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The Elko Engineering Garage is one of the coolest makerspaces on North Campus — located in the Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC), with a variety of design and fabrication equipment for personal and academic projects. Ernie and Cathy Elko's generous support made it possible, and it's available for use by all active students and staff.
I’m continually impressed by the services on campus that I can access. Campus makerspaces have enriched my academic career and brought abstract ideas to life through research creation, so I can’t recommend the Garage enough!
At first I was a bit anxious to enter the space — all of that technical expertise in one place felt rather imposing. And I’m not an engineering student, just a curious interdisciplinary learner — but I found that the instructions and guidance in the training sessions were more than enough to build my confidence.
Inside the garage
You can find all kinds of machinery and supplies to help you bring a prototype to life. The Garage has multiple sewing machines, CNC machines, soldering irons and more. To see the full list of available equipment, check out their website.
I really appreciate the variety of equipment at the Garage, as it gives all students and staff the ability to practice hands-on learning in a skilled interdisciplinary environment. It’s interesting and inspiring to ask folks what they’re working on and how they’ve faced any challenges in their design process.
I particularly like the button makers at the entrance — it’s a low-stakes way to see the space without committing to training, and you can always find folks working on interesting projects at the shared tables.
Using equipment
To use equipment at the Garage, you have to do specific training — once you’ve done the general orientation, you can sign up for the specific training session you need. After you’ve completed training, you can use the equipment independently. Depending on what it is, you may have to book times online — all of those details are covered in the general orientation.
I found the general orientation to be accessible for beginners and informative — you can complete it online in an afternoon. I did soldering training in person in the garage, and it had good pacing, depth and breadth of knowledge, and the instructor was happy to answer any questions or demonstrate a technique multiple times. By the end of it, I felt ready to solder on my own and have been able to complete a few small projects!
You can book time slots for specific equipment on the Garage website , or try your luck and stop by to check out available equipment you are eligible to operate — I recommend the former, as the Garage can get very popular as the semester ramps up.
An accessible space
Personally, it means a lot that this space is accessible to all active students and staff. I’m not an engineering student, but I design and make a lot of personal projects, so it’s incredible to have access to high-end equipment. This space enriches my university experience by providing opportunities to learn outside of my specialized discipline and collaborate with students from other faculties in the space.
A special location
Another aspect of the Garage that is personally special is the location. When I was a child, I spent many Saturday afternoons in the classrooms that were previously in the space the Garage currently occupies, doing engineering programming with DiscoverE. I have many fond memories of exploratory learning in a space now filled with equipment that can bring almost any idea into reality. The space has completely changed, but the sentiment remains — a place for engineering-inclined individuals to build technical skills in a fun, engaging environment among peers from different backgrounds.
From soldering to sewing and more, the Garage is the place to go if you have an idea you want to bring into reality.
Remember to complete the appropriate training before using any equipment, and book time slots ahead of time to avoid waiting. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to the Garage directly, as they are more than happy to help!