The Sunshine Coast Mini Maker Faire in Dougall Park on Sunday, May 31 brought out an emerging subculture of “Maker” hobbyists and inventors who do everything by hand. Featured products ranged from medieval armour to robotics and 3D printers – yes, the mad scientists at Army of Evil Robots (armyofevilrobots.com) actually built their own 3D printer.
The faire was put on by the Coast Makers group. Now just about one year old, the CoastMakers have around 65 members, and are trying to spread the Maker subculture on the Sunshine Coast.
Creator of the group, Dave Chisholm, said the goal of the event on Sunday was to have fun.
“There’s a lot of really creative and innovative people on the Coast, and they work away in their basements and garages and workshops and whatnot,” Chisholm said. “It’s kind of fun to bring it all out and show it off.”
A lot of the products available in North America are what Chisholm called “prepackaged [stuff] from overseas – ‘safe when used as directed’ products.”
“The whole point of this is to demystify that, and get rid of the idea that it’s complicated and hard and dangerous,” Chisholm said. “Just play with it. As you play with it, you learn about it.”
The mass marketing of phones in recent years has driven down the cost of computer components. According to Chisholm, a GPS chip can be purchased for a dollar now. With new materials coming into the market every day, trying your hand at being an inventor (or mad scientist) is accessible in a way it never has been before.
The Coast Makers have monthly meet-ups. Sometimes they are in pubs, other times in a member’s workshop if they want to show the rest of the group something they’re working on.
Chisholm said the meet-ups are casual, and they have decided collectively to do two events every year, the Mini-Makers Faire in the spring and Santa’s Makeshop in time for Christmas.
To find out about upcoming events or joining the CoastMakers, see coastmakers.com
