My First Day at AssentWorks: What are you working on?

My First Day at AssentWorks:  What are you working on?

I joined AssentWorks to help organize membership administration, but it turned out to be a lot more than just that.

The weekly meeting in the Planning Room was my first official activity.  The planning room was jammed full with over 20 people and everyone was to say their name and what they are working on.   I don’t remember all the names, but what I remember more was what people were building.  It ranged from “I just like to make stuff “ to “I’m making snowboards”.  When it was my turn, I said that I was responsible for the memberships and I said something about my day job.  I felt out of place.  I see the creative passion in the people attending the volunteer and member meetings every week.  And I witness their commitment to give back to a facility that gives them the tools, expertise and space to be creative.  I think some members clean the shop more than they would at home!

I do want to make something myself sometime; maybe 3D Printed Typography or Pottery.  The creativity is starting to be contagious which I knew it would.  At a future meeting I’ll introduce myself and say what I am building.

3D Scanning, 3D Printing and much more at our January Maker day!

What has been going on at AssentWorks?

We've been getting back into the swing of things after the holidays here at AssentWorks with our volunteer meetings starting back up in the first week of January.

Over the winter break several neat projects happened in the space. From some CNC projects, including a building armada of snowboards to some more lighthearted laser etching and retrofitting of an old Galaga arcade clone into the "Orwellotron". On top of that, Dave R. and other volunteers managed to get our dust collection system completed and Colin S. put the finishing touches on our access control system.

Sponsors & Support continue to grow!

We're a few weeks away from our next sponsorship drive, yet we've been pleased to have had industry assistance hunt us down and help make things better. We're proud to formally announce Cimetrix Solutions as a leading sponsor. They have been a great resource even before our open house, providing us with a Dimension uPrint Plus for the space as well as some world class support.

Additionally, we'd like to thank Princess Auto and the Tallman Foundation for their continued support. Just this month they have sponsored the University of Manitoba Quarter Scale Tractor Team (UMATT) to utilize the space for their project and competition preparations. UMATT members will now have access to use the facilities provided by AssentWorks at their current downtown location.  Everyone at AssentWorks is looking forward to helping the team achieve some great success this year!

AssentWorks YouTube channel

Over the past month we have created the AssentWorks YouTube channel and have started posting informational and instructional videos from the space. Check out the CJOB interview which includes a picture tour of the facility and a brief introduction to 3D scanning using the Microsoft Kinect. We'll be adding videos regularly over the next several months, as well as featuring member stories and projects on the channel as well.

January Maker Day

Every third Saturday of the month, AssentWorks holds a regular event day, which includes different formal and informal training classes for the different machinery in the space and the techniques needed to create great things. This is also a day where folks interested in AssentWorks can come on down, tour the space and meet some great folks doing some neat projects. If you're interested in seeing more about what AssentWorks is, this is the day to come on down! 

• Maker Day Agenda
  
  January 21st, 3rd Floor - 125 Adelaide St.
  10am till 5pm
  
  (11AM - 4PM) Open House ToursCurious to see what AssentWorks is all about? Want to learn more about what type of equipment we have? Come and see what AssentWorks has to offer you! We'll be giving tours all day. Com and meet some of our volunteers, see the great tools and hear about some of the success stories we've already had!
  
  12PM - Workshop Safety: Member Training
  Mike L. will be providing members this month's mandatory safety training class. If you haven't taken it, you'll need it to get unsupervised 24x7 access to the facility. Come get an overview of all our great tools, how to use them safely and how to keep you from getting injured. Mike will throw in a special surprise to make it interesting too.
  
  1PM - Vacuum Forming: A Demonstration
  What can you make with a vacuum forming machine? From costumes to product packaging the ideas are limitless! John V. will discuss what you need to do to get started as well as demonstrate some basic techniques using our largest vacuum forming machine.
  
  3PM - 3D Printing: An Introduction 
  Want to learn how to take any creation you have in your mind to a physical object? Kerry S. will be presenting the concepts and applications of 3D printing, providing a walk through of our 3D printers in the space, as well as demonstrating the process of taking an idea to a rough print using our 3D scanner and other tools.
  
  Register here to attend