Maker Resources

Updated November 2022

LOCAL MAKERSPACES

  • Somerville Public Library - West Branch
    • The West Branch offers a number of devices for patrons to use including:
      • 6 basic Singer sewing machines
      • 2 computerized Brother sewing machines
      • 1 Brother serger
      • 1 Cricut 3
      • 1 tabletop loom
    • For more information, contact West at (617) 623-5000 ext. 2975.
  • Fabville
    • Fabville is a fabrication space within the Healey Elementary School in Somerville aiming to complement the collection of professional, semi-professional, and artist-focused spaces already available in and around Somerville.
  • Artisans’ Asylum 
    • Non-profit community fabrication center that empowers individuals to give form to their ideas through membership, education, and workspace
  • Parts and Crafts
    • Parts and Crafts is a member-supported, 501(c)(3) family makerspace and community workshop based in Somerville
  • Hatch Makerspace at Watertown Free Public Library

MAKER MOVEMENT RESOURCES

Books Available through the Somerville Public Library:

  • The Best of Make by the editors of Make
    This book includes 350 pages of projects, diagrams, step-by-steps, and resources for making your favorite projects.
  • Getting Started with Arduino by Massimo Banzi
    This valuable little book offers a thorough introduction to the open-source electronics prototyping platform that's taking the design and hobbyist world by storm. Getting Started with Arduino gives you lots of ideas for Arduino projects and helps you get going on them right away.
  • Hacking Electronics: An Illustrated DIY Guide for Makers and Hobbyists by Simon Monk
    This intuitive guide shows how to wire, disassemble, tweak, and re-purpose everyday devices quickly and easily. Packed with full-color illustrations, photos, and diagrams, Hacking Electronics teaches by doing--each topic features fun, easy-to-follow projects.
  • How to Build Your Own Prize-Winning Robot by Edwin Sobey
    Step by step, Ed Sobey explains simple properties of robotics and helps young readers construct a completed working robot.
  • Make: Easy 1+2+3 projects by the editors of Make
    69 simple, kid-friendly, fully-illustrated hands-on projects from the pages of Make: magazine.
  • Make: 3D Printing by Anna Kaziunas France
    With articles about techniques, freely available CAD packages, and comparisons of printers that are on the market, this book makes it easy to understand this complex and constantly-shifting topic.
  • Make: Lego and Arduino Projects by John Baichtal
    With this easy-to-follow guide, you'll learn how to build devices with Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0, the Arduino prototyping platform, and some add-on components to bridge the two.
  • Make Arduino Bots and Gadgets: Learning by Discovery by Kimmo Karvinen and Tero Karvinen
    Build your own robots, turn your ideas into prototypes, control devices with a computer, or make your own cell phone applications with this book and the Arduino open source electronic prototyping platform.
  • Maker Dad: Lunch Box Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects by Mark Frauenfelder
    Maker Dad is the first DIY book to use cutting-edge (and affordable) technology in appealing projects for fathers and daughters to do together. These crafts and gadgets are both rewarding to make and delightful to play with. What's more,Maker Dad teaches girls lifelong skills--like computer programming, musicality, and how to use basic hand tools--as well as how to be creative problem solvers.
  • Maker Lab : 28 Super Cool Projects : Build, Invent, Create, Discover by Jack Challoner
    Supporting STEAM education initiatives and the Maker Movement, the National Parenting Publication Award-winner Maker Lab includes 28 kid-safe projects and crafts that will get young inventors' wheels turning and make science pure fun. Each step-by-step activity is appropriate for kids ages 8-12, and ranked easy, medium, or hard, with an estimated time frame for completion.
  • Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects by Tom Igoe
    Whether you need to connect some sensors to the Internet or create a device that can interact wirelessly with other creations, this book shows you what you need.
  • Practical Electronics: Components and Techniques by John M Hughes
    Filling the gap between a beginner's primer and a formal textbook, Practical Electronics: Components and Techniques explores aspects of electronic components and techniques that you would typically learn on the job and from years of experience.
  • Raspberry Pi User Guide by Eben Upton and Gareth Halfacree
    This updated third edition covers the model B+ Raspberry Pi and its software, additional USB ports, and changes to the GPIO, including new information on Arduino and Minecraft on the Pi. You'll find clear, step-by-step instruction for everything from software installation and configuration to customizing your Raspberry Pi with capability-expanding add-ons.
  • Star Wars Maker Lab by Liz Lee Heinecke and Cole Horton
    With a blockbuster 128 pages packed with 20 fabulous projects, Star Wars Maker Lab is out of this world! Using the clear step-by-step instructions, it guides home scientists and makers through each exciting experiment - from making Jabba's gooey slime or a hovering land speeder, to an Ewok catapult and a glowing Gungan Globe of Peace. Each experiment has fact-filled panels to explain real-world science as well as the Star Wars science fiction from the movies.

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