Fiber Art Open House – POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Due to rising COVID case counts in Framingham and throughout the state, this event will be postponed until further notice.

What: Fiber Art Open House

When: POSTPONED

Where: Framingham Makerspace

Free and open to all. Minors must be accompanied by a guardian.

Face coverings are required for this event.

What is fiber art? Anything to do with yarn or fabric:sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery, spinning, and much more! Come learn about our existing fiber art capabilities, how we plan to expand in the coming year, and all the kinds of cool stuff you can make with new and old technology..

We will demo our sewing and embroidery machines – take home a patch with your name on it! Current members can also complete a checkout to use the equipment.

We’ll also discuss our expansion plans for next year,and our new fiber art lab space – which will include a Kniterate fully automated knitting machine (like a 3D printer for fabric!), a long arm quilting machine for creating large quilts, and spinning and weaving tools.

Progress on Expansion Space

Demolition is finished!

Progress on Expansion Space

We are expanding into 1000 sq-ft across the hall. Demolition work on the expansion space is happening this week (12/27). We made great progress on the first day and got the bulk of the work done.

We’ve ordered the Kniterate CNC knitting machine

Our Kniterate CNC Knitting Machine is due in April. Check out the video of this amazing machine.

Framingham Makerspace is expanding

We’re adding 1000 sq-ft across the hall.

This expansion will include 4 studios (10×17 feet each) and a 20×17 foot textile/fiber arts room.

We are finalizing things with contractors and expect to start demolition work in early December. We’ll need our members to provide lots of labor to keep this project on budget and on schedule. Our lease starts February 1st and the landlord has given us early access to start work.

MassDevelopment Grant

FRAMINGHAM MAKERSPACE RECEIVES $99,781 MASSDEVELOPMENT GRANT

Framingham MakerSpace is excited to announce its second grant from MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency. We would like to thank MassDevelopment for their continued generous support which will enable further expansion to 7000 square feet. In 2017 they gave the Space $101,000 in matching funds to double our physical space and buy new equipment.

Framingham MakerSpace is an all volunteer, member run non-profit located in the Saxonville Mills. We are a community of and workspace for creative people in the Metrowest area. Our mission is to explore art and technology in a welcoming, respectful space while also being a resource to the community at large.

The Space includes wood, metal and welding shops; 3D printing stations; embroidery, fabric and leather sewing machines; an electronics lab and more. We also offer private studios which currently host a quilter, a soap maker and an electronic musical instrument creator. The grant will allow us to upgrade our existing wood shop machinery with a panel sander, wood lathe and band saw and to create a new, separate, clean space for an expanded fiber arts lab.

The expansion space will include:

a Kniterate, a revolutionary computer controlled knitting machine
a long arm quilting machine for sewing large fabric items
CAD/CAM workstations with Solidworks donated software.
a dedicated space for our existing sewing machines
four studios

Framingham Makerspace member Momo in the news

Article in the Framingham Patch about Momo

Organizing the front room

We’re getting the front room organized. Two 3D printers and the PocketNC. The Prusa MKIII 3D printer is located in the electronics area.

Framingham Makerspace awarded $101,017 grant from Mass Development

Framingham Makerspace was awarded $101,017 from the Massachusetts Development Collaborative Workspace grant program. Thanks to Charlotte Maynard Managing Partner of Saxonvill Realty Trust for providing much needed support for the grant applicaiton. Here is a link to the perss release Mass Development Collaborative Workspace grant awards.

3D Printer Arrived – we printed our first parts!

Update — The printer arrived Friday. We assembled and printed our first parts over the weekend. We’ll be showing it off at our regular Wednesday evening open house.

We ordered a 3D printer with grant funds from the Framingham Cultural Council and a generous Makerspace member. We decided on the Flashforge Creator Pro. This printer has dual extruder heads and an 8.9 x 5.7 x 5.9 inch build area.

We will provide one to two hours per week, open to the public, free training on use of a 3D printer. Training will include: how to find open source parts others have designed on the web; using the “slicer” software to prepare parts for printing; setting up the printer; various materials available to print; discussion of how the printer works; discussion on limitations on part geometry; introduction to 3D CAD programs to design your own parts. Some nights will be stand alone intro training, while others will be a series of more in depth training. Intent is not for each person to print their own part but to learn about 3D printing capabilities.