If you’ve resolved to take up a hobby in the new year, makerspaces on the Boston and Oakland campuses have the resources to make your projects a reality — from sewing machines to 3D printers — with more coming in 2025.
There are accessible makerspaces on both the Boston and Oakland campuses; the biggest is the 15,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of Boston’s EXP research building. A partial list of resources includes: sewing machines, including a computer-controlled embroidery machine and a heavy-duty industrial machine; 3D printers and laser cutters; a woodworking station; a jewelry bench; screen printers and an industrial-grade copy machine. The space also supplies raw materials like wood, filament and fabric at cost.
“Students, staff and faculty can use it for ‘capital R’ research, Halloween costumes and everything in between,” says EXP senior makerspace manager Paul Carson. He used the industrial sewing machine to make a leather book bag this past fall.
New “makers” on the Boston campus have to complete a half-hour, in-person orientation. Afterward, there are two different types of required trainings depending on the equipment. For machines that are “harder to hurt yourself with,” according to Carson — sewing machines, 3D-printers, solderers — DIY instruction manuals are available via QR code. Meanwhile, there are instructor-led training sessions for heavier machinery — including power tools, laser cutters and welding equipment — held several times per week.
During the semester, makerspaces are open Monday through Saturday well into the evenings; specific hours listed here and here. Equipment is first come, first served, but Carson says it’s rare that anything fills up. The exception is toward the end of the semester, when students are finishing final projects.But even then, “if you can get here in the morning or around lunch time, availability is pretty good,” he says. “The students aren’t usually here at 10 a.m.”
EXP is expanding its metalworking shop in the spring semester and holding training sessions for its brand new water jet, an industrial cutting tool. The makerspace will add an indoor paint booth, and an expansion of the woodworking shop to be able to accommodate bigger projects (like furniture) is in the works. New workshops, including tote bag-making, are also added to the schedule regularly.