The Canton Hacker and Maker Place, a hackerspace where people can use high-tech equipment, recently opened to the public. The nonprofit offers two membership options and welcomes anyone, regardless of experience.

Tinkering is an experiment in trial and error. Members of the Canton Hacker and Maker Place, the city’s first hackerspace, know this well. The nonprofit recently opened to the public but, like many of the group’s projects, still is a work in progress.

WHAT IT IS

Whatever you want it to be.

A keyboard, duct tape, bookbag and Mountain Dew can rested on a multi-sided table as fewer than a dozen people gathered one evening on the east side of Meyers Lake Plaza. Guitars sat on a side work table, where a local band member changed a pickup. Another person asked for scissors. One grabbed a hot-glue gun.

A hacker or maker space generally is defined as a community space where people with an interest in computing, technology or other projects can share equipment and ideas. C.H.A.M.P. president Bill Locke said he describes it as a “really awesome garage.”

A stand-up arcade, skateboard guitar and nearly finished radio-controlled car already have been produced in the Canton hackerspace.

“Hacking always has a bad connotation with it, but it’s taking something and turning it into something else,” Locke said. “That’s what it is, and that’s what we do.”

WHAT IS NEEDED

A welder, electrical engineer, woodworker and lots of donations.

Everything has been paid for out-of-pocket, said Locke, who spends about $500 a month. He started an electronics club last year as the owner of Insta-TEK, a computer repair shop opposite the hackerspace.

“I wanted to have some friends come in, build some cool stuff,” he said. “That was the whole point.”

Able to expand in a former tattoo shop behind Insta-TEK and realizing the club already resembled a hackerspace, Locke decided to open it to the public. C.H.A.M.P. offers two monthly memberships: a $10 option that provides access to the space and a $20 option that provides a key to the building, storage space and an ability to vote on group decisions. A person must be at least 14 years old for the first tier and 18 years old for the second.

The area has limited tools: various saws, drills and soldering irons. A 3-D printer was purchased by auctioning off another arcade and recently broken after printing small-scale models and remote-controlled car parts.

In a side room for sewing and crafts, there is an iron and wardrobe filled with material. An empty clothes rack stands in the corner.

“There’s going to be a lot going on, just not yet,” said Sylar Locke, Bill’s 15-year-old son.

Eventually, he hopes a sewing machine will be donated and plans to work with leather and resin to craft more elaborate cosplay outfits, which are fashioned after anime or fictional characters.

A list of items sought by the hackerspace is online at hackcanton.com. The nonprofit is in the process of applying for a tax-exempt status, which would allow gifts to be deducted from federal income taxes.

WHAT IT COULD BE

A place to gather friends, learn new skills or start a business.

Brian Bartman, a Stow resident attending Kent State University for a doctorate in computer science, is using the space to build a remote-controlled car. He has printed and pieced together plastic parts from a 3-D printer, modifying designs as needed.

The past six months have been a learning experience, he said, and a lot of work. It’s also been more expensive than expected, costing him $200 as he occasionally used the wrong screws and bearings.

“I’m going to get one done, and then I’m going to do another one that’s all decorated,” he said.

Bartman will put the C.H.A.M.P. logo on the second car’s tire rims and enter it in a robotics competition the hackerspace plans to host later this year. The competition is one of many group projects Bill Locke would like to host at the hackerspace.

Another project, a juke box that plays music from local bands, was the idea of Chris Tuttle, of the Last Day’s Pay. He knew Locke, who drums for The Said So, from local shows. Both said few venues host local bands, making it difficult to reach an audience.

“There’s not an easier way for you to submit your music, which opens up a problem that we can solve,” Tuttle said.

Locke presented the juke box idea to ArtsInStark last week and will apply for a $750 grant this fall. The goal is to provide downtown businesses with a 7-inch monitor to download music, which local bands could upload to a website.

An informal collaboration also has developed with the Stark County Library, which is adding its own hackerspace in an upper-floor computer area, said Stacey Giammarco, director of marketing and development. The library intends to open its space in the next three to six months.

“It’s an opportunity to allow people to come together and collaborate,” she said.

C.H.A.M.P. plans to host various classes, and a movie or video game night could become a monthly event. Locke said it won’t be “just some computer nerds sitting around.”

As members milled about the space one evening, some announced plans to visit Harbor Freight, a common occurrence. They asked Locke if he needed anything.

“We need a crowbar,” he replied.

Reach Kelly at 330-580-8323 or kelly.byer@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @kbyerREP

What is a hackerspace?

Generally defined, it’s a community space where people with an interest in computing, technology or other making projects can share equipment and ideas.

Other hackerspaces in Ohio: The Makers Alliance in Cleveland, Hive13 in Cincinnati, SYN/HAK in Akron For more information, visit:

The open house from noon to 7 p.m. Nov. 8 at 1414 Whipple Ave. NW hackcanton.com hackerspaces.org