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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?
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.
"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?
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.
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
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.
"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
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?
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.
...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.
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.
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