Start a Makerspace

Ask Dallas Makerspace
#1

Good evening everyone, I hope you had a great and wonderful Thanksgiving. Personally, I think i ate too much and ruined my weight loss.

I am from Victoria Texas and we do not have a maker space in these parts. A good friend of mine is a member of your space and i was fortunate to take a tour recently. I am really impressed and jealous that you have an awesome facility.

My questions is most likely for the founders or anyone that can help.

As mentioned before, I am in Victoria Texas, the closest maker space is in Austin (2.5 hrs away). How and what would it take to start my own space in my area?

I would like to begin it with basic woodworking, laser, and basic automotive including vehicle electronics. I currently mill my own lumber from Oak, Pecan, and Mesquite. This too may also be a part of the space, if everything goes right.

Thank you in advance for all your input.

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#2

So in no specific order…

STRUCTURE

  • Incorporation
    • If for profit, you will need a solid business plan
    • If non-profit, what type? DMS is 501c3 charitable/educational; were I starting fresh I might instead consider a 501c7 social or recreational club
  • Organization
    • The nature and feel of the organization will change as it grows; what works at 5 won’t work at 50; what works at 50 won’t work at 300
    • Plan first few growth phases out in advance, but don’t expect to strictly adhere to these
    • Volunteer involvement can move mountains but it can’t necessarily do everything

AMENITIES

  • Determine what your “phase 1” offerings will be
    • Try to gauge interest in the community
    • Balance expected resources against this demand
  • Your initial facility will dictate some of your offerings in terms of
    • Floor space
    • Location/zoning
    • Power / utilities
    • Physical layout and work area design (separation, hard floors, fire control, existing environmental infrastructure such as dust removal etc)
  • Planning for limited growth is good, as is a degree of flexibility in the space
  • Location matters; DMS likely owes some of its post-Ladybird growth to being a nicer, safer area

Your initial offerings - woodworking, laser (cutting, I presume), automotive are all generally amenable to a light industrial facility like DMS. The work areas are all “dirty” and can generally coexist with consideration for dust control from woodworking. Some clean work area for any classes, prep work, member lounge, whatnot are a good thing.

Another concept to consider is minimum viable capability in an area. Take woodshop since that’s one of your interests. Think of tools that are less-accessible to the home gamer. I happen to have some tabletop tools (drill press, bandsaw), an articulating miter saw, a number of handheld power tools, and numerous hand tools in my garage; I do not have a table saw, joiner, planer, router table, nor dust collection. DMS has all of my hand tools in addition to the bigger stationary power tools I lack the space and funds for. Consider what would be most valuable in a given area relative to what prospective members won’t have at home; cost tends to be a factor in this decision but it doesn’t have to be inordinately expensive either.

Another thing to consider: keep an open mind when considering functional areas. I personally have little interest in areas like CA and fired arts, but I wouldn’t cut them out of the equation at all since they attract members. Consider everything that prospective members in your area are interested in!

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#3

I was talking to one of our founders the other day. In order to start this place, they met in the back of a game shop. They had no tools, no building, nothing but an interest. He said you need to be charismatic and positive. He convinced people to give up $30 a month to the project without having anything in return but hope and $100/month for the founders. Then one of them signed the lease on a building and it started. You have to be positive and have it already in your mind that it is happening. You don’t have to know everything but give ownership to others by allowing them decision making power. It is a group effort and will go through stages. We grew out of another group, The Dallas Robotics group and I think this helped because they already had a group of people to draw from.

The people that ran it then are not even in power now. We change our board of directors every six months year and committee chairs every six months. They are elected by the members. It makes it a bit unique but it works. Some founders of other organizations attempt to have a strangle hold on it but ours didn’t and knew that they are the guardians more than rulers.

Don’t be jealous of us … we will help you in any way we can. This is part of the spirit of the place. We help each other out and share the knowledge and tools. Good luck with your space. I hope it grows beyond us.

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#4

You might also look around at public libraries that have established small maker spaces. Two in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that I know of are the Lewisville Public Library and the North Richland Hills Public Library. They both have information posted online, and I would imagine there are other Texas cities exploring the possibilities that you could study online.

Yeah, the scope is nowhere near that of the DMS, but as Draco noted, this space grew out of a Robotics Club. Better to start small and start building a reputation and a feel for what works in your community and what does not.

You might start looking to see whats already out there; since Victoria isnt a sprawling metropolis, maybe you still have some mom and pop hobby stores, like woodworking, RC toys, quilting. See if there are clubs for hobbyists. These may be resources for finding like-minded people to launch the idea.

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#5

Board members are changed yearly. Committee Chairpersons are changed every 6 months.

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#6

It depends of if they move … :stuck_out_tongue: … You are right, I got that confused … thanks for correcting

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#7

no one seems to mention money. LOTS of money. This makerspace didn’t happen over night. It’s taken years of growing membership and a revenue stream.

The items you mention you want - if you want them on day one then take a $erious look at what it will take to get there. Most new places start off small. Many only simply offering 3d printing and growing from there.

#8

The seed money to start DMS was about $6,000 raised by those initially interested. Just enough to cover about 4-6 months of hard expenses like rent & utilities.

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#9

The corollary to Nick’s point is to determine how much you would have to charge for membership (or tool use, if that’s how you want to charge it) in order to keep afloat. Or conversely, if you can determine an approximate rate that you think people in your area will pay, you should be able to roughly estimate how much space and equipment you can afford. There is a Makerspace in the Chicago area - it’s a startup with a fully-equipped woodshop and a 5000 sf Machine shop. But the cost is so high that they can’t attract the members they need to stay solvent.

At the beginning you will have very few members, and they probably won’t pay enough money each to have a fully equipped workshop.

Finances are a key reason that most Makerspaces start with 3D printing, vinyl cutters, and a small laser cutter, unless you can find a donor.

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#10

There are possible sources of startup capital facilities, and other assistance besides members. Local governments vis-a-vis economic development corporations, libraries, community/technical colleges, and high schools are often looking for vocational training and other workforce development means to strengthen the local economy. If you can meet this need - and negotiate shrewdly; it’s not going to work as a traditional .gov enterprise and needs something to motivate volunteers - you could perhaps parter with local government to make it happen.

Libraries in particular seem to be undergoing an existential crisis of relevance with publishing steadily shifting to electronic means. While they’re not likely to install a woodshop in a local branch, some of the cleaner “makerspace lite” work areas have appeal.

#11

I’ve noticed this too. I know of at least 2 libraries in the Chicago burbs, a couple in Arizona, and a couple in the DFW areas that have mini makerspaces. Most of them are primarily 3d printing and sewing spaces, but 2 of them also have some pretty decent Elabs setup. It would definitely be worth checking out. Even if none of them have anything currently they might be able to help out with some space.

#12

The key here is making sure your supporters continue to have an incentive to pay dues. In the beginning, they can be expected to pay a premium as an investment to see a dream become reality. Once you get going, they will want value for their money.

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#13

There are really three types of members here.

Those that come to the space, make stuff and go home.
Those that come to the space to be involved, volunteer, hang out and make stuff.
Those that rarely come to the space but continue to pay for their membership.

.

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#14

My comment was alluding to the challenges faced by TheLab in Plano.

They leased a space before they had enough paying members. It was not big enough to include a workshop and they had a problem growing membership.

#15

Well, it could also be that they went into a full retail space, if I remember correctly. We went with a more business non-retail space. Ladybird was bigger than the Lab. This could have something to do with it as well.

#16

If you want to start like DMS did, I would suggest building a group of about 10 people that are more passionate on building the place than you are. Passion is what gets a Makerspace off the ground. A passionate group about that size split from DPRG (the robotics group) and founded the makerspace putting forward their time and money. The majority of that group spent years as key members in our organization, with very little thanks or praise. But, their passion for the idea seeded others.

Second, Grow a thick skin and make sure decision making is distributed in some way. Passion is a two edged blade, for all the mountains it will move, it can also put a be a blockade when you get stuck on individual disagreements. Those who give the most can often hold the group hostage when allowed to be the monarch on topics and decision making.

Third, start small. If you can’t get something to work in a group of 10, odds are it won’t work when growing larger. DMS is an outlier and probably a model that will not work for most places. In fact we are constantly trying to evolve and change to fit wider focuses without losing the culture that got us to this point. Learn from what we can share, but don’t expect what works in our culture to work in your design. We started at a time when talented professionals in technology and IT where being flung from their jobs as the market flipped. It is different now. There is less cash and time in people’s pockets these days. That is a hurdle we were lucky not to start in.

Best of luck on your space. I hope you can out shine us and give the community yet another example of a successful makerspace.

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#17

I get the feeling that FDM 3D printing has evolved from something vaguely exotic and specialized - and thus best-suited a makerspace - to a more broadly accessible hobby. For a couple of hundred bux and a small amount of table space someone can get a 3D printer that works reasonably well with an acceptable learning curve.

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#18

TheLab in Plano started out in a small business/retail complex, has only 2 classrooms, and no available room to expand within the same building. They also have very limited Internet bandwidth. High speed Internet is available across the street but not in their building. They might have received a good price on their lease but there are more things one must take into consideration than just lease costs. They are really hurting without access to high speed Internet.

#19

I used to live very close to their location (apartments just north of there across Park Blvd). I recall that shortly after I moved out in 2006, Verizon rolled fiber to the complex. Surprised that with fiber infrastructure so close that Verizon Frontier won’t roll fiber across Park Blvd with a number of businesses likely quite interested in the prospect.

What sort of service do they have? DSL - likely served from that cabinet on the corner of Park and Enterprise that was a magnet for vehicle collisions back in the day?

#20

The last I heard was that none of the other businesses in the building, auto repair, restaurants, etc. wanted to share the cost to have high speed internet installed underground from the other side of the street. The figure I heard was $60K for installation costs, which I think is awful high. The other businesses do not “need” high speed internet.

As for starting a new Makerspace, no matter where it is, these are the types of things to look out for as one selects a site. Learn from others mistakes.