January Meetup - Technical Boot Camp

Happy New Year to you all! Our first meetup of the new year will be focused on providing technical knowledge to designers and makers working with - or wishing to work more with - wood and wood-based materials. We will have two speakers each presenting for about 45 minutes, then the remainder of the meeting will be given over to updates from members on projects you are working on or news you'd like to share.

Our first speaker will be Simon Ellis, a UBC prof and wood guru who has won numerous teaching awards both within the university and in the industry community for his enthusiastic and informative approach to instructing on wood species and the properties of various wood-based materials. In 2013 he was named a 3M National Teaching Fellow. Simon will bring his cart of wood samples for a lively show and tell on wood and what it is good for. Bring your questions - all those things you wish you knew about wood and how it behaves.

Our second speaker is Jason Chiu, whom most of you already know from our previous meetings. Jason coordinates the UBC Certificate in Industrial Wood Finishing, and he will talk to us on ways to add value to wood products through surface preparation, sanding and finishing. This is a critical last step in the wood products manufacturing process and one that can make or reject a product, but it is generally quite poorly understood. Jason will talk about the benefits and limitations of various finishing materials and application methods, and when you should use each one. Again, Jason welcomes questions throughout the session.

Although members have requested a more content-driven approach to our meetups, a big goal is still information sharing and networking amongst the group, so please think about news and updates that you'd like to share.

Lastly, we have been playing with a 3D printer using a wood-composite filament material called Laywoo-D3, and we will run something on the printer during dinner so that you can have a look. We are looking for people who'd like to experiment with this gadget, so we welcome your ideas.

Please arrive at 6 for food and we will begin the talks at 6.30.

Sustenance - We will arrange for food and beer/wine/juice as normal.

Location - CAWP is at the corner of East Mall and Agronomy St on the UBC campus - closer to 16th Ave than 10th. It is a blue 2-storey building around a gated courtyard.

Parking - there is no free parking at UBC - normally there is a flat rate of $6 at the surface lots to the east of the CAWP building (bordered by East Mall and Wesbrook Mall to the west/east and Agronomy Rd and Thunderbird Blvd to the north/south). However, if you can be here by 6.20pm we will open our courtyard and allow people to park inside. Enter from Agronomy Road - left and left again into the courtyard (for a map see http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/4/4/c/highres_231509772.jpeg ). At 6.25pm we will close the courtyard gate for security reasons, so those arriving after that time will need to pay-park.

Fee - Please bring cash or cheque to cover the food and drinks - $20 per person.