3D Printing, Makerspaces

Repair vs Replace!

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I always hate throwing away things that can be fixed and still used when it’s not necessary. Being around a makerspace means there are lots of opportunities and ways and to repair items then put them back into use. I’ve heard the term repair culture used and it certainly can be prevelant at some makerspaces. Our Open Shop times provide an opportunity for folks to walk in to get help creating or fixing items.

Thule square bar end cap that was 3D printed
3D printed Thule roof rack end cap

3D printing is a popular way to make parts that could be difficult or impossible to find. This last month we had two cases, the first was perhaps the easiest – a set of Thule rectangular roof racks with 2 lost end caps. Often the usual first reaction is designing a replacement part for the missing or failed part. One of the things I often suggest in our 3D printing class is looking to see if someone else had already created a replacement part. Sure enough, someone else had already designed and was sharing the file. So we just printed out that design, which worked great.

Outdoor glass table top spacers
Old and new 3D printed glass table spacers.

The second instance was a little more challenging, an outdoor glass top table where the plastic pieces holding the glass in place were severely deterioated. Without a specific manufacturer, searching for a part was a lot more difficult. Something close was found, but one of the pieces looked slightly different and the other pieces were not the right size. Luckly there was enough left of the old part get some good measurements, so I imported the STL file into Tinkercad and modified the earlier found design to fit the table. After picking an appropriate sunlight resistent plastic, the glass table is now back assembled and the family is using it in their backyard again.

We’ve been thinking about hosting a repair clinic at the makerspace, if you think there’s interest let us know! In the meantime, you could items needing fixing in during our Open Shop times. Our members will try to help you get it back up and running again if we can!

Artistic Endeavors, Greencastle's Makerspace, Laser Cutting

Collaboration

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After a quick move to our new location on Jackson Street, our new laser cutter/engraver setup.

Interesting projects can often happen at a makerspace since it brings together people with different skill sets to help others create things. So it’s no surprise that when an artist, woodworker, and a maker got together to create a centerpiece that something pretty darn good looking came out of it!

Several months ago the Greencastle / Putnam County Development Center were asked if we could make a centerpiece for their 40th anniversary luncheon. And while we love working with other organizations in our community, normally our focus is on helping others make things or connecting them with others in our community. The ask also came when much of our equipment was still in storage and we were working out of temporary location until we found a new location for the makerspace.

Black acrylic centerpieces representing how these companies are the 'rock' of the Greencastle / Putnam County Developement Center over the years.
Final centerpieces, made of laser engraved black acrylic on a locally sourced black walnut base.

So when we finally met in person to come up with ideas & specific details, there was only a month until the actual event. Not much time, especially considering they were looking for a dozen centerpieces that represented 7 of their donors and we had to still pull some of the equipment out of storage to recommission it. Just getting logo from each was a task too, but in the end we came up with something that three of us were able to complete in time for the event. A great exercise that reinforced the power of collaboration using some of the makerspace tools.

Greencastle's Makerspace, Putt Putnam County

Mini-golf Building Time!

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It’s August & it’s time to start building those holes for Putt Putnam County that you’ve been thinking about – or just start building one even if you haven’t been thinking about it!

We started the first event in 2016 and the goals are pretty simple again this year: build a mini-golf hole – then join us and others in the community on Friday October 2nd to play a round in downtown Greencastle. Setup starts at 4:30 and the official event will be from 6-8:30 pm. More details on our Putt Putnam County webpage.

Last year saw a record number of holes and people playing mini-golf. Even though our new makerspace location is at 9 North Jackson Street, we’ll still be having the event on Franklin Street. And if you need help building a hole, we’re always glad to help, stop by during our Open Shop times or contact one of us for assistance.

Greencastle's Makerspace

A New Beginning

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The makerspace has landed at a new location at 8 N Jackson Street in downtown Greencastle!

The front of Castlemakers new location
The new location as seen from Jackson Street.

Moving is always a ‘project’, especially when you have to put things into storage then move it to another space. We’ve still got a lot to do, but we’re really excited about our new location on the square across from the Buzz Bomb.

Renovation work on the new Castlemakers location
Inside our new spot during renovation.

We’ll be moving in gradually, there’s a few things that still need to be completed in this historic building. It is slightly larger and much more open than our last location, which means we’re still figuring out how to arrange things. And of course when you have tools and equipment like we do it takes some time to setup and reconnect everything. But don’t prevent you from stopping by, we’ve already having Open Shop hours in the new space. Look for a future event announcement after everything is out of storage and more organized.

We’re incredibly grateful to Putnam County Museum for finding us a place to temporarily store things – good storage is hard to find! And also to the Putnam County Public Library for letting us use their conference rooms & store a few speciality equipment carts so we could continue to operate.

CNC, Greencastle's Makerspace, Makerspaces

Helping Other Organizations

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One of the things we are proud of is trying to help other organizations when they have a problem or need. So when we got a text about Greencastle’s Parks & Recreation Department needing help in using a recently purchased Computer Numeric Control(CNC) machine, we were more than willing to oblige!

First finished picket for the Emerald Park fence.
The first peice we helped Greencastle Parks & Recreation to make on their CNC.

It turns out they had gotten the CNC to engrave pickets for the Emerald Palace 2.0, the playground in Robe Ann Park that was being refurbished. Donor names were going to be put on the picket fence around the play area, but having trouble with using their new CNC to get the job done.

We’ve have a CNC at the makespace, although a different manufacturer, and alos teach classes on how to use a CNC, so glad to help esp since several of our members have a CNC in their home shop also.

Making Pickets for the Emerald Park on a CNC machine.
Castlemakers helped them get their CNC cutting material once they got the right software and plugins to use it.

One of the things we’ve learned over the years in using and teaching others their operation is in general and specifically for some manufacturer’s there’s a lot of tacit knowledge involved in using one. While a CNC can look relatively inexpensive to buy one, like a lot of other things, without the proper knowledge and software you can get overwhelmed pretty quickly. Or depending on the project it can get expensive quickly by breaking bits or ruining the material you’re using.

After helping them figure out the software they needed and some quick ‘lessons learned & what to watch for’ from one of our more experienced members, they got the job done & the playground is now open. Makerspaces can provide, knowledge, experiences, and assistance to others – along with a lot of other things to help you get things done!

Greencastle's Makerspace, Makerspaces

What Happened to Castlemakers?

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We’ve had an eventful year since January! You might be wondering what happened if you recently walked down Franklin Street and just looked in the windows. After nearly 10 years at our Franklin Street location, an ownership change meant we had to find a new location for the makerspace. And fast.

Castlemakers front room without anything in the building!
It’s been over 10 years since the makerspace was this empty!

Unfortunately with the sudden change and timing, it left our board with some tough calls. We made the difficult decision to put everything into storage until a suitable new location was available. We’ve finally been able to find some alternatives, with hopes to a new physical location settled next month. Watch for an announcement soon of our new location.

We continue to still operate thanks to some quick scrambling, our members, & the Putnam County Public Library(PCPL). Three of our frequently equipment items are now on carts that we pull out when meeting at the library. And have been doing classes at the library laso.

And of course we still have perhaps the most important element of a makerspace: the knowledge, skills, and experiences of a makerspace. Drop in during our Open Shop hours when you get a chance!

3D Printing, Classes

Holiday Classes – Glass & Plastic

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Around the holidays we try to offer holiday themed classes & this year was no exception. In December we chose to offer another glass fusing & slumping class to make glass ornaments along with a requested 3D printing class.

Glass ornament with Frit before fusing
Applying Frit to a Glass Ornament.
Another glass ornament before going into the kiln.
Another student’s creative ornament design.

We’re still learning and experimenting with the kiln donated last year. In the glass fusing class we were able to add some new materials in this class, glass Frit. It looks like colored glass pellets, and for folks that sprinkled it on their designs before fusing it gave an interesting effect. We used a high enough temperature with the kiln that it frit was really absorbed in the base glass, but we’ll be doing more experimentation in the future.

In this month’s 3D printing class we also did ornaments, like what we’ve done in the past 10 years. The folks attending were interested in the basics, so that’s what we did. But 3D printing has become a lot more popular and techniques have advanced significantly, so we’ve been considering offering a more advanced class or one that gets into more depth and advanced techniques. We could also offer a liquid resin 3D printing class if there’s interest, let us know if you’d like us to offer either class.

Entrepreneurship, Greencastle's Makerspace

Encouraging Entrepreneurship

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One thing we haven’t talked a lot about is the makerspace Entrepreneurial Fellowship program. It’s a program to encourage entrepreneurship from the ground up. Over the years we’ve had a number of people come into the makerspace wanting to produce prototypes or make small quantities of something to sell – items they made can still found in shops locally and online. Our idea is to discover and support more people that thought about selling or making a product or service, then help them to actually do it.

wooden winter ornaments made by Jasmine who is one of our entrepreneurial fellows.
Winter themed ornaments made on our laser cutter, before painting, that were designed and for sale by Jasmine.

Thanks to a partnership with Main Street Greencastle, and financial support from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation(IEDC), we’ve formalized a program that supports and encourages people to take the next step in creating a business. Many people hear from others they should offer a product for sale or think about selling an idea they made. We’re helping start more cottage industry businesses that sell products at markets, through other stores, certainly online, and that might grow into something bigger.

At the core of the program is access to makerspace tools, resources (including entrepreneurial makers), and other resources they need. We’re innovating with them along the way to determine what works best, not surprising that this is a new/possibly first of it’s kind program. It’s certainly attracting some interest, not only from IEDC’s Community Collaboration Fund, but we were also featured on Inside Indiana Business when we started started the program. Our first cohort group is now filled and we’re planning a second. If you’re interested please read this program description and fill out an application!

3D Printing, Making

Talking Pumpkins

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For many years now at Halloween we’ve helped Putnam County Library for the Scary Science exhibit in the Kiwanis Room downstairs. We are often there 3D printing bats or witches hats, explaining how it works, or sometimes giving away laser cut ghosts and goblins. Last year we added a ghostly optical illusion using a technique called Pepper’s ghost to project holograms.

Animated pumpkin in action…

This year to try something different we 3D printed a pumpkin and then projected a talking face on it, which turned out to be another great illusion. By using a phone to project the face, most folks were looking behind the pumpkin or asking how we did it!

The idea is based on a project from DIY Machines, who deserves full credit for coming up with a great makerspace Halloween project idea. Unfortunately it’s a bit complex and pretty time consuming project, although we’ll incorporate more elements of it next year to display at the makerspace. And it was designed to be an outdoor display, while at the library we were going to be using it indoors. But having enough time to do it was the real limiting factor.

motorola Z phone with projection attachment.
We used a cellphone projector indoors so most folks didn’t notice how it worked.

We went ahead and printed one of the pumpkins in orange and then realized we could project the face on the pumpkin using a projector attachment for my Moto Z phone. All we really had to do was lay the phone on the table across from the 3D printed pumpkin to project the face on the pumpkin.

Greencastle's Makerspace, Putt Putnam County

2025 Putt Putnam County

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Early arrivals at Putt Putnam County in 2025

With a record number of mini golf holes, this year’s event exceeded our expectations with 24 community built mini-golf holes. People started showing up as quick as we could get the holes set up – it was a great evening for everyone to play mini-golf. With perfect weather the crowd grew into the largest I’ve seen yet!

View from the courthouse square of Putt Putnam County in 2025
It didn’t take long for lines to play appear by Indiana Street.

There really was so many creative mini-golf holes, you really can’t describe them all. This year we added a section for the pre-engineering high school class and some of them certainly raised the bar with lights and moving parts. And while they were popular, many of the simpler holes were still big hits with the players. And in many cases simple paid off in that they held up better and were still operating as intended at the end of the evening.

Scouts troops 99 and 999 had mini-golf holes near Vine Street.
Holes extended to Vine and Franklin Streets with Scouts Troops 99 & 999 anchoring us on one end.

Which points out one of the many things folks learn from making something and then using it. Of course there’s the challenges of working with others, almost all of the holes were built by a family, group, or team of students, and the inevitable compromises that have to be made when you’re dealing with a deadline.

And by the end of night we were treated to an extra special surprise, fireworks! What a great way to finish up, can’t wait to see what next year’s event brings…

Final picture from in front of the makerspace as we wound down for the evening…

Greencastle Indiana's Makerspace!