Blog

Officially Makers: Our First Set of Junior Makers Earn Their Badges

Mollie Walsh -

We’re thrilled to announce that three young makers have officially earned their Junior Maker badge and proudly taken the Maker Pledge! These youth have shown incredible dedication by attending Vector Space educational events like First Friday and Maker Faire Lynchburg. At each event, they participated in hands-on activities designed to ignite creativity, problem-solving, and a love for making. To earn the Junior Maker badge, participants must complete five different event activities within a single calendar year. Once completed, they notify Vector Space staff and are invited to take the Junior Maker Pledge:

As a Junior Maker, I, ______________, understand the value of making and tinkering. I know that the world around me is mine to mold and change, and I will continue to learn skills that I can use to make the world a better place. Making helps people and the planet, and I can use my skills to help others and myself. I will continue to learn and teach others how to make.

Each graduate receives a commemorative wooden badge and a certificate of achievement—a symbol of their hard work and creativity. A new badge design will be unveiled each year, encouraging ongoing participation and skill-building.

We extend a heartfelt thank-you to the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation for supporting this meaningful youth program.

Want to get involved? Check out our updated list of Events at vector-space.org/events and start your child's journey toward becoming a Junior Maker today!

Let’s keep making the world a better place—one project at a time.

 

Maker of the Month, April 2025

Mollie Walsh -

Congratulations to Jon Formo, our April Maker of the Month!

At Vector Space, our makers are the heart of everything we do—and this month, we're thrilled to spotlight someone whose creativity, dedication, and technical skill continue to elevate our community.

Jon has a deep passion for making, and it show, especially through the incredible artwork he creates with the fiber laser. He’s always pushing artistic boundaries, and his projects are a constant source of inspiration around the shop. Whether it’s precision-cut designs or experimental textures, Jon’s work brings out the artistic potential of tools in ways we hadn't imagined.

Beyond his creative work, Jon has been a driving force in making our space better for everyone. As a Shop Captain, he played a key role in the rebuild of our beloved laser cutter—replacing the X-carriage and fabricating a flatter, more rigid bed for improved performance. Jon also stepped up as a leader during a recent volunteer day, helping coordinate a successful shop improvement effort. Thanks to his guidance and hands-on support, we accomplished big upgrades that benefit our whole community.

We’re so grateful for Jon’s leadership, generosity, and ever strong maker spirit. Thank you, Jon, for everything you bring to Vector Space!

 

 

Women in Machining

Elise Spontarelli -

In the United States, the number of women in manufacturing is extremely low, with the number of women employed as artisans or machine operators between 1-4%. Here in Lynchburg, we are working to change that statistic. In partnership with the City of Lynchburg Office of Economic Development and Toursism and Lynchburg Beacon of Hope, Vector Space has launched the newest iteration of our Women in Machining program. This six week program for women to learn the fundamentals of manual machining began in April. Halfway through their training, students have been meeting with a technical instructor two nights per week. They also attend soft-skills sessions and industry visits one night per week, to increase the likelihood of success after completion of the program.

These five women, Tiffany Goode, Teetee Vaughan, Natica Crawford, Leah Johnson, and Jules Brown, are gaining a foundational understanding of machining principles through this program. Offered at no cost thanks to the Office of Economic Development & Tourism, these students can continue their machinist education at Central Virginia Community College, with potential to work at a company like BWX Technologies later in their career. Both CVCC and BWXT are partners in the program, providing tours and mentorship to the students. 

Stay tuned to see what these women take on next!

Downtown Chess Tables

Elise Spontarelli -

In April 2025 Vector Space installed two permanent, public chess tables in Downtown Lynchburg. The intent of this project is to further activate this space in a way that appeals to a broad age range, engages the mind, and has a proven record of success in many other communities. The tables were designed and built at Vector Space by Adam Spontarelli. Located in the patio area next to The Depot Grille, each table features a strudy steel base, plasma cut and welded to represent chess pieces. The tables are contrasting wood species, cut on the CNC router and finished with a protective layer of epoxy for durability. Funding for this project was provided by the City of Lynchburg's Arts & Culture District Grant, and they were installed in partnership with the Downtown Lynchburg Association.

Ready to play?

Members of the community are invited to bring their own chess pieces, or borrow a set from downtown businesses. The Water Dog, Depot Grille, and the Downtown Branch of the Lynchburg Public Library each have a set of chess pieces available to borrow. You will need to leave your ID in exchange for the set, to be returned when the chess pieces are returned.

 

Maker of the Month, March 2025

Mollie Walsh -

Vector Space staff are always excited to see what members are contributing to the space and to the community. Every month we keep a mental tally of all the attributes we want to highlight amongst our makers. It could be finding someone being a leader, seeing someone making things that inspire us or craft the world into a more fun, more functional place, noticing a maker pushing themselves or seeing volunteerism and mentorism in action! These are the things that help us distinguish exemplary makespace members with our Maker of the Month award. A Vector Space M.O.M, if you will.

This month Vector Space has someone with an abundance of maker spirit worth assigning all the maker accolades to! During the Month of March our celebrated maker completed her egg sorting contraption, (who here doesn't love a good contraption I’d like to know!?) led the way with the Vector Space table at Maker Faire Lynchburg and in general is a delight to be in the space with. She is considerate, helpful, skilled and competent in many shops and is an easy to hang with maker bud. Hooray for Hannah Rathje! Hannah, we are so grateful for what you bring to our community. Thank you! 

Maker Faire Lynchburg

Mollie Walsh -

 

Maker Faire Lynchburg is back for its 8th year creating completely memorable experiences! As the greatest show and tell Lynchburg has ever seen we are committed to bringing our crowds of up to 3,000 attendees the most exciting hands on content. Every year families, adults, performers, builders, racers, life long learners, hobbyists, scientists and more come to inspire and be inspired. Maker Faire in combination with Randolph College’s SciFest is becoming a seasoned cornerstone event in the Burg and we are again attracting must see, must learn talent! This year we are delighted to be welcoming a variety of new creators, The Armageddon Battle Bot, Tome Heck’s innovative Dancing Fabric, The Interactive Maker Mural, Invector Gadget presented by Lynchburg’s First Robotics Competition team and so many more new and returning makers.

Join us this March, 30th for an extreme experience in learning and fun. Festivities begin @ 11am and end @ 4pm. Yummy food vending available on site @ Randolph College’s beautiful and historic front campus.

We are so thrilled to be sponsored by organizations supporting learning in your community: Mustaches 4 Kids & Lynchburg Tourism.

 

FIRST Robotics Team Update

Elise Spontarelli -

We are officially one month into the FIRST Robotics Competition program. In early January, 14 local teens and as many mentors gathered at Vector Space to watch the live presentation of the 2025 season challenge: Reefscape. 

The Challenge

Played on a full-size basketball court, each match during a competition involves a total of six FRC teams from the Chesapeake District. In early matches three teams will be paired randomly to form an Alliance (either red or blue). Alliance teams work collaboratively to compete against another Alliance, attempting to score as many points as possible. In later matches, high scoring teams will be able to choose their Alliance partners to compete in the final matches of the event. At the end, three teams (one Alliance) will be crowned champions. 

The scoring is a complex combination of direct points, points that are unlocked after certain skills are accomplished, and additional points available for cooperation between alliances. The goal is to put coral (4" PVC tubes) onto the reef; remove algea (rubber playground balls) from the reef and deposit them into a processor or a barge; and finally to have your 130lb robot "climb" a cage, suspending itself off the floor at the end of the match. For the details about coral and algea point values, see the Reefscape Scoring cheat sheet here. 

The Robot

There are countless ways to approach this challenge. Team 10257 considered several robot configurations, eventually landing on a scissor lift with chute on top (to catch and distribute coral), and a pair of grabbing arms (affectionately called Wolverine claws) to pick up and distribute algea. The robot is split into components, each the focus area of one group of students and mentors.

Drivetrain is creating the chassis, and decided on holonomic drive system propelled by mecanum wheels.

Superstructure is tasked with the lift mechanism, creating an aluminum scissor lift.

R&D is working on the claws and the chute, ensuring that the robot can handle the algea and coral accurately.

Software is in charge of programming the robot, both during manual and autonomous driving periods. A specialized QR code called an April Tag is used in vision recognition.

Electrical is wiring the robot, also tasked with battery and cable management.

Subteams: in addition to these main robot building teams, additional subteam tasks include

  • Construction (building the field elements to practice)
  • Visual Communication (aesthetic of the robot and external communication)
  • Outreach (spreading STEM education locally and preparing for judging at events)
  • Project Management (budget, deadlines, logistics)
  • Historian (notekeeper, recording progress for competitions and for future years)

The Team

Each member of 10257 plays an important role on the team. Here are a few of the projects each student has been working on:

Braedon Watson - A member of the Drivetrain team, Braedon created the cardboard prototype for the chassis. His focus right now is the bumpers; he built a sample cross-section of the bumpber, tested various ways of applying the team number, and is now building the full set of bumpers. Earlier this season he used his welding skills to create the reef game piece.

Enoch Tan - Enoch has been the main CAD contributor on the Drivetrain team. He has moved from virtual to physical work this week, cutting and milling mounting plates for the motor in the machine shop. On his subteam, Outreach, Enoch is scheduling visits to elementary STEM programs, including FIRST Lego League and Maker Faire Lynchburg. 

Glorianna Breish - The third member of the Drivetrain team, Glorianna helped to lead the build of the kit-bot chassis, used for comparison and fabrication techniques. She has experimented with different fasteners for the frame and its parts, including rivet nuts. In her subteam, VisComm, she is researching aluminum anodization as an option for altering the robot appearance. Her focus this week is machining mounting holes for the chassis. 

Ian Gill - While techinically a member of R&D, Ian has taken the lead on building most of the field components. He has spent hours in the woodshop following plans meticulously to create accurate game pieces for the team to test the robot. He has also tackled the skill of machine sewing in order to create the barge net.

Caleb Brammer - Caleb has logged many hours on the metal lathe, turning each of the aluminum rods for the scissor lift. As a member of the VisComm team he is also a passionate advocate for naming the robot, with no shortage of math puns and creative ideas. His teammates have yet to decided on a name for the robot.

Rohan Prabu - Rohan tells us that "math is kind of [his] thing", and he has proven this strength to do calculations for the input and output mechanisms of the robot. He is now turning parts on the metal lathe, and as the Project Manager he is also keeping purchases, budget, and deadlines organized for the team.

Knox Savill - Knox is a member of the R&D team, who have been learning a lot about CNC tools. They have used the CNC plasma cutter and the CNC router to cut aluminum for the algea claws, as well as plastic for the coral chute. 

Henry Pratt - Henry is also on R&D, learning the ins and outs of CNC toolpaths, convertaing CAD drawings into CAM paths, and cutting different types of materials. Henry is also the team Historian, taking notes that will serve the team this year at competition and will also ensure the transfer of knowledge to future students of FRC Team 10257.

Bennett Eggleston - Bennett is on the Superstructure team, and has been creating impressive CAD models, tapping metal rods and milling slots in the machine shop, and 3D printing parts. In his role on the VisComm subteam, he has been working to create a team website and help to plan social media posts.

Skylin Ramirez - Skylin in on the Electrical team, whose first task was to layout all of the electronic components on a wooden prototype board to test the configuration. She has learned to use every crimping tool at our disposal to prepare all of the wires for the robot. As a member of the Outreach subteam, she is also scheduling social media posts and sharing photos of the team's progress.

Alec Stickle - As a member of the two-person Electrical team, Alec has been wiring components, testing motors and batteries, and is now working to attach the main components to the aluminum bellypan that will sit in the bottom of the robot. He is now working on designing and 3D printing custom mounts for the electrical components.

Josiah Martin - Josiah is a member of the Software team, working to program the robot. His focus has been on the computer vision subsystem to detect the April tags and control the robot's response. In his role on the Outreach team, Josiah crafted the team Communciations Plan which guides the Outreach and VisComm subteams in their messaging.

Benjamin Ziegler - One of Benjamin's contributions to the Software team has been to implementing a logging library to track the states of every component on the robot. He configured the hardware for the computer vision. He is also a member of the VisComm team.

Holden Hughes - Holden has taken the lead on programming the primary functions of the robot, such as actuating the motors. He recently configured the code for the 15 second Autonomous mode that happens at the start of the match. During this period the robot is not controlled remotely by a driver, but instead must perform all actions completely autonomously.

Pages

Subscribe to Blog