Tools and equipment on Columbia Gadget Works

Laser cutter

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The laser cutter is the most popular machine in the shop, and the one that brings the most first-time visitors through the door. It cuts and engraves by focusing an invisible infrared beam onto the material: through plywood and acrylic up to roughly a quarter inch in one pass, and engraving photos, text, and patterns into wood, leather, glass, stone, and anodized aluminum.

What people make: signs, boxes and enclosures, gears and mechanical parts, stencils, jewelry, engraved cutting boards and flasks, architectural models, cosplay armor, and one-off replacement parts for things that broke.

CNC router

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The CNC router turns a drawing on a computer into a carved part. A spinning cutter moves over the workpiece under computer control, cutting profiles, pockets, holes, and 3D reliefs with a precision and repeatability that’s hard to match by hand. It’s the tool for anything flat-ish that needs to be exact: enclosures, brackets, signage, inlay, jigs, furniture joinery, and parts for other machines.

Materials: hardwood, plywood, MDF, plastics like HDPE, acrylic, and Delrin, and, with care and the right cutter, aluminum and brass.

3D printers

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

3D printing is the easiest way to go from an idea to a physical object, and our two Bambu Lab printers make it nearly foolproof. Both have an AMS (automatic material system) that holds four spools, so you can print in multiple colors or switch materials without babysitting the machine. Typical prints take an hour or two; large ones run overnight.

What people make: replacement knobs and clips, phone stands, enclosures for electronics, prototypes of parts they’ll later machine or cast, miniatures, custom organizers, cosplay props, and patterns for the metal casting setup.

Metal shop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The metal shop is where the heavy iron lives. A Bridgeport vertical milling machine and a Clausing engine lathe let members make precise parts in steel, aluminum, and brass: shafts, bushings, brackets, fixtures, and repairs for machines that stopped being sold decades ago. Welders, a bandsaw, a chop saw, grinders, and a drill press round out the zone for fabrication work: frames, carts, brackets, and art.

What people make: custom motorcycle and car parts, tooling for the other machines in the shop, repairs for farm and shop equipment, steel furniture, and the occasional battlebot.

Metal casting

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Casting is the shop’s newest capability and one of its most satisfying. Print a pattern on the 3D printers, invest it in plaster, burn out the plastic in the kiln, and pour molten metal into the cavity that’s left. An hour later you’re holding a solid metal version of whatever you printed. Members have cast pendants, badges, replacement hardware, knobs, and small sculptures.

The process, roughly:

Pattern: design and print the part, with a sprue (the channel the metal flows through) attached.
Investment: mix plaster investment, pour it around the pattern in a flask, and let it set.
Burnout: heat the flask in the kiln to burn the plastic out and dry the mold.
Pour: melt the metal in the furnace and pour it into the hot mold.
Finish: quench, break out the plaster, cut off the sprue, and polish.

Training and classes

Because it involves molten metal, casting is only done with a trained member present. The good news: we teach it regularly as a free class. Our first metal casting class in February 2026 filled up fast, and we’ll run it again. See classes and the recap.

Electronics bench

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The electronics bench is the most beginner-friendly corner of the shop and the one visitors can use right away on a Thursday night. Temperature-controlled soldering stations, a hot-air rework tool, a scope, power supplies, and bins of common components cover everything from a first blinking LED to repairing a vintage amplifier or building a custom circuit board.

What people do here: learn to solder, fix broken gadgets (the original reason this place exists), build kits, program microcontrollers, design PCBs, and reverse-engineer things they were curious about.

Woodshop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The woodshop covers the basics well: a table saw for ripping and crosscutting sheet goods and boards, a miter saw for quick accurate cuts, a band saw for curves, a planer, a router table, sanders, a drill press, and a wall of clamps. Combined with the CNC router and laser cutter next door, members build furniture, shop fixtures, speaker cabinets, enclosures, signs, and the occasional canoe paddle.

Training

The table saw requires training before solo use; it’s the tool that causes the most injuries in any shop. Training covers blade guards and riving knife, push sticks, fence and miter gauge setup, and kickback avoidance. The miter saw, band saw, planer, and router table are covered in a general woodshop orientation. Hand tools, sanders, and the drill press are available to anyone after a quick walkthrough.