Maker Projects & Education
This week I designed and built a quick bike rack to store my young children’s custom bikes from two 2×6’s. You can check out the two bikes in the DIY Bike Build.
This project uses the table saw, miter saw and impact drill. A very basic design, it uses a number of my favorite “great-to-have” materials, such as 2 1/2” exterior wood screws and 2x pine for quick construction.
Continue reading “This Week in the Shop: The 2×6 #Bike Rack”
If you have ever wanted to make some wood chips or create something beautiful and didn’t know where to start? Always wanted to learn woodworking, but never could find the time or money for tools? Ever said, “I wish someone could show me the ropes and help me learn a craft?”
Then the Intro to Woodworking classes at Nova Labs are for you.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
We offer six different classes this semester, geared to different levels of woodworker and maker.
Certification classes, held on Mon or Tues nights, are for woodworkers and makers with some experience using woodworking tools. Red certification covers the big milling and dimensioning operations: table saws, jointer, planer and miter saw. Yellow certifications cover the smaller, shaper tools: band saws, scroll saws, drill press and sanders. A few tools, such as the large band saws, routers and mortising machines have their own classes.
Projects courses offer practice and certification while building a project. This quarter, we will build a step stool, bookshelf and cutting board. Next quarter, expect a class on boxes (starring the router), small end tables and a Japanese-style toolbox.
After your class, stop by for Woodshop Wednesday, Green Bay Thurs or Woodshop Office Hours on Sundays. This is open, free shop time for members and guests to ask for help, work on individual projects and develop skills in a community environment.
You can find out more at Nova-Labs.org. Class registration is both on Meetup & Nova Labs website itself. You must register on both Nova Labs & Meetup to join classes. The Green Orientation (a general shop safety orientation) is a MUST BEFORE you register for and join a woodworking class.
Pictures are from the Feb. Cutting Board Project class.
Thank you for your continued support.
Thank you for visiting my blog. To support for this site, please like WoodshopCowboy on Facebook or follow me on Instructables. Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram. If you are interested in making and education, why not check out Work Notes, a curated set of Maker articles from the web, published every week?
Here’s a project that comes with a liability warning: a child can get hurt, very hurt, using this project. The slingshot is a weapon and should be treated as such. This project is only appropriate for outdoor use, closely supervised by an adult. While young children are more than capable of physically using a slingshot, that doesn’t mean they should. You have to judge your child’s readiness. By building this project, you are accepting responsibility for anything that happens.
But when you are ready…
…fire away! (Down range, away from people and property, with appropriate safety gear on.)
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: Slingshot #Scouting Project”
A quick jig can make the difference in a woodshop. This height gauge helps measure and set cutting tool heights and thicknesses for rabbets, dadoes, chamfers, etc. Since it incorporates a digital caliper, the dial is easy to read, precise and accurate.
This tool came in handy building the light box project – I hit the rabbet depth and thickness dead-on each time.
In the next few weeks, I will be developing new projects for NoVA Labs and this blog which utilize more intermediate woodworking skills. Build this jig now and it will be used over and over again.
Holidays always bring out the best in a maker…or not. While I always have the best intentions, sometimes, quick and easy is what I’m capable of.
Here’s a quick printable I put together for my sons’ Valentine’s Day card/gift-sharing this year. Cut out the tags, slip over a pencil and bam! Instant street cred.
Thank you for your continued support.
Thank you for visiting my blog. To support for this site, please like WoodshopCowboy on Facebook or follow me on Instructables. Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram. If you are interested in making and education, why not check out Work Notes, a curated set of Maker articles from the web, published every week?
This week, art class happened at night. Using some leftover holiday string lights and acrylic sheeting, I made a light box for my two young boys to draw, play and design on.
Light boxes lend themselves to lots of different explorations. Bits of colored paper become kalidescope-like confetti, simple photographs become complex tracings, colors combine unexpectedly and learn the physics of light. Plant life and structures light up to the biologist. Plus, with a little red and yellow construction paper, you can light a fire for ghost stories!
This tutorial utilizes a table saw to create the necessary rabbets and miter joints. These are great intermediate table saw skills to learn, practice and utilize in your work flow. Strong, clean joinery really sets your project apart from the pack. While kid-focused, this project isn’t really designed to be made with young maker help.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: How to Make a Light Box for Art and Play”
I’ve had three pieces recently come off the workbench recently. I used a two low-toxicity finishing techniques to complete them.
I experimented with milk paint to complete my Simple Stool and Simple Bookshelf projects. I teach both projects at NoVA Labs. Each class covers a different set of tools, but by attending both classes, students learn to use every machine in the shop, gain foundational woodworking techniques & skills and complete a pair of projects to take home.
For those following along at home, both pieces cost between $10 to $15 in materials and can be completed in a 6 hour shop day, start to last coat of finish.
The tray received an acrylic paint & oil combination I have experimented with before. Learn to do both after the jump!
Continue reading “This Week in the Shop: Milk Paint Finish & Oil+Acrylic Craft Paint”
It’s winter here in Northern Virginia and my sons discovered a strange and wondrous sport of the North:
Hockey!
To help them become familiar with the game, we’ve watched a few movies, plan on attending a game or two and we built a pair of matching shafts to fit a pair of hockey blades.
This is a quick technique to build a shaft with minimal tools. Shafts built with this technique can be used in tool handles, lacrosse sticks, shovels, poles, furniture, etc.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: DIY Street Hockey Sticks”
Every winter, millions of families prepare for serious bonding time at kitchen tables, in garages and in workshops across the country. We enter with dreams of speed, beauty and glory. With a little luck and skill, we leave with pride, joy and a completed Pinewood Derby Car.
Here’s how to generate that little bit of luck and skill for your family so you too can guide your young maker with confidence.
The Pinewood Derby is a race between small gravity-powered model cars. Each official Scouting kit contains a solid pine block, four nails and four plastic wheels but specialized kits are available online. Official rules vary from organization to organization, and in Scouting, district to district.
This guide will show you how to support and help your young maker design, make and race their derby car.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: Build a Pinewood Derby Car With #YoungMakers”
This week, we took to the skies with a two simple mobiles.
Mobiles are kinetic sculptures which rely on and play with the scientific concept of equilibrium and center of gravity. The pieces often spin and flutter with the breeze, presenting a constantly shifting face and focus to the observer. Some mobiles are motorized, such as the spinning toys hung over a baby’s crib.
Here are two very quick and easy ways to make spinning mobiles in your own home.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: Two Easy #KidArt Mobiles”
WSC Designs