Our Expertise

In addition to welcoming makers of all stripes, the Foundry offers professional expertise in manufacturing, machining, engineering, inventing, and programming, gained from decades of professional experience.

Many of our staff members have been instructors and teachers in industrial settings, high schools and colleges. Technical training based on this expertise are critical requirements for a workforce needed to grow Vermont’s economy (citation). The Foundry hopes to increase outreach to younger Vermonters through new S.T.E.A.M.(citation) programs and to work with local industry to provide much needed advanced job training programs.

Our Approach

How the Foundry works:

Today, information technology has placed the knowledge of centuries in the hands of billions of people, regardless of location or status. The resulting advent of manufacturing technology has placed the elements of advanced creation within the reach of people of any color or gender.

We seek to further this spread of knowledge and personal empowerment in a hands-on way, through novel applications of technology, collaboration, pooled talents, and resources.

By investing people with the inspiration, skill set, and resources to create their own goods, we realize several benefits:

With hands-on knowledge and experience, the systems and products we use become less magical, and therefore, less confounding.

As we gain a deeper understanding of the human-made world around us, we become less like a chip afloat on an incomprehensible sea of technology. We instead become pilots; we become active participants.

We come to appreciate the human-made world around us; things we may have taken for granted now reveal thought and purpose.

The things we make reflect our individual personalities and have special meaning. We share a connection with them and share them in a different way than we would store-bought things.

Things we make or repair meet the individual needs of a person, rather than the needs of mass markets.

What the Foundry does:

Making, in a community model, offers more than one type of freedom. Prototyped ideas, art works, and new products may be crafted to fit niche or mass markets. Almost anything can be made on collectively owned machinery that would be far beyond the budget of the average person.

Collaborators at the Foundry form social friendships that are not antagonistically competitive. This is quite a thing to get used to, for many of us who come from industrial production cultures. We learn that workshop failures are not a reflection of our value as human beings. Rather, they are opportunities for humor and learning. Thus, we get along.

For example, consider a woodworker who learns coding from a compatriot. Now a woodworker sees CNC routing to make guitars, and the coder learns how to use a handheld plane, or the right type of glue to apply.

We propose to offer workspace to the space deprived. We offer a range of tools, machinery, and expertise beyond the reach of many individual hobbyists or start-ups. We propose to meld numerous thoughts and disciplines- from high-tech to low-tech – into alloyed creation.

We offer our young people the chance to constructively expand themselves in a collaborative environment. We offer the old tinkerer a shot at new techniques. We offer an exchange between the two.

We aim to help foster a culture of continuous innovation, and, as a larger community, reap the benefits.

In conclusion, what we intend is to enable the best of primal human instinct: We are tool-using, social animals. Our very souls feel better when we’ve tools in our hands, possibility before us, and friends at our side.

We hope to see you soon.

Jim Schenck / Founder and President

Mr. Schenck is a serial inventor. He has worked for many of the local Northeastern manufacturers over a career of 40+ years. He’s designed products and manufacturing methods. He’s provided consulting services, including design, build and project management; some with international reach. He’s taught technical subjects including mathematics and statistics in a variety of adult education and college settings. He graduated from the University of Michigan

Tom Bishop / Founder and former President

Mr. Bishop is a versatile consultant with wide industrial experience. He has worked in process development for 35 years. He has wide experience in CNC and PLC programming to achieve process automation and control. He designs computer automated machinery, tools, dies and fixtures for multi-axis operations. He teaches machining, programming, and blueprint reading on any level. Mr. Bishop is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Alex Garvin / Vice President

Alex is a musician and painter. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts(Certificate of Fine Arts), and was a student of the renown drawing instructor, Robert Beverly Hale. Alex has a B.A. from Empire State College, SUNY.
Alex enjoys being at the Foundry, getting inspired by the other makers, learning new skills, and making guitars. Lately Alex has been imagining new ways of integrating his newfound skills with his life-long artistic practice.

Justin Hannington / Communications Director

Justin is a business owner and artist specializing in- but certainly not limited to- hand-crafted metal and gemstone jewelry. He is also an avid community participant, having served as an EMT for many years, helping to develop the Community Seed Exchange hosted at the Barton Public Library, and has been active in community development projects related to food security.
His interests include metal casting, woodworking, gardening, cooking, and stained glass.

Paul Wade / Treasurer

Paul Wade has had a distinguished career in high performance radio communications.  He still uses those skills in retirement in HAM radio competitions.  Paul also developed CNC programming skills to enhance his communication hobby.

John Heuser / Proctor

John Heuser had early educational and industry experience in manual machine tool operation, woodworking, art, sculpture, and building. In later years, he developed a dual career that continued making things, along with clinical psychology. His alma maters include the University of Northern Vermont and California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco. After some years of clinical work, John continues his passion for the mastery of making by hand, and for helping others get in touch with their own ingenuity.

Case Study #2

The Foundry has also been involved in helping to develop a product line for one our members.  She currently uses the Foundry laser for custom engraving.