Vidette Makes

Five years ago a group of developers, engineers, professors, and entrepreneurs met at a brewery in Valparaiso, Indiana. That meeting turned into an informal club that met every month. We shared stories, taught each other new skills, and learned about local tech industry. In 2020 we decided to focus on giving back to the community, and formed Vidette Makes, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that sponsors projects for the Maker Community in Northwest Indiana. One of our projects is to recycle waste plastic from 3D printing at schools, libraries, and other educational organizations into usable filament. This will allow students in our area to see the whole engineering process, from design to prototype to recycling. We partnered with Valparaiso University, sponsoring an engineering senior design team which designed and built an extrusion machine based on the Precious Plastic design, as well as a spooling machine.