Newport Makerspace Creudy Casnewydd

It has been a busy month at Newport Makerspace!
Mae hi wedi bod yn fis prysur yng Nghreudy Casnewydd!

Makers’ Night has been super busy! We are at capacity most weeks now which is a fantastic problem to have. We are doubling down efforts to launch our makerspace membership, which is currently in a pilot. We expect that the makerspace will be open for use between 9.30am and 4pm on Weekdays and Saturdays for members in the very near future now – how…

A while ago I saw a post on a local Facebook page saying

“Help wanted from any local knitting group. One of the ladies in our sight loss club with sight loss is in need of help to carry on with her knitting. She had a gauge with Braille capability that enabled her to identify the size of the needles but unfortunately it broke and she has not been able to find a source of getting a replacement. She’s tried RNIB & Sight Cymru to no avail. If by any…

We are part of the current Green Token Scheme for the local Asda supermarket in Pillgwenlly. If we are successful in securing enough votes then we will receive a £500 microgrant. 

We would like to use funds to cover materials for two resident makers – this would mean bringing in two new individuals and setting them loose on the makerspace facilities, with a budget, to explore creative ideas. 

It takes all of 30 seconds to vote and no sign up is…

Our first open day is this coming Saturday 20th November. The doors will be open from 11am to 3pm so please come along and see for yourself the result of all our hard work. We hope to make open days a regular occurrence to make as many people aware of the Newport Makerspace / Creudy Casnewydd facilities and to encourage them to learn new skills. 

You can…

This post documents my work on a Windsor Popular Model 3, a 5-string open back banjo with a calfskin head made at the Windsor factory in Birmingham some time in the 1920’s. I would hesitate to call this project a ‘restoration’ because I am not trying to keep original features. My focus is on repair and improving some things for my playing. The banjo is pictured to the right.

Th…

People have been busy setting up Newport Makerspace over the last couple of weeks. Now that tables and chairs are assembled, it is possible to spend some time with some of the more fun items! The latest additions to our setup are a set of Creality Ender 3 3D printers and a Cricut Maker plotting machine…

We have officially moved in to the Reuse Centre on Chepstow Road and a slow trickle of HEAVY stuff is arriving on pallets! Earlier in the week we were able to take some panoramic photos of the space which you can browse below – exciting!

Click and drag with your mouse to scroll around the rooms. Many more items arrived since the pictures were taken so it doesn’t nearly look as bare now:

We are currently unpacking, constructing and pondering to get the space ready for action, stay…

I have an old van which I love. It is old and simple, but also well worn! Last year I removed the dash pod to repair the electronics and found that the instrument cluster was mostly made of plastic. Plastic that is now 35 years old and has been baked in the sun many times! All the critical mounting points are crumbling to dust. At the time I managed to bodge it back together with insulation tape, but recently the round instruments just fell off as there was nothing left to support them. So, it…

I had no experience of building a website until I got involved with Newport Makerspace. My first task was to find out what tools were available to make a website – there are lots. As funds were tight, free options were of course the favourite and even then there are lots to choose from. I played around with several tools, WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace and Editor x – to name a few. All seemed to do a job, with some more flexible than others. Most use “themes” which give a basic website layout that…

In our makerspace, I can build things, and help to build things, that would otherwise be impossible for me. There are people who have skills and knowledge I do not have. Without the makerspace, I would probably never meet them. There are machines and tools I do not own, and am never likely to own. They are all there for me to share, in one place, close by.

I can learn from others, and share the knowledge and skills I do have. It’s a place to meet people who enjoy doing things I like doing,…