Usually once a month we'll host free educational workshops open to everyone of all ages!  We have a wide variety of attendants from young students and engineers to retired folk and hobbyists.  Each workshop is approximately 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, some are longer depending on the speaker.  Take a look at a few of our recent workshops, then visit our store or give us a call to sign up for our mailing list so you can receive updates and information on upcoming events!

This Halloween themed workshop went over some of the basics on Arduino code inputs and operation.  The regular topics of sensors and motor controls were gone over and the focus with this Arduino workshop was working with remote control transmitters and receivers to trigger code and eventually motorize the jaws and prosthetic eyes within our model skeletons!

2018 Halloween Animation Handouts

2019 Halloween Animation Handouts

Mr. Gillette started at Hallicrafters as an engineer designing ECM receivers. As Hallicrafters evolved to Northrop Grumman, he held a number of positions in engineering, research, marketing, and program management, including VP of Engineering.  Richard retired from Northrop Grumman with 30 years of service.  He then started R. F. Gillette Inc. where he worked as a consultant through 2017. This workshop includes adjustable signal generators, a multiplier/s, and a phase modulator. It is Excel based using a graph as a multi channel oscilloscope and Excel's FFT and a graph as a spectrum analyzer.  This workshop provided a neat way to introduce RF functions to students, and as the generators allow clipping distortion up to square waves, those with more experience can see various undesired effects including audio clipping, over modulation, RF clipping and a lot more.  A full IQ phasing method SSB generator is included, with user adjustable variables.

This intro is being presented by geophysicist, Christian Sutton, who has an interest in circuits, math, programming, and music.  His Introduction of Python involved the application of the computer game Minecraft from a Raspberry Pi, which he used to demonstrate different operations.  Along with his introduction was creating a homemade VPN / ad blocker and circuit experimentation.  None of this is limited to RaspberryPi and can be used in a plethora of applications.

Dave works for the Houston Community College NW as the Professor of Audio Electronics in the Audio Recording Technology Program!  He's a good friend of the store and did a fantastic workshop on ham antennas, how to build various types of dipoles, off-center fed dipoles, and full-wave loop antennas for amateur radio.

EPO Customer, Mike Condon, gave a presentation on the basics of transistors from switching things on and off to making simple amplifiers using a very common NPN 2N3904

Thanks to Bill Swann, a retired mechanical engineer and EPO customer, we had a fantastic solar workshop!  He went over some of the types of solar panels and the main systems for household use.  A true DIY legend!

Former EPO employee and electrical engineer, Bill Nachefski, presented an eye-catching workshop by shooting lighting bolts across the store!  He went over the basics of how a Tesla coil works, how they came about, and demonstrated one of his for us inside the store.

We had a fantastic workshop presented by Tom Taylor, retired aerospace electrical engineer, on bread boarding along with Lance Bordon, president of the Bordon Radio Company!  They shared some of their vast knowledge on many different topics such as electron tubes, tube radios, and the mechanics of breadboards.  He had lots of hands on projects and ideas to give out.

Lance Borden Tube Radio

Stefan is a Geophysicist who was interested in catching the attention of students and the younger generations to learn more about electronics.  What better way to do this then to present a workshop on one of the most important and basic electronic components out there?  Stefan went over the basics of what a capacitor is, the main principles that make it function, and what they're used for.  Students and adults also viewed Stefan make a capacitor completely from scratch to fully illustrate the answer to the question "what is a capacitor?"

Will Maze has given multiple hands on workshops on the properties of magnetism that have always left our audience smarter than they were walking in the store!  He has gone over many important principles such as Lenz's Law and induction using homemade displays as well as how to make your own simple magnets at home.  These laws and properties of magnets were put to the test when everyone in the store got to build their own motor using a universal AA battery and solid copper wire.

DIY Enthusiast and close friend of the store, Caz Bowyer, presented a great introduction to motor controls with her extensive Arduino skills.  The applications for these controls are almost endless!  She was able to demonstrate these controls with a micro-controller (computer).

Robert Berry, the professional magician, has given a few workshops on slight of hand and how to successfully fool your friends with elaborate tricks!  While providing excellent entertainment, Robert did a walk through of the tricks we sell to teach and inspire people.  While magic is thought to be a lost form of entertainment, it has recently been popular among the younger generations.  It is truly amazing to witness objects come out of thin air and seemingly impossible scenarios unfold before your eyes!

Steven Craig has talked about a lot of different things with us before and he presented an intriguing workshop on sound! What is sound?  How is it produced?  How to we hear sound?  All of these questions were answered in his hands on presentation on how to control sound with an Arduino.

The former factory rep for Triplett Test Equipment gave a presentation on how to properly clean electronics with DeOxit chemicals!  This presentation was applicable to home electronics such as amplifiers, receivers, etc. as well as appliances and industrial electronics that may be outdoors in harsh conditions.