On January 10th, 2026, Spark Studio Salem moved 0.3 miles to the south: 2915 22nd St SE!

This location was last occupied by a laser etching shop, from whom we received a donation of several 150 watt laser cutters and an industrial venting system.

We also gained 200 sq ft of indoor ground floor space (now 1500 sq ft), and are now 60 ft from the Tsunami Taproom, an inviting place for food/drink/socializing! We expect this will improve the approachability of our makerspace to match our wide range of friendly crafters of all kinds and levels.

See you soon! [-David-]

It’s been a while since our last post, since then we’ve been busy behind the scenes, making improvements, adding new tools, and continuing to build our community. Here’s a glimpse into what we’ve been up to:

New Space

Our space has received some upgrades! We’ve been cleaning, painting, and reorganizing to make room for more making capabilities. Flexibility is key, and we’re excited about the new possibilities that our newly updated space offers.

New Capabilities

We’ve expanded our toolset to bring you more ways to create:

• CNC Router for Woodworking: Thanks to a generous donation, we now have a Sienci Labs Longmill MKII 30″x30″ CNC router. Assembled and commissioned by Jacob M., this machine is ready for action. Jacob is also overseeing its use, ensuring it’s available for all your woodworking projects.
• Engineering-Grade 3D Printer: Meet the Qidi Q1 Pro, our new enclosed 3D printer with a chamber heater and modern hotend. It’s equipped to handle engineering-grade materials like nylon, ABS, and ASA, and can print with a wide range of filaments—from flexibles to abrasives. It’s also fast—often double or triple the speed of our other printers!
• Metal Casting and Forging: Chris F. has been laying the groundwork for metal casting and forging. He’s experimenting with a new propane forge and crucible to melt scrap metal into ingots, setting the stage for some exciting future projects.

New Board Members

We’re thrilled to welcome new members to our board:

• Jacob Munoz: After significant volunteering and collaboration, Jacob joined the board mid-2024. His expertise in small business operations and public relations will be invaluable as we continue to grow.
• Fernando Salazar: Fernando brings his drive to improve the space through painting, organizing, and infrastructure upgrades. His skills in administrative procedure management have been making a difference since he joined in early 2023.

Current Public Events

There are plenty of ways to get involved with our community:

• Maker Social: Join us on the first Tuesday of every month for a Maker Social at local area breweries, usually at Ratchet Brewery. Check out meetup.com/salem-makerspace for details.
• Weekly Public Hours: Come hang out during our public hours every Saturday from 1 PM to 4 PM and Tuesday from 6 PM to 9 PM. Whether you want to chat about projects or work on your own, there’s always something happening.
• 3D Printing Special Interest Group: On the first Wednesday of each month, dive into 3D printing with Richard M., who leads discussions on 3D printing technology, technique, and design, with a special focus on design in OpenSCAD.
• Hack Salem Meetings: Hack Salem, led by John A, is hosting most of their meetings at Spark on the third Wednesday of every month. Check them out at meetup.com/hacksalem.

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We’re excited about all the new things happening at our space, and we’d love for you to be part of it. Come by, get involved, and let’s make something amazing together!

A “mad scientist garage” for makers opens in Salem

It’s happening.

As of August 1st, Spark Studio Salem has a leased physical location, 2701 22nd Street SE. We have the existing list of renewing patrons / super-patrons at the $50 to $200/mo level for the first year, those people that stepped up to make this possible before we had anything locked in.

We’ll continue to widen our pool of contributors, now that the space exists (note: still time to be among those with us from month one!), and the board members will arrange to manually open the space to the patrons several nights a week (until have improved system).

We will also schedule monthly open makerspace nights for the public, which will allow an opportunity to meet new potential patrons, as well set monthly cross-over meeting nights (with recommended donations) for other tech groups with overlapping participants / related missions (Microportal Electronics Club, Hack Salem, Salem Mac User Group).

To furnish the makerspace, we are looking for starting materials (see below) as we draw up plans for free-standing workbenches along 2 walls, some nestable locking wheeled tables, storage shelves for a 3rd wall, rolling partitions/whiteboards, and other space-saving design fun!

Please let us know about potential contributed material, furniture, or gear via the ‘contact’ section of our webpage:
sparkstudiosalem.com/contact

We look forward to discussing all of this and more at the First Tuesday Social (August 2), 6p-8p at Gilgamesh, 2065 Madrona, and afterwards we can tour the space!

How Can I Help?
– cleaning + sanitation supplies; consumables like TP & Fabuloso, durables like mop + broom + shop broom + dustpan + magnetic roller
– furniture; chairs + tables + work-tables
– infrastructure; power strips, floor lamps
– materials; including palettes, lumber, brackets + bracings, casters, screws + nails
storage; totes, shelves
– administrative; laser printer, paper, pens, post-its

First Tuesday Socials resumed as in-person events in April at Ratchet Brewery, with large attendence of those eager to see humans in the relative safety of outdoor tables. The Solar Trailer was brought out as exhibit, and we discussed ways to divide power to isolate power tools from more sensitive computers and 3d printers.

For First Tuesday Social for May, we returned to Ratchet and it’s outdoor seating, had another great meet with many returning faces, and a couple of ‘new-to-Salem’ people that were glad to have found us.

Board discussions included resumption of physical space search, starting a database to track storage / valuation of large assets, exploring joining Saturday Market (too late for this year), exploring interest in Spark hosting a Repair Fair.

• Investigated / decided on new bank (MaPS Credit Union) re fees, services, and accessibility, starting in March.
• Standing agenda item to discuss in-person meetups and/or resuming hunt for physical facilities: First step is resuming physical Social meetups. Between Omicron and cold weather, stuck with virtual First Tuesday Social meetings for Jan/Feb/March. Considering physical meetup at April Social, and will put link to survey in meetup.com event entry for April Social re preferences for meetup location (Ratchet? Vagabond? Other?)
• Mike N. wants help testing batteries / matching in pairs for phone charging stations he is making for FREE FRIDGE organization. No objection to bringing up at Socials or on Slack, no official action needed.
• Solar Trailer – paid Mike N $300 for like-new power system parts he provided (3000w inverter, 12v solar charge controller, breakers). Possibly test deploy Trailer at live social in April if can park near semi-outdoor/tented area (eg, Vagabond with rollup door open).
• – Desired equipment:
• – EZ-UP style tent for rain cover (with/without walls).
• – Mount permanent pull-out awnings to side of trailer.
• – Folding table(s).
• – Power strips and extension cords.
• – List locations with proximity to restrooms.
• Redwood Crossing housing – as of Feb meeting – official acceptance of 2 computers for common room (via Lindsay Dent), DB will arrange pickup or dropoff in March. Their IT will add operating system. Also 2 computers to KMUZ community volunteer radio. Both will give pictures for our blog when they’re in service.
• As of Dec, sold 4 excess PCs on consignment through NORVAC (raised ~$40 each), and 2 monitors (raised ~$10 each).
• Other excess donated equipment to sell soon: old table saw w/o guard, and radial saw. Keepers: label makers, miter saw, and keep a couple of functional PCs in reserve for future Spark use.
• Change of Board meeting time starting in March, so it won’t overlap with Microportal meetings.