Austin 3D Printing Meetup

South Austin Makerspace Roundtable - In Person @S Austin Central Market Westgate

Sat, Mar 7 · 10:00 AM CST

Central Market South, 4477 S. Lamar Blvd. Austin, Austin, TX, US

This is an in person only event.

This is an opportunity for those interested in a South Austin Makerspace to get together and discuss their ideas about who, what, when, where, why, and the how of a location in South Austin!

We'll be meeting in the HEB Central Market Westgate cafe -- https://www.centralmarket.com/locations/austin-westgate

We usually try to get tables near the stage area of the venue. There will be a psychedelic blue Tardigrade stuffie on the table.

South Austin Makerspace -- https://www.meetup.com/southaustinmakerspace/

FYI - Arduino Day 2026 - 27 & 28 Mar. - Hybrid - Austin TX

Fri, Mar 27 · 10:00 AM CDT

Diogenes Makerspace, 13800 Dragline Dr, Austin, TX, US

More specifics will be added as the event date approaches.

Current Arduino details available at -- https://days.arduino.cc/about

Austin, TX specific activities are open to all makes and models of single board computers.

Please let us know if you have a presentation or activity that you would like to present.

-- -- -- --

Release: 1 Mar. (Sun)

Arduino Days 2026
https://days.arduino.cc/about
March 27 & 28

Diogenes
Arduino Days 2026
March 27, 28, & 29
10a - 4p CST

March 27 (Fri):

10a - 4p - Arduino is expected to have livestream most of the day (Waiting on their schedule release)

12p - 4p - Group Arduino Automaton/Robotics Project (Day 1/3)
As a group, participants will choose their specific mechanism to build and test.

Suggestions, but the group can pick their own.
- Karakuri Ningo (からくり人形)
Karakuri Puppet -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakuri_puppet
Japan's Only Karakuri Doll Master. 300 Years of Exquisite Mechanical Art. -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU-kqpkZWjc
- Automated & Tracking Nerf Compatible Weapon
- da Vinci Mechanism

March 28 (Sat):

10a - 12p - HABEX Monthly Update - "Arduino & LoRaWAN" - Seeeduino LoRaWAN (J. Choate) - Hands-on pair/group.
- The first hour will be a presentation of the HABEX2 project and the hardware.
- The second hour 2 will be a hands on familiarization with the SEEEDuino LoRaWAN board. I have 3x boards. You'll need a computer to program them. Intend to do blink and GPS.
https://wiki.seeedstudio.com/Seeeduino_LoRAWAN/

12p - 4p - Group Arduino Automaton/Robotics Project (Day 2/3)

March 29 (Sun):

10a - 12p - Wanna get Weird? Plan 9 on Raspberry Pi (J. Choate) - Hands-on as you will need a Raspberry Pi, SD Card, & Computer
Plan 9 Installation on Raspberry Pi 3 -- https://web.archive.org/web/20200111162735/http://ssz.com/Projects/RPi_Plan9_Install.html
Plan 9 available -- https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=24480
Plan 9 operating system for the Raspberry Pi – demonstration by Richard Miller -- https://raspi.tv/2012/plan-9-operating-system-for-the-raspberry-pi-demonstration-by-richard-miller
9Front -- https://9front.org/

12p - 4p - Group Arduino Automaton/Robotics Project (Day 3/3)

Unscheduled (at this time):

The Linux Build System - A High Level Introduction (J. Choate) - 1 (possibly 2) hrs. - Presentation w/ discussion.

To Do:

ESP32 (We have several ESP32s and ESP32 WROOM boards available) - Volunteer?

BeagleV-Fire (Has an SOC FPGA) - I have one board and have done a couple of projects with it, very beginner. The toolchain for this is mostly provided by Beagle online (though I do have the toolchain installed locally as well). - Volunteer?

Arduino Uno Q - I have one board and hope to have at least got blink done by the target date. - Volunteer?

HABEX2 - High Altitude Balloon Flight - Design Update - Hybrid

Sat, Mar 28 · 10:00 AM CDT

Colette Austin, 13800 Dragline Dr, Austin, tx, US

This is the monthly design status and update meeting. Participation is both in person and online.

Members of Austin Physics for Fun are now involved in the effort. -- https://www.meetup.com/physics-1/

The meeting will be held at a private makerspace, Diogenes. It is located in the same building as the adult club Colette Austin. The door is at the left end of the building, Suite C. Go to the back of the first floor workspace and head upstairs.

If you have questions please feel free to submit them in the comments below or send them to me directly.

Zoom meeting details will be posted about a half hour before the meeting begins.

HABEX - High Altitude Balloon Experiments

The reference to experiments is two-fold. The first is in regard to the actual balloon construction and flight processes. The second is a reference to the payload and what it does during the flight (e.g. images, environmental measurements, etc.). To be clear, there will be two design processes going on in parallel, the balloon proper and the payload. This initial flight is really focusing on the balloon to get that process pinned down and clearly defined. The initial payload should be simple (e.g. digital camera taking pictures).

One of the primary design considerations will be the use of CanSat techniques in the design and construction process. We may need to build a technology demonstrator for this (i.e. dummy payload) before the actual flight process.

CanSat -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CanSat

Design Process:

Design/Buy > Assemble > Test > Loop (Will it fly?) > Flight Plan

Meeting Sequence:

Pilot - Initial meeting (possibly two) to gauge interest and get first round of participants.

Design - Group responsible for the first four stages of the Design Process. - Multiple meetings.

Pre-Flight - Review process to date and verify readiness - Set the date of launch - Possibly two meetings

Launch - Two teams (Launch and Recovery)

Clean up - Launch team cleans up launch site and transitions to tracking and telemetry

Recovery - Recovery team (possibly several groups) chases the balloon and tries to stay ahead of it.

Post-Flight - Review, analysis, and release of flight report (including experimental results if any).

Flight Plan:

• Pre-Flight
• Schedule
• Assembly
• Launch
• Tracking
• Recovery
• Review/Release Results

Constraints:

• COVID 19
• Budget
• Resources/Tools/Facilities
• Legal (e.g. FAA rules about weight and number of modules)
• People
• Transportation