Tag: makerspace

Tool Recommendations for Making a Makerspace

I’m extremely fortunate that my city’s utilities are not only provided through the city as an alternative to the incredibly poorly run PG&E system, but they have a STEAM oriented “exploration center” to entertain and educate about science, conservation, and environmentalism.  The people who work there put on workshops about all kinds of things and are incredibly helpful, friendly, and enthusiastic.  Right now they’re in the process of converting a section of their building into a makerspace and I couldn’t be more stoked.

If you are one of those “Just show me the recipe, I don’t need your life story” types, you can skim the table of contents to see what I’d recommend for various home/makerspaces at different levels/price points.  If you don’t mind a short walk, I’ve got a few related things you might not hate reading.

I’m fortunate that we have been able to put together some of the basic tools for something of a “home makerspace.”  Even so, I’m super psyched about there being a makerspace within biking distance of my house.  It’s got me thinking – how would I build out a makerspace?  I think my design philosophy would be “tools before tech.”  I do have a vinyl cutter, but before that I cut things by hand with an exacto knife.1 I have a laser cutter, but before that I cut things with a hacksaw.  I have a 3D printer, but before that I would just cludge stuff together.

If going to Maker Faire has taught me anything, it’s that you don’t need high tech gadgets to make incredible things – you’ve just got to be resourceful and scrappy.  Then again, if you’ve got a budget… well, sometimes it’s nice to be able learn new skills, try out new machines, explore new possibilities, and make things easier/faster/with less waste.

I like the process of making things with my hands.  It was a point of pride that my ukulele was almost 100% made with hand tools.2  But, as much as I like making things with my hands, many times I am less invested in the journey than I am in acquiring the thing I’m making or just making it as polished / easy to make as possible.  I like making my own heat transfer vinyl t-shirts, but cutting out a very simple SVG design by hand would be 30-45 minutes of concentrated painstaking effort versus 2 minutes of craft cutter time.

One of the reasons for putting together this list is because too often I see slick marketing convince schools/classrooms/makerspaces/libraries to buy expensive, less useful, or hyper-niche products.

I thought to search up some other maker space tool lists after I was mostly done with this list.  I found these two links to be fairly reasonable.  The others ones I found seemed to be more about trying to sell stuff to libraries and schools, going for flashy things, rather than things that are actually likely to be useful.

  1. Maker Tool Philosophy

    1. I tend to avoid Unitaskers, large, expensive Tools

      1. These have just the one use

        I tend to follow the 80/20 Pareto Principle3 and avoid unitaskers, especially when they’re bulky or expensive.  The formulation of this rule I prefer is that you can typically get 80% of the results you want for 20% of the cost and effort.4 I don’t want something I use once a year taking up space in my life.  If the tool is expensive, it has be able to save me sufficient time / energy / resources versus making by other means.  If the tool is bulky or expensive, I’m probably better off just renting access to the tool or outsourcing when needed.5

    2. Support Local Makerspaces

      1. Woodland Public Library – and their SquareOne makerspace

        Your local library may have a makerspace.  They might only have a sewing machine, 3D printer, and vinyl cutter, but using their services will help them keep or get new funding.  If you’re in California and have a valid state issued ID, you can get a library card at any state library.  One of the best, most organized, and most well equipped makerspaces I’ve ever visited is hidden up in Woodland, CA.

      2. If you don’t have a local library with a makerspace, your local community college probably has a kick-ass fablab/makerspace with every tool imaginable for the cost of a single unit class.  I haven’t checked, but I suspect it could be  even a remote-only semester long class, you could take it in anything, and they probably don’t have any kind of academic requirement that you do well to use the makerspace.  While getting a student spot at a local college may not be feasible, many of these makerspaces will sell passes or conduct workshops.  It is absolutely worth your time to visit and find out.
      3. Inventopia in Davis, CA

        Did you know your local college almost certainly has some kind of maker-incubator within a stone’s throw?  They’re generally people who just love making stuff and helping others, will train you to use their machines, have wide access times, and reasonable monthly fees for makers and co-working.  If it’s local, check out my friends over at Inventopia in Davis, CA.

    3. Before Buying:  Borrow, Experiment, Make Do, Build

      1. I highly recommend experimenting or testing out a tool before making a big investment.  Before getting a vinyl cutter, I cut heat transfer vinyl using a craft knife.  If I hated the hobby or result, I would have been out some time and a few ruined t-shirts.  Since I enjoyed it, it was worth investing in an inexpensive machine.
      2. If I can do without a much more expensive option by making the tool / equipment or making do without, I will.  I can’t justify buying a Chomp Saw for cardboard crafts for $300 when I could build one for about $30.  Similarly, I can’t just justify $1-2k for a vacuum former when I can build a small one for $40 or a big one for not a lot more.  Thus, I’ll probably never get an embroidery machine, if I can make do with the attachment below.

  2. Basic Home Repair Tools and Equipment.

    1. While you could go with Harbor Freight for some these things, but if you plan on keeping them for any length of time, just get something good.  If interested in a short anecdote, check this footnote.6 I’m not knocking Harbor Freight either.  They have super inexpensive and serviceable rubber gloves, foam knee pads, and foam floor mats that have lots of uses.  I just wouldn’t go with Harbor Freight for tools that would get frequent use.  Honestly, buying lunch for a neighbor who would loan you a specific tool is a better investment in friendship, community, money, without taking up any storage space.7
    2. Hand saw, hacksaw, hacksaw blades, coping saw, coping saw blades.
    3. Utility knife, razor blades.
    4. Hammer, wrenches, screwdrivers, hex wrenches.
    5. Wire cutters, wire strippers, pliers.
    6. Measuring tape, yard / meter sticks.
    7. Vise, duck tape, electrical tape, wood glue, zip ties, Machine oil, WD-40.
    8. Needles, threads, old clothing, scraps of fabric.

  3. Basic School / Craft Art Supplies.

    1. Regular batteries (9V, AAA, AA) and coin cell batteries.
    2. Crayons, color pencils.  I’d probably not keep markers on hand – they just go dry too quickly.
    3. Pipe cleaners, googly eyes, craft foam, construction paper, paints (probably tempera then acrylic), paint brushes.
    4. So much cardboard.
    5. Scissors.
    6. Masking tape, blue painter’s tape, scotch tape, white glue, glue sticks.

  4. Basic STEM / STEAM Stuff

    1. Once you’ve got some basic tools and willing to get your hands dirty, you’re pretty much set.  Research, experimenting, hardware stores, thrifting, and even dumpster diving can get you a lot of what you need to build many things.  However, if you’re going to lean into more “STEAM” kinds of activities…  a drawer full of microcontrollers, components, chips, wires, components, motors, magnets, and even broken things goes a long way.
    2. For basic STEAM educational kits, I highly recommend my friends over at BrownDogGadgets.  My local library / utility system uses their kits all the time , the kits are always well put together, well documented, and they’re always a hit.  Their various solar powered, wearables, maker tape, and MicroBit kits are great.
    3. After some intro-level electronics, it makes sense to spend a few dozen dollars to pick up piles of LED’s8 , coin cell battery holders, and conductive thread and you’re basically into making wearables. 9
    4. A few words about conductive metallic tape.  You can find copper tape anywhere online, but it might not have conductive adhesive unless you buy it from a retailer you trust.10 While, aluminum tape is incredibly inexpensive and works reasonably well, only comes in huge wide strips since it’s designed for HVAC and home repair situations, is not available with conductive adhesives, and you can’t solder to it.  It’s big enough that I think you could probably design an entire circuit board into a wide strip of this tape.  If you’re working with kids and want to make things easy on them, the BrownDogGadgets “Maker Tape” is reasonably priced, easy to tear by hand, has conductive adhesive, and since it is made with nylon can take tons of flexing abuse which could fatigue a metallic tape.  Maker Tape is only slightly more expensive than copper tape, but worth keeping on hand, especially for wearables/crafting/teaching environments.  None of these will break the bank, all have good applications,  and there are some interesting ways to combine them, so its worth having all three on hand.
    5. For mid-level programming with drag-and-drop programs and then easy to use MicroPython/CircuitPython, I would highly recommend the Adafruit Circuit Playground ecosystem.  You basically cannot get a more beginner friendly, feature rich, easy to use system with this many sensors11 and output devices12 and communication possibilities13 for as little as a single Circuit Playground for $25.
    6. For those ready to graduate to things made with very small microcontroller chips, breadboards, and the ATTiny ecosystem, I really like my SparkFun Tiny AVR programmer.  I still build very small things with it (simple timers and buzzers, mostly), but I can see why it’s discontinued.  A small underpowered ATTiny85 will run about $2, can be a little bit of a hassle to program, only carries 8k of space, and will require fiddly wiring/soldering and additional components to be useful.  The original Raspberry Pi Pico starts at $4, has tons of input/output pins broken out, power regulator, built-in USB connector, and 2MB of space. You’ll still need to solder things to it in order to make it do stuff, but 250x the space, more RAM and processing power, for $2 extra is a great deal.  I’ve played with the WeMos D1 Mini ESP8266, but not gotten it to do a whole lot.  For roughly $2 in small lot orders, you can get something that requires a little more tinkering but has 4MB of space and built-in wifi.
    7. I guess what I’m saying is that as technology improves, wifi/bluetooth added into smaller spaces, with more features, for less money – lots of makers will naturally end up with a drawer full of microcontrollers they’d be happy to donate to a good cause.

  5. Basic Tech Tools

    1. These tools are things pretty much everyone could use, pretty much anyone could justify, and you could probably find at your local library or neighborhood.

    2. Laminator.  $35-$50

      1. I have an Amazon Basics laminator.  It’s fine.  It takes a little while to heat up, has only two settings, and will sometimes crumple small laminating items.  That said, it was incredibly inexpensive 9 years ago and is still working.  Laminating sheets and small card sized pouches are very inexpensive.

    3. Laser printer.  $180

      1. I will only buy Brother laser printers.  Inkjets are a scam and I will never go back.  A Brother laser printer is a workhorse that will print, scan, fax, and sip toner.

    4. Sewing machine.  $200+

      1. If I was starting out, I’d probably get whatever Singer or Brother sewing machine CostCo had at the time.  I’m not an avid sewist, but I can make or mend a few things.  If it can do a zigzag stitch, straight line, and handle a few folds of material, that’s all I’d need.
      2. Again, I’m not an avid sewist, but there are certain things that are so inexpensive and such a huge benefit, that their addition is a no-brainer.
      3. Extra bobbins, thread, and needles.  A pack of 20 bobbins will probably be less than $5, just make sure they fit your machine.  Get white, black, and perhaps a few other colors of thread.  I like Gutterman nylon upholstery thread for tougher applications like bags and cotton thread for clothing.  Bigger needles for tougher / thicker materials, thinner for more delicate materials, and replace them when they “feel” like they’re not sharp any more.
      4. A “free motion presser foot” or “free motion sewing foot” or “free motion quilting foot.”  I don’t have an embroidery machine, think they’re super neat, wouldn’t mind learning how to use one, and, if I’m being honest, might use one perhaps once a year.  However, I’m not going to spend $500-$7500 on one.  A “free motion presser foot” attachment for your sewing machine, this very short Instagram video by @Riskthrift, and different colored thread are all you need to get probably +95% of the utility of an embroidery machine for about $10.

    5. Vinyl cutter.  $85+

      1. This isn’t an endorsement, but I bought a Monoprice craft cutter.  I’ve been using it to make heat transfer vinyl t-shirts.  It’s slightly finnicky, I’m not crazy about the software, but it works.  This model is usually $250, but it goes on sale all the time, and I snapped it up when it hit $80.  I’ve used it to cut heat transfer and sticker vinyl as well as cardstock for game boxes and it’s handled everything quite well.
      2. I haven’t used a CriCut, but for a little bit more than what I spent you can get something everyone is familiar with.

    6. A wet/dry “buckethead” Shop Vacuum.  $40

      1. Specifically, this particular “Buckethead” shop vac that attaches to any standard 5 gallon bucket.  You can get buckets anywhere from free14 , to recycled15 , to free-ish16 , to inexpensive.  The attachment used to be $25, but is now $37.  Even so, you really can’t beat the price.
      2. And, as an added bonus, for the price of scrap wood or a few wooden dowels and some 3D printed parts, it can perform double-duty as a vacuum former!

  6. Home Maker Tools

    1. FDM / FFF 3D Printer.  $500-$2,000

      1. A word about 3D printers.

        1. It’s hard to go to a farmer’s market or craft fairs without seeing buckets of 3D printed knickknacks, dragons, keychains, etc.  Yes, they can be a great way to churn out trinkets, but printing nonsense you downloaded off the internet is just the beginning.
        2. Access to a 3D printer is a complete game changer.  The true strength of a 3D printer is in making it possible to build nearly anything you can design, irrespective of your tool set or skill level.  Come up with some designs, iterate, and invent a new tool or product that solves a real problem.  Build and give away prosthetic parts to help those in need or parts for PPE during a pandemic.  Save millions of dollars replacing broken or worn parts with functional replicas for pennies.  Use the parts to build other tools or robots to help solve other problems.  I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that a sufficiently motivated person could save lives, iterate and invent, build a business, conduct scientific and/or medical research.  Sure, people are selling Deadpool-dragon-keychains and Nerf gun parts.  But, those hobbyists/entrepreneurs are the ones helping bring down the barriers and prices on equipment and supplies for everyone.

      2. Type:  FDM > Resin.

        1. Resin printers are neat, tend to have small build volumes, incredibly high resolution, but use toxic chemicals with toxic fumes and require more toxic chemicals to clean.  I don’t want these in my home, let alone use them.
        2. I’ll stick to “FDM” or “FFF” (Fused deposition modeling or fused filament fabrication).  They do produce VOC’s, particulates, and fumes when in use, and caution should always be taken, but they’ll just be easier to deal with overall.  Filament is ubiquitous and inexpensive in a variety of colors.  I stay away from glow in the dark because the strontium used to make it glow is very abrasive and will chew up a print nozzle quickly.  White plastic filament made with titanium oxide has the same problem.  I tend to print in gray/silver/black/colors most of the time anyhow.

      3. Features.  Slicer agnostic, enclosure, toolheads.

        1. The slicer is the software used to “slice” a 3D model into thin layers the 3D printer can lay down with molten plastic, one at a time.  Some 3D printers will only accept models sliced by their software, their servers, their app, or their machine.  These machines sometimes come with built-in cameras, print failure detection, automatic time lapse photos, remote  job start-stop.  While this can make them easier to use, they’re all different ways in which it can be misused or crippled later.  I would stay away from any 3D printer that uses proprietary or cloud upload software.  It’s just too easy for a 3D printer company to decide to brick their machines.  A printer that accepts GCode and makes plastic things is all you need.  In fact, a printer that requires an app is a significant downside for me.
        2. If I were purchasing for a makerspace, I would probably go for a printer with an enclosed build area over multiple print heads/tool heads.  If I was getting one today for personal use, I’d opt for multiple material tool heads over an enclosure.
        3. I’m a fan of the Prusa printers, I own one, but when working on a tight budget, it’s really hard to argue with a Flashforge for ~1`/3 the price.  If times were tight, I’d go with a Flashforge, Snapmaker, or one of the various vowel heavy alternatives that require a little more tinkering and elbow grease.  If I had the budget for it or if I had to maintain a frequently used machine, I would (and have!) go with a Prusa.

    2. Plywood CNC Cutter.  $600

      1. I don’t have one yet – but I would personally start with a MaslowCNC for cutting full size sheets of plywood.   I’ve met Bar Smith a few times at Maker Faire, supported at least one of his MaslowCNC Kickstarters, followed their forums,
      2. These can be used to make huge displays, furniture, benches and desks, signage, and piles more things.  It takes a fair bit of space to set these up, even in the vertical orientation like the original MaslowCNC and even more floorspace to use it in the current horizontal setup system, but when not in use the entire system would fit into a small-ish moving box.

  7. Industrial Fabrication Tools.

    1. These last two items would be fantastic to have – but

    2. CNC Mill.  $5,000 – $7,500

      1. I don’t have a table router-based CNC cutter – or the space to really even keep one, but I’ve heard good things about the X-Carve.  A table CNC takes up a considerable amount of space, will need a vacuum attachment,  filtering, exhaust, etc.  I’m not ready for that kind of commitment.

    3. Laser Cutter.  $7500+

      1. I have a woefully underutilized Glowforge.  I pledged their pseudo-crowdfunding-preorder, so I got it an early model for a lot cheaper than their current $7k price tag.  (I’m not counting their cheaper laser diode line)  Unless I had a very strong intended business use case, I probably wouldn’t buy a laser cutter today.  They’re big, loud, require major venting / fume extraction, and I could probably cut whatever I needed for a few projects at a local makerspace.

  8. Things I wouldn’t buy

    1. While working on this blog post, I initially searched to see what kinds of tools other people recommended for budding makerspaces.  I was kind of horrified at the listicles like “5 makerspace must haves” and such, usually linking to their very own store.
    2. Sphero.  They’re cute and kids could program them.  I remember one of my kids’ teachers being extremely excited about getting a few Spheros for the kids to work with.  I just think there are better and more cost effective ways to get kids into programming than a $200 rolling robot.  If I had to teach coding to kids, I would absolutely start with the Adafruit CircuitPlayground mentioned above.
    3. Any Robot Kits.  This isn’t just about the Sphero – I’d be wary of any robot kits.  If the robot kit were something inexpensive you drop a microcontroller brain into, then maybe it would have a place in a classroom or makerspace.  Robot kits don’t really have to be very expensive.  If you have a 3D printer, two motors, and a drawer full of stuff, you could probably make a robot that does stuff for about $20/student.
    4. A single servo and basic microcontroller platform can do so much.  Back during the pandemic the Exploratorium held a “MicroBitVirtualConcert” and my youngest build this little monocle top hat cat robot with a Circuit Playground and a single servo.
    5. MakerBot or Ultimaker 3D printers.  I loved MakerBot for what it was back in the day – a scrappy start up that made open source 3D printers you could build and, above all, maintain yourself.  I like to think I’m still friends with the founders of these companies.  And, while I still love MakerBot for blazing the trail and clearing the way for other 3D printers, the current offerings are high on marketing and bear little resemblance to their open source roots.  Honestly, I haven’t kept up with Ultimaker once they were acquired by Stratasys.  Until that point they were still an open source darling and I still think their Cura slicing software is top notch.  While the MakerBot website was scrubbed of open source resources long ago, the Ultimaker website still has these various things still available.  I haven’t been able to confirm whether the Ultimaker is still open source, but given the purchase by Stratasys, I’m guessing it is not.  If I’m not buying an open source machine, I’d go with something way cheaper that doesn’t require a ton of bloatware, apps, server based slicing, or proprietary slicing software.
    6. ChompSaw.  I cant’ justify $300 for a machine that can be built from scrap plus a small $30 part and power drill that can be used as a drill whenever not used in the project.

What did I miss? What did I get wrong?

Making a Makerspace
  1. Tool Recommendations for Making a Makerspace
  1. By candle light. [↩]
  2. I drilled the holes for the tuning pegs with an electric drill, but then designed/3D printed a hand drill to help finish it. [↩]
  3. I didn’t realize until recently the original Pareto principle was about how 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the citizens. [↩]
  4. Actually, I aim for 85% results for 15% effort. [↩]
  5. I’ll never buy an RV for $50-200k and then pay to insure/store/maintain, when I could for a few thousand dollars whenever I wanted.  Which will also be never. [↩]
  6. Many years ago my dad gave me his trusty utility knife.  It was already old by the time he gave me this Stanley brand knife.  Around the time we moved I had visited an Ace Hardware and saw they had a $1 bargain bin utility knife that looked very much like my own, so I picked it up to have an extra one on hand in a different area of the house.  Like my trust knife, this one had an internal area where it could store extra blades – so that’s where I put some blades.  You’re probably wondering – how bad could this utility knife be?  The handle had a slight gap in it where one of the extra blades stuck out very slightly – by probably half a millimeter.  It was never enough that it ever broke the skin but always enough to poke me and I hated it.  If you’re going to use something more than a few times, get something good that will last you.  Don’t cheap out and get a piece of crap that will scratch you. [↩]
  7. A word about hardware store bargain bins.  I don’t know this to be true, but I strongly suspect the various Home Depot and Ace Hardware bargain bins are essentially sourced from the same cheap and/or low quality sources pitched to the store buyers at the most recent convention or the same Temu/AliExpress sources we can buy from.  My additional suspicion is that this is basically the entirety of Harbor Freight’s stock comes almost exclusively from these kinds of sources. [↩]
  8. Different colors, sizes, shapes, and types – from single color, flashing colors, and “smart” / NeoPixel LED’s [↩]
  9. A note about conductive thread: I like the BrownDogGadgets.com brand.  It wasn’t brittle, was easy to thread, and has seemed to hold up in my projects.  I’ve heard other threads are less easy to work with or tend to break. [↩]
  10. For me, that would be BrownDogGadgets or Adafruit [↩]
  11. Touch, temperature, light, accelerometer [↩]
  12. LED’s, buzzers [↩]
  13. Some versions have IR emitter/detectors and some have Bluetooth capabilities [↩]
  14. Talk to your local bakeries and ask for their buckets.  You’ll have to wash it out, but they’ll be free [↩]
  15. Laundry detergent or pool chemicals [↩]
  16. Harbor Freight frequently has coupons for free/cheap buckets [↩]
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