18 months ago, I moved from Paris, France to Seattle, WA. Since then I’ve been working on a few personal projects that have taken me around the Seattle area in search for maker resources and shops Here’s what I found so far!
Meetups
Hardware Happy Hour
Friendly bunch of folks mostly talking about electronics and 3d printing. Meet every month either in Seattle (Optimism Brewing) or in Redmond (Postdoc brewery).
Electronics and parts
Vetco Electronics
12718 Northup Way, Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98005
(425) 641-7275
Vetco is located in Bellevue, WA, and its a shop with 2 floors of electronics components from the 60s to the most recent ones. They carry Arduino and Arduino-related boards and all the individual components you can dream about. They also have scopes, soldering irons, and though the price is high, its the kind of shop you go to just to reward its very existence.
Ada’s Bookstore
Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe
425 15th Ave East, Seattle, WA 98112
(206) 322-1058
Ada’s technical books and cafe is awesome: its grown from a small bookstore into a full fledged coffee shop, bookstore, electronics shop, and coworking space.
They have delicious homebrew coffee and pastries, plenty of magazines and books on every imaginable nerdy topic, from programming books to science to science fiction and a quite a few electronics kits for an impromptu week-end project.
Makerspaces
Seattle Makers
3300 Wallingford Ave N, Seattle WA 98103.
(833)-2-MAKE-IT
Centrally located downtown, this is the maker space I go to and am a member of. The staff is extremely friendly, opening hours are great, and prices are very fair. They have a decent collection of 3D printers, two beautiful laser cutters and a Shapeoko 3 XL, as well as many other tools and power tools (anything from a miter saw, band sander, drills, to sewing machines and vinyl cutters). They have regular classes that are small size and informative and will get you certified quickly so that you can use the machines on your own. They really try to do things right and I thoroughly enjoy supporting them.
Black Lodge Research
This one technically is in Redmond, WA. Only been there once and it was a great experience talking to the regulars. When i was there I saw a small classroom, some really cool CNC machines and they are coaching a first robotics team. At some point (maybe still) it was a local Defcon chapter, and in fact one of the guys I met there worked infosec at Microsoft. It’s very near PostDoc Brewing which is where the HHH meetup happens, and how I discovered the place
Books
Ada’s Bookstore
Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe
Already discussed in the electronics parts section. As the name implies, it is primarily a bookstore :)
Elliott Bay Books
1521 10th Avenue, Seattle WA 98122
(206) 624-6600
Its a beautiful bookstore: large, but not too much, in an old building, and it just feels like it belongs here. Its big enough that youll find a good selection of books no matter what you’re looking for, including technical books.
Hardware
Pacific Supply
1417 12th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 322-1717
Pacific Supply is in the center of Capitol Hill. Theres nothing special to it, besides its location and cool old building. Useful if you lI’ve on the Hill and dont want to take a car just to buy a lightbulb or a piece of rope
Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight, Sears
All of these have many locations in the Seattle area and are easy to find
These are a few big names for any kind of tools or materials for the maker: they are hardware superstores, with everything that this implies: barely any service from a staff that tries to look busy, and everything from lousy to high-end tools. They have mostly the same prices though the low cost brands will change.
As far as tools are concerned, I stick with Sears. Sears carry Craftsman tools, and these are sturdy, professional quality tools, at a decent price. What I like is that these are guaranteed for life: you break a Craftsman tool, bring it back to Sears and get a new one, free.
Custom-Cut Glass
Sunset Glass
11660 N.E. 8th Bellevue, Washington 98005
(425) 454-5087
Home Depot and Lowe’s cut small pieces of glass but they have the advantage of also offering different kinds of plastic, acrylics and Lexan. However if you have a particular need for a large sheet of glass, I found Sunset Glass. It’s in Bellevue, in front of Eastside rentals. They have every kind of glass you might dream of, with different thicknesses, they are very nice, and the prices seemed fair. They can also recommend you to other places to have your glass customized if necessary (etching, etc). There’s also Perkins on Broadway in Capitol Hill, Seattle, but I haven’t been there.
Plastics, Acrylic, Lexan
Tap Plastics
12021 NE Northup Way, Bellevue, WA 98005
(425) 502-7225
I’ve only been to the Bellevue location but they also have shops in South Lake Union and Lynnwood apparently. I buy acrylic sheets for custom enclosures and laser-cut them at Seattle Makers. The best shop I’ve found is Tap Plastics, in Bellevue, WA.
Mechanical parts
Warden Fluid Dynamics
1515 NW Ballard Way, Seattle, WA 98107
(206) 633-0382
If you like 80/20, They have 2 distributors in the Seattle area and I have been in touch with this one. They have been really helpful and quick to reply.
If you’re looking for the same kind of aluminium profiles for smaller projects, check out the OpenBeam aisle at Metrix Create Space.
For anything mechanical I’ve also been told about a company called Grainger, never been there though.
Woodworking
Woodcraft
5963 Corson Ave. S., Suite #120
Seattle, WA 98108
(206) 767-6394
Larger store specialized in everything related to woodworking. Hand tools and powertools, lumber, books, etc. The staff is super knowledgeable, and some even are friendly (while others carry the gruff attitude of the old dude unhappy to not be in his workshop). They have a big classroom in the back equipped with premium power tools and teach really high-quality classes. The store is on the pricier side and seem to have a focus on traditional woodworking and quality, which is a slightly different vibe from Rockler.
Rockler
Rockler Woodworking and Hardware
832 NE Northgate Way
Seattle, WA 98125
Phone: (206) 634-3222
Medium-sized store specialized in woodworking, just like woodcraft. Also with tools and Lumber, albeit in smaller quantities because of the smaller surface they have I guess. They also offer classes but I have not tried one yet. Rockler seems to have a different approach than Woodcraft, with a focus more on “smart” woodworking with tons of jigs and gear that is practical more than traditional. They have cheaper prices too, which may relate to cheaper quality, which I’m not sure I’m capable of judging yet. They also have a Tukwila, WA location that I have not been to.
Closed but not forgotten
Metrix Create Space
623 Broadway E, Seattle, WA 98102
(206) 357-9406
Metrix Creative Space was cramped and awesome. Technically it’s still there, but I believe it’s appointments only these days. They had an vending machine full of parts, multiple 3D printers, CNC, laser cutter, a soldering room, tons of tools.. and even a protolaser LPKF machine and a pick and place machine, which can be really useful for fast prototyping of PCBs. They had workshops on every possible maker-related topics every week.. It used to be a great place to hang out with a killer playlist, and the people there were very friendly.
Makerhaus
Makerhaus used to be an upscale makerspace in Fremont, and I’d been there only once. It had tons of equipment but the membership prices seemed crazy expensive for a low-level individual maker like me… unfortunately it closed only a few months after being open.
Radioshack
Radioshack had many stores all over town. They really tried to turn it around and become relevant again in the maker scene: hidden behind cellphone accessories aisles, you’d find basic tools, components and Arduinos. I have really good memories of picking up a couple of kits there to keep me busy during evenings of travel, before I moved here permanently. Oh well.
Hardwick & Sons
4214 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 632-1203
Hardwicks was featured in Popular Mechanics for a good reason: its a good old hardware shop that looks like Grandpas attic, except, cleaner. Its in the middle of UnI’versity district and has rarities at a price. According to their owner, they got priced out and pushed out of U-District and have relocated to Post Falls, Idaho.
Frys
800 Garden Ave N, Renton, WA 98057
(425) 525-0200
Frys Electronics was like a big department store for anything powered with electricity: from washing machines, to computers, to TV sets, gaming consoles, laptops, PC parts, electronics parts and tools, arduinos in short, everything, at a very decent price. This being said, like any chain/department store, dont expect any kind of service. you’re on your own until you hit a pushy sales guy who barely knows what he’s talking about.
Fry’s used to be awesome. Couldn’t walk out without buying something.