The Makersmiths High School Solar team called La Wai won the Solar High School Division on May 8, 2024 at the KidWind Worlds Challenge in Minneapolis, MN! Coached by Justin McMillen and Maria Busuioceanu, the team wowed the judges with their solar operated Distillation Project! Not only did they do well presenting to the judges, they performed well on a knowledge quiz and several instant challenges. When visiting the Convention Center vendors, they met many Green Energy industry leaders. The other fun part of the experience was meeting other KidWind teams from the USA, Mexico and Taiwan ..read more

The three 2024 KidWind teams sponsored by Makersmiths competed in the Northern Virginia Challenge at Shenandoah University on March 14. The high school solar team (La Wai) won first place in their division, the middle school solar team (Solar Flares) won third place in their division, and the middle school wind turbine team (Vivacious Voltages) won second place in their division. All first and second place winners automatically qualify to compete in the Virginia State KidWind Challenge on April 6, 2024 at James Madison University.  Above, La Wai, the High School Solar Team coached by Make ..read more

Makersmiths-Purcellville held its first Brag Night with six members sharing things they created. Dave displayed a wooden box he constructed that stores a diamond angle and radius dresser used for used for putting precise radius radii or angles on to grinding wheels. Todd explained how he uses Raspberry pi (a computer on a board) to create games. He also showed us a cell phone module he invented that allows him to take and display photos, check his Twitter account and send and receive text messages. It even has a cell tower finder. Michael is experimenting with using a 3D printer to create an a ..read more

On April 7, 2018, Makersmiths had a soft opening of its Purcellville location at 785 S. 20th Street. For the past year, members have taught members how to use renovation tools, cut framing wood, hang drywall, and so much more. Although we are still working on the facility for a grand opening later this spring, please stop by on Saturdays and meet the members and learn how to join this incredible nonprofit, community-oriented organization and also make new friends! Click on the Purcellville location link to see what has been created so far.  ..read more

Every few weeks we will be sharing an updated list of all upcoming classes and events at the Makersmiths in both Leesburg and Purcellville. This will be a great way for you to see everything coming all at once as well as class samples. Please note that dates and times may change from the time this was published, for the most updated calendar please visit meetup. Ok, Now here are all the upcoming events from today, March 12th until Saturday March 31st: Monday, March 12th: 3D Printing - Level 1 - 7:30-9:30pm in Leesburg Tuesday, March 13th: Create Homemade Soaps Friends and Family Will Love ..read more

I saw someone at the space post about etching slate coasters using the laser cutter, and I thought, "Hey! That's a super cool idea. I should do that!" So, I started looking around for blank slate coasters. I found some locally, but the price was *way* high. After a lot of searching, I found a guy on Ebay selling them for around $6 per set of 4, but I had to buy a case. Thinking that this would be a thing that I could resell, I went ahead and bought them. I had no real guidance, but after taking the Laser cutter intro class, I had a clue as to how to go about it -- I'd need vector images that ..read more

Makersmiths' KidWind STEM group won national KidWind recognitions today. Two of our wind turbine projects are now published on the KidWind.org website! Team Caleb can be viewed at https://www.kidwind.org/online-challenge/wind-turbine/projects/recOnbcjYlYrx0yJy. Team Connor and Soren can be viewed at https://www.kidwind.org/online-challenge/wind-turbine/projects/recd9qMprhqJTKYkw ..read more

Sixteen youth on three KidWind teams sponsored by Loudoun County’s community-based nonprofit Makersmiths, Inc. competed in the KidWind Virginia State Challenge on April 8 at James Madison University. The solar team named Operation Cheap and Clean coached by Adam Pricer came in second place in the middle school solar division. The solar team named The Neighborhood WATTs coached by Justin McMillen came in first place in the high school solar division. Both those teams qualify to advance to the KidWind National Solar Challenge that will be held May 14-17 at the University of Colorado in Boulder ..read more

Makersmiths' KidWind middle school teams competed in the Northern VA Regional Kidwind Challenge on March 15, 2023 at Shenandoah University and came home as winning teams. The middle school solar team (called Operation Cheap and Clean) won first place in the solar challenge and they also won the knowledge award (meaning they aced the knowledge quiz on renewable energies!) The middle school wind turbine team (called The Hot HAWTs) came in second place in the wind challenge. Both these teams and the high school KidWind solar team (called The Neighborhood WATTS) will go on to compete in the ..read more

On Saturday, May 1, 2021, Makersmiths hosted the Northern Virginia KidWind wind turbine testing for youth participating in the 2021 KidWind Turbine Challenge. Two teams from Makersmiths (Team 1: Caleb Nicholson and Team 2: Connor Ellis and Soren Ogelman) and one team from Cardinal Ridge ES brought the wind turbines they created this past year to test them in a wind tunnel that James Madison University set up in our Makersmiths-Purcellville location. Makersmiths members, Diane Painter and Jennifer Chu, served as coaches for our Makersmiths KidWind teams.  During the work sessions (November ..read more