Thanks for helping to make the San Mateo Camp ShopBot & Maker Faire a success

We'd like to thank all the ShopBotters, CNC enthusiasts, fellow makers and fabbers and the great staff at MAKE: magazine for another successful Camp ShopBot and Bay Area Maker Faire.  This year's fourth-annual Maker Faire was organized around the theme of Re-Make America and celebrated what President Obama called "the risk takers, the doers, and the makers of things." The fourth-annual Maker Faire showcased individual creativity and grassroots innovation in the largest festival devoted to DIY culture and technology in the country.  As always, ShopBotters were there as active participants in the maker movement showing that we are fully dedicated in our efforts to help REMAKE: AMERICA.

Here is a list of photos, recaps and other information about the 2009 Bay Area Maker Faire.  If you would like us to link to your photos, videos or blogs featuring Camp ShopBot and this year's Maker Faire, please send your links to ShopBot.

Report from Camp ShopBot
Camp ShopBot Forum Thread
ShopBot's Flickr Photo Stream
Angus Hines' Flickr Photo Stream
Maker Faire
MAKE: Magazine

What is Camp ShopBot? For the past ten years there has been an ongoing series of get-togethers that have become known as Camp ShopBot.  The first one was held in Bill Young’s shop back in 1999 for ShopBot owners interested in using the machine to build boats.  Four tool owners and a few interested onlookers attended, and those of us who were there realized that this was a great way to exchange information and tricks of the trade very easily. [Scheduled Camp Dates and Locations]

Since that simple beginning, there have been more than a hundred Camps, with some of the latest having 50-100 participants.  The process is simple; a ShopBot owner volunteers his or her shop for a gathering of other local ShopBot owners.  Sometimes there’s a specific topic - boatbuilding and indexer Camps have been held - but most cover as wide a range of topics as time will allow.

Even when there’s a theme for the Camp, they remain flexible enough to change the focus “on the fly.”  With the number of ShopBot owners growing by leaps and bounds, the pool of knowledge has expanded.  Camps have become a great way to both learn new techniques and share the tricks that you’ve learned with others.  But Camps are not necessarily training sessions; they also offer great chances to meet with others who have similar interests and do some informal networking.

A favorite feature at every Camp is the Show & Tell session, where people bring either a project they’ve done or pictures of it and give a brief presentation on how the projects were done and the design decisions behind them.  The range and variety of these pieces is always impressive.  It’s not a contest or a juried session by any means; just a good chance to show off something you are proud of and to help others improve their skills.  Reports from the Camps is a continuing blog about ShopBot Camps.

Is there a Camp ShopBot near you? Check the Schedule of ShopBot events.

If you're interested in attending a Camp in your area or maybe hosting one, let us know by filling out this webform.