2019cnc8-9

CNC WEST August/September 2019 www.CNC-West.com 51 ing a business and need to use the CNC. Engineers tend to design products and at Urban Workshop they can do so without a huge capital investment. Everyone is in a hurry these days and the thought of enrolling at the local junior college is daunting. Maker- spaces fill a niche and make training fast and affordable. The best part is you don’t even need to be a member to take the classes. Take for example the CNC Training pro- gram. Students begin on the Bridgeport, turning knobs and learning the sound and the feel. They progress to the CNC router, giving them a taste of programming. The router has a vacuum table, eliminating the complexities of work holding and removing it from the equation. Stu- dents can concentrate on the CNC aspects like 3D coor- dinates, setting tool heights, origin systems, speeds and feeds. Then they get set loose on the Haas where curricu- lum brings in work holding strategies and programming efficiency. “Our Haas is a TM2P 3 axis with ten tools,” tells Steve. “We intentionally kept it simple since learning to use the machine, prototyping and low volume production are what it is used for. We have a reservation manage- ment system to allow students to book time on all the ma- chines. Classes run once a week for three hours each. Kirk taught himself how to run the Haas and proved out all the classes himself. We adjust course as needed. We are on the verge of expanding the wood shop and the metal shop areas. I want to add another CNC router, a CNC plasma cutter and really want to add a CNC lathe.” Matt Durham and Steve built the youth program from scratch, and it is something they are very proud of. Urban Workshop’s youth program is open to students 10-16 years old. It is a project based learning platform that starts with using tools. “In the most basic class students take apart a BMX bike,” explains Steve. “The younger kids should be able to get the wheels back on, but the older ones are held to a higher standard. I better be able to ride it around the shop when they are done. Kids come to us not knowing there are different kinds of screw drivers and they leave having made a Bluetooth speaker or used a welder. The youth program was something I didn’t want to do. There was no way I was going to run a daycare with machinery. Then this woman Donna convinced me I should give it a try and I’m so glad she did. It is a 12 -week semester and the kids come once a week for three hours. These kids are tomorrow’s engineers, the machinists, the teachers, the welders. Just exposing them to an environment like this builds a lifetime of skills and opens a world of possibili- ties. My first drafting class is what made me become an engineer, who knows what might inspire them.” In just five short years Steve has seen his fair share of creative people building their dreams, building products, and building business. He has also witnessed some crazy stuff. A group of Burning Man enthusiasts built a laser they claim can put a visible dot on the moon. He’s seen cos-play chainmail for a cats, and one member even built a coffin for his dying dad. “As horrible as that sounds, this was such a moving story,” recounts Steve. “His dad requested to be buried in the ground in a pine box. The member started out building the coffin alone. Once other makers got word what he was doing that simple pine box became a work of art with incredible details. Community is a big part of what makes this place tick. You come in the doors as an individual, but you don’t stay like that for very long. That’s the great thing about a makerspace, it is like a living being, always moving, always changing, al- ways evolving.” Hands down the most popular machines are the three Epilog laser cutter and engravers. During peak times they are booked up a week in advance. Members use them for a variety of applications including metals, plastics, glass etching, and even bamboo straw customization.