Make It Labs: Not Your Father's Workshop

Touring a hackerspace is a little like walking into someone else's dream. Everything looks familiar but nothing is what it seems.

And yet, somehow, it all makes perfect sense.

Like the fire hydrant on a pedestal. It's really a beermeister. And the mutated soda bottles in the back? They're just fodder for melting into cool table tops. The piles of green circuit boards are, presto-chango, bathroom floor tiles, and the compressed air tank sliced in half? Oh yes, it's about to become a barbecue grill.

Welcome to Make It Labs, where anyone's dreams can become reality, thanks to the wide open "dirty space" and accompanying tools, available to members in good standing to use for turning anything they can dream up into something they can have and hold – or sell.

Reduced to its most basic definition, a hackerspace is pretty much what it sounds like – a place where creators can hack and weld and recreate. Philosophically, however, there is a high-tech component that separates a hackerspace from your dad's dusty garage.

Such spaces are gaining popularity thanks to DIY shows including "Mythbusters," where the fine art of ‘personal fabrication’ makes it possible for people with a clear understanding of physics and math and engineering and how stuff works will, in the foreseeable future, be able to fabricate pretty much anything they need, whether it's just to satisfy their curiosity or solve a technical problem.

It's where Frankenstuff comes to life.

The shop is run by a quintet of engineers – founder Joe Schlesinger, Rob Riel, Paul Hardin, Christian St. Cyr, and Adam Shrey who comprise the board. Their day jobs pay the bills, leaving Make It Labs as their after-hours idea incubator. Originally established in Lowell, Mass., they headed north seeking a bigger, better space, establishing Makeit Labs as New Hampshire's first hackerspace.

This is where former FIRST Robotic kids go, post-high school, whenever the urge to create, invent and reinvent persists – which is pretty much all the time.

On a recent Thursday night, inventive collaborator Steve Abodeely is tour guide for a group of curiosity seekers from .

The grand tour includes the carcass of a Triumph TR6, on its way to being restored to its early-1970s luster. Well, maybe the luster will be lacking, but the engine should purr like a resurrected kitten.

"It's gonna be so cool when it's ready. We'll be going out in our 1970s clothing, for sure," says Abodeely.

Open House at the lab is every Monday and Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. during which the public is invited to poke around. Of course, the first task is finding the space, which is tucked away down a dirt road off Crown Street, next to the old rail yard.

"People really like to look at the process," Abodeely says, as several of the tech tourists take in the work spaces, many of them set up with projects in the works.

In a far corner is a pottery wheel where you can throw some clay and spin some pots.

"The only rule is no 'Ghosting,' says Abodeely, smiling broadly and waiting for someone to get the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore reference.

You can also sign up for various workshops and classes as they're added to the calendar, like the "Basic Glass Workshop" on June 3 or the "Screwed! Basic Fasteners" workshop on June 9.

Having a place where you can work on a project with access to just about any equipment you could need, and a bunch of engineers on stand-by, just in case you have questions, is a bargain at any price.

But in case you're wondering, full membership is $70 a month and provides 24/7 access to the shop. Hobbyist level membership is $40 per month, and allows access to the shop seven days a week, starting at 6 p.m.

"There are so many things going on at any given time here," Abodeely says. "People who are interested should just come and see it. That's probably the best way to understand what it's all about."

It hasn't always been rose-colored safety glasses. Just before Christmas the shop was shut down for lack of an ADA compliant bathroom. But when you are surrounded by crafty, mechanically inclined inventive types, it's only a matter of time before you have enough certified plumbers and carpenters to build a bathroom – and find a way to finish it off with flair.

"It's almost finished. See these circuit boards? They're going to become the floor tiles," says Abodeely.