Austin, Tx Maker Faire in October....BotStock?

[bill.young]

We had so much fun at the Maker Faire in California this spring that ShopBot will once again be at a Maker Faire, this time on Austin Texas on Oct 20-21st. We're not planning anything as elaborate as a Jamboree this time, but do know that we definitely want to have some sort of one day "event" for ShopBotters while we're down there. As usual we probably won't know for sure what will happen until the last minute, but since there are so many ShopBotters in the area we're thinking that a user's group of sorts on the Friday before the Faire might be a neat idea. A format like that might let us all spend more time schmoozing and networking with each another, with hopefully a lot more time for Show and Tell kinds of presentations than we can normally fit within the time constraints of a Camp. To encourage y'all to bring lots of cool things to show off and talk about we're even working on a special t-shirt just for ShopBotters that show their stuff.

One thing that'll be different in Austin is that there will be a camping area setup at the Fairgrounds for folks that want to immerse themselves in the Maker Faire experience like Woodstock (though Bill P. promises to keep his clothes at "Botstock"!). If camping at the Maker Faire sounds like something that you would be interested in...I'm planning about driving my camper down for it...drop us an email at campshopbot (at) shopbottools (dot) com so we can start planning.

As usual, stay tuned here for more details as they're finalized.

the Bills

[bruce_clark]

Bill,

Where are the Travis County Fairgrounds? I looked them up and I could not find an address.

Looking forward to seeing y'all there.

Bruce

[bill.young]

Hey Bruce,

They seem to alternate between calling it the "Travis County Fairgrounds" and "Travis County Exposition Center"..here's a link.

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/exposition_center/default.asp

Bill

[billp]

Bruce,
I think Bill Y. is on the road between his home and Shopbot today. here's a link to the "Travis County Exposition Center";
http://www.co.travis.tx.us/exposition_center/default.asp
We'll be posting more info in the next few weeks as we work out all the details.....
Ahh I see that Bill Y. must have landed somewhere as he posted while I was typing...

[myxpykalix]

When you mention Bill P and "Botstock" I got visions of him running around in a tye dyed Tshirt singing along with Country Joe and the Fish..."And it's one, two, three what are we fighting for?..Don't ask me i don't give a da**, next stop is viet nam"!

[billp]

Jack,
If you keep having visions like that I'd try changing medications or seek professional help.....

[billp]

Speaking of the Maker Faire I'm not sure that many people have noticed that Dave Minella has posted a LOT of newer pix on the Shopbot web page of the event in California.
Just go to the "Shopbot Jamboree 2007" link and then click on the word "HERE" to see them.....

[randy]

Bill P + Woodstock + clothing optional + Austin == Hippie Hollow

http://www.co.travis.tx.us/tnr/parks/hippie_hollow.asp

I need to go find some "medication".

[bill.young]

Wait a minute now. I've seen the ShopBotters that show up at these kinds of events..."clothing optional" is definitely NOT something we want to encourage!

[billp]

Bill's right. This could really turn the "Show and Tell" sessions into something that would cause long term trauma.....

[bruce_clark]

Bill(s),

Thanks for clearing that up. I figured it was the Travis County Exposition Center but just wanted to make sure.

Looking forward to seeing all of you there --with your clothing ON!

Bruce

[myxpykalix]

Yes we don't want this to turn into "Show and Tail"

[dubliner]

and as an added bonus, the infamous sons of Eireann "Pubcrawler" will be playing at B.D.Rileys Irish Pub on the Friday night. I hope those spindles are quiet on Saturday :-)

[billp]

For those of you who haven't seen or heard "Pubcrawler" before it is a band in which Neville sings lead, and plays bass. A number of us did a "field trip" to B.D. Riley's after the last Austin Camp, and it was a blast.....

[billp]

NEW ASSEMBLED SHOPBOTS FOR SALE !!!!!

We will be bringing two new PRS alpha Shopbots with us to the Austin User group/Maker Faire. One is going to be the new PRS alpha BT32( "Buddy") model, and the other "could be either" a 4'by 8'PRS alpha tool OR a 5'by 8'PRS alpha tool with a 2/3/4/5 HP spindle...(We're only going to bring one full sized tool, so the first one sold is the one which will go...) In other words we'd like to pre-sell these two tools. SO here's the deal- You "pre purchase" the tool of your choice from the 3 mentioned above, and also choose a spindle size, etc. It arrives in Austin a few days before the weekend, and is fully assembled by Shopbot staff. We then use it for "Show and Tell"at the User Group, and then we'll use the tools to cut small toys on the weekend during the Maker Faire. On Sunday afternoon as the Faire ends you'll have a trailer/truck ready to move your new PRS to YOUR shop.

We get the chance to show the new tools off, and you get free shipping, and assembly.....

If you are interested in this offer please call Shopbot and ask to speak with either Jamie or Dianne. Thanks !

[dubliner]

For those of you who hopefully will attend the night at BD Rileys, we dont start 'til 10-30 pm so pace yourselves :-) Theres plenty of things to see on 6th street though.

[dave_minella]

If you haven't seen it yet, there is a registration form posted on the ShopBot web site. You can link to it from the ShopBot home page (www.shopbottools.com (http://www.shopbottools.com)) or go there directly by copying and pasting this link: http://www.shopbottools.com/austinregistration.htm.
Please register early so we can get an idea of how much food we'll need, how much RV space we have to reserve and what size T-shirts we'll need for those of you who will be bringing something for ShopBot Show and Tell!!

[bruce_clark]

Dave,

I filled the form and got this:
FrontPage Error.
User: please report details to this site's webmaster.


Webmaster: please see the server's application event log for more details.

[dave_minella]

Bruce:
I don't know what happened on your end; however, I did receive your form twice, so it came through both times you tried.
To anyone else who registers: Once you've registered and I receive your form, I'll email you a confirmation email to the address you use on the form. If you don't hear from me within a few days, please drop me an email and let me know.
In the meantime, I'll see what I can do about the error messages.
Thanks for the heads-up, Bruce.

[dave_minella]

OK, the problem has been fixed. You should no longer receive an error message when you submit your registration.
Thanks,
Dave

[bill.young]

Just a quick note to let y'all know that the deadline for getting a room at the Radisson Hotel at the discounted Maker rate is Sept 17th which is this coming Monday! All the information on the hotel is on the registration page on the ShopBot website http://www.shopbottools.com/austinregistration.htm

Also, if you register for a room at the discounted rate please let us know. We're alloted a limited number of rooms at that rate and want to make sure that everyone gets a room that needs one.

Bill

[bill.young]

Also we'll have a second PRS benchtop in Austin if anyone is interested in saving some money...you'll have to pick it up at the Fairgrounds but you'll save on the shipping to Austin.

Bill

[billp]

We usually get a large number of people bringing examples to the "Show and Tell" sessions when Wayne Locke hosts his Camp in Austin, and so we're hoping to have a similar response at the Maker Faire event.
If you DO plan to bring something we'll ask you to 'prepare' a short (15 minute maximum) talk about HOW you created whatever it is you are bringing. There will still be plenty of opportunity for you to go over your project with others before/after the Show and Tell sessions, but this way we'll be able to give everyone a fair amount of time to address the entire group. So far we have had a few people who have contacted us to "reserve" a time slot, and the projects are really interesting...!
You can contact us at - campshopbot@shopbottools.com (mailto:campshopbot@shopbottools.com) to lock in a time slot for yourself

[billp]

Austin Update- I just spoke with Dave Minella down at Shopbot and he said that we're starting to get a steady flow of both registrations, and Show and Tell entries for Austin. Remember we NEED you to contact us so we have real numbers to work with as we'll be giving out free tickets to the Maker Faire to those who attend the Friday "User's group" , and anyone bringing something to Show and Tell will also get a T shirt ( No Show, No shirt...).
You can register right from the Shopbot web page, and the sooner the better...There will be some great stuff at our sessions as well as the Maker Faire in itself- http://makerfaire.com/

[billp]

Nag,Nag,Nag,
But this is the ONLY way we have to remind those of you coming to the Austin Maker Faire/Shopbot User group that we NEED to know who is planning to attend.
Some of you have apparently read the post above this one, and contacted us, but I have heard of others who are just "assuming" that somehow we'll know you plan to be there. With no real numbers to work with we always have to scramble at the last minute as some people contact us on the day before an event. At an event like this we may not be able to do so, and this would mean that even if you DO decide to show up and bring something to "Show and Tell" there won't be a T-shirt, etc. for you. Since we have to ship everything in advance we won't be able to make many "adjustments" after this coming weekend....
The registration form for the event is on Shopbot's web page, and it won't take too much time to complete.
If you have any specific questions regarding that weekend you can also see the schedule on the web page.....
And thank you to all who have already responded to let us know that you'll be there...!

[bruce_clark]

Bill and Bill,

Who else from ShopBot (other than yourselves) will be attending the mini Jamboree/Makers Faire?

Bruce

[billp]

Bruce,
The Shopbot contingent will be:
Ted Hall
Martha Barbour
Brian McKenzie
Dave Minella
Bill Young
Bill Palumbo

[dave_minella]

To anyone who hasn't registered for the Users Group/Maker Faire yet and is planning on bringing something for Show and Tell, PLEASE register today. I've already shipped enough T-shirts for those people who have registered, but we will be flying out on Monday morning, so today is my last chance to throw a couple extra shirts in my suitcase.
Thanks, and see you in Austin.

[dougok]

Can't stand the thought of missing out on something! Cancel previous plans, heading South. If the Aussie doesn't get us lost, we will be there. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Doug
P.S.: Martha: Please tell me we don't have to sit in the floor and assemble Bill Y's toys again!

[bill.young]

Hey Doug,

Geez, you don't expect ME to do it, do you?


Look forward to seeing you again...it's been too long.

Bill

[dave_minella]

Users Group Austin Update:
Botters, I'm getting ready to pack up the last few items that need to go to Austin, so before I head out of here for the weekend, I wanted to give everyone a quick update...
As of 4:15pm today, we have 67 registered Users Group attendees, including ShopBotters from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Virginia, New Jersey, North Caroina, Hawaii and Mexico. About 1/3 of the attendees are not yet "official" ShopBotters (meaning they've yet to purchase their own tool), so old veterans, newbies and future shopbotters, please be sure to give, take and share as much information as you can. We've got sign makers, cabinet makers, luthiers, plastic fabricators, marble countertop fabricators and educators, so there's a wide range of applications to learn about. We only have 10 "Show and Tell-ers" so far, and we can always use more - it doesn't matter what you're making with your ShopBot.
If you HAVE NOT registered, there is still time; however, since our crate is already packed and on its way to Texas, I can't guarantee there will be enough limited-edition ShopBot shirts for any late S&T-ers.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Bill P. or myself. We'll be pretty busy getting everything ready next week, but we'll do our best to get back to you.
Safe travels and we'll see you in Austin.
Bot On!
Dave

[jamesgilliam]

Doug, I know the "Aussie" knows where "your" shop is so be sure to bring him along. Looking forward to seeing you both.

James and Jo-Anne

[garyb]

Yes James registered some time back, this is another case of the blind leading the blind, or another one of our infamous roadtrips

Look forward to see you both there.

For all the people that emailed me I will bring some of our 3d cutters.
Gary

[billp]

Slight change of plans:
Neville's band - "Pubcrawler" will NOT be playing at B.D. Riley's on Friday evening. But I'm SURE we'll be able to find other things to do in Austin....

[donchapman]

I'm registered. Do I just show up at the Travis County Exposition Center or do I need to download a Maker Faire pass somewhere?

[billp]

Don,& ALL other "Users",
Just come to the sessions on Friday and we'll hand out the passes for Friday/Saturday.
However, please be aware of the fact that it is a "set up day"for everyone else exhibiting at the Maker Faire so there will be a LOT of people wandering around the grounds.
As of today everyone has been entering the Fairgrounds through the third entrance you encounter off of Decker Lane Rd. Lots of flags, and signs to guide you in.
Our sessions will start upstairs (2nd floor)in the "Skyline room", and there is really only ONE building that is two stories ,so we should be easy to find.....
Our machines will be in the low slung "pole barn"building about 50 yards away, but we won't get over there until we do the machine demos later in the day.
We'll be in meetings much of today so I won't be able to connect until a little later in the afternoon with updates...

[scottcox]

Well, that was just downright fun!!!

Thank you Shopbot for coming to Austin! It was great to see the new machines and be able to meet the staff in person!

For those that couldn't attend, there was a really big turnout of Shopbot users, an incredible display of Shopbot-cut samples and more importantly, the usual "sharing of information" that makes this community what it is!

And it had just the right amount of "Austin weirdness". I hope that was the first of many years to come!

Scott Cox

[bill.young]

Howdy,

We're all working our way home from Austin but I wanted to post a quick note thanking everyone who attended the user group and Maker Faire. It was really a great time with lots of cool things to see and, as Scott says, just the right amount of Austin weirdness!

I know I'm forgetting a lot of people, but a special thanks go out to Wayne, Mike, Scott, Brett, Rob and Nicole, James and Jo-Anne, Ken, Jeffrey and Jillian, Brian from Vectric (who came all the way from the UK!), and all the SETC FabLab guys for helping to show what neat things ShopBots can do. The San Mateo Maker Faire only had 2 ShopBotter booths (including us)...in Austin there were 5! And of course, thank to ALL the Make magazine folks for treating us all so well.

I've posted a short video tour of part of the ShopBot booth (including Bill P and Wayne playing with one of the bat racers!) on YouTube to get things started. Hopefully when everyone gets settled in at home we'll get lots more pictures and videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMvs1aFQUgQ

Bill Y.

(oh yeah, I want to personally thank the town of Shiner Texas and the Spoetzl Brewery for brewing Shiner Bock beer
)

[joewino]

My son Mike and I had a great time in Austin although we had a very short visit. All the show-and-tell folks did a splendid job and new things are learned with every gathering.

We had to leave shortly after lunch because we had signs to install there in Austin and luckily were able to kill two birds with one stone.

My apology to Don Chapman (and other old friends) for not taking the time to visit before we had to leave.

Hope to see you all at the next one.

[jogilliam]

What at great time! I loved seeing everyone and talking with the crowd. One person from Virginia said she wanted to come and be with people "like her" (inventors?) Thanks for doing this.

By the way, Bill Y., it IS good to live in an area where you can ALWAYS get Shiner Bock. Next time, come early so you can go to Shiner and take the tour. Wooden nickels take on a whole new meaning.

[bill.young]

I can't think and type at the same time! How could I leave out Neville, Grant, Gary, Don and Ray, David (a fellow boatbuilder!), my old friend Doug, and the many others that brought things to show at the users group or just stopped by for a visit.

And to all that I've left out I sincerely apologize...I wish I could remember what I did with my memory! I'm sure Bill P will do a better job of thanking everyone when he gets home.

Bill

[billp]

I think that Bill Y. did a pretty good job of covering the bulk of the 'Botters and friends who stopped by to help, or just take a peek at the latest machines. If not, we both apologize but it WAS pretty frantic for a few days...
We had a constant stream of old and new friends, and we made a lot of kids ( and a couple of adults....)happy with their new bat racer cars.
One of the best things about an event like this one was that many people attending had never even SEEN a CNC machine, so they were absolutely floored when they saw how much fun we were having with ours.And we were lucky enough to have some great samples of "Bot work" from the User's Group to show off.
We had many other exhibitors stop by to learn about the Shopbot because they all saw new ways to MAKE the things they are now producing (painstakingly by hand in many cases)...
I just got home awhile ago and haven't down loaded any of the pictures yet, but I will try to do that in the morning when I have better access to my brain cells. I'll also try to do the blog at the same time to describe the latest Maker Faire ...

[bcammack]

Jo-Anne,

Is Starbucks still suing Lone Star Bock beer to change their name?


(I've not drank their coffee since they started that campaign.)

[bill.young]

Hey,

More videos from the Maker Faire are appearing on YouTube...just stumbled on this one featuring Bill P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SIYVZqvB_s

Bill

[billp]

The Austin Maker Faire Blog is up!:
http://campshopbot.blogspot.com/

[billp]

So are the pix !!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/campshopbot/sets/72157602639675080/

[dave_minella]

I wanted to make sure to get my share of photos posted as well. If I messed up a caption, please let me know.
Thanks to everyone for all the help on a very successful weekend,
Dave
http://picasaweb.google.com/shopbot/MakerFaireAustin200702

[jamesgilliam]

Brett, Jo-Anne is not a regular visitor on the Forum, but after a quick Google search I found Starbucks was suing a local bar owner over what he named his brew. Galveston judge found in favor of the bar owner.
James

[garyb]

A great couple of days in Austin, for those that haven't been to a Maker Faire....well just go, as Scott said above there's a little bit of weidness for everyone!!!
thanks to Ted and the Shopbot contingent for hostiing the usergroup in conjuctin with Maker-Faire, its always good to see old friends and meet new.

[donchapman]

Ditto to all the positive things said about ShopBot in Austin. I had a great time and learned a lot on all three days.

Ray, I sure enjoyed your sign making presentation and am glad I got to say hello to Mike, but sorry too that you had to leave before you and I got to visit.

[bill.young]

Chris Connors, a ShopBotting teacher and FabLab-er from Massachusetts, has posted some great pictures from the Maker Faire on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/connors934/sets/72157602353596078/

[rob_bell]

Nicole and I want to extend a big thank you to everyone at shopbot at the makerfaire. From the table to the printer to the double stick tape to the excellent burgers and beer you all helped us tremendously. What a great time that was!

[bill.young]

If any of you haven't seen the "Zomicile" yet, Rob has some picture of it on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/zomadic/sets/72157602274587322/

Bill

[oscarg1971]

Some of my Maker Faire pics are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelicdiablo/sets/72157602785485062/

[bill.young]

We've posted a couple more videos from the Maker Faire on YouTube...

A tour of the FabLab setup
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MQ_7sfqXhzw

Bill P getting setup to cut a rubber band "batmobile" on it's vac jig
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bG0myM88ZyI

The vac jig for the "batmobile" bat wings
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CsXJljxckmU

And Rob Bell's Zomicile
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BfRNDZxTljc

Bill