To represent the Pirates of Pimoroni Towers, myself and Paul headed down to the Nottingham Beer-n-Hacks organised by Tindie and Hackaday. We were not disappointed! Some highlights of the night included 3-d printed skates, Nixie tubes, neon, whimsical machinery, some very fine milling work, laser tools, and a fractal-producing wonder.
Due to a misbehaving phone we didn't get many pictures of our own, but thankfully Jasmine from Tindie was a dab hand with the photos, and she's been kind enough to let us borrow some.
In no particular order, on with the hacks! Rob brought along an innocent looking aluminium block with a display attached by a wire. We had a go at seeing how much wattage we could produce with the warmth of our hands (Tanya 10W, Paul 7W), as this was a device that you point your laser at to measure the approximate wattage of your laser. Rob has just started at Smoke and Mirrors and knows a lot about lasering... :)
On the left is his prototype which incorporates nail varnish, an aluminium block, and crushed charcoal, and on the right the finished item.
Dave brought along his 3-d printed rollerskates - he printed them with the cheapest materials on the cheapest printer he could find, and has been busy destruct testing them on every available surface and with every style of skating. We saw him jump, dance, rock, twist, and lean at a highly improbable angle and they stayed firm! He showed us how the design has progressed, sticking to his ethos of cheapest materials, readily available, so that these will be a truly accessible skate.
He has already made the heel and wheelnut covers that you see in this picture available on Thingiverse.
Alan who goes under the spectacular handle of dekuNukem, brought along his miniature Nixie tube driver modules which you can find here.
More Nixie tubes from Nottingham Hackspace.
Derek from Extreme Electronics and Extreme Kits (L) brought along some proof that no matter what he's challenged to, he makes it! Dominic Morrow (R) saw his solenoid engine kit, and said it'd be better with FIVE solenoids... so guess what happened? Derek was kind enough to let our Weeble have a ride on it like some crazy merry go round.
This fascinating item is an electronic starter for a 1960's motorbike, from prototype to first go, to full PCB - he had to work around space constraints but it works!
Ben brought a micro:bit driven MeArm for us to play with.
Tanya explaining the Christmas dress and the concept prototype for the little sister version.
Spencer set his kit off drawing a fractal, and by the end of the night it was a little work of art! The electronics were also a work of art.
And finally, the finest lathe work, to make a tiny lock with a concealed mechanism, that opens with a magnet and has no visible way of unlocking it from the outside. This was made for a cosplaying friend to use as a necklace clasp.
If you are in the area - there's a Cambridge meetup and a Milton Keynes one still to come, well worth popping along.
Thanks for bringing so many awesome things!
(additionally, if you are miscredited or missing a name on here, please email or tweet us and we'll fix it!)