Noisebridge - User contributions [en]

Category:Events

2010-03-25T21:21:13Z

Aempirei: /* Recurring Events edit */

Official, Semi-Official, one-off and other events at the Noisebridge space.

=Event Calendar=
Not all events make it onto this calendar. Many events only make it to the Discussion or Announcements [[Mailinglist | mailing lists]], [[IRC]] or in person at [[Category:Meeting_Notes | Tuesday meetings]]. Best of all, Noisebridge is about people getting together at the space in San Francisco to do stuff... like in person. Some events just happen. Pay attention!

Event posters are encouraged to crosspost to the Google Calendar. View the [http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=vo3i3c0qtjnkjr2ojasd0ftt8s%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles Google Calendar], view the [http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/vo3i3c0qtjnkjr2ojasd0ftt8s%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic Google Calendar in XML], or the [http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/vo3i3c0qtjnkjr2ojasd0ftt8s%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics Google Calendar in ical] format.

To post Google Calendar entries for your event, contact a Noisebridge member for access.

(Wouldn't it be great if there were a gCal mediawiki plugin so crossposting wasn't needed? Do you know of a good one? Help us!) <- working on this, need to upgrade Mediawiki in order to use some plugins.
<onlyinclude>
=== Upcoming Events [https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Category:Events&action=edit&section=2 edit] ===
* '''March 18th, 20:00 - [[Five Minutes of Fame]]''' - An evening of five minute talks. Check the [http://5mof.net/archive/2010/03/16/march-2010-schedule/ schedule]
* '''March 26th, 19:00''' - Get Jake Drunk Party - It's your last chance to party it up and get Jake drunk before he moves to Seattle! Bring booze! Five gold stars if he misses his flight the next day.
* '''March 27th, 10:00 to 22:00 - PyConVids: Selected Videos of the 2010 PyCon talks!
* '''April 1st, 20:00 - [[FOIA workshop]]''' - Freedom of Information Act overview and Q&A with EFF specialist Marcia Hofmann
* '''April 3st, 11:00-18:00 - [http://postgresql.meetup.com/1/calendar/12794759 Postgres 9 Test Fest]''' - a beta-testing party and work session for the PostgreSQL open source DBMS.
* '''April 21st, 18:00-21:00 - [http://monochrom.at/english monochrom] #26-34 book release party. [http://www.monochrom.at/mono/monochrom26-34/index.htm Ye Olde Self-Referentiality]

=== Recurring Events [https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Category:Events&action=edit&section=3 edit] ===

* '''Monday'''
** 18:30 [[PyClass]] - Learn how to program using the Python programming language.
** '''19:00 [[Circuit Hacking Mondays]]''' - Learn to solder! Mitch will bring kits to make cool, hackable things that you can bring home after you make them. Bring your own projects to hack!
* '''Tuesday'''
** 15:00 [[Linux System Administration Study Group]] - Study Linux admining in the Turing classroom.
** 18:30 Bay Area Community Exchange Project Roundtable Meeting (third Tues. of every month)-discussion of alternative currencies in the back classroom.
** '''20:00 [[#Meetings|Noisebridge Weekly Meeting]]''' - Introducing new people and events to the space, general discussion, and decision making.
* '''Wednesday'''
** 18:00 [[LinuxDiscussion|Linux Discussion]] - Play with Linux in the Turing classroom.
** '''19:00 [[SCoW]]''' - Sewing, Crafting, Or Whatever! Come make cool stuff with geeks.
** 20:00 [[Games]] - Play games with geeks.
** '''20:00 [[GameDevelopment|Game Development]]''' - Make games with geeks.
* '''Thursday'''
** '''19:00 [http://groups.google.com/group/bacat/about Bay Categories & Types]''' - Posets, counits, monads and more! Held in the Alonzo Church classroom on 2nd Thursdays.
** '''20:00 [[Five_Minutes_of_Fame | Five Minutes of Fame]]''' (3rd Thursdays)
* '''Friday'''
** 15:00 [[Linux System Administration Study Group]] - Study Linux admining in the Turing classroom.
** '''19:00 [[Science, Engineering & Design Huddle]]''' - Weekly group to discuss design approach, share techniques, and solve any problem you may be having with your project(s).
** 20:00 [[Moving/2169 Mission/Buildout|2169 Buildout planning]] - Discussion & execution of how to renovate our new space.
** 18:00 [[RantMeet]] (1st Fridays) [http://www.rantmedia.ca Rant Media] is a global hacker/survival/indy media phyle that meets up around the world.

* '''Saturday'''
** 14:00 [[Phasor~]] - A Max/MSP/Jitter, Max For Live, PureData/GEM, vvvv, Bidule patching group.
** 20:00 [[NSFW]] - Now Showing From the Web, last Saturday of the month. Share interesting videos you've found on the web for the past month or bring content you made.
* '''Sunday'''
** 13:00 [[Cyborg Group|Cyborg Group / Sensebridge]] - Work on projects like artificial senses.
** 15:00 [[OpenEEG]] - how to read your mind.
** 15:00 [[KnotTyingWorkshop|Knot Tying Workshop]] - (1st Sunday of the month)- work on knotting projects and share ropework knowledge
** '''15:00 [[Go]]''' - Playing of the Go boardgame. On nice days we often take the boards to Dolores Park and play there.
** 15:00 [[Locks!]] - Lock sport, sundays when there is demand. ( See [[locks!]] for more information. )
** 17:00 [[Rsync Users Group]] - A twelve step program for those who have poor *nix habits.
** 18:00 [[Spacebridge]] - Noisebridge's space program

* '''To be scheduled'''
** [[Machine Learning]] - (Open for adoption) Teach computers to learn stuff using artificial intelligence and other techniques.
** [[CNC Mill Workshop]] - Who wants to make stuff on the [[MaxNCMill]]?
** [[Math & Science Help]] - If you would like some math, science or engineering help, I'm down to lend a hand.
</onlyinclude>

=== Proposed Future Events and Classes ===

:19:00 [[German]] - Learn German, all levels. 7pm beginners, 8pm advanced. RSVP 24 hours in advance for the benefit of the instructor. Events ran May-November 2009 on Mondays. Currently on hiatus. Get on the mailing list.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Movie Night!]] - [[User:ThOMG|Thom]] wants to build community through nerdy sci-fi! (+Bill+Ted+Excellence++)
:'''(TBD)''': [[Introduction to the AVR Microcontroller]] - [[User:Mightyohm|Jeff]] and [[User:Maltman23|Mitch]] are planning an introductory class for people wanting to make cool projects with AVRs.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Basic Chemistry Lab Techniques]]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Cuddle Puddle for the Economy]] - Stress-hacking with informal massage exchange.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Milk and Cookies]] - Come read your favorite selections out loud. With Milk and Cookies (and yeah, probably beer too).
:'''(TBD)''': [[Processing Workshop 2]] - [[User:Scmurray|Scott]] is interested in teaching this, and is busy thinking about what, where, when, why, and how.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Hack your Hardware]] -- We call BS on "no user-serviceable parts inside"

:'''(TBD)''': [[Homebrew Instruction Class]] - The Wort (pt 1/3)
:'''(TBD)''': [[Trip to Shooting Range]] - Field trip to a shooting range, to shoot guns. Express interest at [[Trip to Shooting Range]]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Surface Mount Soldering Workshop]] - Learn how to solder cicuits with small surface mount parts. [[User:maltman23|Mitch Altman]] and Martin Bogomolni and others will show their tricks. [[User:maltman23|Mitch]] will bring hackable kits that uses surface mounts for you to solder.
:'''(TBD)''' - [[Locksport and Lockpicking]]
:'''(TBD)''' - [[Version control tutorial]]
:'''(TBD)''' - [[Foreign language learning for rocket scientists]] - I'm near-native (fool people when I try) in (French and) Japanese, and a pro trans/terpreter and will share my shortcuts (skill-order, vocab, speed/articulation, translation≅grammar). No expertise on tonal languages yet... so if you know how to remember tones or how tone-sandhi interacts with speed and/or how nuances of speaker attitude are expressed in them (what we do with rythm/inflection/sentence-intonation and stress in Eng., and with particles and ??? in e.g. Cantonese) please chime in or call me (415-608-0564) so I can convey your wisdom. [also looking for a from-scratch Arabic partner]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Getting started with Arduino]]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Distributed Databases]]

= Past Events =
* '''February 27th, 20:00 - [[Hacker EPROM]]''' - Noisebridge's first prom! Nice tie and a (robot) date required. We will have a DJ and punch.
* '''February 24th, 19:00, Wednesday - Joris Peels, of [http://www.shapeways.com Shapeways]''', and expert on 3D printing, will give a [[ShaperwaysPresentation | talk and demonstration]] at Noisebridge!.
* '''February 23rd, 18:00 - Cleaning day''' - Come and help clean Noisebridge, because everyone loves a clean hack space.
* '''February 12th, 21:00 - visit from Steve Jackson'''. Game designer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jackson_%28US_game_designer%29 Steve Jackson], founder of Steve Jackson Games, will visit Noisebridge.
* '''January 27th, 18:00-20:00 - [[beatrixjar event|Circuit Bending Workshop]]''' - [http://www.beatrixjar.com/ Beatrix*JAR] (contact [[User:Gpvillamil|Gian Pablo]] for more info)
* '''January 27th, 20:00-22:00 - [[beatrixjar event|Circuit Bending Performance]]''' - [http://www.beatrixjar.com/ Beatrix*JAR] - "Celebrate a night of new sound that will change your idea of music forever!"
* '''January 25th, 19:30 - [[Bag Porn]]''' - What's in your bag?
* '''January 20th, 19:00-21:00 - [http://groups.google.com/group/bacat/about Bay Categories & Types]''' - Categories, monoids, monads, functors and more! Held in the Alonzo Church classroom.
* '''January 20th, 19:00 - [[User Experience Book Club SF]]''' - Our book this month is "A Theory of Fun for Game Design" by Raph Koster - http://is.gd/6sEqw (meets in Turing)
* '''January 21st, 20:00 - [[Five Minutes of Fame]]''' - Monthly set of lightning talks on diverse topics
* '''January 22nd, 17:00 - [[CleaningParty| Cleaning Party]]''' - Come help clean up Noisebridge! Awsum fun!
* ...January 14th,16th, and 17th 1:00- ??? Build Out day for kitchen/bathroom/laundry bring yourself and a good attitude, learn a few things as well
* '''January 15th, 18:00 - [[CNC_Mill_Workshop]]''' - Learn to use the CNC mill for 2D engraving and circuit board routing
* Thursdays 17:00 [[ASL Group|American Sign Language]] - Learn how to talk without using your voice (or just come chat in ASL). [http://whenisgood.net/noisebridge/asl/generic click to reschedule]
* '''November 18th, 19:30''' - [[Dorkbot_2009_11_18|Dorkbot]]
* '''November 19th, 18:00''' - [[Mesh meetup]]
* '''November 19th, 20:00''' - [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
* '''November 20th, 18:00''' - Loud Objects [http://www.flickr.com/photos/createdigitalmedia/3428249036/ Noise Toy workshop].
* '''November 20th, 20:00''' - Performance by [http://www.loudobjects.com/ Loud Objects], (featuring Tristan Perich and Lesley Flanigan) and [http://www.myspace.com/jibkidder Jib Kidder].
:'''2009-11-05''' - [http://www.server-sky.com/ Server Sky presentation: Internet and Computation in Orbit] by Keith Lofstrom
:'''2009-11-05''' - [[Mesh meetup]]
:'''2009-11-02''' - [[French]] book club meeting to discuss [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/2842612892/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance Une Si Longue Lettre]
: ''' October 1st, 18:00''' - [[Wireless_Mesh_Network_Meetup | Mesh wireless meetup]]
: ''' October 1st, 19:00''' - [http://groups.google.com/group/bacat Bay Area Categories and Types]
: '''2009-10-03''' [[Year 1 Open Hacker House]]
:'''Friday''': [[CrazyCryptoNight]] - Discussion of cryptography for beginners through experts. 6-???
:'''Sunday''' : [[OpenEEG | OpenEEG Hacking]] Sundays, at 3-5pm.
:'''Tuesday''': [[Haskell/Haschool]] - Learn Haskell with Jason Dusek. 6PM - 7:30PM, from May until we're all experts.
:'''Wednesday''': [[Adobe_Lightroom|Adobe Lightroom]] - Become a more organized photographer. Weekly class (mostly held off site).
:'''Thursday''': [[Professional VFX Compositing With Adobe After Effects]] - Taught by [[User:SFSlim|Aaron Muszalski]]. 7:30PM - 10PM, most Thursdays in May & June & ? (click through dammit)
:'''2009-09-17''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] 3D Edition
:'''2009-09-17''': [[Wireless Mesh Network Meetup | Mesh wireless meetup]]
:'''2009-08-20''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] One Dee Edition
:'''2009-07-16''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] Zero Dee
:'''2009-07-02 - 2009-07-05''': [http://toorcamp.org Toorcamp]
:'''2009-07-01''': Noisedroid meeting to discuss location logging on Android platform (and other stuff too, I'm sure)
:'''2009-06-30''': [[Powerbocking Class|Powerbocking class]]
:'''2009-06-30''': "Suing Telemarketers for Fun and Profit" (Toorcamp talk preview)
:'''2009-06-28''': "Meditation for Hackers" (Toorcamp workshop preview)
:'''2009-06-18''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
:'''2009-06-15''': [[Eagle Workshop]] Session two of the Eagle CAD workshop.
:'''2009-06-13''': [[RoboGames 2009]] Noisebridge had a booth staffed by vounteers, great fun!
:'''2009-05-21''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
:'''2009-04-27''': [[EagleCAD workshop]] -- learn to use this CAD tool for printed circuit board design
:'''2009-04-16''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] April showers & flowers edition
:'''2009-04-11''': [[RFID Hacking]] weekend workshop (this event moved from the original March date)
:'''2009-04-05''': [[First aid and CPR class]] Learning how to not only not die, but also reduce scarring!
:'''2009-04-03''': [[Sudo pop]] 2PM and on. Making the first batch of a Noisebridge label yerba mate-niated rootbrew, gratis and DIY
:'''2009-03-26''': [[OpenEEG | OpenEEG Hacking]] first meet up for this new group: 8 pm
:'''2009-03-19''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
:'''2009-03-12''': [[OpenBTS and GSM]] talk by David Burgess
:'''2009-02-14''': [[Open Heart Workshop]] Valentine's Day blinkyheart soldering party!
:'''2009-02-13''': [[Time-t_Party|<tt>time_t</tt> Party]] to celebrate 1,234,567,890 since the Unix epoch.
:'''2009-02-09''': [[Spanish learning at 8:30]]
:'''2009-02-05''': [[PGP Key Workshop]]
:'''2009-01-31''': [[Locksport and Lockpicking]]
:'''2008-12-27''': [[25C3]] Chaos Computer Congress in Berlin
:'''2008-12-20 & 21''': [[Creme Brulee]] Workshop on creating a french dessert, with bonus propane torch.
:'''2008-12-17 20:00''': [[Machine Learning]] Birds-of-a-feather
:'''2008-11-24''': [[Circuit Hacking Monday]] circuit design workshop
:'''2008-11-21, 7pm''':[[Milk and Cookies]] -- [[User:Dmolnar|David Molnar]] hosts Milk and Cookies at 83C. Bring a short 5-7minute thing to read to others. Bring a potluck cookie/snack/drink if you like. David will bring milk and cookies.
:'''2008-11-17, 7:30pm''': [[Basic Bicycle Maintain]] - [[User:rubin110|Rubin]] and [[User:rigel|rigel]] hate it when we see a bike that isn't maintained. Screechy chains and clacking derailleur can go to hell. Basic bike tune up, sharing the smarts on simple things you can do at home to make your ride suck a whole lot less.
:'''2008-11-16, 5:00pm''': [[RepRap Soldering Party]] - help assemble RepRap! RSVPs required on wiki! [[User:Adi|adi]]
:'''2008-11-16, 3:00pm''': [[Oscilloscopes]] - Learn how to use this versatile tool to test electronic circuits. Maximum 6 slots, please sign up ahead of time! [[User:dstaff|dstaff]]
:'''2008-10-31''': [[Halloween Open House]] - NoiseBridge's own [[PPPC]] threw an awesome open house/halloween gala. Post pictures if you got 'em!
:'''2008-10-25''': [[Soldering Workshop]] and Pumpkin Hackin' - Learn to solder for total newbies (or learn to solder better!), including surface mount. Additionally, carve your halloween pumpkins and enjoy some experimental pumpkin pie and/or soup.
:'''2008-10-07''': (tuesday before meeting) - Etch a circuit board. I'll be trying a photo resist etching and a basic printed mask etching. This is step 1/3 for a project called "annoying USB thingie" which will execute pre-defined keystrokes by sneaking a tiny USB dongle onto a victim^h^h^h^h^h buddy's computer.
:'''2008-09-13''': [[Processing Workshop]] — Learn this very easy-to-use programming language! - [[Processing Workshop Report]]
:'''2008-02-16''': [[Brain Machine Workshop|Brain Machine Making Workshop]]: Our first hardware sprint!

Category:Events

2010-03-25T21:07:13Z

Aempirei: /* Recurring Events edit */

Official, Semi-Official, one-off and other events at the Noisebridge space.

=Event Calendar=
Not all events make it onto this calendar. Many events only make it to the Discussion or Announcements [[Mailinglist | mailing lists]], [[IRC]] or in person at [[Category:Meeting_Notes | Tuesday meetings]]. Best of all, Noisebridge is about people getting together at the space in San Francisco to do stuff... like in person. Some events just happen. Pay attention!

Event posters are encouraged to crosspost to the Google Calendar. View the [http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=vo3i3c0qtjnkjr2ojasd0ftt8s%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles Google Calendar], view the [http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/vo3i3c0qtjnkjr2ojasd0ftt8s%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic Google Calendar in XML], or the [http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/vo3i3c0qtjnkjr2ojasd0ftt8s%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics Google Calendar in ical] format.

To post Google Calendar entries for your event, contact a Noisebridge member for access.

(Wouldn't it be great if there were a gCal mediawiki plugin so crossposting wasn't needed? Do you know of a good one? Help us!) <- working on this, need to upgrade Mediawiki in order to use some plugins.
<onlyinclude>
=== Upcoming Events [https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Category:Events&action=edit&section=2 edit] ===
* '''March 18th, 20:00 - [[Five Minutes of Fame]]''' - An evening of five minute talks. Check the [http://5mof.net/archive/2010/03/16/march-2010-schedule/ schedule]
* '''March 26th, 19:00''' - Get Jake Drunk Party - It's your last chance to party it up and get Jake drunk before he moves to Seattle! Bring booze! Five gold stars if he misses his flight the next day.
* '''March 27th, 10:00 to 22:00 - PyConVids: Selected Videos of the 2010 PyCon talks!
* '''April 1st, 20:00 - [[FOIA workshop]]''' - Freedom of Information Act overview and Q&A with EFF specialist Marcia Hofmann
* '''April 3st, 11:00-18:00 - [http://postgresql.meetup.com/1/calendar/12794759 Postgres 9 Test Fest]''' - a beta-testing party and work session for the PostgreSQL open source DBMS.
* '''April 21st, 18:00-21:00 - [http://monochrom.at/english monochrom] #26-34 book release party. [http://www.monochrom.at/mono/monochrom26-34/index.htm Ye Olde Self-Referentiality]

=== Recurring Events [https://www.noisebridge.net/index.php?title=Category:Events&action=edit&section=3 edit] ===

* '''Monday'''
** 18:30 [[PyClass]] - Learn how to program using the Python programming language.
** '''19:00 [[Circuit Hacking Mondays]]''' - Learn to solder! Mitch will bring kits to make cool, hackable things that you can bring home after you make them. Bring your own projects to hack!
* '''Tuesday'''
** 15:00 [[Linux System Administration Study Group]] - Study Linux admining in the Turing classroom.
** 18:30 Bay Area Community Exchange Project Roundtable Meeting (third Tues. of every month)-discussion of alternative currencies in the back classroom.
** '''20:00 [[#Meetings|Noisebridge Weekly Meeting]]''' - Introducing new people and events to the space, general discussion, and decision making.
* '''Wednesday'''
** 18:00 [[LinuxDiscussion|Linux Discussion]] - Play with Linux in the Turing classroom.
** '''19:00 [[SCoW]]''' - Sewing, Crafting, Or Whatever! Come make cool stuff with geeks.
** 20:00 [[Games]] - Play games with geeks.
** '''20:00 [[GameDevelopment|Game Development]]''' - Make games with geeks.
* '''Thursday'''
** '''19:00 [http://groups.google.com/group/bacat/about Bay Categories & Types]''' - Posets, counits, monads and more! Held in the Alonzo Church classroom on 2nd Thursdays.
** '''20:00 [[Five_Minutes_of_Fame | Five Minutes of Fame]]''' (3rd Thursdays)
* '''Friday'''
** 15:00 [[Linux System Administration Study Group]] - Study Linux admining in the Turing classroom.
** '''19:00 [[Science, Engineering & Design Huddle]]''' - Weekly group to discuss design approach, share techniques, and solve any problem you may be having with your project(s).
** 20:00 [[Moving/2169 Mission/Buildout|2169 Buildout planning]] - Discussion & execution of how to renovate our new space.
** 18:00 [[RantMeet]] (1st Fridays) [http://www.rantmedia.ca Rant Media] is a global hacker/survival/indy media phyle that meets up around the world.

* '''Saturday'''
** 14:00 [[Phasor~]] - A Max/MSP/Jitter, Max For Live, PureData/GEM, vvvv, Bidule patching group.
** 20:00 [[NSFW]] - Now Showing From the Web, last Saturday of the month. Share interesting videos you've found on the web for the past month or bring content you made.
* '''Sunday'''
** 13:00 [[Cyborg Group|Cyborg Group / Sensebridge]] - Work on projects like artificial senses.
** 15:00 [[OpenEEG]] - how to read your mind.
** 15:00 [[KnotTyingWorkshop|Knot Tying Workshop]] - (1st Sunday of the month)- work on knotting projects and share ropework knowledge
** '''15:00 [[Go]]''' - Playing of the Go boardgame. On nice days we often take the boards to Dolores Park and play there.
** 15:00 [[Locks!]] - Lock sport, sundays when there is demand. ( See [[locks!]] for more information. )
** 17:00 [[Rsync Users Group]] - A twelve step program for those who have poor *nix habits.
** 18:00 [[Spacebridge]] - Noisebridge's space program

* '''To be scheduled'''
** [[Machine Learning]] - (Open for adoption) Teach computers to learn stuff using artificial intelligence and other techniques.
** [[CNC Mill Workshop]] - Who wants to make stuff on the [[MaxNCMill]]?
** [[Analog]] - All things analog. When I say analog, I think I mean continuous domain. I think the primary vehicle would be transistors and audio.
</onlyinclude>

=== Proposed Future Events and Classes ===

:19:00 [[German]] - Learn German, all levels. 7pm beginners, 8pm advanced. RSVP 24 hours in advance for the benefit of the instructor. Events ran May-November 2009 on Mondays. Currently on hiatus. Get on the mailing list.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Movie Night!]] - [[User:ThOMG|Thom]] wants to build community through nerdy sci-fi! (+Bill+Ted+Excellence++)
:'''(TBD)''': [[Introduction to the AVR Microcontroller]] - [[User:Mightyohm|Jeff]] and [[User:Maltman23|Mitch]] are planning an introductory class for people wanting to make cool projects with AVRs.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Basic Chemistry Lab Techniques]]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Cuddle Puddle for the Economy]] - Stress-hacking with informal massage exchange.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Milk and Cookies]] - Come read your favorite selections out loud. With Milk and Cookies (and yeah, probably beer too).
:'''(TBD)''': [[Processing Workshop 2]] - [[User:Scmurray|Scott]] is interested in teaching this, and is busy thinking about what, where, when, why, and how.
:'''(TBD)''': [[Hack your Hardware]] -- We call BS on "no user-serviceable parts inside"

:'''(TBD)''': [[Homebrew Instruction Class]] - The Wort (pt 1/3)
:'''(TBD)''': [[Trip to Shooting Range]] - Field trip to a shooting range, to shoot guns. Express interest at [[Trip to Shooting Range]]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Surface Mount Soldering Workshop]] - Learn how to solder cicuits with small surface mount parts. [[User:maltman23|Mitch Altman]] and Martin Bogomolni and others will show their tricks. [[User:maltman23|Mitch]] will bring hackable kits that uses surface mounts for you to solder.
:'''(TBD)''' - [[Locksport and Lockpicking]]
:'''(TBD)''' - [[Version control tutorial]]
:'''(TBD)''' - [[Foreign language learning for rocket scientists]] - I'm near-native (fool people when I try) in (French and) Japanese, and a pro trans/terpreter and will share my shortcuts (skill-order, vocab, speed/articulation, translation≅grammar). No expertise on tonal languages yet... so if you know how to remember tones or how tone-sandhi interacts with speed and/or how nuances of speaker attitude are expressed in them (what we do with rythm/inflection/sentence-intonation and stress in Eng., and with particles and ??? in e.g. Cantonese) please chime in or call me (415-608-0564) so I can convey your wisdom. [also looking for a from-scratch Arabic partner]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Getting started with Arduino]]
:'''(TBD)''': [[Distributed Databases]]

= Past Events =
* '''February 27th, 20:00 - [[Hacker EPROM]]''' - Noisebridge's first prom! Nice tie and a (robot) date required. We will have a DJ and punch.
* '''February 24th, 19:00, Wednesday - Joris Peels, of [http://www.shapeways.com Shapeways]''', and expert on 3D printing, will give a [[ShaperwaysPresentation | talk and demonstration]] at Noisebridge!.
* '''February 23rd, 18:00 - Cleaning day''' - Come and help clean Noisebridge, because everyone loves a clean hack space.
* '''February 12th, 21:00 - visit from Steve Jackson'''. Game designer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jackson_%28US_game_designer%29 Steve Jackson], founder of Steve Jackson Games, will visit Noisebridge.
* '''January 27th, 18:00-20:00 - [[beatrixjar event|Circuit Bending Workshop]]''' - [http://www.beatrixjar.com/ Beatrix*JAR] (contact [[User:Gpvillamil|Gian Pablo]] for more info)
* '''January 27th, 20:00-22:00 - [[beatrixjar event|Circuit Bending Performance]]''' - [http://www.beatrixjar.com/ Beatrix*JAR] - "Celebrate a night of new sound that will change your idea of music forever!"
* '''January 25th, 19:30 - [[Bag Porn]]''' - What's in your bag?
* '''January 20th, 19:00-21:00 - [http://groups.google.com/group/bacat/about Bay Categories & Types]''' - Categories, monoids, monads, functors and more! Held in the Alonzo Church classroom.
* '''January 20th, 19:00 - [[User Experience Book Club SF]]''' - Our book this month is "A Theory of Fun for Game Design" by Raph Koster - http://is.gd/6sEqw (meets in Turing)
* '''January 21st, 20:00 - [[Five Minutes of Fame]]''' - Monthly set of lightning talks on diverse topics
* '''January 22nd, 17:00 - [[CleaningParty| Cleaning Party]]''' - Come help clean up Noisebridge! Awsum fun!
* ...January 14th,16th, and 17th 1:00- ??? Build Out day for kitchen/bathroom/laundry bring yourself and a good attitude, learn a few things as well
* '''January 15th, 18:00 - [[CNC_Mill_Workshop]]''' - Learn to use the CNC mill for 2D engraving and circuit board routing
* Thursdays 17:00 [[ASL Group|American Sign Language]] - Learn how to talk without using your voice (or just come chat in ASL). [http://whenisgood.net/noisebridge/asl/generic click to reschedule]
* '''November 18th, 19:30''' - [[Dorkbot_2009_11_18|Dorkbot]]
* '''November 19th, 18:00''' - [[Mesh meetup]]
* '''November 19th, 20:00''' - [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
* '''November 20th, 18:00''' - Loud Objects [http://www.flickr.com/photos/createdigitalmedia/3428249036/ Noise Toy workshop].
* '''November 20th, 20:00''' - Performance by [http://www.loudobjects.com/ Loud Objects], (featuring Tristan Perich and Lesley Flanigan) and [http://www.myspace.com/jibkidder Jib Kidder].
:'''2009-11-05''' - [http://www.server-sky.com/ Server Sky presentation: Internet and Computation in Orbit] by Keith Lofstrom
:'''2009-11-05''' - [[Mesh meetup]]
:'''2009-11-02''' - [[French]] book club meeting to discuss [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/2842612892/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance Une Si Longue Lettre]
: ''' October 1st, 18:00''' - [[Wireless_Mesh_Network_Meetup | Mesh wireless meetup]]
: ''' October 1st, 19:00''' - [http://groups.google.com/group/bacat Bay Area Categories and Types]
: '''2009-10-03''' [[Year 1 Open Hacker House]]
:'''Friday''': [[CrazyCryptoNight]] - Discussion of cryptography for beginners through experts. 6-???
:'''Sunday''' : [[OpenEEG | OpenEEG Hacking]] Sundays, at 3-5pm.
:'''Tuesday''': [[Haskell/Haschool]] - Learn Haskell with Jason Dusek. 6PM - 7:30PM, from May until we're all experts.
:'''Wednesday''': [[Adobe_Lightroom|Adobe Lightroom]] - Become a more organized photographer. Weekly class (mostly held off site).
:'''Thursday''': [[Professional VFX Compositing With Adobe After Effects]] - Taught by [[User:SFSlim|Aaron Muszalski]]. 7:30PM - 10PM, most Thursdays in May & June & ? (click through dammit)
:'''2009-09-17''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] 3D Edition
:'''2009-09-17''': [[Wireless Mesh Network Meetup | Mesh wireless meetup]]
:'''2009-08-20''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] One Dee Edition
:'''2009-07-16''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] Zero Dee
:'''2009-07-02 - 2009-07-05''': [http://toorcamp.org Toorcamp]
:'''2009-07-01''': Noisedroid meeting to discuss location logging on Android platform (and other stuff too, I'm sure)
:'''2009-06-30''': [[Powerbocking Class|Powerbocking class]]
:'''2009-06-30''': "Suing Telemarketers for Fun and Profit" (Toorcamp talk preview)
:'''2009-06-28''': "Meditation for Hackers" (Toorcamp workshop preview)
:'''2009-06-18''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
:'''2009-06-15''': [[Eagle Workshop]] Session two of the Eagle CAD workshop.
:'''2009-06-13''': [[RoboGames 2009]] Noisebridge had a booth staffed by vounteers, great fun!
:'''2009-05-21''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
:'''2009-04-27''': [[EagleCAD workshop]] -- learn to use this CAD tool for printed circuit board design
:'''2009-04-16''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]] April showers & flowers edition
:'''2009-04-11''': [[RFID Hacking]] weekend workshop (this event moved from the original March date)
:'''2009-04-05''': [[First aid and CPR class]] Learning how to not only not die, but also reduce scarring!
:'''2009-04-03''': [[Sudo pop]] 2PM and on. Making the first batch of a Noisebridge label yerba mate-niated rootbrew, gratis and DIY
:'''2009-03-26''': [[OpenEEG | OpenEEG Hacking]] first meet up for this new group: 8 pm
:'''2009-03-19''': [[Five Minutes of Fame]]
:'''2009-03-12''': [[OpenBTS and GSM]] talk by David Burgess
:'''2009-02-14''': [[Open Heart Workshop]] Valentine's Day blinkyheart soldering party!
:'''2009-02-13''': [[Time-t_Party|<tt>time_t</tt> Party]] to celebrate 1,234,567,890 since the Unix epoch.
:'''2009-02-09''': [[Spanish learning at 8:30]]
:'''2009-02-05''': [[PGP Key Workshop]]
:'''2009-01-31''': [[Locksport and Lockpicking]]
:'''2008-12-27''': [[25C3]] Chaos Computer Congress in Berlin
:'''2008-12-20 & 21''': [[Creme Brulee]] Workshop on creating a french dessert, with bonus propane torch.
:'''2008-12-17 20:00''': [[Machine Learning]] Birds-of-a-feather
:'''2008-11-24''': [[Circuit Hacking Monday]] circuit design workshop
:'''2008-11-21, 7pm''':[[Milk and Cookies]] -- [[User:Dmolnar|David Molnar]] hosts Milk and Cookies at 83C. Bring a short 5-7minute thing to read to others. Bring a potluck cookie/snack/drink if you like. David will bring milk and cookies.
:'''2008-11-17, 7:30pm''': [[Basic Bicycle Maintain]] - [[User:rubin110|Rubin]] and [[User:rigel|rigel]] hate it when we see a bike that isn't maintained. Screechy chains and clacking derailleur can go to hell. Basic bike tune up, sharing the smarts on simple things you can do at home to make your ride suck a whole lot less.
:'''2008-11-16, 5:00pm''': [[RepRap Soldering Party]] - help assemble RepRap! RSVPs required on wiki! [[User:Adi|adi]]
:'''2008-11-16, 3:00pm''': [[Oscilloscopes]] - Learn how to use this versatile tool to test electronic circuits. Maximum 6 slots, please sign up ahead of time! [[User:dstaff|dstaff]]
:'''2008-10-31''': [[Halloween Open House]] - NoiseBridge's own [[PPPC]] threw an awesome open house/halloween gala. Post pictures if you got 'em!
:'''2008-10-25''': [[Soldering Workshop]] and Pumpkin Hackin' - Learn to solder for total newbies (or learn to solder better!), including surface mount. Additionally, carve your halloween pumpkins and enjoy some experimental pumpkin pie and/or soup.
:'''2008-10-07''': (tuesday before meeting) - Etch a circuit board. I'll be trying a photo resist etching and a basic printed mask etching. This is step 1/3 for a project called "annoying USB thingie" which will execute pre-defined keystrokes by sneaking a tiny USB dongle onto a victim^h^h^h^h^h buddy's computer.
:'''2008-09-13''': [[Processing Workshop]] — Learn this very easy-to-use programming language! - [[Processing Workshop Report]]
:'''2008-02-16''': [[Brain Machine Workshop|Brain Machine Making Workshop]]: Our first hardware sprint!

MaxNCMill

2010-03-14T05:41:42Z

Aempirei:

Hereby known as "That Goddamned Mill (TGDM for short)"

Here's the beast: http://www.maxnc.com/maxnc_10_cl-b.htm

== IMPORTANT! ==

Improperly used, the mill can destroy itself, its tools, and parts of you. Please know what you are doing and don't be afraid to ask questions.

* RTFM! Know how to home each axis, and what tools to use, how to shut down, etc. http://www.linuxcnc.org/docview/html/

* Always check limits by manually running outside your mill area with the tool at a safe Z height.

* DO NOT UPGRADE THE UBUNTU 8.04 OR THE KERNEL ON THE HOST MACHINE!

* DO NOT MILL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS WITH STEEL TOOLS! (Carbide only, see [[#Tooling | Tooling]] )

* USE EYE PROTECTION unless you like tweezering pieces of shattered carbide mill tools out of them

Though we have implemented basic safety shutoffs, we should be watching it all the time. It will very happily mill through itself without stopping.

If it appears to be getting out of hand, the F1 key should toggle Emergency Stop in the software. This will power down the spindle and stop it where it is immediately.

If it REALLY IS getting out of hand, turn the power switch off (the one on the side of the control box). Note however that after doing this you'll probably need to restart the software because it will be out of sync with the controller (it gets out of sync).

== Software ==

We are using http://linuxcnc.org EMC2 and AXIS software to drive the mill. We had to hack the config files considerably and reverse-engineer the pinout. See here for documentation: http://www.linuxcnc.org/docview/html/

We have installed EMC2 and AXIS and some other software on the driver PC. This depends on a custom kernel and Ubuntu 8.04 -- PLEASE DON'T UPGRADE!

The EMC2/AXIS software takes GCode as motion control input files. More info here: http://www.linuxcnc.org/docview/html/
We have figured out several Gcode [[#Toolchains]] for your CNC enjoyment

===Local Installation===

To experiment with EMC2/Axis machine on your personal Ubuntu/Debian setup, you may not want to apt-get emc2 because that depends on a special rtai kernel and Ubuntu 8.04. Here's a way to apt-get the pure simulator: http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?EMC2_Pure_Simulator

If you are badass, you can compile the code in simulation mode following the instructions here:
http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Installing_EMC2#Building_emc2_simulator

The resulting binary should run and give you a UI on your system. There's actually nothing machine-specific that you need at this point: your UI will look pretty much exactly what we have now. Select the "axis.ini" config file.

You should now just be able to:

*open one of the sample gcode files
*power the machine 'on' (unset emergency stop [red X], and set power [orange square] buttons)
*'home' the various axes (must home all axes, use radio buttons to select)
*'run' the gcode. (blue "play" triangle)

For most of the configurations there is a smaller window w/ an inverted cone representing the spindle (this is the default view). This will show the progress of your milling run. You can change the view and pan/zoom/tilt with the mouse.

For a sanity check, try simulating a run of the NB logo gcode from [[Identity]]

Then try gcode from the [[#Toolchains | toolchain ]] of your choice.

== Login ==

username: nb
password: nb

== Toolchains ==

Many tools exist for generating/converting to gcode. Here's a good list: http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Cam

In particular, here's how you generate gcode from

===Bitmaps, Images===

The EMC2/Axis application will import most image formats and create a raster scan tool path with milling depth proportional to image intensity. Haven't tried this but it looks very cool!

=== Text /TrueType ===
text / truetype : http://www.timeguy.com/cradek/truetype

===DXF/QCAD===

DXF is a standard file format used by many CAD programs (as well as exportable from inkscape and Adobe Illustrator). It's a good choice, especially as gcode export from Inkscape seems to be buggy.

QCAD is an open-source 2d CAD program. Linux users can apt-get qcad, there is open-source executable for Windows as well (but it's hard to find as Ribbonsoft took it closed-source (wtf?) and most searches end up at their page.) QCAD is very solid and a great place to start with CAD, especially if you can't afford/don't need Autodesk/Solidworks.

We use a DXF-GCode conversion called, unsurprisingly, dxf2gcode http://www.christian-kohloeffel.homepage.t-online.de/dxf2gocde.html [URL is not a typo]. In the /home/nb/dxf2gcode directory, run the dxf2gcode_v01.py command.

Open your dxf file from File->Read DXF. It seems to barf on DXF exported from Inkscape, but is fine with QCAD, so a workaround is to load the Inkscape dxf in QCAD and save it from QCAD (it's also easy to scale and rotate if necessary).

I am still working through the various dxf2gcode options but setting "infeed depth" to the same value as "mill depth" gives you a one-pass toolpath (otherwise it seems to do it in two passes.)

Coordinate units are kind of a crapshoot and don't make much sense right now.

Note that it may be doing a lot of math without benefit of the numpy library so it can be SLOW. It has no progress indication, and doesn't redraw the screen, so it may look like it crashed. Sometimes it actually does. But be patient!

=== EagleCAD ===
Cadsoft [http://www.cadsoft.de/ EagleCAD ] is a schematic editor and PCB layout tool. It's not open source, but there's a
free version that is very decent and limited only to the size of board you can lay out.

To generate GCode from your Eagle layout, get the scripts from http://www.pcbgcode.org/. These do "Isolation routing," that is, they will generate GCode to mill away copper outside the traces you laid out on a copper-covered PCB (as well as drill it).

I've added MAXCNC mill-specific commands to the pcbgcode config stuff, including setting the spindle speed to maximum and turning on the motor. (Config file is /home/nb/eagle-5.6.0/ulp/gcode-defaults.h on the mill PC).

First experiments milling PCBs = success! [[User:Jtfoote|Jtfoote]] 23:57, 17 October 2009 (PDT)

I used .01 carbide end mills from here:
http://www.amazon.com/Niagara-Cutter-059918-Overall-Carbide/dp/B000N477OK/

On 1-sided copper-plated (1-oz) circuit boards from here: http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=14868+DT

To start, create a layout in Eaglecad. To work best, use one layer (which can make routing a pain), and use a minimum trace size of 0.012 inches. Make sure you do a DRC check with 10 mil isolation spacing (thouugh I have found it misses trace-pad distances).

From the Eagle command line,

run pcb-gcode-setup

This creates several gcode .ngc file in the same directory as your eagle .brd file. They have suffixes like
"top" "bot" and "d" for top copper, bottom copper, and drill. Run AXIS2 and load the appropriate file. Look CAREFULLY at the tool path. Does it really isolate everything you want it to? If not, you may have to increase spacing and re-run. Check especially places of small pitch and tight clearances, especially between traces and pads.

Milling the copper is a tradeoff between quality and speed. At fast speeds, the copper tends to get rough at the milled edges. Slow speed rates help a lot but can lead to impractically long milling times.

2.5 ips gives beautiful results, but a good compromise is something like 5 - 8 ips (set in the pcb-gecode setup). If you look at File->properties in the EMC2-Axis tool it will give you a rough idea of the milling time.

Setting the Z home at precisely zero (at the board surface) is very important, because we are working at depths of hundredths of an inch. After several attempts I don't think you can do this well with just the manual jog, and risk breaking the tool. Here's what I did that worked:

# Raise the head so you can put the tool in the collet. Put it in as far as you can.
# Tighten gently, only enough to keep from falling out.
# Drop the head to about 1/4 an inch above the workpiece. Don't touch!
# Loosen the mill tool in the collet
# GENTLY let the mill tool drop to touch the workpiece surface
# finger-tighten the collet -- tightly!
# Home the Z axis VERY IMPORTANT DON'T FORGET!!
# Raise the head and wrench-tighten the collet

I think the default Z Down dimension of -0.01 may be too much given that 1-oz copper is supposed to be only 1.4 mils thick (0.0014 inches). I've had good results with -0.008; .0.005 led to problems because I think the PCB I used was not perfectly flat at at some places this depth did not hit "bottom." With further experiments this may be because the clamps are compressing the PCB: at least it seemed to work fine more than 1/2 inch away from them.

===[http://www.inkscape.org/ Inkscape ] ===

Latest: the gcode export from Inkscape is buggy. It's python so could possibly fix, but it looks kind of involved.
Workaround: File->Save As-> .dxf, then use the QCAD->DXF toolchain.

For Inkscape 4.6, use this: http://bitbucket.org/jst/inkscape-gcode/
(Do "get source", put all files in /usr/share/inkscape/extensions/)

IMPORTANT: Read the "Help" tab when you Effect->Export->Export as Gcode
This tells you how to set the origin, and how to name your layers for different tools.

In the exported GCode, you need to add/change the following lines:

Set the cut height to -0.01 (for example, YMMV)
#2=-0.0100 (Height to cut at)

Add commands to turn on the motor after the first line:

G00 Z#1
S 1000 (set motor speed to 1000 RPM)
M3 (turn spindle motor on)

And you are good to go.
---

This is cool but only works for Inkscape 0.43: http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?InkscapeHowto

== Tooling ==

Cutting fiberglass (PCB) will eventually destroy any kind of steel cutting tool. The glass in the resin matrix is much harder than steel. You need carbide tooling. Note that carbide is too brittle for most metals and will just snap.

Suppliers:
* http://www.precisebits.com/applications/pcbtools.htm
* http://thinktink.com/
* [http://www.smallparts.com/b/256305011 smallparts.com] carries Niagara carbide end mills in fine pitches suitable for circuit boards. Available via Amazon as well.
* http://www.ottofrei.com/ also sells carbide tooling locally, which you can pick up at their store on 760 Market street #905
* High Speed Stainless (HSS) tooling available here: http://littlemachineshop.com/
* Spring loaded tool holders account for warped PCBs and mills: [http://www.2linc.com/spring_loaded_engraving_tool.htm 2linc] <-- expensive. Cheap ones exist.
* Really small end mills [http://bitsbits.com/ bitsbits]

Search for "small parts inc" on amazon.com. They have reasonable prices and reasonable shipping for endmills. (You can also search for endmills) I believe we have a 1/4" and 1/8" collet for the mill, so you're looking for tools with a 1/4" or 1/8" shank. I mostly bought HSS for cutting plastic, but I have some harder ones with exotic coatings for aluminum and brass. --lamont

== Parallel port DB-25 pinout ==

* One pinout from http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1319.0;attach=891)
* http://www.super-tech.com/root/drawings/gif/SuperCam_pinouts.gif "setptype = user1" (confusingly not labeled MAXNC10)

OK, got a definitive pinout, seem to conform to those above. [[User:Jtfoote|Jtfoote]] 23:11, 28 September 2009 (PDT)

Pin 1: Tool speed PWM, active low
Pin 2,3: A quad input
Pin 4,5: Y quad input
Pin 6,7: X quad input
Pin 8,9: Z quad input

Pin 10: 7420 quad nand output (motion complete ack?)
Pin 11: NC
Pin 12: X,Y,Z limit (or'ed active high when at limit)
Pin 13: spare digital (unused header labeled "probe")
Pin 14: Enable, active high
Pin 15: NC
Pin 16: input to 4x PICs: enable, active low (reset?)
Pin 17: Enable, active high
Pin 18: GND
Pin 19-25 - NC

== Misc other info ==

Manual:
http://engineering.purdue.edu/AAE/Academics/Courses/Raisbeck/images/resources/cnc/MAXNCmanual.pdf

This guy rebuilt his, has derogatory things to say: http://hans-w.com/cnc.htm

This other guy has some interesting upgrades. Especially notable is the new motor mount, and appropriate dxf http://www.timeguy.com/cradek/cnc/motor-mount

[[User:seph]] was hacking on one. Some notes from him are at http://www.directionless.org/tmp/maxnc/
There's a pinout, and an emc2 config. He also recommends thinking about eventually upgrading a lot of the components. Seph's work is what I (mikew) based the current functional HAL and INI files on.

Here's the link to how to drive the mill with a pc joystick:
http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Using_A_Joypad_To_Move_Your_CNC_Machine

== Workshop notes, 1.15.2010 ==
'''Machine parts and geometry'''
*The '''bed''' is the blue anodized aluminum extrusion to which the workpiece is affixed.
*The '''collet''' is mounted at the end of the motor. It holds the milling bit. '''Note:''' do not lose the collet, as it is basically impossible to obtain a replacement.
*The '''milling bit,''' which superficially resembles a drill bit, is used to machine the workpiece. To setup the machine, bits are inserted into the collet and then tightened with two wrenches.
*The '''workpiece''' is whatever you're milling - copper-clad board for PCBs, aluminum, acrylic, etc.
*'''Workpiece holders''' are small threaded rods with metal "clips" that are designed to hold the workpiece firmly to the bed. They should not be over-tightened, as it can cause workpiece distortion.
*'''Backing material''' is a piece of scrap material used between the bed and workpiece. It's important to use backing material to protect the bed.
*'''Limit switches''' are located at the end of each axis. These act as safeties in case the milling machine reaches the end of its travel. '''Note:''' if you're milling and manage to trip a limit switch, the mill shuts off, in which case you'll need to redo your work. Be diligent.

*The X axis runs side to side; e.g. the "width" of the bed.
*The Y axis runs forward and back; e.g. the "depth" of the bed.
*The Z axis runs up and down; e.g. the space between the bed and collet.

'''Affixing the workpiece to the mill'''
*Use a piece of aluminum stock between the PCB and the bed.
*Use adjustable wrenches to cinch down the workpiece holders to the PCB. You only want the bolts to be finger-tight; the fiberglass substrate can actually be compressed if too much pressure is used, causing distortions in the milled part. '''Do not use pliers.'''
*The collet faces ''upwards'' (like the tip of a rocket) into the spindle.
*Keep the plastic guard attached to the milling bit. Place the bit into the collet, and bolt the collet into the spindle.

'''Zeroing the machine'''
*'''Note:''' In the MaxNC control program, it's important to zero the mill - to set it to 0,0,0 - before routing a board. Occasionally, the milling machine will not home to 0,0,0 in the MaxNC control program. To fix this, go to ''Machine > Zero Coordinate System > P1 G54.''
*In AXIS' ''Manual Control'' tab, adjust the X, Y, and Z axis feed controls until the tool is at the upper right corner of the circuit board.
*Chuck the bit, finger-tight.
*It is critical to zero the Z axis correctly. The idea is to drop the bit down onto the surface of the copper, with zero force, and then zero the axis. Use the manual controls to drop the bit, step by step, until it is about 1/4" above the surface of the PCB.
*Loosen the collet so that the bit drops onto the board. Tighten the collet.
*Immediately zero the Z axis.

'''Milling'''
*Controls for starting / stepping / stopping milling operations are located in AXIS' top toolbar.
*At this point, all of the axes should be zeroed.
*Click the Go button in the toolbar to start milling.

== Upgrade ==
I'd like to upgrade the maxnc. Right now its a bit sloppy. I want to (1) fix it up, (2) make a locating system for two-sided PCBs, (3) make a sweet document with tons of pictures so its easy. -moo

=== Ideas for maxnc accuracy improvement ===
In order of utility and least cost
* tear-down + lube, wax x-y interface
* inspect replace x-axis gib
* replace set-screws, with hex cap with nut to lock down
* x-axis motor mount (stiffer)
* do swivel ball bearing set screws. (make sense with a gib? ) (anyways grease + locktite)
* add bearings at ends of lead-screws to stabilie (original MaxNC has these... )
* z-motor mount (plans at http://www.timeguy.com)
* spindle replacement

=== dual layer PCB fixture & locating system ===
''' Part 1 ''' work plate for prepared pcbs (i.e. has holes for locating)
* make pin indexed work plate that attaches with t-nuts (no need to drill holes in the maxnc)
* add large dowel pins for indexing PCBs with pre drilled holes.
* release pockets to scoop under pcb

''' part 2 prep work-plate'''
* something sacrificial with indexing corner, to drill holes in PCBs needed to locate in dowel pins above
* Face mill both to get '''flat surface'''.

This could make it really easy to get good dual sided pcbs.
Process would be:

# load prep pate, clamp down pcb in corner
# home
# run pre-written g-code
# swap plates
# home.
# Place pcb in dowel pins, glue, mill side 1
# Flip pcb (release, reglue)
# Mill side 2
# Remove, release CA glue with acetone