About us
The Clear Creek Makerspace is one of Colorado’s largest makerspaces and among Metro Denver’s go-to destinations for hands-on DIY and creative expression. Located in the heart of Wheat Ridge, just 15 minutes from downtown Denver, we offer 7,500 square feet of space designed to help you make (almost) anything you can imagine!
What’s a makerspace? Just think of us as a gym for your creative muscles. We provide affordable access to high-tech tools that you might not have at home. Got a hankering to laser-etch your face onto toast? We’ve got you covered. Want to 3D print a realistic replica of your cat? Meow you’re talking. Itching to weld together a life-size metal T-Rex for your front yard? We’ll help you ignite that Jurassic spark.
So whether you’re exploring a new hobby, developing a prototype, scaling up a small business, or just want to attend a class to learn something new, there's a spot for you here. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create with us!
Upcoming events
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Clear Creek Makerspace Safety Orientation
Clear Creek Makerspace, 9110 W 44th Ave, Wheat Ridge, CO, USReady to use equipment on your own at CCM? In SAF101, we'll cover the key safety rules that unlock your 24/7 access to the makerspace!
👉 Sign up for Clear Creek Makerspace Safety Orientation
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It's important to us that you enter and leave the makerspace with the same number of fingers and toes that you entered with. That's why every CCM member, no matter their prior experience, needs to attend SAF101: Basic Safety in the Clear Creek Makerspace before using any equipment on their own.
This mandatory course lays the foundation for a safe and successful experience, guiding you through our comprehensive safety protocols, policies, and the exciting array of equipment available to unleash your potential.
Over the 60-minute workshop, you'll learn key facts like:- not everything's a hammer
- where it's acceptable to crunch on those crumbly granola bars, and
- how to avoid violating the Geneva Convention
After SAF101, you'll receive an automated email inviting you to join the CreateEd program, our one-stop-shop for tracking your training progress and reserving equipment. No join code needed -- just follow the instructions in the follow-up email after completing SAF101.
You'll use the CreateEd program to track your progress, take quizzes to add courses and equipment access to your portfolio, and reserve approved machines 24/7, 365 days a year.Looking for a Safety Orientation on Monday or Tuesday? Sign up for a class with Tyler!━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
You'll need to attend SAF101 before you can use any equipment at CCM. By the end of the course, you should have a firm handle on:
Makerspaces 101- What makerspaces, makers, and maker culture are
- The mission of Clear Creek Makerspace, and some of our most important policies
- How the CreateEd program works
What you can (and can't) do in a makerspace, including:
- General workshop rules & policies
- Food, drink, and material policies
- Makerspace equipment policies
Makerspace-specific safety rules and emergency procedures, including:
- Marked zones within CCM,
- PPE requirements in those zones, and
- How to interpret safety cards and find important info
- Additional safety rules & regulations
- Emergency procedures
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We're excited that you're interested in this workshop and we're glad you found us! That said, this page is NOT the official registration for the class.
To officially save your spot, please make sure you finish signing up through the link below. If you don't, we won't be able to hold a spot for you, even if you've RSVP'd here.
If you're planning to join us, take a moment to complete registration so we know to expect you. We're excited to see what you make at Clear Creek Makerspace!
1 attendee
Intro to Wood Lathes: Turn a Pen
Clear Creek Makerspace, 9110 W 44th Ave, Wheat Ridge, CO, USLearn the techniques needed to turn and assemble a pen on the lathe. All materials provided!
👉 Sign up for Intro to Wood Lathes: Turn a Pen
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Learn how to create a beautiful, handcrafted pen from start to finish using a wood lathe. In this hands-on class, you’ll turn a pen blank, shape it with turning tools, sand and finish the surface, and assemble a fully functional pen you can take home.
You’ll learn essential pen turning techniques including safe lathe operation, tool control, shaping, sanding, finishing, and final assembly. We’ll use core tools such as the wood lathe, pen mandrel, bushings, carbide or traditional turning tools, sanding materials, and a pen press.
No prior experience is necessary—this class is perfect for beginners and anyone curious about woodturning.
A handmade pen makes a meaningful and personal gift—especially with Father’s Day around the corner.
Please wear comfortable well-fitted clothing, close-toed shoes, put your hair up, and be prepared to get a little dirty!━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
1. Welcome & Safety Overview (10–15 minutes)
- Introductions
- Overview of the process and finished example
- Lathe safety fundamentals:
- Proper stance and body positioning
- Tool rest adjustment
- Safe speeds for pen turning
- Eye protection and dust considerations
- Basic parts of the lathe
2. Materials & Tools Overview (10–15 minutes)
- Pen kit components (tube, tip, transmission, clip, cap)
- Pen blank and brass tube
- Mandrel, bushings, and how they work
- Turning tools:
- Carbide rougher and finisher (or roughing gouge/spindle gouge if using traditional)
- Sandpaper grits and finishing materials
- Pen press for assembly
3. Mounting the Blank on the Lathe (10–15 minutes)
- Demonstrate mandrel setup
- Installing bushings and blank
- Tightening properly without over-tightening
- Adjusting tool rest correctly
- Selecting proper speed
4. Turning the Pen Blank (45–60 minutes)
- Demonstrate basic cutting technique
- Proper tool control and body movement
- Turning from square to round
- Shaping to bushing diameter
- Creating smooth, even profiles
Students turn their own pen with guidance.
5. Sanding & Finishing (20–30 minutes)- Proper sanding technique on the lathe
- Progressive grits (example: 150 → 220 → 320 → 400 → 600)
- Optional micro-mesh demonstration
- Applying finish (friction polish, CA finish, or oil/wax)
- Achieving a smooth, durable surface
6. Pen Assembly (15–20 minutes)
- Overview of pen press
- Proper order of assembly
- Pressing components safely
- Ensuring proper alignment and function
Students assemble and complete their pen.
7. Wrap-Up & Questions (5–10 minutes)- Troubleshooting tips
- Basic tool recommendations for beginners
- Care and maintenance of their pen
- Questions and discussion
━━━━━━━━━━━PLEASE NOTE!━━━━━━━━━━━━━
We're excited that you're interested in this workshop and we're glad you found us! That said, this page is NOT the official registration for the class.
To officially save your spot, please make sure you finish signing up through the link below. If you don't, we won't be able to hold a spot for you, even if you've RSVP'd here.
If you're planning to join us, take a moment to complete registration so we know to expect you. We're excited to see what you make at Clear Creek Makerspace!
2 attendees
Finish it Friday! Community Meetup
Clear Creek Makerspace, 9110 W 44th Ave, Wheat Ridge, CO, USJoin other members of CCM and bring a (mostly) finished project and socialize while we work on them together!
👉 Sign up for Finish it Friday! Community Meetup
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━━━━━━━━━━━PLEASE NOTE!━━━━━━━━━━━━━
We're excited that you're interested in this workshop and we're glad you found us! That said, this page is NOT the official registration for the class.
To officially save your spot, please make sure you finish signing up through the link below. If you don't, we won't be able to hold a spot for you, even if you've RSVP'd here.
If you're planning to join us, take a moment to complete registration so we know to expect you. We're excited to see what you make at Clear Creek Makerspace!
2 attendees
Introduction to Woodshop
Clear Creek Makerspace, 9110 W 44th Ave, Wheat Ridge, CO, USLearn how to safely use essential wood shop equipment!
👉 Sign up for Introduction to Woodshop
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This 3-hour workshop teaches how to use the large stationary woodworking machines in Clear Creek Makerspace. $30 per participant ($25 for CCM members using their discount code).
Partcipants will be introduced to each machine, provided operational overview, safety considerations, and have hands-on experience.
At the end of this course you will receive an email to the CCM Woodshop Quiz. Passing this short quiz is part of the requirement for members to gain personal woodshop access.
No prior experience needed for this course, all supplies and materials are provided.
Please wear comfortable well-fitted clothing, close-toed shoes, put your hair up, and be prepared to get a little dirty!━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
This is a combined course that covers the topics in Benchtop Basics and Processing Raw Lumber. You will learn the fundamentals of how to mill raw lumber and safely use the stationary woodworking equipment through hands-on experience.
Whether you're a beginner or looking to refine your skills, this workshop covers essential techniques and tools for successful woodworking projects!
As part of the course, you'll learn:- Miter saw for rough cross cuts
- Jointing a face and edge
- Planing for square and thickness
- Ripping and cross cuts on a table saw
- Band saw for rough shaping
- How to safely use a router table for edge detailing
- How to safely use a drill press
━━━━━━━━━━━PLEASE NOTE!━━━━━━━━━━━━━
We're excited that you're interested in this workshop and we're glad you found us! That said, this page is NOT the official registration for the class.
To officially save your spot, please make sure you finish signing up through the link below. If you don't, we won't be able to hold a spot for you, even if you've RSVP'd here.
If you're planning to join us, take a moment to complete registration so we know to expect you. We're excited to see what you make at Clear Creek Makerspace!
1 attendee
Past events
223
