Intersections; hybrid workflows between traditional woodworking and digital tools.

Join MKR/MGR for a field trip to the woodworking studios of George Beland Furniture in Eliot, ME and then on to the wood turning studio of Michael Wise at the Button Factory in Portsmouth, NH on Saturday, August 17th. Continuing the Lost and Found discussion that was started at our Northeastern MKR/MGR meetup, this field trip will further the inquiry into potential and latent intersections that exist between traditional and digital methods of making.

George Beland is a furniture designer and maker who also collects and restores vintage and used woodworking tools. George’s shop also includes a rebuilt 5’ x 10’ CNC router that he has incorporated into his furniture making and wood manufacturing projects. George’s latest machine tool project is the replacement of the existing motion controller on a second used 5’ x 10’ CNC router with the Dynomotion Kflop CNC controller. The replacement of the motion controller is a DIY approach to the rehabilitation of used CNC equipment which frees the DIY owner of CNC machine tools from seeking expensive technical support for proprietary motion controller hardware and software.

Michael Wise is a North Bennet Street School alumni and resident woodworker at The Woodworks, a wood working co-op located in the Button Factory. Michael collects and restores vintage and used woodworking lathes. He also uses Rhino 3D to draw and model the turning patterns that he uses on his large format hydraulic lathe.

Danny Clarke, MKR/MGR member and field trip host:

In 2011, Danny Clarke brought his rebuilt 5’ x 10’ CNC router into the Button Factory. Between 2011 and 2014, he worked on numerous projects with many of the resident woodworkers at the Button Factory, strategically complimenting traditional woodworking projects with 3D modeling and CNC routing services.

George Beland Furniture
186 Pleasant St., Eliot, ME 03903
https://goo.gl/maps/uVoEGZTkCz1QhLhJA

Michael Wise
The Woodworks in the Button Factory
855 Islington St. Portsmouth, NH 03801
https://goo.gl/maps/zXRsHXyEdkaa2FY59