There is an amazing place for artists, makers and tinkerers in the Dallas area. It's called Dallas Makerspace and you've got to check it out!
DMS is a non-profit organization based on collaboration. Artists, inventors, and tinkerers share a building space. Monthly dues of $50 go towards building and utilities expenses as well as equipment and supply costs. As a member you can go to DMS 24 hours a day and use any of the equipment, usually with no additional cost to you. Members can also teach classes here to help others learn about different hobbies and crafts.
Here is a basic layout of the building and I'll show you some pictures of just what all you can do at DMS.
We mostly come to DMS to use their 3D printers. Today Nicholas is making a puzzle box on the printers. He uses a website called Thingiverse to find plans developed by other 3D printer users and uses those plans to create the items on the 3D printers at DMS. You can bring your own filament to create your item or pay a very small price per pound to use the filament available at DMS.
Here is part of the 3D printing room. There are several nice sized 3D printers around the room. They work well and are very popular. Unfortunately we often have to wait for one to come available. And once you start your project on a 3D printer, you can't leave the building - even if the project takes 10 hours to print!
This is the electrical room. I'm not really sure what all happens here but there is a lot of electrical stuff in here.
And lots of small electrical supplies like wires, clips, LEDs, resistors, etc. Nicholas loves working with electrical circuits but so far we haven't done anything in this room yet.
My favorite room is the Creative Arts room. Here is a cabinet of sewing machines and sewing supplies.
I love the leatherworking supplies. We have a few basic leatherworking tools at home but here we can experiment with lots of other tools and supplies.
There is even a whole cabinet on fiber arts complete with spindles and looms.
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A big wide-format printer.
Drawers full of different kinds of art paper and cutting mats.
Pens, paper cutters, stamps, sticker makers, clay tools.
So many fun art supplies! Paint, button makers, laminator, and more!
More supplies...pastels, colored pencils, hot glue, stencils, engraving tools, wood burning tools. It's like paradise to a craft-a-holic like myself!
See this cool picture of Marilyn Monroe?
It is made up entirely of lines drawn by a robotic pen contraption! It's always fun to see what amazing creativity can be found here at Makerspace.
On to the workshop area. This is aquaponics...plants growing up top, fish in a water tank down below. Fish waste products are broken down by bacteria and transformed into nitrates that are beneficial to the plants then the water drains back down into the fish tank.
They actually have 2 levels of plants growing in this system. I signed up for a course here that someone was teaching on how to get started in aquaponics but once I realized that we really don't have space for a set up like this I decided to back out of the class.
There is a whole corner dedicated to pottery including these 5 pottery wheels. Someday the kids and I will take a class and make something on these cool things!
Now we get into some of the bigger tools in the workshop area. Many of these I don't really understand but Stuart is excited about having them available to use. This is a sandblaster.
A CNC mill.
Bridgeport manual mill
They even have an ammunition reloading station.
They have a giant laser cutter that can follow a program to cut out wood and foam board to your specifications.
A CNC plasma cutter
Welding tools and blacksmithing forges.
CNC router
Dallas Makerspace is an amazing place where creative minds can come together to learn and create cool things! What would you create here?
Dallas Makerspace is located at 1825 Monetary Lane #104 in Carrollton, TX right off I-35 E. Check out their website at www.dallasmakerspace.org. They offer monthly tours for people interested in finding out more about membership.