July-August 2024 Newsletter

Monthly Membership Committee Meeting

    MS-L August 15 6:30pm to 7:30pm

Leesburg Workday August 10 9am - 2pm

Check the white board in the main room for additional tasks

Purcellville Workday August 3 9am - 12pm

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

New Member Orientation

MS-L  8/12/2024 6:30-8:00 pm

register online

MS-P  8/26/2024 6:30-8:00 pm

register online

Welcome to the New Board of Directors Team!

As you may know, the Board of Directors supports the organization by managing the top-level, and often behind-the-scenes, aspects of the space. This includes budgeting, policy changes, and resource allocation. Board meetings are held monthly and open to the membership, in person or online. Additionally, the agenda for each board meeting is posted online a week before the meetings on the wiki, and minutes for all meetings are recorded there as well. If you have an idea or suggestion for the Board of Directors, please bring it up to them in the #board_agenda_talk channel on Slack.We are pleased to announce several new board members.

• Evin Grano, has been a member for a few years and taught classes in metalworking.
• Bo Wernick, a member for several years and the ceramics shop steward.
• Jennifer Chu, a long-time member, and chairperson of the scheduling and bylaws committees, and returning to the board after filling in a 6-month session for a departing member.

We welcome them all and look forward to their ideas and contributions.The Board of Directors is also looking for a new member to fill in a recent vacancy. We will be open to nominations from any member who wants to contribute and help lead the direction of the organization. You are welcome to nominate yourself using the form which is posted in the #general and #elections channel on Slack starting August 7th. We will close nominations on August 15th. Open voting will begin September 9th, with each nominee being allowed to address the members at that evening’s membership meeting. Details on voting will be sent out in email and Slack and voting will then proceed until September 12th, when the new board member will be announced. Our elections require 1/3 of the membership to vote to be valid so please be sure to vote!Some of the upcoming activities being addressed by the Board this year include:

• Space utilization and updating room layouts
• Increasing classes and sign-offs
• Acquiring new tools
• Participating in community events
• Supporting internal programs

We are grateful to be part of such an amazing organization and we look forward to continuing to build our community together with the membership.

A Message from Makersmiths President Nedim Ogelman

I’m Nedim Ogelman, and I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself as the new president and share how I got involved with Makersmiths. My wife Laura, our two sons, and I have been part of the Makersmiths family since it opened in Purcellville. We initially got involved through our younger son’s participation in the Makersmiths KidWind Challenge teams and our older son’s creation of a livecoding community during the pandemic. These experiences have shown me just how special Makersmiths is in bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds to learn and grow together.

Until now, I haven’t had as much time to dive into my own projects at Makersmiths because I was busy volunteering on Purcellville’s Planning Commission and Town Council. But now, I’m excited to learn from everyone here and get advice on some projects, like finishing the room above our garage!

Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, and don’t be surprised if I come to you for some mentorship.

Makersmiths Education Initiatives

Odyssey of the Mind Program

By Diane Painter

She states that the children involved in OOTH are required to make all the props, items, and costumes on their own, without outside assistance. However, they need help learning skills like electrical circuitry, mechanical engineering (building vehicles), structural engineering (building towers), coding (Arduino boards), sewing (costumes), crafting (backdrops and props). Then she asked, Are there any volunteers who would be willing to teach our students these skills? Specifically, she is looking for instructors willing to teach classes related to those skills to groups of OOTM students.

If anyone is interested in working with Emily Morford to offer classes at Makersmiths for the OOTM students, please let her know. Then contact the scheduling committee for help in scheduling those classes.

Contact: Emily Morford ejmorford@gmail.com
Contact Scheduling Committee Chairperson: Jennifer Chu at Jennifer.chu@makersmiths.org

Thinking Big: What Can We Learn in a Makerspace?
By Diane Painter

Why are we learning this stuff anyway? I would often hear this from my students in a math or science class. What they were really asking is, “How does this stuff relate to what I know and experience in life?” This is what I shared with teachers from Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) who spent a full day with us at Makersmiths-Purcellville on July 24. Our visitors are computer science educators. As they teach children coding, a process that creates a set of instructions that tells computers what to do, they now can say that they experienced what computers at Makersmiths “do” as they send instructions to CNC machines, laser cutters and 3D printers.

Nick Grzeda, the computer science supervisor for the schools, wanted his teaching staff to experience what it is like to make things in a maker space. In September 2023, Amazon Web Services (AWS) made a surprise donation of $25,000 to LCPS for additional technology and classroom equipment. The funding will help support the (AWS) Think Big Space at J.L. Simpson Middle School in Leesburg. Inspired by their workshops at Makersmiths given by five Makersmiths members, Nick hopes that his staff will help administrators, teachers and students “think big” and make good use of the maker space at the middle school and be inspired to help other schools establish maker spaces throughout the county.

A big thank you goes to our workshop instructors for the day: Tim Cotter showed them OnShape , a free CAD program; Jim Waldron helped them make desk organizers on the laser cutter;  Dave Painter helped them make name tags and plaques using a desktop CNC; Diane Painter showed them how to use Design Space software on a Cricut Maker 3; and, Ken Fuentecilla taught them soldering as they made sun catchers. Another thank you goes to Makersmiths member, Laura Ogelman, who took pictures of the educators hard at work, learning to make things they can use in their teaching.

Diane Painter teaching Cricut Design Software with Cricut Maker 3.

Teacher learning to design a desk organizer for laser cutting.

Teacher working on her suncatcher project.

Tim Cotter teaching OnShape software to a teacher.

Teachers assembling their desk organizers.

Dave Painter teaching how to design a plaque in VCarve.

Calling all Makersmiths Artists!

The Purcellville Town Hall will display our art work Oct 1-Dec 31 as a gallery exhibit. This is open to all MS members.  The link to say what art pieces you want to display is: https://purcellvilleva.gov/FormCenter/Purcellville-Arts-Council-8/2024-Art-in-Town-Hall-with-the-Purcellvi-206

Once the applications are in, you will be sent information about the drop off. Diane Painter will also take art work to the town hall if you want to give her your work after registering your pieces.

Just let her know:

Diane.Painter@makersmiths.org

Bowl Turning with Ken Fuentecilla

By Greg Carter

Earlier this month I took the Wood Bowl Turning class led by Ken Fuentecilla. I had taken a prior class in Spindle Turning, but really wanted to turn bowls. This class did not disappoint; on the contrary, this class only whetted (ignited?) my appetite to turn, and the perennial “what are we going to give for Holiday gifts” has been answered…..in spades.

Ken is a fantastic teacher, encouraging, educational, and quite imaginative (check out his work in #whatcha_make_today). It was great to ask questions that were simple and obvious, and to get clear answers in response. I enjoy working with someone who enjoys their craft (but then, that’s the ethos of Makersmiths itself).

After picking our wood blocks (there was another student, as well), finding the center, and drawing a circle that would fit on the block, we bandsawed to the circle, chucked them and put them on the lathes. After an explanation of the various tools and how to hold them, Ken had us turning. What a blast to see the cut lines develop as we shaped the outside of the bowl (just like seen on YouTube, perhaps?), and as we later hollowed the interiors. Also, it was an easy step to create the tenon foot of the bowl, and to use the tailstock drill chuck to establish the interior depth of cut for the bowl.

As is normal for newbies, we would occasionally stop and ask “how is this” or “should I stop here”?  Ken really helped with showing where we might get too thin if we kept going (“creating donuts”, as he called it), or he might answer with “well, what do you want it to look like”. Whoa! I was designing on the fly, deciding how fat the bowl, my bowl, should be, how thin the lip should be, all in real time. That’s really cool!

We then went into sanding and finishing mode, working up to 320-400 grit, finished off with walnut oil. Man, how easy to sand on the lathe; you hold the sandpaper in one place and the wood comes around to meet you. What a deal! I really appreciated the dust collection set up in the lathe room, watching the wood dust swirl into the DC funnel and away from human lungs.

All in all, between the Makersmiths environment and Ken’s help, turning is a very accessible skill. The lathe I used can handle a piece almost 12 inches in diameter, which made me think that in addition to bowls, serving dishes are now do-able. After all, what’s a plate but an almost flat bowl? Holiday season, here I come.

Cabinet-Making Woodworking Course at Purcellville

Members of the Scheduling Committee would like to see follow-up classes and workshops that help members build “making” skills after they are approved to use machines in red tool classes.  Well, good news! Starting July 18, Makersmiths will offer a hands-on cabinet-making workshop to members at Makersmiths-Purcellville every Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 PM.

During the first session, there will be a brief presentation on measuring, design options, hardware, options, and where to buy materials. Then in the future work sessions, participants will get their hands dirty and begin making new cabinets, which will eventually end up gracing the green room and providing some much-needed storage and organization cabinets. We strive to make the Green Room an attractive workspace!

When you sign up for this workshop, keep in mind this skills-building woodworking course will be held on six three-hour work sessions on Sunday afternoons August 11, 18, 25, Sept 1, 8 and 15 from 1PM to 4PM.  Besides the time commitment, you must have completed BOTH the basic and advanced red tool training courses at Makersmiths-Purcellville so you can use the equipment.

To register, go to: https://makersmiths.org/event-5803394
Questions? Please contact the instructor, Dave Painter

Create Your Own Distortion Guitar Pedal with Custom Enclosure

Another course being offered this summer at Makersmiths-Purcellville is Chris Cook’s Create Your Own Distortion Guitar Pedal with Custom Enclosure Workshop. Chris is a member of Makersmiths and a grade 7 “Maker” teacher at Flint Hill School.

In this course, students will create a custom distortion pedal with their own unique sound and personalized enclosure. They will learn to breadboard and tinker with a prototype, read a schematic, and then transfer and solder their prototype onto a perf board. To finish up, they will design a custom enclosure that they will engrave using the laser cutter.

This course is a family-friendly event for youth ages 13+ and adults. Students will meet for five sessions to complete this project. Each morning starting August 5, students will meet in the lower building’s classroom, and they will also use the crafts room for laser cutting.

To register, go to: https://makersmiths.org/event-5775846

Questions? Contact Chris Cook.

From #Whatcha_make_today

Makersmiths’ Tenth Anniversary

It is hard to believe that Makersmiths, Inc. was founded ten years ago. Since that founding in Leesburg, Virginia, we have grown to maintain two space locations (Leesburg and Purcellville) and as of the middle of this July, three hundred and thirty-three members were shown in Slack as Makersmiths members!

So, what is a maker space? It is a place in which people with shared interests can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge. All kinds of projects are designed and made at Makersmiths.

Here are just a few:

Dana Eddy got some help with John Carter on the UV printer and has this to say:

"This was the second run with good files this time. Thanks to John Carter for helping me out with a few things as I went along. This will be incorporated into a middle tier of a 4-foot trophy (“Best Overall in the Line of Parade”) for this fire company’s annual summer event. I’m excited to see this trophy finished. We’ve been working with this fire company for more than 30 years!"

(July 16, 2024).

Jon White states this about his Viking sign: First attempt at a stacked, laser cut sign. Needs paint, but think it came out well

(July 7, 2024).

Lyle Reger states this about his cutting boards: My first two cutting boards are finally finished up. Learned a lot that will make the process easier next time

(July 17, 2024).

Please keep posting pictures and explanations of your projects in the Slack  Channel “Whatcha_make_today.”  We are also looking for detailed stories about projects that you made and think others may want to make, too.

Contact Jay Jay Billings on Slack or email your story to jayjaybillings@gmail.com

Cricut PC Users Running Windows 10 and 11
Trouble with Extensions- A Fix

When running windows 10 or 11 on a PC, you may encounter a problem when
downloading SVG files to use on Cricut machines. Here is a solution. On the keyboard, click on the WIN key and the letter E at the same time. Click on view, which is in the menu bar. Click on the show button, and then click on file name extensions. A checkmark will appear to the left of the file name extensions. Now when you download SVG files, you should see the correct .svg extensions. Without doing this fix, the files most likely will show as html files.

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

MS-L

BN2-20 Red Tool- Print Vinyl

8/05/2024 6:00pm - 8:00pm

BN2-20 Red Tool- Print Vinyl

8/07/2024 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Red Tool Training for UV Printer

8/11/2024 10:30am - 12:30pm

Big Red CNC Operation

8/14/2024 6:30pm - 9:30pm

BN2-20 Red Tool - Print Vinyl Stickers

8/19/2024 6:00pm - 8:00pm

BN-20 Red Tool Advanced

8/21/2024 6:00pm - 9:00pm

MS-P

Red Tool Woodowkring- Basics

8/08/2024 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Red Tool Woodowkring- Advanced

8/11/2024 1:00pm - 3:30pm

Red Tool Metalworking- basics

8/14/2024 6:00pm - 8:30pm

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!

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 link to the list of tools which require training and authorization from a Steward. 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:

By clicking above, you can view the most current list posted on the Makersmiths wiki. Consider checking it out, you might discover a new tool that you didn’t realize Makersmiths had.

Makersmith Board Officers

Did You Know...

You can find the newsletters from the last several years archived on our website?

Makersmiths also has a Blog, Instagram, and YouTube!

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

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

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