dueling Mechanical Bulls at Google I/O 2012

Hackett — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 01:18:57 +0000

Bull-riding is considered a super tough-guy activity, a chance for cowboys, rodeo queens, and wannabees to prove that they have what it takes to triumph in this quintessentially American pastime.

In our minds, all mechanical bulls fall short of being truly American in that they lack competition, the opportunity to directly humiliate another person. To elevate yourself at the expense of another– that is the real American way, and this ride will provide what the usual (suspiciously non-competitive in an almost Canadian kind of way) bulls fail to deliver.

These two bulls require two riders (one rider on each bull, just to be clear) to function, facing each other, Mano-a-Mano, Taurus-a-Taurus. They start off slow, and the difficulty mounts, bucking and spinning faster and faster, the motion of one mirrored in the other.

The bulls are built as near to identical as we could manage: same motors, same gearing, same motion, and are both controlled by one set of controls– what happens to one bull happens to the other, maintaining the same level of difficulty. The ride lasts until one rider flies off, leaving the other rider victorious.

In case there is any doubt in the mind of the riders or audience as to who has won (and who has lost), there is a big sign above it all, saying “LOSER”. A blinking arrow flashes towards the loser so everyone knows who is the lesser man.

The bulls spin on steel wheels.

The riders become the bulls by donning foam bull heads.

The riders are stuck with foam spears thrown by the Madadors and members of the crowd.

The motion of both bulls is controlled by a single joystick. Arcade buttons control the two LED arrows on the sign.

Would you like to taste pure awesome? Please contact us about running the bulls at your event.

An Adafruit MENTA board animates the LED pixels on the sign when a button is pressed. The code is open source and you can download it from Github.

In June Madagascar Institute presented the new Dueling Mechanical Bulls ride at the Google I|O After Hours party.

It’s our third year at Google I|O.

Tracy and Mary Beth flew to California with the in-progress bull heads.

They met up with Danielle who was up to some crafty fun making costumes.

The rest of us packed up the bulls in Brooklyn and headed west ourselves.

New artstar Colin received his first (of many) artscar. The grinder leaped out of his hands and went for blood, gouging a charred path in the flesh of his thigh.

Disdainful of the dangerous nature of the work required, Mark Krawczuk made some snazzy patches to commemorate the experience.

Dueling Mechanical Bulls in progress

Becky Stern — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:47:22 +0000

The bulls are getting ready to go to the Google I/O afterparty in San Francisco later this month, and here’s the recent progress. Above is the first test of the upper deck motor/bucking mechanism. At first it’s solidon, then Hackett started to start/stop the motor manually.

Then Colin got on it to see how it’d fare– just fine!

How about 200 lbs with both motors spinning? No problem.

The sign for the dueling bulls uses LEDs from Adafruit and is controlled by two arcade buttons.

More progress photos in this Flickr set.

May Welding Class Schedule!

Becky Stern — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:17:33 +0000

Interested in taking a welding class? We’ve got some new ones coming up! Check out our Eventbrite page for the full lineup.

Wed May 3, 7-10 pm
Intermediate MIG welding w/ Mike
$60

Sat May 12, 11am-6pm
6 hour MIG/TIG combo w/ Jim
$125

Tues. May 22, 7-10pm
Beginning TIG welding w/ Jim
$60

(Photo and class review by Nick Normal)

Jim’s MIG/TIG class: welding success!

Becky Stern — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:57:24 +0000

Thanks to all the participants who learned to weld at Jim’s MIG/TIG combo class today at the shop! Sparks flew all afternoon at Jim’s multiple welding stations. Want to take a class? Check out our Eventbrite calendar.

Hackett in NY Times

cautionMike — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:45:47 +0000

Art Star number 1, Hackett, was recently profiled in the NY Times.