Entry No. 19 — the Buffalo file — filed under: makerspace
The Foundry
The Foundry is a nonprofit that filled an old factory complex on Northampton Street with a woodshop, metalshop, textile lab, and tech lab, wrapped around a small-business incubator and co-working space that hatches neighborhood companies. During donation-based Open Maker Hours — Mondays 6–9pm and Saturdays 9am–1pm on the published 2026 schedule — anyone can come use the tools for their own project, with volunteer supervisors circulating to keep fingers attached and builds moving. The pay-what-you-can model is deliberate policy, not an oversight: the organization's position is that cost shouldn't decide who gets to use a table saw. The rest of the calendar fills out with adult classes, youth programs, and an annual winter maker market.
→ Three more hands-on workshops & classes in Buffalo — never the same twice
The story
The Foundry opened in 2012 in an old industrial building on Northampton Street, on Buffalo's east side off the Jefferson Avenue corridor. Executive director Megan McNally has said that at the start the place had no heat, no walls, and no particular expectation of what it would turn into. It became a 501(c)(3) called Net+Positive running a community makerspace, and in 2019 added 4,500 square feet upstairs — a $250,000 build helped along by a $100,000 First Niagara Foundation gift and paid in labor by 90-plus volunteers logging some 1,400 service hours.
What that bought is four working shops. The woodshop has a 3HP SawStop with a 52-inch T-Glide fence, a 5HP Powermatic table saw, a Berlin Machine Works 12-inch jointer on an eight-foot bed, an 18-inch Jet bandsaw, a drum sander, and over a hundred router bits. The metalshop runs MIG and TIG welders, a plasma cutter, a brake, a bead roller, and downdraft welding stations. The textile lab keeps eight Janome machines plus a Singer that will chew through upholstery weight, two Cricut Makers, and looms. The tech lab has Ender and Ultimaker printers, a GlowForge, a CO2 engraver the staff call the Red Monster, soldering stations and Arduinos.
The economics are the point. Access is pay-what-you-can rather than a monthly fee, on the stated reasoning that cost shouldn't decide who gets a table saw. Around thirty maker businesses a year come through the incubator as Foundry Fellows with private studios; coworking is $50 a month, capped at ten people. Youth hired through FOUNDRYmade fabricate metal garden stakes for sale — $25 for sunflowers and bees, $35 to $65 for the three- and six-foot abstract pieces designed by manager Drew Brotz — and the same shops have turned out community benches, bike racks, and work for the Central Terminal.
What it's like
Saturday at 11am is the walk-in tour, and it's the intended front door; they pause it for holiday weekends and bad weather. Open Maker Hours are Monday 6–9pm and Saturday 9am–1pm, but you don't just turn up with lumber — every shop requires its own safety orientation class first, then you email [email protected] to book at least eight hours ahead, and each shop caps a session at four people. Wood and metal are 18-and-over, full stop. Once you're in, it's quiet-industrial: a volunteer supervisor for your shop circulates, answers questions, and stops you before you do something expensive. Bring your own material, drop a donation, sweep up after yourself.
The move: Show up Monday at 6pm with one shared project — a warped cutting board, torn jeans for the sewing machines, a 3D print you've been putting off — drop a donation, and let the volunteer supervisors point you at the right equipment. Leave with sawdust on you and an object that exists because of tonight.
📍 Before you go Open Maker Hours run Mondays 6–9pm and Saturdays 9am–1pm, pay-what-you-can. Powered equipment requires completing the relevant safety orientation class first, so email [email protected] before planning anything ambitious; hand tools and simpler projects are same-day friendly. Free parking on site.
- 📍 Buffalo
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 298 Northampton St, Buffalo, NY 14208
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Assembly House 150 — A mile and a half southwest in Allentown, Dennis Maher's mutating church interior is what a decade of salvaged lumber and trainee carpentry looks like when nobody stops — the Foundry hands you the tools, Assembly House shows the endgame.
- Buffalo Maritime Center — The same volunteer-labor species of place, scaled up: instead of a cutting board, a 38-foot replica sloop-of-war on the floor and a 73-foot Erie Canal packet boat already out the door.
- Western New York Book Arts Center — Downtown, and open Saturdays like the Foundry's tour — swap the table saw for antique letterpresses and type cabinets and you get the same deal, which is that you're allowed to touch the machines.
More weird in Buffalo
Good to know
How do I get in the first time?
Take the free walk-in tour, Saturdays at 11am (skipped on holiday weekends and in severe weather). Then enroll in the safety orientation for the specific shop you want — wood, metal, textile, or tech — which everyone takes regardless of experience. After that, email [email protected] or call 716-885-1381 to book Open Maker Hours at least eight hours in advance.
What does it actually cost?
Open Maker Hours are pay-what-you-can: you make a one-time or annual donation, or become a monthly supporter. There is no membership fee for shop access. Separate tiers exist if you want more — coworking is $50 a month for up to ten active members, with a key fob, a mail slot, and access M–Th 10am–6pm, and incubator Fellows pay a small monthly fee for a private studio and 24/7 building access.
Can I bring a kid?
Not into the woodshop or metalshop — those are 18-and-over during open hours, no exceptions for supervised minors. Younger makers can use the tech lab and textile lab with a parent or guardian present. Adults working independently must be 18 in every shop.
Do I need to bring materials?
Yes, for most projects. The tech lab keeps a stock of donated and reclaimed components, but anything specialty is on you, and wood and metal stock are your problem. Bring the warped cutting board, the torn jeans, the STL file — the tools are what's provided.
Is there parking, and is there a day the public can just show up?
There's parking on site. The big open-to-everyone day is the Annual Winter Maker Market in December — free admission, and in 2024 it ran 10am to 4pm with more than 35 makers selling jewelry, pottery, textiles, and home goods, including upcycled clothing made by youth in the entrepreneurship program.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · buffalorising.com
last checked: 2026-08-25