I'll be setup at Maker Faire Detroit once again!
I have been setup at the Faire every year since it started except for last year and I missed it. This gives me a chance to meet some of the readers of my books and this year I'll get to see some of the subscribers to my YouTube Channel. I look forward to that the most. I hope many can make it out to the Faire. 

This year I'm bringing my 3D printers to the Maker Faire to talk to anybody interested in getting started with 3D printing. I'm sure I'll get all kinds of questions and comments about the Da Vinci's (both good and bad) but I'm ready for the discussion. In the past I focused my booth on electronics but not this year. I'll have some of my books available but other than that the focus will be my YouTube Channel and the 3D printing.

I also plan to bring my Shapeoko CNC just to show it off and some of the projects but I won't be running anything on it. It will be there just for discussion purposes.

I'll be inside the Henry Ford Museum this year. I've been outside in the past and the heat and rain made it horrible so a nice air conditioned booth is fine for me this year. I'm not sure where I'll be positioned so you'll have to search around to find me but that's the fun part of Maker Faire. So many things to see while you search.

I hope to see you there.

I didn't have a booth MakerFaire - Detroit this year but, I spent the first day of the Faire checking things out. It's actually the first time I got to roam the place without having to rush back to my booth so its really the first time I've been able to enjoy everything MakerFaire - Detroit has to offer. 

My first major find was the guys from Easel. They produced a CNC drawing software that handles all the GCode creation as well, plus it sends it to a Shapeoko CNC cutter, all in one software application. And it's Free! They basically created for CNC cutting what TinkerCad does for 3D printing and more. I thought it was still in Beta mode but it has apparently been officially released per the Easel guys. And who was there checking it out at the same time I was? None other than Ben Heckendorn of the Ben Heck show. We were both bombarding them with questions but Ben got to try it out first so I just watched. It's really awesome. I plan to add a Shapeoko to my lab so I'll have both 3D printing and CNC capability. They were routing out a circuit board when I first walked up.

At my 3rd MakerFaire in 2012, I had a Hot Wheels multi-lane track with a custom LED winner indicator at the finish. It had light sensors built into the track and would light an LED for the winner. It was a hit with the kids. Well I saw a new one at this years Faire that blew mine away. It used wooden cars and had timers for each lane. It was huge and extremely popular with the kids. It was built at the Maker Works makerspace in Ann Arbor Michigan but unfortunately it was so crowded I couldn't get any details on who made it or the electronics used inside.

And finally, what would a trip to Maker Faire - Detroit be without a visit to the Star Wars booth. Every year they step it up. Storm Troopers as usual along with a Droid junk yard.

I tried to get through everything at the Faire, which included so many 3D printers. There was just about every kind you could imagine, except for the Davinci 3D. I didn't see a single Davinci 3D printer (unless someone was hiding in a corner). I even talked to a few people about the Davinci and found many knew nothing about it. But I did get to compare the prints of all various printers and it was clear to me that the Davinci prints just as good as most of the printers costing far more.

3D printers have clearly taken over the Maker Faire. What was interesting is I saw very few electronics booths or Arduino booths other than the big Make Magazine tent. It appears that most of the electronics sellers with custom shields and boards that were at past Faires have either quit Maker Faire - Detroit or got sick of competing with the Make Tent. That is a shame because the first few years you could find just about any electronics you wanted. Raspberry PI was at a few booths but they were just showing something it could do. Arduino presence was not big either outside the Make Tent.

Overall, I thought it was another great Maker Faire - Detroit. Outside the weather was hot but perfect. Inside the museum was cool and crowded. The fact that it's actually in Dearborn, not Detroit, at The Henry Ford and costs $28 to get in for the day makes it the most expensive Maker Faire I know of. But people still crowd the place. I continue to be amazed by the crowds that this Faire draws. It is well worth the trip if you get a chance.

A brief video showing probably my final setup at Maker Faire Detroit. Too much work and time to do it every year.
It's been a lot of fun but also a lot of work.

For the fourth year in a row I'll be setup at MakerFaire Detroit. This year I'll be featuring my books and the Great Cow Basic CHIPINO starter kit. 

Great Cow Basic CHIPINO is one of the easiest ways to get started with programming microcontrollers (yes even easier than Arduino). It's because of the BASIC language used in the Great Cow Basic (GCB) compiler. The B in BASIC stands for Beginner. It's how most people started programming in the first place. 

Add to the simplicity of BASIC is the fact GCB creates pure assembly code. This means you aren't writing interpreted code or some hidden batch of macros, you are writing pure code. And that is what many "Getting Started with Micros" type setups fail to deliver. Even Arduino has so much hidden in the IDE that it's very difficult for a beginner to understand what is going on under the hood. And then Arduino uses C language which is not the easiest to learn or understand for a beginner. And just try to program a blank low cost Microcontroller with any of these easy to use starter kits. They force you into a custom part with preinstalled bootloader. 

GCB CHIPINO uses a pure hardware programmer so your not stuck with CHIPINO modules only. GCB can be used to program 100's of different blank low cost microcontrollers with that same hardware programmer, some you can buy for under $1. So that is why I'm excited to show the world the Great Cow Basic CHIPINO at MakerFaire Detroit this year. Past crowds at MakerFaire have told me a simpler but powerful development platform is what they want and I believe GCB CHIPINO delivers that.

Stop by our booth if you visit and let me know you are a blog reader. I'll be setup outside the Henry Ford Museum west wall on the grassy area. After all, you have to be on grass if you are promoting a Cow right?