Mill Forge Makerspace Grand Opening

Mill Forge Makerspace is officially open! This past month of our soft open was a flurry of activity around the shop. Our Friends and Family opening was only a month ago, but we’ve done so much since then!

We built new rolling tool stands for benchtop tools like our thickness planer, belt & disc sander, and oscillating spindle sander. Volunteers helped assemble and set up grinder pedestals for grinders and polishers and moved the near-seizure-inducing light behind one our our ceiling fans. We added more tool storage widgets to the woodworking french cleat system, and tuned up the metal shear and slip roller, 3D printers, and jointer. And we completed the dust collection system installation for almost all of the woodworking tools.

A crown of people gathers between 19th century industrial brick buildings. There is a metal staircase and an urn of plants in the foreground — A crowd begins to gather for the ribbon cutting

Around 11:30 AM on Saturday, August 9th, the crowd started to gather outside for a formal ribbon cutting. We were joined by our volunteers (in orange shirts featuring our as-yet-unnamed robot image), Norwood and Foxboro public access TV, representatives of the Town of Norwood and the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce, and between 175 and 200 visitors over the course of the day.

Two middle-aged men stand at the top of a metal staircase and ramp, one holding a microphone, and the other holding a two-foot-long pair of scissors. The edge of a crowd can be seen below. — Thomas O’Rourke of the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce (left) and Bill Brooks (right) of Mill Forge Makerspace prepare to cut the ribbon.

After the ribbon cutting, visitors took tours of the shop with our intrepid volunteers (and our graphic designer!), checking out all the areas of the shop. There continues to be a surprisingly high level of interest in metalsmithing and casting, and a significant interest in textiles, especially costume design. We’ll plan to have some costume and prop design courses in the near future!

We also offered two of our popular workshop activities from Maker Faires and local events: Constructive Destruction and Robot Faces (affectionately called the “bits and bobs” table by our volunteers). The flow of materials from our local cleanout partners Junk Teens and Junk Vets, through the hands of Constructive Destruction participants, and into the Robot Faces self-portraits illustrates the kinds of community cross-pollination, environmentally-conscious mentality, and broad appeal we are building at Mill Forge and at Winsmith Mills.

Visitors brought a strong interest in introductory classes, especially in woodworking, CAD & 3D design, and CNC & 3D printing, so we’ll be adding those to the calendar soon!

We’ve already had new members working in the shop this week, and it’s been great to see how members – and guests like the robotics program we recently hosted – have been using the space, gravitating towards the Roominator common area for quiet reflection, excited collaboration, and crazy chalk art.

We hope to see y’all here soon!