The LCPS Regional Science & Engineering Fair was held on March 15, 2018 at Riverside High School  This event involved 298 high school students from Loudoun County’s fifteen high schools, the LCPS Academy of Science, the LCPS Academy of Engineering & Technology and Monroe Technology Center. Winning students in a variety of science and engineering disciplines received over $30,000 in awards and prizes.    

Two Makersmiths members served as judges for the Maker Award. The Makersmiths’ Maker Award is awarded to the science fair entrant who we feel represents outstanding maker ingenuity, creativity, and technical skills by constructing something that was used in some way during the scientific process of conducting research.  We are pleased to announce that the 2018 Maker Award goes to Jacob Di Girolamo for his project entitled: The Designing and Prototyping of Pneumatic Tools That Are Capable of Being Produced Using Additive Manufacturing.  The tool that Jacob created and tested out through an experimental approach to improve its performance consists of eight unique components, some by 3D printing, others machined. Jacob is now a Makersmiths member and we will enjoy having him collaborate with and share his expertise with other members.

We also have two honorable mention recipients. We would like to recognize Gwyneth Schloer for her project, Mathematically Accurate, Double-Axis Microgravity Simulator. Gwyneth stuck with her project idea for several years, and all on her own improved the design and construction of the double-axis simulator used in her research. 

Our second honorable mention recipient is Corwin Warner for his project, Using Arduino Microcontrollers for Dual-Fuel Injection. Corwin’s engineering project involved the making of many 3D parts, but it also represents many different disciplines involved in his research. 

The complete awards list is posted on the RSEF website:

http://www.lcps.org/rsef

To see photos of the event, visit RSEF 2018 Awards Ceremony

https://vicspix.smugmug.com/RSEF-2018

RSEF 2018 Candid photographs of the set-up, judging, first place announcement, and ceremony

https://vicspix.smugmug.com/LCPS-RSEF-Judging-2018/n-RK27bg

Mark your calendars for the 2019 LCPS RSEF on March 14, 2019 (Pi Day) at Riverside High School.

Maker Education initiatives encourage our Makersmiths youth members to become problem-solvers and innovators that will lead to finding solutions to relevant problems. Through a variety of learning activities that integrate a variety of STEM and art fields, we encourage student-driven exploration, communication and collaboration. Participants learn within authentic maker environments to communicate and collaborate with other makers as they identify problems to solve, research, design, model, tinker, and test out their innovations. 

To stimulate interest in becoming innovators, Makersmiths members were encouraged to attend the 2018 Science and Engineering Festival at the Washington, DC Convention Center the weekend of April 7-8.  This festival showcased youth projects throughout the Washington, DC region that provide in-school and out-of- school opportunities to engage in robotics, 3D printing, laser cutting and much more. View a slideshow of the Science and Engineering Festival.

What is next? How can your family become involved in maker education initiatives? Please attend our next education event sponsored by the Loudoun County Public Schools. It is the Student Maker Showcase on Thursday, May 3, 2018 at Brambleton Middle School located at 23070 Learning Circle Ashburn, VA 20148. The event runs from 5:30 PM-8 PM. It is billed as a public showcase of student invention, creativity and resourcefulness. Dominion HS, Eagle Ridge MS, Loudoun Academy of Science and Harmony Middle Schools’s AT Maker Club will exhibit student projects as well as their maker spaces and hands on learning initiatives.

This event will be a mash-up of an art show, science fair, robotics competition, craft fair, STEM day and hackathon. Makersmiths, Inc. will have a display table of projects members have made and we will run a raffle for teachers and administrators to win free classes at Makersmiths locations in Leesburg and Purcellville. It is hoped that these educators will learn new maker skills and help establish maker spaces within their own schools.

On April 7, 2018, Makersmiths had a soft opening of its Purcellville location at 785 S. 20th Street. For the past year, members have taught members how to use renovation tools, cut framing wood, hang drywall, and so much more. Although we are still working on the facility for a grand opening later this spring, please stop by on Saturdays and meet the members and learn how to join this incredible nonprofit, community-oriented organization and also make new friends! Click on the Purcellville location link to see what has been created so far. 

Makersmiths second location in Purcellville is set for a soft opening Saturday, April 7th and we could really use your help!

Tuesday, March 27th

6-9pm

A complete list of tasks are in the #purcellville channel on Slack.

Friday, March 30th

TBD

If you are free Friday, please contact Dave Painter through Slack and let him know! 

Saturday, March 31st 

9am-3pm

This is the last big workday and the day we could really use the most help! Even just stopping by for an hour to lend a hand will help out

Every few weeks we will be sharing an updated list of all upcoming classes and events at the Makersmiths in both Leesburg and Purcellville. This will be a great way for you to see everything coming all at once as well as class samples.

Please note that dates and times may change from the time this was published, for the most updated calendar please visit meetup.

Ok, Now here are all the upcoming events from today, March 12th until Saturday March 31st:

Monday, March 12th:

3D Printing - Level 1 - 7:30-9:30pm in Leesburg

Tuesday, March 13th:

Create Homemade Soaps Friends and Family Will Love - 5-6:30pm in Leesburg

Thursday, March 15th:

Open House in Leesburg - 6:30-9pm

Friday, March 16th:

Fabric Baskets- quick and easy sewing  - 6:30-8:30pm in Leesburg

Saturday, March 17th:

Workday in Purcellville - 9am-3pm

Monday, March 19th:

Easter-egg Bling Eggery Class - Level 1 - 7-9pm in Leesburg

Thursday, March 22nd:

Open House in Leesburg - 6:30-9pm

Friday, March 23rd:

Easter-egg Bling Eggery Class - Level 1 - 7-9pm in Leesburg

Saturday, March 24th:

Workday in Purcellville - 9am-3pm

Basic Sewing - Zig Zag Stitched Rope Bowls - 10am-12pm in Leesburg

Sunday, March 25th:

Block of the Month Quilt Party - 3-6pm in Leesburg

Monday, March 26th:

Red Tool Training Wood shop tools - 7-9:30pm in Leesburg

Tuesday, March 27th:

Laser Cutter Introduction - 7-9pm in Leesburg

Thursday, March 29th:

Open House in Leesburg - 6:30-9pm

Saturday, March 31st:

Workday in Purcellville - 9am-3pm

Beginner Weaving Class - Any Age / Kid Friendly - 12-3pm in Leesburg

Some of these events are free and some are paid classes or certifications.

Please make sure you register for any event you plan on coming to so the instructors or hosts can prepare.

Hopefully we will see you soon!

Saturday’s rain kept us indoors, but there’s no lack of things to do getting our Purcellville location up and running! 

Ten volunteers built out storage areas within our woodworking furniture, prepared ceiling electrical spool/plugs for mounting, measured out our lower building as part of our plan to make a ceramics shop, made some of our long-stored equipment look new again, and generally organized the wood shop. 

Here are some pictures showing our equipment transformations...

There are still workdays coming up with loads of tasks on the to-do list, so if you have some time, please come by and help! More helps means everything gets done faster!!

I saw someone at the space post about etching slate coasters using the laser cutter, and I thought, "Hey! That's a super cool idea. I should do that!"

So, I started looking around for blank slate coasters. I found some locally, but the price was *way* high. After a lot of searching, I found a guy on Ebay selling them for around $6 per set of 4, but I had to buy a case. Thinking that this would be a thing that I could resell, I went ahead and bought them.

I had no real guidance, but after taking the Laser cutter intro class, I had a clue as to how to go about it -- I'd need vector images that I could resize seamlessly so they'd fit.

Google was my friend, here, and with only a little effort, I was able to find what I was looking for: free vector silhouette images. As an aside - nearly all of the free image locations had sneaky redirect links to paid sites like istockphoto and shutterstock.

With my images located, I just followed the instructions from the Laser Cutter Intro class. (protip: KEEP THE HANDOUT THEY GIVE YOU!)

One thing that kept catching me out, though, was that someone had turned on "Auto Z", so after I'd set the Z (which is the distance from the laser to the item being etched) and hit go, the table would move! It took a while to find that setting (it's on the "Settings" tab of the print driver)

Each image took about 5 minutes to burn, and I did both front and back. 8 images, x 5 minutes == 40 minutes of cutter time

Keep an eye out on this space! Pretty soon it will be full of useful Makersmiths information, photos, tutorials and more...