Category Archives: Outreach

How Squirrel Kits are Made

Experimental, Outreach

Here are some shots of the laser system cutting balsa wood.

It is a CNC Laser system. The laser uses CO2 gas and 25,000 Volts to make the laser beam. Definitely a place to keep your fingers away from.

There is another type of machine that helps make the boxes for shipping. There is a video of that below. It’s a great system for making any kind of small box. It uses a Dremel Moto-Tool to cut the cardboard.

How Shipping Boxes are Made

We reuse cardboard by cutting it to 22×16″ slabs and cutting it with this machine. This can make a box large enough for 10 Squirrels. For larger boxes, there is usually a standard size available so we reuse those. Any box that has an edge that’s 12.5″ (32cm) is good.

Pin It

Crozet Islands Squirrels

Education, Outreach

I was mentioning that a box of Squirrels was shipped to Crozet Islands. They have arrived. In fact they arrived on the same boat that my new friend Wen was on. Seems logical when you think of it. There wouldn’t be regular mail service. It’s very windy there so it will be a while before we get a calm day for flying Squirrels. I grabbed a few pictures from Wen’s blog.

Pin It

Ottawa Meetup for Wednesdays

Experimental, Outreach

Lets have a regular meetup for making simple model planes for fun. Everyone welcome.

  • General public: We can help them make a simple plane such as  Squirrel, Dayton or Sparrow. If you have your own design you can try that.
  • Model Plane Enthusiasts: They can come and make their own designs or experiment with other designs. I will bring a few supplies.
  • Aviation Enthusiasts: They can come to extend their knowledge of aeronautics and make a cool model plane.
  • Observers and Social Types: They can come to see what’s up, meet new people and have interesting conversation.

 

When/Where (Alert, the schedule is now flexible) Please see events.

Second and fourth Wednesday of the month (starting January 8th, 2013).
Atomic Rooster Pub, 303 Banks Street (Beer burger special too!).
6-7:30pm

RSVP

Be sure to send a note to me at darcy@siteware.com for the reservations. I’ll also know what supplies to bring.

Drop-ins are cool but if we changed location last minute or something it would be nice to have everybody in the know. I’ll try and post changes and anomalies in the comments below.

Also feel free to send me a note if you can’t make this one. We can have an extra one on a different date/location for those who can’t make it.

 

 

Pin It