Jim Marshall jokes that the Fishers Parks’ Maker Playground is his adult day care.
“Drop me off at 10, pick me up at 8,” he said as he walked into the large, relatively clean woodworking space. “In the morning, I do the local news for half an hour, national news for an hour. Goof around and shuffle out to get my first cup of coffee, and then 10 (a.m.), I’m here.”
The 80-year-old Marshall said he likes to make gifts for others — lazy Susans, for example, and boxes for kids with their names engraved. But, he said, partly because of his age, he wants to do that work in a place with other people around, because he does sometimes make mistakes.
“When I do something wrong, I go, ‘Dag nabbit!,’” he said. “I got to the point where after five dag nabbits, I go home.”
Nick Snyder manages the Maker Playground, which is on the first floor of Hub & Spoke, 8100 E. 106th St. He said the 15,000-square-foot space offers woodworking, training, laser engraving and 3D printing for members like Marshall to work on individual projects. But it originally was envisioned purely for workforce development.
“Purdue Polytechnic was kind of geared to be the educational partner that was going to be in here,” Snyder said. “Once COVID-19 hit, Purdue Polytechnic basically pulled out because they were foreseeing all learning being remote for the time being. Once they hit that snag, the city stepped in. That’s when it kind of got pulled over into the Parks Department.”
The space does still maintain an educational component, though, through its partnership with Hamilton Southeastern Schools.
“We get all 1,600 5th-graders through both semesters throughout the year,” Snyder said. “We’ve been doing that since we opened. So, we do roughly 3,200 woodworking projects a year. They do a bunch of 3D printing and 3D modeling, they do some stop motion, they do some circuitry. Lots of hands-on experiential STEAM-based learning.”
The students have made toolboxes, birdhouses and paper towel holders, he said, although they weren’t that excited about the paper towel holders. The next batch of kids coming through will make their own iPad stands. Snyder said the simple projects are a way to get students familiarized with basic tools at an early age.
The Maker Playground also offers adult classes and workshops, he said, including the popular stained-glass class and its Household Heroes series.
“That is basically how to do DIY stuff around the house,” Snyder said. “Everything from drywall patch and repair to proper ways to hang pictures to how to fix the things that can go wrong with your toilet that you should be able to handle before you have to call a plumber.”
And, he said, they offer training on the equipment, including a monthly 3D printing class, and how to use the computerized router and laser cutters.
“We’ve got some things that are maybe a little bit beyond what the average person might have in their garage,” Snyder said “A lot of people are going to have like, a chop saw over there, they might have a router table. But for, particularly like the SawStop, which is the center of the shop, that’s a ludicrously safe machine.”
He said the large table saw has a safety feature that, if anything that shouldn’t be cut — like a finger — is detected, a sensor is tripped and the blade drops down, saving the finger from anything worse than a slight nick.
“We try to have state-of-the art stuff in here,” Snyder said. “The nice thing is that staff is doing the maintenance on it. If something breaks at home, your project is interrupted. Here, we’ve got people that know what they’re doing to fix it.”
The Maker Playground also offers a free construction program through a partnership with the Hub & Spoke Institute — a nonprofit that supports workforce development — and Ivy Tech. Participants learn a skill and earn a National Construction and Curriculum certificate.
“We’ve had everything from high-school-age homeschoolers to high-schoolers coming after school to adults that want to do a career change,” Snyder said. “Some people that are in kind of trades-adjacent fields like design have also taken this class to have a better understanding for, ‘OK. What’s going on behind the walls in that kitchen that I’m designing?’”
The Maker Playground also has an area for metalworking, but that space isn’t quite ready for members. It’s been used for workshops, Snyder said, and they’re working toward offering welding classes.
For more about the Maker Playground, visit fishersmpg.com.
How to sign up
The Fishers Parks’ Maker Playground has monthly memberships for residents ($50) and non-residents ($75), with a discounted rate for ages 16-22. Those who want to try it out without signing up for a membership can buy a five-visit punch pass.
Members have access to the workspaces, all the equipment and the Maker Playground tool library. Members also get a discounted rate for classes offered through the Maker Playground.
For more, visit fishersmpg.com.
