My Highlights of the SF Makerfaire

Now the Makerfaire has come to an end and we have returned safe and well in Sydney Australia, I am reflecting back on the whole Makerfaire experience and my personal highlights at the show. Are you ready? There we go:

Best editor’s choice: Dan’s daughter Jo won the Best editor’s price from Sherry Huss, the co-founder of Makerzine. Go get them girl! We definitely will hear more from Jo.

Josephine and Sherry with the award
Sherry Huss with Jo

Celebs: Got to meet with Dan Shapiro from Glowforce laser who did a huge kickstarter 2 years ago which collected 45 Million Dollar in funds. Yes I know they are late but they announced they are shipping right now.

Dab Shapiro
Dan Shapiro with Paul

Ladyadafruit did visit our stand early and I was to jet lagged to recognise her, bummer. She took some photos and asked me a couple of questions about our projects. So watch her space.

R2D2 did visit my my stand and asked to sign up for a drop in laser controller to convert the K40 into an open source laser. The details of R2D2 outer shell were unbelievable. Great work from Astromech Bay Area builders!

R2D2 signing up with Paul

Unfortunately I did not spot any of the Mythbusters since I had to talk non-stop to people at my stand but that’s also a good thing. I could not be happier about the interest. Used up about two boxes of business cards.

Art, steampunk: various cosplay costumes could be seen around, especially the Victorian themed burning man costumes were impressive. The weather was surprisingly hot for this year and I admire these committed fans dressed up in these warm costumes.

Lasercut Victorian Hats

Advice: Got some nice and insightful Kickstarter advice from the guys at FlamingLotusgirls They had a huge flaming heart that could be connected and synchronised with the pulse rate of your heart. Awesome art!

Flaming Heart

Had a good chat with the Arduino guys who gave me an JTAG in circuit software debugger which will speed up development of our software in the future.

JTAG AVR debugger

Spoke with the lovely creator of ControLeo2, the reflow oven controller for soldering smd components, about strategies for manufacturing the product.

Reflow oven for smd components

So at the end of the Makerfaire, what did I learn from the whole experience? First of all, I was well prepared but had way too much display material and little room. We had a great banner and cross road intersection spot next to Avnet and Arduino. Putting things back was bit difficult because we couldn’t locate them when we needed for example a screwdriver or some tape. Everything should go back into designated boxes so we waste less time when we need it and when the fair completes. A lot of people wanted to buy the controller so I should have at least a stock of 50 or 100 controllers with me for people to buy at the fair. All together it was not bad for a first time Makerfaire. And finally but not least, there is a need for the products we had on display. I had interest from various groups like makers, tinkerers, consumers and investors. And I did I forgot to mention that everyone at the fair was supportive and nice? Definitely a life experience to be proud off!

Oh, I forgot to mention: Dan and I bought a CNC mill from Carbide 3D. Various cnc projects are already in the pipeline!

Our CNC mill

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