March 2023 Newsletter

Monthly Membership Meeting

 April 5 7:30pm to 8:30pm

7pm for social and goofing off

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Leesburg Workday April 8  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

April 10, April 17 6:30 - 8:00pm

register online, event link will be sent to all registrants

President's Message

Adam "Squirrl" McClintock

Greetings Fellow Makers,

Jennifer Chu is taking over the “Teach A Class” workshop. She will be scheduling this once a month. The goal of this workshop is to take members from an idea to scheduling a class.  We will assist in developing a concept into a fully-fledged class plan and then help to schedule that class.

The first Social at MSP was kind of a bust unfortunately but we’ll keep having them. We have some ideas in the works to utilize the larger outdoor space we have available at MSP which should be really fun and draw in more of a crowd. A steel fire pit, maybe drone stuff, other ideas are welcome.

Our MSL Social on March 26th was themed around cheese and we had a great turnout. Much fun and munching was had by all!

Socials this month:

• MSP - April 16th, 4-7 pm (3rd Sunday due to Easter on the 9th)
• MSL - April 23rd, 4-7 pm

We are implementing a New Member Liaison program. I met with Scott Newman, the Membership Committee Chair, to work out the details of the program and he will be moving forward with implementing them into the new member experience. This is somewhat similar to prior mentor/sponsor programs but I want this one to focus on the experienced members reaching out to new members directly over Slack to assist them in learning the organization and figuring out how/where to best ask questions and learn. If you are interested in being a Liaison, please let Squirrl or someone from the Membership Committee know.

The Fire Pit Build is progressing. We are still in the planning phases of the build because I have not had as much time as I’d like to work on this project.  Join the #fire_pit_build channel in Slack if you want to get involved.

Please keep an eye out for information coming soon on the Purcellville 4th of July Parade. Tom Hill is checking on the town theme and will pass on some info on this soon.

If you are looking for a class that we don’t currently offer please suggest it in the #class_planning_and_requests channel in Slack.  You can also suggest a class there that you might offer to see what kind of interest there is in that concept. Additionally, you can just let us know classes you are waiting for to become available so that we can gauge interest and engage the instructors for those classes.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the next Membership Meeting which will be Wednesday, April 5th, 2023 starting at 7:30pm with a pre-meeting hangout starting at 7:00pm if you are interested in a little chit chat and goofing off.

Feel free to engage me with any suggestions, questions, requests for help or just a “How do you do?”

Sincerely,
C. Adam “Squirrl” McClintock
President, Makersmiths

Makersmiths Education Initiatives

Operation Cheap and Clean solar team receiving the knowledge award (from left to right are Max Burrus, Ayden Young, Evie and Curren McConnell, Aoz Pricer, Rowan Artz, Nick Burrus, Cameron Clarke)

Wind tunnel test

Hot HAWTs wind turbine team receiving the 2nd place trophy (from left to right are Aiden Unadkat, Nathan Mudry, Chase Richard, Lena Dilger)

Solar Project

During the challenge event, both KidWind teams took a solar roof tour of the Wilkins Athletic and Events Center on Shenandoah University’s campus. Pictured is Chase Richard and his dad. Chase used his multiplication skills to figure out that the roof contains 946 solar panels! 

On March 27, the Hot HAWTs wind team met at MS-L to go over the judges’ comments and scoring rubrics from the March 15 Northern VA KidWind Challenge. They are getting ready to go the Virginia State Challenge at JMU on April 8!

Have you seen...

the cool postcards in the lobby of Leesburg sent to us from around the world. They are part of an exchange involving pen plotter artists connected through the Instagram hashtag #ptpx. These were made using desktop cnc's similar to the one I've co-located to the Printmaking room at Leesburg. 

Red tool instruction for that and other printmaking tools to come in the next few months.

- John Carter

Watch this space...

Makersmiths members JC Townsend, John Carter, and Scott Silvers are in the early stages of designing an arcade cabinet for the lobby at MSL. Makersmiths resources they plan to use include: Woodshop, CNC, UV Printer, Laser Cutter, 3D Printing, and Electronics.

Do you have ideas? Reach out to them on Slack! 

Volunteers Needed!

Leesburg Flower & Garden Show

April 15 and 16

We have a great opportunity to reach a lot of people that weekend at this popular local event! We've broken the days into shifts and would like to have at least 2 people in the booth per shift to help answer questions and manage the crowd. Please sign up here

THIS COUNTS AS VOLUNTEER TIME FOR THE MONTH!

Want to Join the Makersmiths Board of Directors?

Nominations are now open for those interested in joining the Makersmiths Board of Directors.  Current terms for Jonathan White and Dave Painter are expiring. Interested candidates should complete the Nomination form and either email it to secretary@makersmiths.org or post it to the #elections channel on Slack.  You can also use the form to nominate a candidate, but they will have to affirm the items on the form themselves.  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

Putting the Metal to the Petal

Sean Crane

I've been taking classes at the Virginia Institute of Blacksmithing to improve my skills. While I've been making these kinds of roses for years,  I still picked up a few new details on the craft from my classes.

The flower starts with a plasma cut pattern that I tapered textured the edges. A tenon was forged into one end of the stem and a leaf on the other. After a bend and forge weld to add strength and interest, the petals were forced onto the tenon and riveted down. Using an oxy acetylene torch to carefully heat and form each petal into shape, the rose is formed one petal at a time. The stem is similarly heated and bent into shape and to provide a stable base.
I then use a wire wheel to clean the steel, brushing off weld splatter, coatings, rust, skin if you're not careful...anything that needs to come off the flower. The torch is once again used to selectively heat the petals to cause different oxides to form,  providing the colors. A quick hit of spray enamel to protect it, and its done. 

This particular pattern was designed by Dale Morse of the Virginia Institute of Blacksmithing but I have also used my own patterns or purchased patterns online. for my own, I sketch it out, scan it, turn it into a vector file, and then cut the pattern.

Sean Crane,  Owner and Lead Teacher at Semicolon Craft and Forgeworks
Semicoloncraftandforgeworks.com

From #Whatcha_make_today

Check out the new #sublimation-printing channel on slack for more about these!

Beautiful work by Ian Sitek

Separatist Droid Army by Brian Stanton

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 has been picked up at Ida Lee if you want to get into some dirt with your fellow Makersmiths! Check out the #gardening channel for more info

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

Production Workflows Used to Build a Mechanical Structure (pilot) - 4/4

Red Tool Woodworking - 4/4

Laser Cutter Intro - 4/10

Soldering 101 - 4/11

Big Red CnC Operation - 4/12

Monthly Social - 4/23

MS-L Electronics Night - 4/13, 4/27

MS-P

Red Tool Metalworking Basics - 4/5

KidWind Turbine Team Prep Mtg - 4/7

Wine and Welding - 4/8

Red Tool Woodworking-Adv - 4/16, 4/27

Monthly Social - 4/16

Red Tool Metalworking-basic - 4/19

Red Tool Woodworking-basic - 4/13, 4/19

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