Visit to Arch Reactor!

This week, we had the opportunity to visit with Arch Reactor (http://archreactor.org) during their Tuesday evening open-to-the public meeting. From the outside, one would never suspect that this building was home to such amazing technical creativity and St. Louis' largest hackerspace!
Derek Sigler, Arch Reactor Education Director, greeted us at the door and led us through the hallways into their reaction chamber, i.e. their working spaces. For a visual, check out their website at http://archreactor.org/space. They have equipment of all types ranging from electronics, printers, scanners, cutters, micro-circuitry, wood-working, and even a lounge area for entertainment.

Two of the most fascinating demonstrations involved the laser cutter and the Arduino. The 40-watt laser cutter uses LaserCad software to create 2D representations. Multiple material types can be used for cutting, each requiring specific calibration. For this demo, Derek had previously designed 4 letters in LaserCad and, after about 10 minutes of cutting time, reproduced the letters in exact detail.  
The second demonstration involved using an Arduino kit to programmatically control the lights, color, speed, and movement on an LED strip. For more information on Arduino, check out the product website at http://arduino.cc/ and also Wikipedia's page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino.

We thanked Arch Reactor for giving us the opportunity to learn about their space, projects, and activities. As we continue with planning the UCPL MakerSpace, we very much look forward to working with these talented people.