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MakerSpace

Including Wood Shop and Digital Fabrication Lab

Department Overview

Having launched in January 2018, the Swarthmore MakerSpace located in Whittier Hall is a physical and visual nexus for the MakerSpace Ecosystem and the Swarthmore Innovation Collaborative’s work.  The space is an open and communal facility with resources for making, including tools for digital, mechanical, and manual fabrication.  It is a testing ground for creative innovation, whether a student explores Japanese joinery in a studio course, or a group of students collaborate to build a solar powered speaker, the space generates more inter-disciplinary interaction on campus, particularly between Engineering and Art, but also from such departments as Theater, Computer Science, Biology, and Physics. In addition to curricular uses, we experience significant interest from individual students,  faculty projects and community partnerships working on projects, as well as in attending regular workshops and training opportunities that are offered in the space.

The Makerspace has moved to Whittier Hall from its original location in Beardsley Hall, allowing for an expansion of digital fabrication, the procurement of a CNC router capable of handling 4' x 8' sheets of material. The location is closer to Singer Hall, allowing for more collaboration in an already existing partnership between the Makerspace and the Engineering Department's shop. 

Follow the Makerspace on Instagram and Facebook to see ongoing projects and workshops.

Who We Are

Video Introduction of the Makerspace

MakerSpace – Workshop Series

Workshops and webinars will be announced by email with a registration link provided. 

Past Makerspace workshops have included Sewing, 3D Printing, Lumber Milling, Wood Shop Safety Training, Laser Cutting, Intro to 3D Modeling, Waterjet Cutting, and Welding and Forging (hosted by Engineering Shop Manager J. Johnson).

Student shapes wood in Maker Space

MakerSpace Profiles

Watch our video series profiling Swarthmore MakerSpace student technicians and faculty chronicling their work and the variety of unique projects constructed in the digital fabrication lab and wood shop. 

View the video series playlist