South Austin Makerspace

This event is being hosted by the Austin Physics for Fun meetup. Stop by and check them out.

Nature Nerds Austin thanks Diogenes for hosting our HABEX (and other) efforts. Thanks Rob!

Diogenes Makerspace is a local collective of technologist and artists using a variety of tools to explore the social and technical problems we all face daily. Rob Ristroph is the founder and director of the collective and will be explaining and demonstrating the basics of 3D printing technologies.

The concept of 3D printing is attributed to the science fiction author Murray Leinster in his 1945 short story "Things Pass By." Raymond F. Jones also described the idea in his short story "Tools of the Trade" in the 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

And there it sat until Johannes F. Gottwald patented a Liquid Metal Recorder in 1970. This is considered the first 3D printing technology patent. The general concept was laid out in the journal New Scientist by David E.H. Jones in 1974.

In the 1980s the technology really took off in both commercial and hobby markets. Multiple patents and technologies were developed across a wide range of application domains. The primary technology used by individuals is fused deposition modeling which was developed in 1988 by S. Scott Crump and his company Stratasys. The cost of a 3D printer at that time was $300,000 USD. The 1990s were more of the same but with a steady drop in price and increase in areas the technology was applied to.

Patents began to expire in the early 2000s and this opened the market up and significantly dropped the price for entry level printers. This increase in performance and drop in price has reached the point that an individual can enter 3D printing for as little as $200 USD for entry level machines. The latest technology breakthroughs are in the commercial space: printing rockets that have actually launched, buildings that people live in, and atomic level medical devices that can be implanted in our bodies.

"We live in a science fiction universe. We have done for a long time" - Terry Pratchett

"The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed." - William Gibson

3D Printing -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

Applications of 3D Printing -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_3D_printing

3D Printing Processes -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing_processes

Construction 3D Printing -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_3D_printing

You do NOT need to sign up for this event. It is a placeholder only.

The timeline of events:

25 Jan - Submission Deadline
23 Feb - Project Set Up
24 Feb - Judging and Awards Ceremonies

South Austin Makerspace does request you make students in the age ranges aware of the opportunity. Please consider volunteering for the setup/judging/award activities to be held 23 & 24 Feb. If you make a contribution please don't forget to make your employer aware as they may have a matching program!

You DO need to visit this site to register as a student participant, an adult volunteer, or a sponsor ($$) -- https://austinscience.org/

The Greater Austin Regional Science and Engineering Fair has this to say...

The Greater Austin Regional Science and Engineering Fair is one of Texas’ largest regional science fairs with almost 3,000 students from 3rd through 12th grade. It encourages and rewards innovative student research and provides scientists, engineers and other professionals a chance to volunteer in the community.

Winning Junior/Senior Division projects advance to the Texas Science and Engineering Fair. Best of Fair Senior Division projects advance directly to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

The Greater Austin Regional Science and Engineering Fair serves students of public, charter, private, and home schools from these counties in Central Texas whose projects won at their schools’ science fairs - Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell, Colorado, Comanche, Fayette, Lavaca, Lee, Mills, Travis, Washington, Williamson, and northern Hays counties.

Austin Science Education Foundation (ASEF) -- https://austinscience.org/asef

Austin Science Fair History -- https://austinscience.org/asef/history

Texas Science and Engineering Fair - TXSEF 2024: March 22-23 -- https://txsef.tamu.edu/

Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair -- https://www.societyforscience.org/isef/

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