School is officially out for the year. My boys had a great group of teachers this year so I thought I'd make them some nice gifts.

1. It's cheaper than gift cards.
2. It will last them for years to come
3. It's fun
4. Because I can

Last year I did something similar. I used the CNC machine to make desk plaques with the teachers names on them.

I thought it would be fun this year to do something similar but using the 130 watt laser.

This is a tale of making without blueprints and loving every moment of it.

Last summer I built a fence in our backyard, but the soil was so rocky, I had to use a jackhammer to "drill" the holes for the posts. Unfortunately, my extension cord was not long enough for the jackhammer to dig all the holes, so, for the last 4 posts, I used metal stakes that go 3' into the ground and have a 6" holder for the fence post to sit in - I know, I know... should have just got a longer extension cord, but I had to learn that the hard way.

We are just weeks away from the second annual Lynchburg Mini Maker Faire on March 25th! Check out some of our featured events and makers below. Remember, entry is free but you must register! Get your tickets here.

Happy Engineers Week! We are celebrating for the third year in a row with our partner Framatome Inc. Each year we host a free Family Night Workshop where kids ages 8-12 and their caregivers can come together to learn about and explore engineering. We provide the tools and materials for a hands-on project, which changes every year. In the past we have done earthquake shaker tables and a giant pinko board.

This Fall myself and Adam Hughes lead two projects with students from Linkhorne Middle School. Each group met at Vector Space for two hours once per week, for the entirety of the semester. On Mondays our students worked to create an anti-fighting campaign to spread to their peers at school, as well as an FPV robot for home security.

This Fall myself and Adam Hughes lead two projects with students from Linkhorne Middle School. Each group met at Vector Space for two hours once per week, for the entirety of the semester. On Wednesday our students turned to computer programming and microcontrollers to make their daily lives easier and more efficient.

Background

As the holidays approach, we polled our members to see what the most sought-after tools and gadgets are this year. Read below for inspiration to add to your own list, or to buy for your loved ones!

1. Makerspace Access

MozART's Data

After 73 days, MozART's performance has come to an end. It's time to take a look at the data and see what Lynchburg residents are playing and when they're playing it.

From July 23 to the 25, myself (Jeff) and Elise Spontarelli were invited by Cognizant to attend the Boy Scout National Jamboree as a part of the STEMQuest village in order to help facilitate the stations available for scouts. Among the activities available were drone flying with the new DJI spark, block programming with the BBC Micro:bit, CNC milling with Shopbot, soldering skills (led by yours truly) and screenprinting (led by Elise). Overall, there were several hundred scouts that passed under our tent in the day and a half that we were working, and a grand total of 50,000 scouts and staff in attendance for the whole 2 weeks.