For a couple hundred bucks, you can pick up enough basic woodworking tools to tackle small jobs around the house, like making shelves. But if you want to make a custom bracket for those shelves? Now you’re talking a CNC router, or maybe a TIG welder if you have metal on your mind. And if the brackets you envision resemble a miniature grizzly bear—in honor of Montana’s state animal—then you’ll want to explore using a 3D printer, which can range from $300 to $3,000.
Creativity might be free, but making stuff isn’t, which may hamper many a maker from actually plunging into those projects on their to-do list. In addition to tools and equipment, there is the cost of knowledge. How do specific tools work? Which tool or technique would be best? Or more simply, how does one get started?
When you have questions, makerspaces provide answers. These hotbeds of…
