Sept. 23, 2015, 11:42 a.m. MT

3-D printer: An additive manufacturing process to create three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file. Valley makers have used 3-D printing to make a life-sized, functional car, phone cases, prosthetic body parts and a chess set.
Ben Margiott/The Republic

Arduino area: Arduino is actually the name of an open-source company that manufactures the microcontroller kits to build digital devices. Makers often refer to these kits as Arduino. The first Arduino was developed in 2005 to allow both professionals and amateurs to build various projects such as robots, instruments, motion sensors and thermostats.
Ben Margiott/The Republic

CNC router: A computer-controlled machine that cuts a variety of materials, including wood, metal and plastic. “CNC” stands for computer numerical control.
Ben Margiott/The Republic

CNC lathe: A computer-controlled machine tool…