Deep inside the historic B.F. Goodrich tire factory now called Canal Place, past the pinball machines of R. Shea Brewing, down a concrete hallway and up a freight elevator sits Akron Makerspace, a nonprofit workshop with equipment and space dedicated to making just about anything.
For members of Makerspace, areas of interest include wood, metal, robotics, electronics, crafting, coding and arts, each with its own section or “lab.” Hobbyists, students and tradespeople get resources to create, and beginners’ classes are offered in every lab.
Throughout the 10,000-square-foot workshop located at 540 S. Main St., visitors can see projects and tools from every specialty. To the left sit pottery wheels and kilns for both ceramics and stained glass; to the right, computers for writing code, soldering irons for modifying computer chips, laser cutters for engraving metal and 3D printers for manufacturing all sorts of objects.
The possibilities for tinkering are endless.
“We have a couple of members who will bring in their Game Boys and add lights to them so they’re backlit,” said Liz Bennett, Makerspace’s communications and marketing director. “You know, like DIY, making their pre-existing product better.”
Bennett holds a degree in metalsmithing and joined Makerspace so she could continue her passion for art and working with her hands.
“The people who have a membership at Akron Makerspace vary widely,” she said. They include “a lot of people in their 30s, some in their 20s, and then a lot of older retired guys that already had hobbyist equipment and then found a space and they can have bigger equipment to use here.
“Some people will bring in their teenage kids,” she added. “It’s for people who just want to make things all the time. That is the common line of members … that everyone is very passionate about making.”
Outgrowing the garage
Makerspace began in co-founder Devin Wolfe’s two-car garage in 2011, Bennett said. Wolfe and three creative friends commandeered the space to work on projects and all contributed to a group equipment fund. Soon, other hands-on people joined the collective, and it moved to an unheated warehouse on North Street in 2013. As it continued its momentum and gained more members and equipment, Makerspace moved to a space on Summit Street, and finally, in 2019, to its current location in Canal Place.
The move to Canal Place right before the pandemic slowed momentum. But Makerspace membership is growing again. Members recently put their design skills and sweat equity into their newest addition to the labs: a blacksmithing room complete with a furnace and anvils.
The blacksmithing room was an instant hit. “We’re volunteer board members, so new things are pretty dependent on what members want to use,” Bennett said. “If people are really excited about something, it is more likely to get up and running.”
Members with forging know-how built the ventilation system above the furnace as well as wooden stands under the anvils in the woodshop and metalsmithing labs. That kind of communal work happens often, according to Bennett. Members also built an air filtration system for the woodshop.
Keeping things affordable
The regular membership fee for Akron Makerspace is $35 per month, with a $30 fee for students, military and those with disabilities. A family plan costs $35 for the first member and then $15 a month for every additional family member. Materials are not included in the fee – makers are encouraged to bring their own, although some wood and metal are available for purchase in the lab.
The Akron Makerspace team believes that memberships should be kept affordable because part of the vision is to make specialized equipment accessible to everyone. “Why should you have to pay big-city prices?” Bennett asked.
To become a member or for more information about upcoming events, visit akronmakerspace.org
X: @akronmakerspace
Facebook: facebook.com/akronmakerspace
Instagram: @akronmakerspace
Discord: https://akronmakerspace.org/discord