Author Archives: woodshopcowboy

Home #Makerspace: Miter Boxes for #Woodworking #Makered

Sometimes, young (and old…) woodworkers can use a little help sawing a board accurately, especially if the board must have a specific angle or length.  A miter box helps a woodworker saw a 90 or 45 degree angle into a piece of wood.  They are cheap to make, easy to modify and cut accurately. MiterContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: Miter Boxes for #Woodworking #Makered”

Home #Makerspace: The Bread Box Project #woodworking #makerEd

This quick project makes a great starter box for grown woodworkers, but it especially shines as an approachable young person skill builder.  This slick box teaches three major skills: measurement, accuracy in manufacture of parts and joinery.  A teacher or parent can use this simple project to differentiate between beginning, intermediate and expert woodworkers byContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: The Bread Box Project #woodworking #makerEd”

Community Watch: Nova Labs & Makersmiths #makerspace Tour

Northern Virginia hosts a handful of makerspaces, with all different working models.  I’m spending the next several months visiting as many makerspaces as possible.  You can catch my Manhattan tour here! Northern VA hosts a number of makerspaces.  I’m going to focus on the two non-profit makerspaces, Nova Labs & Makersmiths.

Home #Makerspace: Two Tools to Teach #CompSci & #Coding to #MakerEd Youngsters

The last five years have seen an explosion in Maker Edu-themed products geared for the younger set.  Young kids make enthusiastic makers.  They love challenging puzzles, approachable crafts and as long as you put flames on it, they think everything you do is amazing!  What’s not to love about teaching the pre-K through 3rd gradeContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: Two Tools to Teach #CompSci & #Coding to #MakerEd Youngsters”

Home #Makerspace: Decoupage #makered Treasure Boxes

My sons love treasure boxes.  It doesn’t matter if the boxes are big, small or medium-sized.  Nor do they care to actually keep track of their little treasures or can they be bothered placing stuff in them.  They have far more fun collecting, designing and imagining treasure boxes. Over the last two weeks, we’ve exploredContinue reading “Home #Makerspace: Decoupage #makered Treasure Boxes”

Community Watch: FatCatFabLabs & HackManhattan #makerspace Tour

I took a recent trip to The Big Apple for professional development.  Along the way, I took a little tour of Manhattan. Did I go to all the big tourist attractions?  Of course I did.  I went to the two Manattan-based makerspaces, Fat Cat Fab Labs & HackManhattan!

#MakerED Book Review: 3D CAD with Autodesk 123D #makerspace

Update: On Dec. 16th, Autodesk announced they would be shutting down the 123D App family in “early 2017”.  Most apps will become incorporated into their 3 powerhouse apps: Tinkercad, Fusion 360, and ReMake. As I detailed in my most recent post, 123D is a free suite of CAD tools for the creative maker/designer.  It actsContinue reading “#MakerED Book Review: 3D CAD with Autodesk 123D #makerspace”

The Home Makerspace: The Autodesk 123D Suite

Update: On Dec. 16th, Autodesk announced they would be shutting down the 123D App family in “early 2017”.  Most apps will become incorporated into their 3 powerhouse apps: Tinkercad, Fusion 360, and ReMake. This week I took some time to explore Autodesk’s 123D family of CAD/surface modeler/maker-magic software.  123D uses cloud-based social community and project storageContinue reading “The Home Makerspace: The Autodesk 123D Suite”

The Home Makerspace: The Museum Display (Dioramas To Win the Science Fair)

Here’s a cool project that takes an old standby, the diorama, and adds a little Maker flair to it.  The diorama incorporates a MakeyMakey, laptop and Scratch programming environments to turn a stand alone display into something interactive and easily modified.  I developed this project for my school’s eSTEAM Fair (environmental, science, technology, engineering, arts,Continue reading “The Home Makerspace: The Museum Display (Dioramas To Win the Science Fair)”