Joe Crawley, an engineer at Epic Planks, shows off a pair of finished skis at the workshop in Wyoming on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. The company grew out of a Grand Rapids makerspace.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Joe Crawley had been working in manufacturing for a little more than 10 years when a love for downhill skiing drove him and a small team to engineer and produce their own skis in West Michigan.

But an emerging business such as Epic Planks Ski Company didn't have the resources to quickly grow and evolve with the industry — until Crawley, 31, discovered makerspaces.

Makerspaces are large community workshops with an array of industrial machinery that allow individuals and small groups to use equipment not readily available outside of major manufacturing facilities. Entrepreneurs pay fees to use the equipment and workshop space to develop new products. Shared space also promotes creativity and collaboration, makerspaces members say.

Tools to succeed

Makerspaces are new to Grand Rapids.

The Geek Group, a 42,000-square-foot workshop at 902 Leonard St. NW, opened in 2010. The makerspace charges $20 for access to some machines, but services vary and the workshops are open for entrepreneurs to explore for free before joining.

GR Makers opened in 2012 in the old boiler room of the former Steelcase manufacturing facility at 401 Hall St. SW. Members pay $49 for its starting package: 10 nights of "tinkering."

The main attraction of both workshops is the shop floor: From hand saws to welders and soldering stations to 3-D printers, the array of tools available to members is a crucial resource for product development.

GR Makers, which occupies about 3,200 square feet, shares space with Mutually Human, a local web and software development company. Mutually Human provided GR Makers with the funds to lease space and secure equipment from area manufacturers. Much of its manufacturing equipment also was donated by area businesses.

Joe Crawley, an engineer at Epic Planks, grinds the side of a ski in their workshop in Wyoming, Mich. on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. The company grew out of a Grand Rapids makerspace.

"We're seeing a huge range of different kinds of people from different generations … all coming together in a common space and building a community around one thing: We wanna make cool stuff," said Samuel Bowles, vice president of GR Makers and Mutually Human.

Some people come to use the tools and lean on the expertise of other makerspace members to build a tangible product from an abstract idea and stop, Bowles said. Others go beyond the manufacturing process and build a business around their products.

Crawley, of Epic Planks Ski Company, used cutting and pressing equipment at The Geek Group beginning in January 2013 to speed up the process of creating ski models from wood and other raw materials.

After a brief tutorial and safety lessons on the automated CNC cutting equipment, Crawley was ready to go.

“I think, after three days, I knew what was going on with the tools and it’s been gangbusters since then,” he said. “We’ve produced 100 pairs of skis this year, and every one of them has at least three different parts being finished at The Geek Group.”

Without a makerspace, Crawley said he had two options: Take out a $20,000 bank loan to pay for a single piece of high-tech cutting equipment or stay small and static as a business.

“We didn’t have access to drop that kind of money, and we really didn’t have any budget at the time,” he said.

The makerspace was exactly what Epic Planks Ski Company company needed to get its footing, and Crawley said his production is just now beginning to outgrow the communal site.

Making connections, growing

Sets of skis waiting to be finished sit out at Epic Planks workshop in Wyoming, Mich. on Tuesday, March 4, 2014. The company grew out of a Grand Rapids makerspace.

From 8 p.m. to midnight every Wednesday, GR Makers hosts a social to connect people with ideas with other like-minded entrepreneurs and to show off its space.

More than 50 people attend the weekly meet-ups and GR Makers boasts a membership base of more than 400. They are in the midst of an expansion, said Casey DuBois, cofounder of GR Makers and director of business development at Mutually Human.

Its leaders are in the process of moving into a new, 9,000-square-foot space at the current site while keeping access to the boiler room floor.

Janet Wyllie, vice president of business growth at the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, thinks the makerspace movement in West Michigan only is just beginning.

Soon, a national makerspace owned by TechShop Inc. is slated to enter the market, according to Crain's Detroit Business.

“I, at first, was not aware of all the stuff they can do there,” Wyllie said. “Some of the local companies send people in to work on those machines to create new efficiencies, even.

“As we continue to grow this entrepreneurial community, … I could see more makerspaces kind of following the trend of expanding."

Andrew Krietz covers breaking and general police/fire news for MLive | The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at akrietz@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.