Month: December 2019

Guatemala school project

Guatemala school project

Recently, Framingham MakerSpace members provided tools and labor to establish a woodworking shop and taught Scratch computer programming at Bendición de Dios, a non-profit private school in Alotenango, Guatemala.  While there, we visited some homes and were appalled at the living conditions.  Rusted corrugated steel walls and roof, dirt floors, chickens and dogs roaming throughout, a single 6′ x 8′ bedroom for the entire family, an outdoor “kitchen” with a wood fired stove creating smoke that made breathing extraordinarily difficult. 

Asociación Bendición de Dios has upgraded more than a hundred of these hovels with a concrete bedroom and bathroom over the years, but the process has been necessarily piecemeal.  The founder/director, Julio Garcia Gonzalez, explained to us that land ownership was necessary in order to build a house, and few of their families have access to the required money.  We asked what it would take to buy a piece of land for many houses to be built from scratch.  He said he could get land for 15-20 homes for about $30,000, and if he could get the land, he has donors and other means to build the houses.  An anonymous donor committed to providing the initial payment of $10,000 to establish the fund.  We still need to raise $20,000 within six months.

You can donate to this project here

 

Oscilloscope, Analog, 100 MHz, 4 channel

a type of electronic test instrument which allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages, especially very fast changes in voltage over time. The oscilloscope can show information which a simple multimeter cannot. The display usually shows as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. Non-electrical signals (such as sound or vibration) can be converted to voltages and displayed.

Technical Data: Tektronix 2245 100MHz, 4 channel

Spec Sheet: Tektronix 2245 specification sheet

User Manual: Tektronix 2245 operator manual

Leased By: David K.

Safety Considerations:

  • Often modern digital circuit voltages measured by an oscilloscope are small, but with any measurement of electricity, one should take care to avoid any potential shock.
  • Analysis of circuits from Cathode Ray Tube televisions is extremely dangerous and NOT a beginner’s activity. Thousands of volts are involved.

Certification Process:

Read and view the material at the following links to help you prepare for using the oscilloscope.

Continue reading “Oscilloscope, Analog, 100 MHz, 4 channel” →

Glass Grinder

 

A glass grinder is primarily used for working with pieces of stained glass, preparing the edges to make them smooth and to help them match the edge of the next mating piece of glass in the pattern. The grinder is water cooled to avoid overheating the glass edges, and is safe to use with care to wear safety glasses and DOES require caution because of the potential for glass breaking.  Always use gentle pressure to grind the edges and take extra care with narrow glass pieces or when grinding near sharp glass points.

[Stained Glass project image here]

Technical Data:

  • Power Requirements: 115VAC/1ph

User Manual:

Leased By:

  • David K.

Safety Considerations:

  • Safety Glasses
  • Hand protection to reduce chance of glass cuts
  • Makers under the age of ## require adult supervision to use this equipment.

Certification Process:

Read and view the material at the following links to help you prepare for using the Glass Grinder.