Draft:Knox Makers

Knox Makers is a membership-based community makerspace located in Knoxville, Tennessee. It places emphasis on peer learning, creativity, and self-actualization while serving as a welcoming social environment and third place for its members. Knox Makers teaches and promotes use of open source software and hardware.

Activities
Knox Makers routinely hosts classes, workshops, and social events for its membership as well as an open house every Tuesday evening. Part of this weekly event is "Show and Share," an opportunity for makers to present their recent projects, successful or otherwise.

In partnership with Spark, Knox Makers adapts toys for children with disabilities each holiday season via their Toy Tech program. Spark and Knox Makers also have an ongoing collaboration, assisting Spark's clients with bespoke adaptive technology and training.

Knox Makers organizes and hosts bi-annual Maker Markets. These open air markets exclusively feature hand-made arts and crafts sold by the makers themselves.

History
Knox Makers was formed in 2011, directly inspired by Germany's CCC Mainz space and Chicago's i3 space. The organization's original 1,000 sq ft facility was in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, within the Tech 2020 incubator. In 2016, Knox Makers moved to Knoxville, expanding the workshop to over 3,000 sq ft. In 2017, Knox Makers hosted a grand opening with a ribbon cutting by Mayor Madeline Rogero.

In 2016, motivated by a local group adopting a similar name, Knox Makers filed for a trademark. The service mark was granted in 2017.

Facilities
The Knox Makers workshop incorporates
 * laser cutting, with both carbon-dioxide laser and fiber laser tools available
 * 3D printing via fused filament fabrication and stereolithography
 * fiber art, including tooling for sewing, quilting, CNC embroidery, leather crafting, and dye-sublimation printing
 * electronics, including tooling for prototyping, testing, soldering, desoldering, and rework
 * arts and crafts, including facilities for large format printing, molding and casting, stained glass work, and vinyl cutting
 * woodworking, including a table saw, cut-off saw station, thickness planer, jointer, bandsaws, drill presses, lathes, router table, sanders (disc, belt, spindle), and a CNC router
 * metalworking, including tooling for gas metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, shielded metal arc welding, and plasma cutting, as well as grinders, benders, and a sandblasting cabinet
 * machining, including tooling for milling, heat treating, ultrasonic cleaning, jewelry making, locksmithing and locksport, lathes, a press brake, hydraulic press, shear, and hardness tester
 * blacksmithing, including propane and coal forges, a power hammer, and anvils