Brian Powers
encore Up Front
memberships run $35 per month, while day passes are available for $20. Near the 3-D printers, some beautifully turned dowels produced by Batts sit on a table, effects of his recent foray into Computer Numerical Control machinery, which he’s teaching himself to use. CNC machinery can cut materials such as wood, plastics and even steel, doing what used to be painstakingly done by hand with such tools as routers. It took Batts 15 minutes to make his dowels on the CNC machines. “It would take you all day to do that by hand,” says Wilkins. Batts purchased two CNC machines for himself after he suffered a shoulder injury. While most of the equipment in the makerspace belongs to individual members, w w w.encorekalamazoo.com | 13