Of course, being a con project, it was a bit last minute. Planning and software started much earlier, but it's just how things go. One huge last minute issue was when a relay failed. This relay was supplied with the Harbor Freight airhorn kit, and was used to switch the high current load of the compressor by means of the the microcontroller which was triggering the relay by means of a MOSFET.

After only a few tests the relay seemed to fail. One would guess the transistor failed, given that it's a 40 amp automotive relay. This failure, however, seemed to echo some online comments about the air horn kit.

Before heading to Radio Shack, I popped the top on one of the relays and low and behold, it's a lie. The 40 amp relay is really a fake case on a 5 amp relay. It was purposely made to look like it was a heavy duty 40 amp automotive relay, when it is not! I've heard about Chinese vendors doing this with capacitors, but never have witnessed it in real life. So here you have it, the 40 amp relay included with the Harbor Freight air horn kit is a lie.

The fix was ultimately to go to Radio Shack and pick up some replacement relays. A few taxicabs and a few Radio Shacks later relays that looked pretty similar to the Harbor Freight ones were in hand, but the Radio Shack ones weighed quite a bit more. We had 3 of the air horn kits, and sourced 3 replacement relays. The air horns draw at least 20 amps, so there is no way the supplied 5 amp relay (mocked up to look like a 40 amp relay) would last very long.

Relays before removal of cover. "40 Amp automotive relay":

Relays after removal of cover. It's really a 5 Amp PCB mount relay:

Unfortunately this delayed the airhorns until mid-day Saturday, as the Radio Shack nearby in the city closed early.

I wonder if Harbor Freight knows their supplier is lying to them?

The decision to go dark was made by one person, and one person alone. Our network admin (me). He advised no one that he was going to do this. There was no discussion, no talk about our level of involvement, or even where we, as a collective, stood on this issue. He took this action without any notice because that is just how these bills would work. No notice, no recourse, no time to respond at all. One day you're there, then next you're gone. Poof.

There were comments made by members that this was an inconvenience, and that the method used was a poor choice. They would have preferred that a javascript overlay been used, much in the way that Wikipedia did, so that it would still be possible to get to the information they were trying to access. One person even asked that some way be provided to access a specific piece of information from his user page on the wiki. Our network admin took the site dark in the way that he did to prevent these options from being possible, because without feeling the full force of the reality of these bills he did not feel that the true impact of them would be realized.

Everything is back to normal, and all information is intact, just as it was on January 17th. For now. No matter how you feel about piracy it has to be understood by now that altering the way the internet works is not the answer. Let us all hope that those in congress who were still on the fence about this issue realize what this could mean... or at least are willing to look deeper into the issue now, and come to their own conclusions and not those of the lobbyists.

757Labs has an interim board, and investigation is being done into 501(c)3 status.

There is a high probability that 757Labs will be moving to a different space in the same building. The space is smaller, but it will allow us to focus better. It will be a good move.

Microcontroller Mondays (every Monday, 7pm) continue to amaze. From introductory simple projects to demonstrations of quad-copters, it's been amazing.

Open hack nights continue to be great social events. Meet those into technology in the area.

Some members of 757Labs are working on an event for next year that is posed to be pretty epic. More details after the paperwork is signed.

Various members are working on a number of projects. Members have a key role at MAGFest, the Music and Gaming festival in Maryland on January 5th through 8th. There is also a project to be unveiled at Shmoocon in Washington DC. There is some upcoming involvement with another project that should be at PAX East in Boston. There are some other secret projects that could be huge. Once we clear the new year we hope to start posting some videos of what is going on. So hang in there!

It took numerous tries, but progress has come around! More information to come once the board is fully populated.

Currently we're using the technique of transferring toner to a glossy surface, then ironing it onto the copper PCB surface, then etching with cupric chloride or ferric chloride.

Angus of Hines Design Labs cut the acrylic on his laser cutter as it's larger than the lab's. More info to follow on this neat project!

On another note, if anyone knows of a multi-needle single head commercial embroidery machine that is available cheap that needs repair (electronic repair), please drop us a line. We'd like to add this to the range of tools available at the lab.

When: Wednesday, November 9th, 6pm to 10pm EST.
Where: 757 Labs, 233 W. Bute Street, Norfolk, Virginia.

On Saturday October the 22nd, 757 Labs had two visitors from the HacDc hackerspace in Washington, DC. ITechGeek and HaxWithAxe arrived around midnight after visiting the Fredricksburg, VA hackerspace. The good news is our members created a temporary stamp by laser etching wood and acrylic. The acrylic didn't absorb the ink well enough, but the wood version did the trick! ITechGeek is the first visitor to 757 Labs to receive a hackerspace passport stamp and 757 Labs is the first stamp in his passport. While the physical stamp is beta, it's the permanent design of our stamp.

Some great news is that Angus has cut the design on his engraver in real stamp rubber. He also improved the second layer stamp which wasn't ready yet, but is to be stamped in UV ink.

In the past, 757 Labs has welcomed visitors from Houston's TX/RX Labs, Freeside Atlanta, All Hands Active in Ann Arbor Michigan, The Cowtown Computer Congress in Kansas City, one visitor from the Netherlands, HacDC, and most likely some others. If you're coming to the area, feel free to drop us an email, jump on the public mailing list (link is over on the right), or join #hackerspace on irc.757.org to catch someone. We can easily accommodate any time/day.

In the future, for those participating with the hackerspace passports, we'll have stamps for you!

Check out the event page and register at startnorfolk.com

A group of entrepreneurs brainstorm their next big thing.