Maker Faire NYC 2010 (pt1)

Maker Faire NYC 2010

I was fortunate enough to happen to be in Queens NY Sat the 25th for the first day of the first ever Makers Faire in NYC. It was held at the World Fairgrounds in Flushing...specifically the NY Hall of Science. That was a brilliant move, because the Science Museum and other things were open, so there were things for everyone to do (i.e. kids and adults were kept busy the entire time)

I had seen pictures and reports of other Makers Faires, but had never been to one before. For me it was quite a treat, definitely right down my alley as far as hardware hacking and my other stacks of projects go. It was almost like a science fair/carnival for adults...but aimed more toward the home hobbyist, but definitely there were some serious commercial devices being demonstrated/vended. In addition there was a craft area...very large, not as large as the tech area but you could spend a good part of the day just looking at that stuff.

So there are MAKE: things and craft things...kind of matches the magazine that sponsors this event, MAKE:

I have read some of their articles online, there is something for everyone... builder/hobbyist.

I will have two other blog entries, one on Ben Hecklethorne, and one on the various 3-D prototyping machines.

The other things I enjoyed

-watching, no, experiencing Arc Attack! The Tesla Coil band...you have probably seen videos of them on line...short summary is 4 Giant Tesla arc generators, a robotic drummer, a human guitarist wearing a chain mail arc suit, and loud music created by the arcing Tesla coils. You have to see these guys...probably the most dangerous rock band in history;)


-EepyBird, the Coke Mentos folks did a show near the end of the day...again, a lot more fun, if not wetter, in person.

-There was a giant size "Mousetrap Game". You know the one you played as a kid...a Rube Goldberg device...it sounded better in theory than in person...but definitely a large thing to see.

- Need a robot that solves Rubik's cubes?

-Want some animated Halloween decorations this year?

-How about a merry go round powered by V-1 rocket motors (well similar to the V-1 motors used in WWII by the bad guys) I didn't see it running, but I heard it all over the Faire throughout the day.

I saw what I wanted/needed to see in a day, but if you get the chance you should check it out.