April 2023 Newsletter

Editor's Note

Melissa Kowalski

I am excited to announce the newsletter archive is now available on the Makersmith website under Get To Know Us! Thank you so very much to the indispensable Jennifer Chu for getting this long-wanted task accomplished. You can now read past articles about projects and see some of the many things our Makers have done over the last few years.

As always, if you have events, projects, announcements, requests, or other fun information to add to the newsletter, you can drop it into the #newsletter-committee channel on Slack. Many thanks to Diane Painter for her consistent and excellent contributions each and every month!

Monthly Membership Meeting

  May 3 7:30pm to 8:30pm

7pm for social and goofing off

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Leesburg Workday May 13 9am - 2pm

check the white board in the main room for additional tasks

Purcellville Workday May 6 9am - 2pm

There's something for everyone - get those volunteer hours in!

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New Member Orientation

Online May 8, May 22 6:30 - 8:00pm

In Person MS-L May 17 6:30-8:00pm

register online, event link will be sent to all registrants

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Monthly Social 4pm-7pm May 21 MSP 

Bring Hors d-oeuvres!

OFFSITE MEMBERS PICNIC - June 4 Saturday 4:00-9:00pm

click link for more details and address!! Come, enjoy the company of your fellow makers! Fun for the whole family! Bring a dish to share and perhaps a chair or two

Makersmiths Education Initiatives

Neighborhood Watts: Jocelyn Ro, Zara Ramadan, Soren Ogelman, Scarlet Artz and Andrew Stern.

Operation Cheap and Clean: Nick Burrus, Aoz Pricer, Curren and Evie McConnell, Rowen Artz, Max Burrus and Ayden Young.

Become a Friend of KidWind

Diane Painter

Makersmiths, Inc. began participating in KidWind.org competitions in 2018 and since then, our teams have won a number of regional and Virginia State challenges in both wind and solar events.  This year two of our teams qualified to compete at the KidWind National Wind and Solar Challenge that will be held May 14-17 at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The cost of our taking 12 youth in grades 4-9 and their coaches will be steep, and that will also include their parents who are at this time footing most of the expenses.

KidWind created a way for friends of the teams (grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, members of Makersmiths, etc.) to help contribute to the transportation and hotel expenses of the teams competing at Nationals. If you are interested in helping our teams go to the national challenge, please consider doing the following: 

1. Go to https://www.kidwind.org/sponsors/donate and click on the red button called Get a Team to Nationals.
2. A window will appear. Where it says, Would you like to donate on behalf of an individual (coach, student, teacher) or KidWind Challenge team? Please enter one of our Makersmiths’ team names. The teams are: Operation Cheap and Clean (middle school Makersmiths’ solar team) or Neighborhood WATTS (high school Makersmiths’ solar team).
3. Choose to be named as a Friend of KidWind or remain anonymous. Then choose a donation amount of $10 to $500 or other. Then please follow the prompts to make a donation.

Educational Initiatives Interest Meeting

Makersmiths integrates a variety of STEM initiatives into its K12 educational programs that involve family workshops and youth activities emphasizing student-driven exploration, communication, and collaboration. Makersmiths members serve as volunteer instructors, mentors or coaches.  Please attend this interest meeting prior to our monthly social to discuss your ideas for summer and fall 2023 that will continue our offering of STEM and other K12 educational programs for our families and youth at Makersmiths.
We will meet at 3PM in the Green Room at Makersmiths-Purcellville an hour prior to our monthly social on May 21 that will ask members to bring hors d’oeuvres to share. Prior to coming, please view this Family and Youth Initiatives movie.

Questions? Contact Diane Painter.

Ceramics Studio Update!

Bo Wernick

The ceramics studio team met this week to clean up the space and make things user friendly for our members. We talked about adding shelves, putting in a wet area and sink for cleanup, opening up an area for pottery wheels, and having a glaze area separate from the clay area. We are also looking to get rid of 2 kilns since we currently have 5. More details to come in the next few weeks as we get the space ready for individual use and classes. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

PS - If you left any personal items in that area, including tools or pottery, please pick it up by the end of May.

Great job, all! The place looks fabulous!

Have you seen...

full dust collection bags in the woodshop? This is a continuing problem! If you make dust, please take dust! Students who recently took Red Tool training were taught by their instructors how to dispose of full (half full counts!) dust collection bags and they are happy to provide a refresher! Just ask the shop stewards.

Note: make sure your bag does not have a hole in it. This time saving tip to you from someone who learned the hard way

from the slack channels...

Robin Schenck  

I would just like to say how amazing this place is! I feel energized, calm, excited, and peaceful every time I step foot into MSL. The creativity, community, collaboration, and shared excitement is such a highlight of my week! Thank you all!

Thank you to Flower and Garden Show Volunteers!

The weather over the April 15 and 16 weekend was beautiful and the turn-out for the Leesburg Flower and Garden Show was terrific.  Downtown Leesburg was closed for traffic and the streets were lined with vendors, landscapers, and activities.  Makersmiths members also turned out in force to staff our booth in the non-profit area.  Our wonderful volunteers promoted the organization, talking with people about what Makersmiths represents and all the different projects our members create.  Show attendees were very interested in our mission and we look forward to more people participating in Makersmiths as a result.  Thank you to all who volunteered to man the booth and help with the event!

~ Mike Werling

Makersmiths Board of Directors Election

Bev Murdock

Current terms for Jonathan White and Dave Painter are expiring. As current Board Secretary, I'll be managing this year's election, with lots of help from others.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. Key deadlines:

• 04/18/23 Nominations are due
• 05/03/23 Nominees are invited to address the membership at the Regular Meeting
• 05/17/23 Voting opens (online, details to be provided in the near future via an email invite)
• 06/07/23 Annual Meeting of the Membership, votes are tallied and new Board Members announced
• 06/28/23 Annual Meeting of the (new) Board, new Officers will be appointed

Steward's Corner

adapted from a Slack post by Jessee Maloney

As the Leesburg Site Steward, I’d like to remind everyone that we are a 100% volunteer run organization!

This means that stuff that would normally be done by janitors, maids, secretaries, managers, etc are done by us members.

All of us.

Not just a few of us.

Are you at one of our two locations for a class or to work on a project? First, please clean up after yourself for the next person! If each person does one small job or cleans up one small area, we would have the most spotless & organized makerspace ever! 

Small jobs include: 

• filling paper towels
• refilling soap
• stock up on toilet paper
• vacuuming
• cleaning off surfaces of clutter
• putting away small tools and craft items
• dusting surfaces (tops of machines, computers, 3D printers)
• swish that toilet!

I’m the site steward, not your mom. I make sure we’re stocked up and organized, but I still want time to make things as well. And honestly, a small handful of diligent makers should not be shouldering the burden of an entire organization!

All of the supplies needed to do these tasks are almost always in stock and kept in visibly labeled closets and cabinets. The less you help, the more others have to take out of the time they set aside to make something to do that task instead.

So next time you come in to use the CNC real quick, or the woodshop, or to check on your 3D print, why not take a quick walk around and see if there’s a small task you can help with! You don’t need to empty every trash can, but one would be helpful! More hands = less work!

Thank you for joining my Tedtalk!

editor's note: in my perusal of slack channels for material for the newsletter, I have noted a CONSISTENT request to clean up after yourself in the woodworking areas and to take those half full garbage and dust bags off for disposal (different at each site, if you don't know, just ask!) before they are FULLFULL bags and difficult to carry. 

Who's This At Wine and Welding?

A Banner Day at Makersmiths!

Robin Schenck

My sister was tasked with making a banner for her little league team. It was so fun to spend the day with her and get our creativity on! We so appreciate the help from @John Carter, Scott, @john.dubelko, and the wonderful @Bev! Everyone needs a Bev! Thank you all for your input, teaching us how to use a few more things, and allowing us to share our day with such fun people!
Makerspace shout outs: Bandsaw (wood), Laser Cutter (bats), grommet maker, rivets, Cricut (lettering), glue, paint, iron, heat press, scissors, exact-o knife, craft paper, ice pick, glue gun, shop vac, broom & dustpan, and some Chick-Fil-A and Fireworks thrown in for sustenance.  

First Place Banner Contest Winner!

The Purcellville Kiosk

Diane Painter

When Kwasi Fraser was mayor of Purcellville, he approached Dave Painter about Makersmiths helping the town make a Kiosk like the one town employees had seen in Old Town Manassas.  They envisioned the Kiosk would be placed in front of the train station where the W&OD trail meets North 21^st Street in Purcellville.

A committee of town employees was formed to plan how to replicate the Kiosk but design it to suit Purcellville’s needs.

Committee members showed Dave pictures of the Manassas kiosk and Dave went to work, designing the kiosk in Fusion 360.  Planning discussions included a lot of questions such as:

How much will this weigh?

Will it be sturdy enough to withstand high winds and other severe weather events?

How can we protect it from people running into it, climbing it, hitting it, trying to break the glass doors?

Dave chose a modular design so if pieces were damaged, they could be easily replaced with minimal welding. Instead of using glass on the door fronts, polycarbonate would be used since it won’t break and it is see-through. Powder coating the metal parts eliminates the problem of sun fade.

Because Dave designed each part of the kiosk in Fusion 360, he was able to determine the weight of the parts. Altogether, the kiosk weighs over 600 pounds. Dave even superimposed the drawing on an image of the place it would sit on the W&OD trail by the train station and changed its colors to see how it would look next to the yellow train station. Eventually the committee settled on a dark green color.

Dave had three of the heavier pieces of the kiosk laser cut on a CNC and bent at Winchester Metal, but the smaller, upper level parts were constructed and welded together at Makersmiths. The town had a sign company, Quail Run Signs, create the town crest and information signage for the kiosk.

On April 22, the current mayor, Stan Milan, and town council members, town staff and others held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil the kiosk at Purcellville’s historic train station. The kiosk was funded by Loudoun County’s Tourism Grant Program.  This image appeared April 24 in Loudoun Now.

Stop by to see the results of these collaborative efforts to create a kiosk that displays the history of Purcellville, businesses and events in the town of Purcellville.

From #Whatcha_make_today

I think it's safe to say we'd all like to be a kid again looking at Greg Marchio's Mud Kitchen creation!

Big Red CNC at MS-L was used on the sign and the stove tops

Did you know...

Makersmiths has a blog on their home page? 

Makersmiths is on Instagram?

Makersmiths has a YouTube page?

The Newsletter could always use some new blood - share your projects, pitch some article ideas, tell me about something cool you've seen in your Maker travels! 

Did you know there was a #roadmap_and_future_planning channel to plot out where Makersmiths is going in the future? All are welcome to contribute! Go check it out

Heard around...

the garden plot is IN PROGRESS at Ida Lee if you want to get into some dirt with your fellow Makersmiths! Check out the #gardening channel for more info.I hear they are planting things this week! But as all gardeners know, there is always more to go in the ground

Have you seen the #hire-a-maker channel on Slack? Perfect for someone looking for a few jobs in their skill set or expanding their maker business!

Do you have a business you run using Makersmiths? Post about your business in the #makerbiz channel! We could all use some fresh holiday gift ideas!

Red Tool Classes are an important step in your Maker journey!

MS-L

3D Resin Printer 101 - 5/9

Red Tool UV Printer - 5/9

Laser Cutter Intro - 5/15

Introduction to Vector Graphics with Adobe Illustrator - 5/16

Circuit Playground Express Fun - 5/17, 5/31

Big Red CnC Operation - 5/10

Monthly Social - Makersmith Picnic June 4 instead

MS-L Electronics Night - 5/11, 5/25

MS-P

Red Tool Metalworking Basics - 5/17

HP Plotter Training - 5/22

KidWind Turbine Team Prep Mtg - 4/7

Red Tool Woodworking-Adv - 5/4, 5/14

MIG Welding Beginner - 5/15, 5/23

Monthly Social - 5/21 Hors d'oeuvres

Red Tool Woodworking-basic - 5/11

Makersmiths runs on volunteers!

Consider teaching a class or holding a workshop

check out the #class_planning_and_requests channel on Slack and join a meeting to get some help with your idea!

check back on the website - new classes are added all the time

TOOL AUTHORIZATION GROUPS

Dean Williamson

Makersmiths has lots of cool and useful tools, machines, and equipment.  Many of them require training or authorization before you can use the equipment.  The training can be as simple as an orientation, to a more formal “red tool” class, to demonstrating proficiency to the tool steward.  Such mandatory training helps ensure that all users understand how to use the equipment properly and safely, thus helping to keep the equipment running smoothly and minimize maintenance downtime as well as ensuring the safety of our members.

Below is a list of the tool groups which require training and for which we are tracking authorizations, or tool “sign-offs”. The tool steward(s) are listed next to each tool group, along with the method by which to get authorized to use the tools independently. Please contact the steward for more information about each tool. This list is not exhaustive of the tools available at Makersmiths and is updated regularly as we get new equipment or as needed.

The most current version of this list is posted on the Makersmiths wiki under “Tools, Materials & Training”.  Please check out the list.  You might discover a new tool that you didn’t realize Makersmiths had.

Makersmiths Leesburg: 106 Royal St SW, Leesburg, VA 20175

Makersmiths Purcellville: 785 S. 20th St, Purcellville, VA 20132