Maker Campus continues to grow as new classes are springing up this May. This month, you’ll be able to learn how to tell stories with servos (includes a tour of Jorvon Moss’s workshop), how to build your own citizen science devices with Arduino, various upcycling retro projects, and a chance to bump up your live-stream skills.

Learn 2D Parametric CAD with Gram – April 30th

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Discover the Gram design language directly from it’s creator, Leo McElroy. Gram lets you make dynamic 2D designs that are easy to modify, re-mix, and share by describing patterns. The language is designed to be accessible to anyone, even those without programming experience.

Making LED VHS Lamps – May 1st

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Dig out those dusty old VHS tapes from your basement and learn how to make your own cool piece of functional 90s kitsch retro decor from repurposed VHS tapes.

Monitoring Water with Arduino Connected Sensors – May 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd

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Build up those citizen science skills with GearBox Labs in this four week workshop on building and using Arduino-connected science sensors to monitor water. You’ll also learn how to collect larger scientific data sets using MS Excel and how to create Internet of Things connections to sensors.

This workshop will feature four water sensors:

• Water Temperature Sensor
• pH Sensor
• Soil Moisture Sensor
• Turbidity Sensor

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Storytelling with Servos – May 2

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Join Ryan Jenkins, Jasmine Florentine, and Jorvon Moss (as seen on the cover of our most recent issue of Make: Magazine) for a playful workshop to explore storytelling with servo motors. 

In this two-hour workshop, you’ll get an introduction to using the BBC micro:bit, servo motors and block-based coding language. Each of the session leaders will showcase examples of how they tell stories with robots, including a behind the scenes tour of Jorvon’s workshop!

DIY Eco Fashion & Upcycling – May 9th

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In this workshop you will learn to upcycle your t-shirts instead of throwing them way. We’ll make a re-usable grocery tote, a pair of earrings, and a throw pillow from your old t-shirts.

Physics Projects for the Classroom using the Arduino Uno – May 22

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Expand your Arudino sensor skills though this four-week workshop on building and using Arduino-connected devices for the physics classroom.

This workshop will feature four sensors for physics classrooms:

• Color Sensor
• Sound Sensor
• Flex Sensor
• Frequency Generator

Intro to Live-Streaming – May 23rd

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Ever wanted to host a live-stream? Here is your chance to learn the basics and the skills to take your streaming to the next level. Taught by Airigami’s Larry Moss, this workshop will cover OBS Studio and Ecamm Live, software that lets you build scenes, share media, and truly present creatively on platforms like YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and Zoom.

Once you’ve mastered the concepts, you’ll understand how to apply all of this to future streams that you offer on your own YouTube channel or classes here through Maker Campus!

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Nuts, washers, screws and nails, all different sizes and kinds of fasteners; LEDs, resistors, switches, servos and other electronic components; ear plugs, zip ties, pens and pencils, labels and stickers, hooks, needles and pins — everything like that. Mark Zalme had an idea how to organize everything like that in transparent containers that could be mounted on pegboard in his garage in Asheville, North Carolina. Over 3-4 years, he developed this idea into a product called WallWerx, a workspace organizing system.

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Mark is one of those people who obsess about ways to organize things. Putting everything in clear jars and hanging them from pegboards was his product idea. He wanted to use Mason jars originally and they still work but hardware stores told him that his containers needed to be plastic, not glass.

WallWerx consists of a clip that holds a plastic jar securely by its lid and attaches easily on a pegboard. The container is removeable and easily replaced. It’s a great idea for home workshops, craft rooms and especially makerspaces where all these things need to be found, used and put away by many different people.

In this episode, we talk about Mark’s product but we also learn about the process he went through to prototype, manufacture, assemble and distribute that product. This process wasn’t easy, and a lot of what happened along the way was unexpected; some of it was good, some not so good.

“I had a problem with my storage in my garage,” said Mark. He was exposed to CAD and 3D printing at work and he thought he knew how to make this product.

Mark started with 3D printed prototypes that he was able to show to potential resellers. He then decided to use injection molding to create the parts in the US. However, finding someone to create a tool for him and then make the parts was hard. He looked for manufacturers in the United States who would do the small-runs that he could afford but many weren’t interested in his job. Eventually he found a man in Utah who created the tool at a reasonable price and began making his parts. He kitted the parts in his garage and his daughter helpedout with shrink-wrapping the package. Now he’s trying to find ways to sell it in retail stores and from his website.

The pandemic was not a great time to start a new business, said Mark. But he did it. He wonders: if he knew back then what he knows now about what it would take to turn his idea into a product, if he’d do it all over again. His persistence has yet to pay off but he knows from initial feedback that he has made something useful. If he can get this far, he can continue to assemble and ship product from his home garage while keeping his day job. “I got a few orders,” he said, “and I’m still making cold calls.”

It’s been an arduous journey with lots of trial and error. He paused to reflect. “It’s been three and a half long years, to be be honest with you,” said Mark.

Check out Mark’s organizing system on his website: wallwerx.com.

I’m sure he’d love to hear from people in our community interested in his product.

Credit: Photos provided by Mark Zalme

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