Announcing - The BIG Rube Goldberg Weekender

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The BIG Rube Goldberg Weekender -

Rube Goldberg was an illustrator who drew very similar picture to the British cartoonist William Heath-Robinson , ridiculously protracted devices to perform the simplest tasks. Goldberg Machine (RGM) building contests are wildly popular the world over. Recent Rube Goldberg machines have been seen on a Honda advert and in one of "Ok Go's" excellent videos to their song "this too will pass"

I've always wanted to make one. A search of You Tube will show you some smashing examples. Don't be fooled RGM are very hard to make and take planning and patience. Be prepared to reset them many times.

Nottinghack now present the BIG Rube Goldberg Weekender. At the Trent Navigation Nottingham on the weekend of the 5th and 6th of June we'll be running a major RGM building event over 2 open days (Saturday & Sunday) with some preparation work by Nottinghack in the week proceeding. The official kick-off for this event will be An-Evening-of-Rube-Goldberg (Nottinghack only) for planning.

The planning evening will involve a few RGM videos lots of blueprint paper for ideas and many real ales (for they have a micro-brewery at the Trent Navigation) this is likely to be in early May. It is intended to position the BIG Weekender as a recruitment, fund-raising and awareness event for Nottinghack. Open to all ages.

We're going to need lots of bit-n-bobs so if you know your interested then start saving bits now. Have a look at the video on You Tube many of the best ones are here on the Nottinghack meetup page. Nottinghack will prepare a few RGM set-pieces to which others and members can create links between the elements.

The Trent Navigation can provide two rooms (on an upper floor) which we can use, and also a store room (which we can use any time prior and after the event). They also have at least 10 parking spaces and a plenty of outdoor space. They provide free WiFi for the event as well as a great and tasty menu.

If you have an idea for the RGM or want to start working on an element then please let us know on the discussion forum HERE. We'll be inviting and involving the press and the community. This is an opportunity to have a great fun hack and also to drum up massive amounts of buzz around Nottinghack taking us one step closer to a real Hackspace.

Please do comment below or email me through Nottinghack meetup site to get involved. We'd be very happy to have visitors from other Hackspaces or any sponsorship. We are also looking for film makers, engineers and any interested folk to get involved.