We experimented with the TMS5220. It is an old chip used by Texas Instruments for their speech synthesizer toys and modules. It was difficult to find documentation but we did located a data sheet. A few complications came up. It needed -5V in addition to +5V . The next stumbling block was that we needed a ROM chip we didn't have for the day. But in spite of the set back, we did get our hands on the chip and will forge forward though not necessarily for the talking donation box project.

All was not lost. We also a had a text to speech module (Emic2) that a participant was able to get working. She was a high school student who dropped in to participate. A very bright young woman who thought it would be a great interface for people suffering from temporary speech loss from perhaps a sore throat. She left inspired to take apart speakers and play with audio.

Other members dropped by. One member worked on his on-going Arduino project while his young son made monsters with his 3D printing pen. We eventually gravitated to the Space sewing machine where he learned how to handle the machine and experimented with the tension dial. After that, he had fun doodling with thread and seeing what he created when he turned the fabric inside out.

All and all, we had a great time being inspired and made progress on projects that were neglected and learned new things.