Community Outreach

This page is intended to be a resume of community outreach activities performed by Knox Makers.

(more information to follow)

2014

Kingsport Mini-Maker Faire July 13, 2014.

Knox Makers arrived at the auditorium on Sunday with Pablo and three 3D printers, the first thing we saw was someone else's large polargraph (drawing on a whiteboard) and about half a dozen Makerbot 3D printers. We felt our thunder had been stolen, but we set up anyway.

We're glad we did. Our booth was in a high foot traffic area and remained busy all day. We met a couple of kindred spirits that we expect to see at a Tuesday workshop soon. We also got to talk to a lot of folks who had heard of 3D printing, but weren't really sure what it was and/or had never seen it in person.

We enjoyed explaining to folks that the other 3D printers on display were "store bought," while ours were lovingly handcrafted by local nerds. This attracted a lot of interest, as did Pablo's drawings that accumulated and got taped up as the day progressed. Many folks asked what business we were in, and seemed pleasantly surprised to discover that we were representing a non-profit hobby group and not trying to hawk anything. Issac gave out many KM-branded keychain trinkets, and Doug learned about the heartache of 3D printing with nylon live and in public.

Partway through the day, Bumblebee's extruder tension arm broke. Happily, Issac's (unnamed) printer was able to manufacture a replacement part on the spot, which Sam promptly installed. The tale of the one machine "repairing" the other captivated a number of folks, and the jaunty red tension arm stood out and served as a conversation piece for the rest of the day.

Toward the end, a couple of kids (about 8 and 14) from the FIRST robotics table next door came over with a laptop, having excitedly just designed a little 3D man (their ode to Minecraft's Steve) that they hoped we'd print for them. I wasn't "taking requests," but their earnest young faces were irresistible. I managed to slice it with support and get it printed just in time, and their reaction was totally worth it. It was a nice way to end the day.