Workshop
Hammerspace, One Year Later

By Sabrina Merlo

Sabrina Merlo

Sabrina is the Maker Faire Program Director. She works on stage content for the flagship fairs (Bay Area & New York), and also runs Maker Faire's global licensing program for locally and independently produced Maker Faires. She also co-creates the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in her town, Oakland, CA.

View more articles by Sabrina Merlo
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IMG_5501Thursday nights are Hammerspace’s Open House night, and the Thursday night before Maker Faire Kansas City is especially hopping. The 2.5 year-old makerspace’s members were socializing but also putting finishing touches on projects they have committed to show over the weekend.

It was inspiring to see the progress and range of improvements Hammerspace has made since our last visit a year ago. There are not only new members but new tools (a giant new laser cutter!), new offerings (a supply store!), new workspaces (tear out the walls!), and an overall improved layout.

Here’s a survey from our tour—plus a preview of one really awesome Maker Faire exhibit—with Hammerspace’s amazing proprietors Dave and Beck Dalton:

Dave & Co. blasted through the wall and opened up a storage area to bring in their new Full Spectrum laser cutter.
Still in progress, the store if full of donated and found parts and supplies. Classic glass display counters are in the foreground, but you can’t see in photo.
Just like the old dot-com employer strategy: make it so the workers will never ever want to leave!
MAKE sandwiched up next to both vintage and more recent Popular Mechanics issues.
Hammerspace opened up a big wall to combine what was a meeting room for the Cowtown Computer Congress to create a more integrated metallurgy and fabrication workshop.
Opening up the fab room meant moving the classroom into the other workshop room, which helped matters as it enables the classroom to expand or shrink depending on demand.
Some artists from Springfield’s SquidFoo makerspace came through and painted a beautiful and fun Rube Goldberg machine mural in the kids’ room.
Lots of maker toys everywhere in this kid room that is just off the main meeting room. No surprise that there’s kids around a lot of the time at Hammerspace.
Push either button and a sexy robot voice announces through the space that someone is at the door.
Dave’s entry for Maker Faire KC 2013 is a fantastic arcade crane-grab-the-prize game.
Drills drive the crane.
Brandon Mohn teaches airbrushing classes regularly at Hammerspace. Here he's finishing up the crane's targets.
Again and again Hammerspace members explained that idea and knowledge exchange is why they keep coming back.
Nice way to end the evening, to see Maker Faire and all our maker friends so proudly represented.

What’s next? Both Dave and Beck mentioned expansion (construction of more shared workshops and rentable private spaces in the adjacent parking lot and grass areas), as well as a new super-cool outdoor metal foundry area. Oh, and a plasma cutter is on the list.

Both MAKE and Hammerspace will be in full force this weekend at Maker Faire Kansas City. Don’t miss it!

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The Road to Maker Faire Challenge will award $2,500 to one winner to bring his or her project to World Maker Faire on Sep. 21 & 22, 2013 in New York. Use the funding for materials, transport, or anything else you might need to get to Maker Faire. Applications are due by 11:59pm PT on August 5, 2013.

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By Sabrina Merlo

Sabrina Merlo

Sabrina is the Maker Faire Program Director. She works on stage content for the flagship fairs (Bay Area & New York), and also runs Maker Faire's global licensing program for locally and independently produced Maker Faires. She also co-creates the East Bay Mini Maker Faire in her town, Oakland, CA.

View more articles by Sabrina Merlo