Toolbox To Community: Inside Grand River Makerspace

A city feels different when there’s a place you can walk into with a half-formed idea and walk out with something real in your hands. We sit down with Josh and Chris from Grand River Makerspace to unpack how a shared workshop in Walker, Michigan, is giving people the tools, confidence, and community to make things that matter—from five-foot 3D-printed dragons to a toddler mobility trainer built from open-source plans.

We talk through what a makerspace is in plain terms: imagine a gym membership, but for tools and training. The space blends a full woodshop with a 3D print farm, laser cutters, and CNC machines, creating a creative hub where beginners learn the ropes and experienced builders prototype, iterate, and launch small product lines. Josh and Chris share smart, low-pressure onramps—open houses, intro classes, and punch cards—plus clear membership options for individuals and families. Along the way, they show how access lowers barriers for side hustles, Etsy sellers, architects-turned-artists, and anyone who wants to test an idea without buying expensive gear.

The human stories shine. From Scouts shaping Pinewood Derby cars and racing them on-site, to Sunday Craft Noons with tea, cookies, and painters sharing tables with sewists, the makerspace revives the “third place” many of us have missed. The highlight is a powerful account of volunteers who sourced materials, printed parts, and invited a family to assemble a custom mobility trainer for their daughter—proof that when machines meet neighbors, impact scales fast. If you’re curious about 3D printing, laser engraving, CNC carving, or simply finding a welcoming place to learn, this episode offers practical steps to get started and a dose of inspiration to keep going.

Subscribe for more stories from the people shaping Walker. If this conversation sparked an idea, share it with a friend, leave a review, and tell us what you’d build first.

If you have comments about this podcast, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at PODCAST@WALKER.CITY

Transcript

What A Makerspace Really Is

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Maiden Walker, a podcast that connects you to the people, the stories, and the ideas shaping our community. From local innovators to everyday change makers, we're diving deep into what makes Walker a great place to live, work, and grow. Here's your host, Nicole DiDonato.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Do you have an idea that you want to bring to life, but you don't have the right kind of tools to make it happen? Well, the Grand River Makerspace is a place to learn, connect, and, of course, use tools, create some pretty unique items as well. And we have Josh and Chris from Grand River Makerspace to join us. Thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Hey, thanks to calling it. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

And we have a lot of um uh a lot of your products here, things that you can make as well. But first, let's just tackle the big question is to what exactly is a makerspace.

Why Walker Needed A Third Place

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Well, kind of the lame of this term for for people in my experience. So I I ran one at Meskegon Community College for a little while and always had to sell it to people, right? Trying to explain this weird thing to people. But essentially think of like shop class back in the day, um, which depends on the generation nowadays. Some people don't have shop class. So what? Like um and combine it with like a gym membership model, um, where you get access to like tools. You know, the shop class is a little different, right? We got 3D printers and laser cutters and C and C's, but we do have a traditional wood shop, uh stuff like that, more of the traditional kind of making in your garage.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Yes, yes, and this is actually located in Walker. I forgot to mention that, which is why we have you guys on. But of course, it's it's an awesome space to bring people together and just connect and to just let your creativity flow. And uh you're talking about this place that is uh uh like a gym membership for tools. Why did you want to bring this to the area?

SPEAKER_03 1:48

You know, I I think uh one of our big goals is to really kind of create a new third place for people to come to in Walker, Grand Rapids, Comstock Park area. Um, and so you know, we're really here to kind of be a place to come, hang out, maybe learn how to use a new tool or build something, maybe teach something to somebody that, you know, or we also have people that just kind of come in in the evenings and just visit and hang out and see what people are doing. And so that's kind of our big goal is be a third space that's also useful to the community. Um so yeah, it's kind of really love the items that you've brought.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

I mean, there's a an array of tools that you have. What all exactly can folks take advantage of and play around with?

Tools: 3D Printers, Lasers, And More

SPEAKER_02 2:30

So one of the cool things that is right up front here, and you can kind of see the stormtrooper guy. So, like this is a local artist. So this is a 3D printed picture. Uh, use use a program called HueForge, and it takes a picture and turns it into something that a 3D printer can use. And you can actually essentially digitally paint the models so we can really bring the local artist like work to life, right? Like this is it's plastic, it's gonna it's durable, right? And it just it brings it to life in a way that's textured and just different from uh you know just a normal print.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

Yep. Yeah, so we have a 3D print farm at the makerspace, uh machines with different capabilities, different sizes. Uh you can see here we can do really big items. This dragon is a contest giveaway we printed uh beginning of this year, and so uh check out our Facebook site for information on this one. But um uh we have those capabilities. We also have lasers uh there. So we have different uh different lasers uh where we can uh etch and cut different types of materials. Uh rock, for example, wood is pretty common.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Whoops, yep.

Makerspace As An Entrepreneurship Launchpad

SPEAKER_03 3:35

We could do wood, leather, um, some metal.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

So one thing that is common in my experience from like having help start maker space in Muskegon is like entrepreneurship, right? Like I didn't have access to a laser. I didn't, you know, people don't always have access to 3D printers or different types of printers. Like you might have a 10-inch 3D printer at home, but guess what? You can't make a five-foot dragon on that. Um, so like, you know, I I started laser cutting things to sell on Etsy and craft shows and stuff like that. Um I've seen you know, I've seen kids from 12, you know, starting laser engraving businesses out of a makerspace to, you know, people that have full-time jobs. You're like, there were two girls that used to work out of the lab that I ran, and they were architects, right? They had day jobs, but they had this like passion for this art, um uh concrete pottery that they were putting together or whatever. And so like they use the makerspace to make the molds and all that stuff, and it's just yeah, it can be used for entrepreneurship kind of small business support. Absolutely.

Woodshop And CNC Capabilities

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Yeah, yeah. And in addition to the high technology tools like 3D printers and lasers, we also have a full wood shop. And so we can do uh anything that you want to do with putting wood together or taking wood apart, uh, we can handle it there. Uh, we also have uh a couple of different C and C machines, and so we can do custom wood carving, uh, and that can also be a you know a route for entrepreneurship as well. So awesome.

How Memberships And Classes Work

SPEAKER_01 5:04

And talk about like this membership kind of tiers, how you operate that and how folks can take advantage at certain levels of them. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

The best way to dip your toes in, I tell people this all the time, is basically you know, attend some of the events, like come to the open house. Like we have one the first Fridays of every month from four to seven. Um, eventually here when I guess nice, we'll be doing some cookouts during those. Um, but then you know, hang out, get to know the feel, and then maybe take a class, right? Sign up for an intro 3D printing class. Uh, we have one this weekend, it'll be after this airs, but we're gonna do more in the future. So take a class to come learn how to laser engrave a tumbler, right? Maybe you'll be addicted to it and you'll be like, oh man, I gotta come learn this to do other stuff. Um you know, that's kind of like how to how to try it out. And if you want to become a member, you could sign up for a membership, like a monthly, which is$65 a month, um, or like six, like$700 for the year. Basically, you get a free month if you pay for a year. And or you can sign up for a family membership at$99 a month, or gosh, I forget what it was. It's like$1,100, something like that. You basically get a free month off of it if you buy a year. But then we also have a punch card system. So some people are like, like a guy this weekend came in and he had a cutting board he was giving away uh that he had made. Oh my gosh, it was so beautiful. I wanted to steal it. Um, but he wanted to engrave something on it to give it away at this silent auction for uh a hunting kind of wetlands ecosystem or wetlands preservation organization he's a part of. And so he just gave a punch card and he came in, used it, kind of learned the laser a little bit, and you know he might be back again to do other projects.

Community Hours And Craft Events

SPEAKER_01 6:32

So love it. You welcome anyone and everyone who wants to learn. It's I actually uh took a tour of the place a few uh weeks ago, such an inspiration. I'm not really like that technical kind of mechanically minded person or that creative, but it's someplace that you can learn as well.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

So yeah, we are uh we're open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Um and we also hold open community events too. So uh we are starting to do uh an event uh that we're calling Sunday Craft Noons that's open to the community. You can just come in, hang out, we provide some tea and cookies, um, and you just bring some crafts. And uh last uh two weekends ago, uh we had a bunch of people doing painting, we had some people doing sewing, uh, and that was a lot of fun. Uh we're also going to be starting uh game night uh in uh Walker. So figuring out what day of the night we're gonna have that or what day of the week, but um, that'll just be like an open community game night. Come bring some board games. A whole bunch of us uh there love board games, and so we're definitely excited for that.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Some of us 3D print board games, some of us actually 3D print board games.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Uh so yeah, come come play some Scrabble if you would like.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Have you always been like this? Is that you know your your day or full-time jobs? Was this something that you were always into and thought we need to get together and and make this into something bigger for the community?

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Like my personal journey, I was like working in a desk job as an engineer, and then like took this role at the college, and I've I kind of got addicted to it. I went back, so I went back to a normal job and I was like, man, looked at my wife and was like, this is not for me. Like, I gotta, you know, so then I started launching my small business stuff, and then I'm like, you know, I saw the transformation that happened in Muskegon, and I'm like, the energy, it's just addicting once you're a part of something like this. Just it's just addicting. You just like you just, you know, you want to learn the next thing, and then like like people come, like you said, just hang out, just see what people are doing because you never know who's gonna walk in with like a cool project. Like somebody brought in a I don't play pickleball, but somebody made an automated pickleball launcher. They're a member at the makerspace, they 3D printed all the parts, they did the electronics, you know, and they bring it in to show it off.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Like it's very cool. Yeah, I am my career has been in IT uh for a long time, and uh making things has kind of given me a way to like use some of my skills for my career, but actually make something tangible and uh you know make sometimes something that's not technical at all, and that's kind of what I really like about it. And um, you know, for me it's it's really about building this community that I feel like has, you know, we've kind of lost a little bit since COVID. Uh and uh you know having having third spaces come back, I think is really important to having a place to go and hang out.

Building A Toddler Mobility Trainer

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yes, and we don't have room to show it right now, but you made uh an adaptable type wheelchair. Tell us about how that all came about and what a special story that is, too.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Yeah, so uh uh Chris actually knew uh a family from Muskegon that had a need. Um and a couple of us at the Makerspace uh had recently learned of this project called the Toddler Mobility Trainer by Make Good Nola. Uh they're based out of New Orleans. And uh it is a free design that you can download and print uh and assemble. Um, and so we contacted the family and just kind of did some planning and uh through kind of generosity of some of our volunteers and members, uh got all of the materials donated that we needed to make it uh and uh donated their time to actually produce the parts and then had the family in and we gave their daughter a mobility trainer. We technically can't call it a wheelchair because it's not it's not like a medically uh approved device, but it is uh it's a full mobility trainer that is sized for her. Uh she doesn't have use of her arms or legs. Um and so yeah, it fits uh fits her great and uh it feels pretty good to like just be able to like make something that a family desperately needs and has had zero luck getting through insurance and uh our medical system here, and so you know I think that's pretty impactful to just be able to bring them a wheelchair and say, here you go.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Talk about bringing the community together for something like that. That is really special. Yeah, it is.

Scouts, Homeschool, And Group Projects

SPEAKER_03 10:43

So it was a pretty pretty special day. You know, we spent uh two weeks producing all the parts for the chair, and then the family came in, they brought about 15 family members in a big cookout and potluck, and kind of everybody celebrated and ate, and then the family actually assembled their daughter's wheelchair, which will be a great memory for them to take home to.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Yeah, and you know, something that you guys can take along on your journey too. I mean, just the range that you are able to produce just from the creativity that folks have in there.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Yeah, absolutely. Yep, and you know, it just it keeps it keeps continuing. Uh last Saturday we had a Boy Scout troop in and they used the space to make their Pinewood Derby cars. And so they were able to like do all of the woodworking with adult supervision, of course. Uh and then we actually have a Pinewood Derby track that we're able to set up so they can actually test their cars while they're there. Um coming up uh this coming weekend, we have another big thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

Yeah, we just it's just nonstop. We just have events happening every single weekend there. Uh and um, yeah, it's it's really taken off.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

And uh, you know, groups like that, the the Boy Scouts and such, if they if people are watching this, listening to it, and thinking, oh, you know, my child's group or homeschool group, uh what are the the processes to get involved?

Parties, Private Workshops, And Contact

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah, they can kind of reach out. So you mentioned homeschool, and I didn't realize until I was working in this lab in Muskegon how big that was. We literally had a day and a morning dedicated to homeschool. So like maybe we can set up something like that. But yeah, if it's a Boy Scout group or homeschool group, you want to do like maybe a private workshop or something like that. We can actually, funny story, um, somebody at the Cub Scouts, the dad a dad came over to me the other day and he had um his uh 10-year-old was there building this car and he had a six or seven-year-old with him, you know, baby brother, and he was like, Would you guys ever think about doing a 3D printing themed birthday party? Um he's like, My kid, my my six-year-old really wanted a 3D printer for Christmas, and I was like, you know, he told him, like, you're six, maybe when you're like 10. Yeah. Um and I was like, we could probably do that. Like, we can make some little fun toys for him, stuff like that. So you got an idea, you're like, man, you think you want to do this? You could do this at the makerspace, throw it at us, you know. Grandover makerspace.org, reach out on Facebook.

Closing And How To Get Involved

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Like, I love that. Yeah, able to accommodate anyone. So love the creativity, love that you brought everything for us to see and really get an idea of what you're doing. And I love your mission. Thank you guys so much for being part of this podcast. And uh, we hope that if you are inspired by making something as well, you'll check them out. That's Chris and Josh over at Grand River Makerspace. Thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Maiden Walker Podcast. If you have comments or questions about this podcast, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, we'd love to hear from you. Please drop us an email at podcast at walker.city. Maiden Walker is the official podcast of the city of Walker, Michigan. You can find Maiden Walker wherever you get your podcasts.