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Comment by iancmceachern | Hacker News Reader

It's like most things, real estate.

Most hackerspaces I've been a part of couldn't or barely could afford their rent. Memberships were already too expensive, and they were constantly just getting squeezed between membership revenue and hard costs. Ultimately it doesn't add up.

I think a lot of what used to happen at makerspaces has transitioned to libraries. Lots of libraries have 3d printers, et. Now, are free, and don't have the problem with affording space.

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From my knowledge of and participation in hacker spaces - I would say this is it. My understanding is hackerspaces like the L0pht were not paying exorbitant real estate prices, and had a core of founders making decent enough money to pay for the place. On the other hand, some hacker spaces start out very ambitiously with a large space in the center of an expensive city, without as much of dedicated, close, core team to sustain it, and those did less well. Also - when you have a small core team and expenses are too high, it causes friction and stress in the core team, and people want to participate less.

other examples of a successful maker spaces are Springfield Telescope Makers in VT and Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston. Both specialize in telescope making and observing. Both clubs have a pool of people will to teach, a core of people maintaining and developing observatories and the clubhouse, and best of all, cheap real estate. Now if we could just get that Harry Potter light putter-outer when it is clear.

Those are both very cool, but I would argue they aren't maker spaces. They seem like telescope making clubs.

yes they are but they characterize one of the aspects of a successful maker space. Focus on a particular part of making. These clubs also have all the same tools plus some specialized ones that any maker space would have.

My local library offers 3d printers, a mid-high end laser cutter, soldering stations, sewing machines and lots of tools.

It lagged behind the library of the next town over, but is now comparable.

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