Wednesday Night Open House at NESIT Makerspace in Meriden May 17th, 2017

NESIT members Tom and Cobey have revived an aging Amiga 2000 motherboard that’s been sitting on the shelf for the past few years accumulating value.

As it turned out all it needed was a bit of a dust off the replacing of a missing floppy (among other functions) controller chip!

Stop by NESIT Makerspace in Meriden, CT and check out the metal shop, wood shop, electronics lab, and all the various work people are putting them through including our latest retro computing addition.

WhiteHat Wednesday at NESIT Makerspace May 3rd, 2017 featuring Malware Talk

This week NESIT is sponsoring a malware talk on WhiteHat Wednesday in the Meriden learning center at 290 Pratt St. NESIT member AJ will be going over the basics of Windows and OS-X malware and what you can do about it.

There will also be open discussion for anyone attending. Stop by and chat about the latest self replicating threats to our computers and what you can do to prevent them.

To help us get a head count of who’s attending please sign up for the session on Meetup if possible. It’s not required and you’ll be welcome by regardless.

Pictures of NESIT’s Monday Night Chain Mail Making Class

Andrew’s workshop on the art of crafting chainmail lead to the successful creation of chain mail cloth by quite a few folks in attendance. Using a simple jig to twist the wire into loops, cutting with a leveraged pair of snips, and properly connecting the links is all that’s required.

Sign up for the encore presentation on MeetUp and stop in to learn how the mail is made!  NESIT will also be open for our usual Wednesday night open house hours.A chainmail making jig is attached to the bench at NESIT A demonstration of twisting ChainMail chains together from loops of steel

Making Chainmail Workshop April 17th & 19th @ NESIT Middletown

Ever wanted to manufacture the height of 17th century personal defense? Work a bouncing job and need a bit of extra protection? Puncture resistant gloves for working with electronics, animals, or construction? Maybe a bit of costuming?

You should make your own chainmail! Andrew of NESIT will be holding a workshop on making chainmail April 17th and 19th at NESIT Makerspace in the scenic 290 Pratt St. building, Meriden, CT. Come by and learn the modern art of creating your own metal mail fabric.

Introduction to Mechanical Engineering Class on April 12th @ NESIT Meriden Connecticut

NESIT member Dave R. will be going over the steps entailed in becoming a Mechanical Engineer.  This class is free to the public. He’ll be focusing on:

  • How does a Wind Turbine Work?
  • What college classes does a student typically take to get a degree in Mechanical Engineering?
  • “At your first job”… What is an example of a calculation and design task that an entry-level mechanical engineer would be expected to perform?

Of interest to Boy Scouts we will cover the requirements for Engineering Merit Badges 4 and 8 and part of Energy Merit Badge 7’s requirements.

Monday Open House for March 20th, 2017

Ever wanted to roast up fresh coffee from green beans? In small batches?

Currently on the NESIT work table is a small batch coffee roaster. It’s a conversion job created from a donor popcorn popper, two thermocouples, a solid state 120v/20A switch, and an ATMega168 board. Later the popper may receive an ARM system, such as the OrangePi or Raspberry Pi, to run artisan – the coffee roasting scope. Think an osilloscope for coffee with temperature and timing software and you’ve got the idea.

Stop by to check out the progress and say hello!