punkin chunkin time will soon be upon us, so we thought about building a catapult. Then we thought about building a table top version for STEM for Elementary Teachers and to take to schools/events. I am working with 1/2″ PVC, and made one from scraps. We are thinking to NOT glue it so some things… Read more »

A colleague was creating some 3D printed balloon cars to show his students an example of something you could use a 3D printer for in STEM/Physics classes. The car is a demonstration of Newtons 3rd Law of Motion. I had the thought that those would be good for me to have in the maker van… Read more »

Makevention ( http://makevention.org/ ) is a family event that happened on August 27 at Switchyard Park. It is a gathering/exhibit of many of the makers around Bloomington to showcase what they do. It is put on by Bloominglabs , a public makerspace in Bloomington. There were about two dozen exhibitors of all variety (circuits, sewing,… Read more »

I want to make some conductivity testers and I don’t want to buy battery holders… So I designed a box in tinkercad, 1 mm larger than 2 AAA batteries (44.3 mm x 20.4 mm x 10 mm) and only 1 mm thick for the floor & walls. I also made it 5 mm taller than… Read more »

There are some STEM/Maker events coming soon to get students involved, some locally and some nationally… IC3D Toys for Tots #3Dprinting (Christmas Drive) Have some 3D printers with some idle time. Print some Toys for Tots They share certain files to print Last year the community donated 69,000 toys https://www.ic3dprinters.com/2023-toys/ September 22 & 23 –… Read more »

Always a cool project with so many directions you can take them. I wonder how many years in a row (k-12) you could do rockets and kids would still be interested? NASA has a great 133 page Educators Guide https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/rockets-educator-guide-20.pdf Obviously, there is lots of STEM involved in working with rockets, but there are many… Read more »

Ceramic Tile Coasters… I thought I would try making a wedding present of ceramic tile coasters that were colored. I am trying the “sharpie” method (etch it, color with sharpie, use rubbing alcohol to remove excess). The only flaw with this method it you cant avoid the part you want colored, so you remove some… Read more »

Grocery Getter Nation is a nonprofit in South Central Indiana that works locally to eliminate school lunch debt. I attended their fundraiser “Gassers Under Lights” at Wagler Motorsports Park on July 29th. Originally we were going to laser cut personalized car ornaments, but with the temperature pushing 90’s, I figured the laser wasnt going to… Read more »

CSTA Indiana and nextech put on “CSPD Week” for Indiana k-12 educators at the end of June. There were full days of formal learning and evenings of informal networking/learning. There was even a bunch of swag for attendees. I contributed a “Robot Playground” on 3 of the nights. I gathered a variety of “robots” (many … Read more »

The Monroe Maker Experience –  digital fabrication PD for educators in Monroe County Community Schools Corporation (MCCSC) Last week I spent 3 days with 2 teacher leaders and 2 dozen of their fellow educators from a couple of MCCSC schools helping them with their digital fabrication skills. (There were 2 other lab sites with more… Read more »