Yukonstruct is a makerspace; a space for makers, builders, tinkers, and hobbyists to gather and let their creative juices flow.
Every so often these elements combine with an entrepreneurial spirit, and creation and business meet. This phenomenon reached new heights with a stock deal worth $403 million as MakerBot Industries, the most well-known 3D printer brand in the market, was acquired by Stratasys, a Minnesota-based company and leader in 3D industrial printing and manufacturing. MakerBot was conceived in a Vienna hackerspace, a makerspace more focused on computers and technology than machinery.
Back home in Yukon a similar event recently occurred with the unveiling of a home-buildt tractor at the annual conference to promote advancement of agriculture in the territory. The Bobcat-like machine named NorTrackTor was created by Arctic Automate, Tom Bamford and Yukonstruct’s facilities manager Logan Sherk’s business, using Yukonstruct’s space and tools, specifically welders, induction forge and metal saw, and designs obtained from Open Source. The Open Source network is instrumental to the makerspace general concept by providing free blueprints and materials lists for the general public rather than commercializing and profiting from product initiatives.
NorTrackTor is an affordable and basic in design tractor, making repairs easy, that was build for a price points comparison farming in remote locations and the overall goal of encouraging less of a barrier to commercial farming. So this home-buildt tractor is a solution that is applicable in the North not just for farming but also quite possibly for smaller placer mining operations and other such industries.