The Putnam Museum is throwing a Mad Scientist Ball to help fund their new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Learning Center on Saturday, May 18th at 7:30 PM.  The Putnam is helping to energize the Quad Cities and build more awareness about the STEM community, and are hoping to put together a fantastic ...

David Hinkle, QC Co-Lab President and self-proclaimed “pretty good programmer” is hosting an Arduino programming class with a focus on robotics automation. This class will start on Saturday, May 25th, 2013, and span 4 sessions held weekly from 2 to 4pm. Each session has a suggested donation of $10, payable either online at our donations ...

We came, we saw, we rocked it! The QC Co-Lab attended the 2nd Annual Cedar Rapids Mini-Maker Faire on Saturday, April 27. Hosted by the Cedar Rapids Science Center located in the Lindale Mall, fellow makers and tinkers alike attended the event to show off interesting contraptions, gizmos, projects and wares. We were very well represented ...

This Saturday, April 27 from 10 am to 4 pm, join the QC Co-Lab as we head up to the Lindale Mall for the Cedar Rapids Mini Maker Faire!  We’ll be showcasing a myriad of projects that embrace the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) and/or maker philosophies, such as quad copters, a ...

This year, one of our members is presenting at Security B-Sides Iowa 2013 in Dubuque, IA. Chris Cooper will be presenting his talk on building “Dynamic Linux Firewalls using IPSet”. If you would like to check it out, his slides are available as well as some example scripts referenced in the presentation. If you weren’t able to attend, the ...

Long overdue for an overhaul, and in desperate need of  more accessible content publishing capabilities, the new QC Co-Lab site should be a refreshed, and revitalized site for publishing the goings on here at the Quad Cities’s First Makerspace.  Feel free to check out the new site, and send feedback to [email protected] First up was ...

Dave Langkamp has been hard at work on this home built Solsylva CNC Machine. He used his expert design and fabrication skills to assemble it, with a little help from members of the Co-Lab on the electronics. Check out his blog to see what he’s been fabricating and how he’s improved the design.

  On Friday, September 16th, a team of gamers from the Quad Cities area will hold their first annual MegaMan For Healing fundraiser supporting Child’s Play Charity. MegaMan For Healing is a multi-day charity drive broadcast live online. The event starts with a group of gamers attempting to complete a list of levels from the ...

Any counterculture movement inspires change in the way people perceive and interact with the world. People that reject the ideals of the mainstream and seek out something that can be uniquely their own. In my opinion, they respond to a basic need to find a culture small enough to be relevant in, large enough to ...

Dave Langkamp has produced a very detailed set of plans for a traditional British Police Call Box. These plans grew out of a discussion on our mailing list as we considered building one for our space. Designed to be dismantleable and portable, this Call Box will serve the traveler well. Check out the video preview ...