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Ask Slashdot: How Should I Build a Maker Space For a Liberal Arts College?
XxtraLarGe writes: I work for a small liberal arts college, and have been asked to research makerspaces. I have done a bunch of initial research which tells me a lot about equipment being used, as well as location, etc., but what I'm not finding are what to know before you start, or what it takes to make the effort worthwhile.
I'd be interested in hearing from other educators, staff, students and other maker community members on Slashdot that had makerspaces at their schools or community — can be any level — and what was the experience like? 3D printer, 3D scanner & Laser cutting machines seem to be a given, so I'd like to hear what kinds of think-outside-the-box equipment/materials did you have? We are considering putting it in our library, which seems to be a popular choice with most schools. There's also the possibility of having it somewhere in town that it could be more accessible to members of the community, maybe even as a co-op.
I'd be interested in hearing from other educators, staff, students and other maker community members on Slashdot that had makerspaces at their schools or community — can be any level — and what was the experience like? 3D printer, 3D scanner & Laser cutting machines seem to be a given, so I'd like to hear what kinds of think-outside-the-box equipment/materials did you have? We are considering putting it in our library, which seems to be a popular choice with most schools. There's also the possibility of having it somewhere in town that it could be more accessible to members of the community, maybe even as a co-op.
It's been called a WORKSHOP or some close equivalent in various languages for something like 2000 years now! Why the heck do we need to make up a stupid name for it?
How Should I Build a Maker Space For a Liberal Arts College?
Step 0. Invite people to a poetry jam.
Step 1. Profit!
First, you need to get a haircut. Then, you need to find a real job.
mock up a fast food counter or burger station
and beyond.
I guess your makerspace will need to have lactation rooms and all the other stuff you will need to prove that you aren't alienating women.
Build it with other people's money
XxtraLardGhee writes: I work for a small libtard college, and have been asked to research makerspaces and destruction of American craftsmanship. I have done a bunch of initial research which tells me a lot about equipment being used such as Systemd, as well as locations of various coder and maker dojos, etc., but what I'm not finding are what to know before you start, or what it takes to make the maker effort worthwhile and get lots of likes.
I'd be interested in hearing from other educators, Systemd staff, frequent makers and contributors and other maker community members on SlashDice that had makerspaces at their schools or community — can be any level even your mom's basement — and what was the experience like? Assuming there is a 3rd dimension and the universe is not a holograph, 3D printer, 3D scanner & Laser cutting machines seem to be a given, so I'd like to hear what kinds of think-outside-the-box equipment/materials/laser cutters and fog machines. Remarkably all our software controllers can be ported into Systemd as modules alongside the Linux kernel. And the price of corn? We are considering putting it in our local ruby on rails dojo to pair in makers and coders. There's also the possibility of having it somewhere in town that it could be more accessible to members of the SJW community.
I work at an art school. The equipment you choose is important, but not as crucial as the level of commitment from your institution. Building a space isn't just picking and buying the equipment. The institution also needs to look at the cost of staffing the space with knowledgeable, dedicated staff who can help manage expectations and keep things running. Layman think that laser cutters, 3D printers and CNC machines are like laser printers, they're not. There are safety regulations to consider, as well as proper ventilation and dust filtering. In academic spaces, "maker" devices get beaten to hell and are constantly breaking down. Grad students can only be expected to do so much. If your school is committed to "making," then then need to commit an annual budget to build an appropriate home as well as staff and maintain the facility with at least one full timer who can train faculty, and manage grad students and work study.
Advertise it as being socially responsible, and something that will empower poor, "developing nations" womyn.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
If the idea is to make it available to students, then it should be on campus.
It shouldn't be anywhere near the library, because it will be noisy if it's any good.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
"think-outside-the-box equipment/materials did you have"
No, you need the conventional tools that have been developed over the centuries, augmented by whatever 21st century stuff you want. But a hammer and a saw and a drill and a chisel will be far more use than most things that plug into a computer. having said that, you might buy a big box of Arduino clones and see what people do with them. They cost about as much as a nut and a bolt. (seriously, I just paid $2.80 for a nut and a bolt, the same as an Arduino Mini)
The solutions should be outside the box, do you really think you can invent or even need a better hammer?
We will tolerate no dissent. This is the future, no Luddites allowed.
Filter error: You can type more than that for your comment.
Crude, yet insightful. Such non-PC crap is a refreshing change from the usual prim, blathering and just as crappy usual crap.
First, you'll need to select the music... I suggest Faith Hill, Taylor Swift, and Celine Dione.
Then decorate the room... Nothing that will scare them. You'll have to stay away from anything that screams "technical" or "could hurt". I suggest lava lamps, bean bag chairs, and padded surfaces.
For equipment, all controls that could cause damage should be behind plexiglass shields.
Make sure you have at least eight warning stickers on every tool that could burn, heat, cut, poke, or drop.
Put 1 stapler in the center of the main desk with three pages of paper next to it. If the person cannot use the stapler properly...
I don't have a makerspace where I live. I have had to buy my own tools. I recommend some woodworking tools (for plastic too). You can buy a low end bench top tablesaw, a drillpress, and a bandsaw for under $400 total.
You need a good supply of hand tools, work benches, raw stock to fool with (wood, metal, plastic). You need an enormous selection of fasteners (machine screws and nuts and washers from #0 or #2 up to 3/8"). You need adhesives (epoxy, contact cement, Spray 77, etc.)
You need consumable supplies (shop towels, sandpaper, dykem, pencils, etc)
You also need conventional power tools: band saw, hack saw, sanders, grinders, drill press, a lathe, a vertical mill (preferably with CNC capability, or at least digital readouts). A welder and a plasma cutter are quite useful.
AND, you need someone who can teach people how to use all this equipment without maiming themselves and spraying blood and body parts around the shop. that's a special skill: a lot of machinists are not well suited to the task, because they tend to be perfectionists and want to do it "just so"; they tend to be "here, just let me do it". You need someone who says "these things in the rack are called collets, and you need to pick the one that matches the size cutter you are using. Tighten the drawbolt using this wrench, and for gods sake, remember to take the wrench off before starting the machine."
"Uh, tie your hair back before starting the lathe, unless you want to be gruesomely scalped."
Some other poster suggested finding a shop teacher, and that's ideal.
Find yourself a shop teacher, and let them tell you what kind of stuff you need. (I would think that 20-40k would probably do it, if you buy decent used machine tools. You're not doing production work to a gnat's eyelash, so almost any 48" Bridgeport with readouts and drives would do.
The perfect maker space would have an area to flip burgers, another area to deep-fry french fries, and a counter single-finger single-touch keyboard to quickly code orders fellow students give participants. If you want to be on the bleeding edge of maker spaces, you could use kale instead of lettuce, but that might be a little too far out man.
Going along with everyone else, you take your 'makerspace' shove it up your asshole and call it a workshop like everyone else has for the last 2000 years. Then you go research which tools will stand up to heavy abuse.
Om, nomnomnom...
I've been involved with my local makerspace, Tangle Ball in Auckland NZ, for about five years now. The most important thing we have done has been to focus on the social aspect: we're mostly interested in how members and guests behave and relate to each other. So, obviously no discrimination, abuse or other bad behaviour is allowed. We do not focus on any particular technology or tools or activity, but instead think about how we run the place, who gets to make decisions (anybody can take part in debates, no committee with any real power) and who has access or doesn't. We don't exclude any particular activity, anything is permitted so long as it doesn't monopolise any of the resources, discriminate or exclude others.
That said, there are a wide range of activities, mostly around physically making things:
* Sewing
* Boat building
* Electronics
* Robotics
* Art
* Debate of social issues such as democracy, privacy, capitalism, urban development
* Software development
* Car painting
* Tool tutorials and safety
* A co-housing group
* A cycle repair group - tumekecyclespace.org.nz
* Cooking and baking
* Collectivism
There is a 3D printer, but suggesting a makerspace must have one is an odd and rather arbitrary decision: why would you focus on that one technology, it's terribly limiting? Why not sewing or brass casting or something else?
The question is this: what are you trying to achieve, and why? In our case it was to provide a social space for members, who then provided whatever resources were required. The tools or whatever will follow from there; trying to predict what members and users want will straight away close down what can and can't be done.
A quick Google(makerspace) brought me to the Wikipedia:
A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, makerspace or hackspace) is a community-operated workspace where people with common interests, often in computers, machining, technology, science, digital art or electronic art, can meet, socialize and collaborate.
I'd like to highlight the entire quote. It explains concisely how a makerspace is a particular kind of workshop in terms of what kind of work is focused on and especially the community aspects of socialization and collaboration. The distinction is important because people are encouraged to come to makerspaces to participate and socialize while workshops in general tend to be closed to the public and usually won't even lend you tools.
A car analogy would be you complaining about the new-fangled term "ATV" which refers to certain kinds of vehicles and you suggesting the older and more generic term "vehicle" be used instead.
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
Not better than this one, no:
http://www.vaughanmfg.com/shop...
You are welcome on my lawn.
I'll offer a list of components I dearly missed when last using a shop.
0.01" permanent markers, very useful for drawing fine lines to cut or marking places to drill.
Thread gauge, because people will drop bolts and screws and get confused about which bin they go in.
Hot knife for cutting plastics, especially if it's hut enough to cut Teflon.
Velcro ty-wraps, especially those that come in the cheap big pre-perforated rolls.
Furniture clamps, for gluing bulky items.
Ziploc bags for keeping components together when people leave the workshop.
Voltmeter, one that can safely measure 120 Volt, and fuses for it when unskilled people misuse it.
Good pair of diagonal wire cutters.
Dremel tool.
Bins to put different projects in, rather than leaving them out on the bench.
We can't make a better hammer, but for god's sake, in this day and age, make sure you get a metric crescent wrench.
If you have an art department, they probably have a basic wood shop, and basic metal shop (welders, small foundry, etc.). If you have an engineering department, they may have small (or large) CNC machines for prototyping, solder stations, etc.
Maybe just open these up certain hours of the day / days of the week to people outside the departments?
"what I'm not finding are what to know before you start, or what it takes to make the effort worthwhile"
No one can give you the answer to this until you can communicate what you want the space to accomplish. Think ahead one year, five years. What does your space look like? Who does it serve? What key points can you identify that tell you it's successful?
Write that down. Make it realistic, and make sure it excites you AND others. Start working back with what it takes to get there. Share this. Work on it with people that would be using the space.
Starting a shop is one step, keeping it up and running is another story. Hopefully this is still relevant:
1. How will it be maintained? This is different than a personal workshop, or one shared with just a few people or a company doing production. Tools in makerspaces often get repeatedly used by people who know little about them, this is a GREAT thing, but it can be brutal on the machines.
2. Is the goal to train people to use the tools? If so, how will you accomplish this effectively?
Misc. comments:
Artisan's Asylum and Maker-Works have both offered makerspace boot camps. These are more geared towards how to keep a space running/maintaining it rather than how to start. But they're both great learning opportunities (though not cheap, and full disclosure: I work for Maker-Works)
Eastern Michigan recently opened: https://www.egr.msu.edu/ecesho...
This group is doing some research into makerspaces & education: http://catlab.gatech.edu/
Awesome, it looks like this still gets updated: https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/...
Bilal Ghalib. If you have a budget to pay someone to get you started, hire this man. http://bilalghalib.com/
Most importantly, involve the community as much as possible.
I would be happy to chat more, feel free to shoot me an email: joshdont gmail
I did something like this at my school about 10 years ago (back then these spaces were called called "electronics labs" - "maker spaces" weren't invented yet). Here are my tips on how to go about this:
0. See if you can get some space. Talk to the administration to see if they are willing to give you a room for this.
1. Get a prioritized list of what you want to do. Prioritized because you won't be able to get money for everything you want.
2. Next, go check with your campus risk management, in case they have some issue with that laser or harsh chemicals you were dreaming of. They tend not to be draconian, but if this space will be run by unsupervised undergrads, there may be some limits on what you can do.
3. Filter the list from step 1 by what the people in step 2 will allow you to do.
4. Go get some money. Write a short (1 page max) proposal for everyone you think you can hit up for money or donations. It should have specifics like what equipment you need, how much it costs, whether there will be ongoing costs (and who will fund those), and details about the space you intend to use. It helps if you pitch in some money provided or raised by your group and ask them to match it.
5. Buy whatever you need. Your school may want to officially own everything, so you may have to go through their purchasing dept.
6. Train students every year on how to work the gear, so you have a self-maintaining army of people who can teach others and run the place. Without this, I've seen other spaces fall into disrepair and get forgotten.
In terms of specific gear, we focused on on circuit board manufacturing and electronics test equipment. We got a basic model of circuit board milling machine from LPKF, a couple oscilloscopes, adjustable power supplies, multimeters, bread boards and some good soldering gear (Metcal). We also got some Altera FPGA development boards and devkits for a few popular microcontrollers, and some USB programmer/debuggers (now I would get Arduino, PIC and something more powerful like a Raspberry Pi). At the time, we got some PCs, but these might be redundant now that every student has a laptop; unless you want to load them up with the software for the FPGA and processor devkits. Good basic hand tools are a must.
The outcome in our case was an explosion of people making stuff and using the space to work on personal and school projects. Note though that all of the users of our space are working on STEM degrees, especially elec eng and comp eng - so you may need to tune yours to a different audience.
If I were to do this again now, I would also get a good 3D printer. The good ones are good enough to allow students to make machines beyond what they can build with just parts bought online. (see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB34I33Bqrg).
I haven't quite figured out the usefulness of 3D scanners, except as a novelty for duplicating some existing object on a 3D printer.
You should talk to my wife, Private message me for her info. She works in the Instructional Technology group at Wellesley, based out of the library, and she has been managing the creation of their makerspace for a couple years now. They have two 3D printers, and 3D scanners, a makerspace "toy box" that they can bring around campus and setup on the fly. They have Kinects and Raspberry Pi's and even things as simple as Little Bits to get across ideas to students who have zero exposure to electronics.
There are several other universities she has interacted with that have similar setups, like Brandeis, Wheaton, and North Eastern. Ping me, she would be happy to talk with you to give you some info on how it has worked out.
Is this the end yet?...How 'bout now...how 'bout now...how 'bout now?
Are you being asked to do this because it's the hip thing to do, or because the school wants to turn out more well-rounded graduates who can actually do things with their hands?
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
Someone will want to print ABS and that stuff stinks. You'll need something to pull fumes from the vicinity. You could just supply PLA, but even so, ventilation would be helpful.
Consider a sewing machine.
Workbench with a vise, and several panavise-like or third-hand-like holders.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
Think about how you expect the space to be used. By and large, you will have clean spaces, mid spaces and dirty spaces. Plan for that. Know and understand that if you do this right, people will start out in the clean spaces and as skills develop they will move towards the more hard-core spaces.
Staffing is really key here. You need the right people for this. But you also need to be continually building your community of makers and builders. You need to hold regular classes to teach the basics in each area. Metal working is scarry. Designing and building your own knife is cool. Its also great for teaching the basics of using a plasma table, using a drill press, using a blast furnace, shaping metal, grinding an edge and many other metal working skills. Making a bathing suit is a great way to get college kids to learn basic sewing skills.
You should also be looking at the departments in your school that have like needs. For example, the theater department may have a theatre shop, the chemistry department will have chem labs. These are resources you should be utilizing, and students you should be thinking of. Can you work with these departments to have classes in the makerspace?
Go well past the common. Get into things things that your students won't have been exposed to before.
Expect to rotate spaces. For example, this semester its a sewing space, next semester its a vaccum forming space. By rotating a space you will help keep interest.
Here are some of the spaces to think about having:
Clean spaces are what is typically thought of as makerspaces.
- Clean room with computers, 3D scanner, tables for laptop use, ect.
- Clean classroom with projector
- 3D Print space
- Vacuum forming
- Low voltage electricals
- Sound and video production (including music rooms, filming rooms, green screen, ect)
- Sewing and textiles
Mid spaces are not as clean as the clean rooms, and not as grimy as the dirty spaces. These make a good stepping stone into actually getting your hands dirty.
- Soldering stations
- Braising table
- Electrical station
- Film developing lab
- Chemistry lab
- Glass making
- Cooking lab
- Ceramics space (potters wheels, kiln, ect)
Dirty spaces are where a lot of the "real work" gets done.
- Welding and metal fab (CNC, water jet, plasma cutting table, blast furnace, pipe bender, shop press and other such toys)
- Woodworking (table saw, chop saw, band saw, lathe, hand held tools, ect)
- Paint booth
- Sandblasting station
Hampshire College has the Lemelson Center. It predates the term "maker space", but that's what it basically is. You should get in touch with them and ask for advice.
Sounds to me like you (or whoever you are doing the research for) need to figure out what you want to do first, If it's going into the library "because that's a popular spot" or "maybe in the community", it sounds more like buzzword chasing than education.
I've been involved in a couple of maker spaces. One with a lot of machine tools and heavier machines. I've also toured a couple of hot metal oriented shops. My observation is that you really need to let the community guide the build-out and growth. Several reasons: 1. It's hard to predict what people will want until people start using it. 2. You need to have teachers for every tool. 3. Insurance issues will constrain some of your dreams. 4. You want things that people will actually use, because space for tools is a finite resource. 5. Your community may have different tolerance for tool learning curve.
You will find once you start that people will say: "Let's bring in an X." You should ask: Have you used one? Are you expert enough to teach others to use it? If not, can you find someone who is expert enough to teach it? Then after you have a potential teacher, you need to understand from that person the particulars of that machine and whether or not it is a good fit for your community.
Changing topics, here are some things I have seen at different shops, not all in the same shop:
CNC mill, CNC plasma cutter, small injection molding machine (these are all high-learning-curve machines requiring specialist insructors).
manual knee mill, metal lathe, wood lathe.
CNC router.
Sheet metal brakes/punches/english wheel -- surprisingly easy tools to get working with that enable very interesting projects.
Vacuum forming -- simple and versatile.
Hot metal casting -- simple, but needs specialist instructor and special spaces.
Industrial sewing machines and surgers -- enables really cool projects with heavy materials that would kill a home sewing machine.
vinyl cutter.
fiberglass/carbon fiber work set up.
powder coating, paint shop.
glass melting and glass blowing furnaces.
electronics shop for working with surface mount components.
screen printing.
wire welding, mig and tig welding.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
Finally: One of my favorite machines is the popcorn machine. I learn a huge amount just by hanging around in the lounge and asking people what they are working on and how they are solving their fabrication problems. You want to build in some space that facilitates interaction.
Some could use it to make dangerous objects (the dreaded three-letter word beginning with "g") or use it to duplicate copyrighted objects. In either case you will be in trouble. Don't make waves. Once you embrace a full risk aversion life philosophy you will wonder how you could ever cope before. There's safety in conformity. Maybe one day you will join us, and we will welcome you.
So, racial profiling and prejudice is OK if it's for whities ?
Currently in charge of a machine shop at a university, and biggest advice would be to plan for expansion/future. Make sure the space has proper ventilation, make sure space has plenty of outlets, is prepared for 3 phase machinery, and attempt to be as close as possible to a loading dock.
Machinery wise
The basics everyone will want in a hacker space
-3d printer
-Laser cutter
-Drill press
-Bandsaw
What a machine shop/hacker space should have
-Mill
-Lathe
-Paint booth
-Grinder
-Welding equipment
-CNC mill
All the listed equipment/machinery asides from the laser cutter+ 3d printer is fairly cheap to buy used and also may be able to get a machine shop to donate older used equipment for tax write off purposes or just to get it out of there.
(Sorry for any spelling errors, etc Haven't slept for about 30 hours)
This has got "The dean spoke to someone at a conference ..." written all over it.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
...so all you need to do is buy a few boxes of dried macaroni, white glue and some colored construction paper.
And maybe Play-Doh for the advanced students.
Go find yourself some engineering students. Make sure they're the practical kinds, whose hobbies include tearing apart cars and motorbikes, not the ones who sit in front of a computer screen all day (and yes, these kinds of engineering students do still exist). Then give them a budget and ask them to kit your place out with the most awesome stuff they've always wanted. Finally, promise them an attentive and interested audience for them to train if they come back and show you how to use all the cool toys. Problem solved. :-)
The liberal arts college I teach at is a little further along in this process. What matters most is community. You need to focus less on physical hardware, and more on finding faculty (and don't forget staff!) with hands-on skills, getting them committed to the space, and sucking in a critical mass of students to make it self-sustaining.
The fact that you were asked to do this by the administration is not a good sign.
And re putting it in your library: talk to your HVAC guys. Ventilation and noise are serious issues.
Wow, this is Slashdot. Isn't somebody going to suggest a healthy supply of arduinos and/or raspberry pis with lots of accessories and computers to program them? How about an Oscilloscope and a fully stocked electronics workshop.
I would have all kinds of material on hand that people check out with a form of some sort that is then used to prepare an invoice to the users as well as an order list for replenishment.
Set up some kind of library of how-to documents to get people started quickly using the resources you've made available.
For popular resources you'll need to set up a reservation system of some kind.
I would think a quiet library would be incompatible with loud construction activities.
Greed is the root of all evil.
I'm one of the community directors at Louisville, Kentucky's community LVL1 Hackerspace. We're a 501(c)3 w/ a focus on education and outreach, and we're not tied or beholden to any specific school, commercial entity or large sponsor. I don't have the time this exact second to answer something this in depth thru the comment system here, but I'd be happy to provide any info I can if you want to reach out to us thru the email addresses or google groups listed at lvl1 dot org. Given our several year history, we've seen a lot of what works and what doesn't as well as ways to speed up involvement and to help explain the results of various compromises over the years.
Sean McPherson
Contact the people at UVA Wise. They're a small liberal arts college but they have an accredited Software Engineering program. They also have a maker space.
Try pens, paper, the occasional reed flute, and some random business/marketing mags.
I was a member of the Techshop maker-space here before it folded. The thing that did them in was a lack of casual accessibility, as well as an overambitious start, I think. The way they structured it was to charge large fees for "training" classes to clear you on the use of the various pieces of equipment, after which you were free to use them so long as you were a current member. But it would take several classes and hundreds of dollars to get even a small project off the ground, simply because of the way they mapped out the different class certifications. They were a business so it's expected, and the need for proper safety training is undeniable. But it meant that it took a serious investment before you could accomplish much, and those dedicated enough to do so would generally rather spend the money on their own tools. And on top of that they opened their doors with everything from CNC mills and 3D printers to automotive decal printers to SMB circuit board ovens to metal casting; in other words far more expensive equipment than their user-base actually needed or used.
At the end of the day, there are two things to strive for, and they wont be easy.
The first is variety of tools and workspaces. It needs to be a place where people come to tinker and to get some idea out of their heads and into reality. So it needs to offer access to whatever it is that the actual local users are wanting to use. If they want metalworking, get a welder and a few milling machines. If they want woodworking, get some drill presses and chop saws. But dont invest it the cutting edge of everything up front. I recommend some kind of request system, so it can organically grow in the directions the users want. If they see the space is responsive to what they feel they are lacking, it will also go a long way to keeping them coming back, even if they dont have every little thing at first. This will be a balancing game between responsive acquisition and responsible budgeting. Fundraising drives can help, just like a high school that needs a new scoreboard, etc.
The second is casual Accessibility. Dont make them spend a hundred bucks and take a class that won't be held again for two weeks, just so they can drill a single hole. This is another balancing act between responsible safety and easy access, and the first solution is staff.
It also really helps to have a large scrap pile for free (or free-ish) materials.
Common Sense isn't as Common as people think...
We used to call them "Hobby Shops", where people invested in a hobby could congregate and swap skills, tools and parts. The actual 'shop' sold all sorts of stuff, mostly what the owners were interested in, but also whatever the traffic would bear. After hours, there was beer, too.
I still have the dentist, I could tell he was skilled by the way he worked the dremel.
The solutions should be outside the box, do you really think you can invent or even need a better hammer?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...
Given the sheer range of both manual and mechanical hammers with different properties, I'd say yes.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
You should consult the ITP program at NYU. The whole program is basically "Maker". https://itp.nyu.edu/itp/
It the risk of coming across as being really dense, what are people gong to make in this here space or shop or whatever? If they are just going to modify some ill designed plastic stuff, then a couple of Dremels, a selection of bits, eye protection, and a vice may be all they need. If, OTOH, they are going to build a CubeSat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C... They possibly need some sophisticated metal working stuff and some basic electronic test equipment..
I'd start off by surveying the potential users if you can find any and see what they want to do that they can't do, and aren't doing, in their dorm rooms right now. You might also survey the teaching staff and see if any of them will actually send users to the "space" to do stuff somehow connected with the college's perceived educational mission.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
You could just call it a workshop and hire an actual you know shop teacher that is a master in the trades. They would actually know how to set it up and teach people how to use the stuff safely.
their space is typically nasty. scultping clay and cement. sand molds, and a furnace to melt old pistons and boat engines to cast aluminum into those molds. flying stone chips from sculpture. gobs of paint all over from "experimental" and "experiential" work. forges and anvils and hammers, oh my.
so there is a "makerspace" of traditional tools. your maintenance and boiler plant folks have similar dungeons that keep the joint operational. go ask them what they'd want to do small projects in.
I'd think a wire flux welder, drill press, cabinet saw and sander table, the usual small power tools, point and SMD soldering stations, possibly a 3D PCB printer or etcher would all find use. 3D printers are no use without 3D scanners and CAD/CAM software design stations.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
As a makerspace member (Prototek OKC) for a few years now, I have learned quite a bit about what to expect and what you will need to do to keep it going.
First of all, you will need lots of funding, and lots of space.
A makerspace provides access to tools and equipment that the average college student / apartment housed individual would otherwise not have access to, either because they cannot afford the equipment, or because they have no place to store or utilize the equipment.
You will want multiple rooms, and good ventilation also. Machines like 3D printers, Laser cutters, and any other mechanized tool will make noise, and it will be constant since some builds will take hours to print. You will need ventilation for the laser cutter and many other tools. I suggest a separate shop area for the laser cutter and various hand tools / Woodworking tools (we will get to woodworking tools in a bit).
Training:
You, or someone of experience will need to train the new members on everything, and be available to help them learn how to use the tools properly, otherwise you will end up with a bunch of expensive broken equipment. You will also need to do safety training for the majority of people. They may be book smart but if they don't work with their hands in a real environment, they don't even know what hazards they should try to avoid. Example: a 3D printer extrusion nozzle runs at approx 210 Degrees C. That is a minor burn risk, but you get the idea..
Accessibility:
Your members will likely want to spend long hours there socializing while they work on their projects. This will involve an area that is open for extended hours, or in the case of my local makerspace, a 24 hour access area that is accessible via a RFID card. Then you know who was there, and when. This helps when trying to figure out who broke your brand new saw, etc..
Food/Drinks:
You may wish to disallow food and drinks in your space, but these are geeks, nerds, and other people that do not want to be pulled away from their projects for food/drink runs. You will need a work area that allows them to eat while they work.
Material usage:
You will need a way to track and charge material usage for some specific items, unless your school is willing to continuously fork out money for it. The best example is the filament for the 3D printers. You will want at least a few color options (Black, Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Clear, etc..) And most people will never use an entire spool of material on their own, so they will not be willing to buy an entire roll of material either. You will need to purchase the material for the space, inventory, and keep it stocked. There will also be heavy users of the 3D printers that if left uncharged, will build everything imaginable, and use up all of your filament. Look into a charge by weight system. Buy a scale and sell the material by weight. This keeps people from going nuts with it. The honor system works, kinda...
Maintenance: You or someone else will have to perform regular maintenance on the equipment. Things break, sometimes things break often, and if they are not functional most of the time, people will stop coming.
Woodworking: (I told you we would get to it)
You will need some basic woodworking tools to start with. Table saw, Miter saw, Drill, Bits, Screwdrivers, Various other hand tools, etc..
Why? you ask! Because if you want to get the best price on the materials you buy, then you buy in bulk. For plastic sheets, that will be 4x8 sheets that need to be cut down into manageable pieces that fit into the laser cutter. You will also want to build wood bases for some of your projects, or even just build woodworking projects.
Electronics:
Lots of projects have electronics involved, and you will need some basic tools for it like a good Soldering Station (Look up AOYUE for a good chinese cheap(ish) soldering/desoldering station), Soldering tools, Test equipment (Volt Meter, power supply, etc..), and a good bench with good lighting to wo
Most of the hackerspaces have the "gearhead guys" / "aggressive geek guy" vibe. "If you don't know what you're doing, then you shouldn't be here." This turns into a self-reinforcing culture. Bad. Too many guys and all of the prickly personality type. Bring in sewing machines as well. Invite the theater dept / dance dept costuming people to use the facilities. Get the medieval reenactors to make their clothes there. It will change the entire culture, soften it and make it more approachable. Women will actually show up (and stay). Gardening. Do a permaculture installation like a raised bed or spiral garden. Those things as well as all of the standard hand-tools, electronics, metal-working things. Do events like Open-House and holiday parties. The social aspect is what changes it from just a tool room to a "space".
Where is the college? What is its name?
If there is a TechShop location in your area, I'd go on a tour and see what they offer. It would give an idea of options and how much real estate things take up in real life.
Expecting the target users to pick up a hammer or saw is pretty dumb, because they will either be:
a.) Too skinny and weak to use these hand tools effectively, or,
b.) Narcissistic douchbags who work out, but are afraid of breaking a nail or getting callused hands.
Laser cutting and even 3D printing can be smelly operations. If you want to do some wood working, or have a metal shop, things can get pretty noisy. Forget about forges and blacksmithing. Aside from the noise, makerspaces can be pretty dirty- a lot of what goes on makes dust that might not be good for the contents of a library.
The book Woodworking With Your Kids http://www.amazon.com/Woodwork... has a misleading title. The kids in question are actually kids in his community and his school. The author set up a community and school workshop back in 1970 on a shoestring budget. He was teaching kids to make some pretty impressive furniture before they were old enough to drive.
We have additional tools now, but the same approach to setting up a maker space would still work.
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I worked for several years during and after college at The George Baker Workshop which was in the Art Barn in the center of Occidental College. It has since been returned to the building's original purpose - food service. We built kinetic sculptures driven by motors, wind and or water. George Baker also taught all the sculpture classes out of the building.
Since it was the only space on campus outside of the physical plant department where people could go to work with metal, plastic and wood it became what is now referred to as a maker-space.
This was in the late 80s and early 90s when a CNC mill would set you back many, many thousands of dollars. We had two drill presses, a band saw, a belt and radial sander, a table saw, two standard anvils and one custom metal shaping anvil that George Baker designed and several oxy acetylene setups with cutting and welding heads which were available to everyone. Along with a healthy collection of hand tools.
We had a 3 inch lathe, a 10 inch lathe, a 5 ft break, a pneumatic punch, a plasma cutter and a TIG welder with a full station (metal table, etc.) and a set of very nice hand power tools. These were only for the sculpture fabrication team but we were happy to to help people with small projects and teach people how to do things.
Here are a bunch of things that might not come to mind but are SUPER helpful.
That's all the time I got. Hope this helps.
I would also put up a big sign that says, "Trigger Warning - Cisgendered fasteners and the language necessary to discuss them are used in this space." I first thought of this as a joke and then realized that, sadly, it's not a joke.
Every rule has more than one consequence.
I held a director level position at a nationwide chain of makerspaces for several years, and have worked with big tech companies building their own makerspaces. I'm not boasting, but I have more experience is setting up maker spaces than all but a handful of people in the country.
In some respects, the tools you select don't really matter; all you need to do is buy robust enough tools so they won't immediately fall apart, without blowing your entire budget. That part is easy. Honestly, the difference between a MakerBot and their competition isn't that much, and the same is true of most tools.
The thing that will make or kill your lab is training and maintenance. This is the most important thing you will read all day; ignore it at your own risk.
If you put a few 3D printers on a table, expect people to use them correctly, and have somebody add "printer maintenance" to their job, you will fail. In a month, you'll have broken printers, irritated users and overworked staff. You simply must have a system for training how to use the tools in the space, according to your set of rules and expectations. You need a system to keep un-authorized users off the machines. You must have people on hand to answer questions, and help your users, post-training. You must have dedicated maintenance staff. If you have a collection of perpetually broken tools, your users won't respect the space or tools, and it'll will turn into a nightmare.
There's a reason that makerspaces aren't an easy way to make money; it takes a large, competent staff to keep them from turning into a disaster area of broken tools.