MakerSpace Leiden is an open workshop, where people from diverse backgrounds come together to share tools, advice, and knowledge to make things.

Since our opening in 2013, we have become one of the largest and best-equiped makerspaces in the Netherlands. We have achieved this through a culture of great freedom and responsibility for all participants.

Our group of over 100 people ranges from 18 years old to very experienced. There is freedom to work out your own ideas, but also unity to help each other and maintain our workshop together. We have steadily grown into a diverse group with one common factor: a creative spirit and the urge to realize ideas.

With us you will find students, ex-pats, retirees, scientists, artists, experienced and inexperienced hobbyists, and anyone who wants to work with their head as well as their hands.

Our workshop currently consists of a:

• woodworking shop with large machines for woodworking
• bicycle workshop where you can maintain your bicycle in detail
• metal workshop for machining metal
• CNC to mill or laser cut with your computer
• metalworking workshop for welding, forging, sanding, sandblasting, etc.
• electronics room with equipment for (de-)soldering where you can also find our 3D printers and have a cup of coffee/tea or a drink.

If you want to know exactly what you can find in our workshop click this link to read our wiki.

Together, we maintain the workshop and all our systems to keep it running. To do this, we ask our participants, in addition to doing their own projects, to spend some time on general chores such as our IT system, air handling, compressed air system, and our access and payment platform. Everything needs maintenance and we do that together.

The workshop offers a wide range of equipment and tools that make it possible to carry out your projects. But even more important than our tools is the collective knowledge of all participants. You can always find someone who can help you further in your project.

What is the MakerSpace not?

Entrepreneurial participants who want to prototype a commercial idea are welcome, but our workshop is not suitable for mass production. For that, you should seek a professional environment. Third-party commissions shall also not be carried out. The MakerSpace is a place where people work for fun. Working under time pressure is strongly discouraged to avoid accidents.