The 32-year-old sits working on a laptop plugged into a glowing, rainbow-coloured piece of furniture. The equations on his screen dictate to within a fraction of a millimetre the position of motorised magnets that form patterns in a bed of brightly lit sand.

"My coffee table is a robot," he explains cheerfully.

By day, Smith is a robotics engineer, working for a particle accelerator that he describes as "Australia's biggest light bulb".

By night, he is a "maker", a member of a growing DIY die-hard culture on display this weekend at the Sydney Design festival's Mini Maker Faire.

Smith runs three sessions a week at his Meadowbank maker space, Robots and Dinosaurs, where 40 regular members share ideas as well as the cost of materials and tools.

"It's all ages, men and women, there's no common thread," he says.

Next door at the Sydney Robot Workshop, tinkerers tend to focus on the intersection of technology and sci-fi memorabilia, the moving parts of Daleks and R2-D2s.

But in Smith's space, makers work on everything from dolls to alpaca wool looms, taking advantage of laser cutters, 3D printers, sewing machines and oscilloscopes.

Some work on building their own clocks. Others refit radios with new knobs for arthritic grandparents. Making sous-vide cookers has become a popular pastime.

Smith enjoys the overlapping of so many different disciplines and skills.

"The boundaries are where the cool things happen," he says.

"To be frank, there's ideas you can steal."

Smith says it is now easier than ever before to be a maker, with electronics becoming cheaper and tech literacy increasing.

"We're going to get more and more makers in our community because people like customising their own environments".

Having collected "maker passport" stamps from spaces in Germany, China, Japan and Hong Kong, Smith says Sydney is "quite adavanced".

In terms of access to equipment, it outstrips even cities such as London.

Smith expects this weekend's conversations at the Powerhouse Museum will leave him "absolutely hoarse".

"A maker faire is a wonderful experience and I look forward to being totally exhausted."

Some make their own clocks. Others refit radios with new knobs for arthritic grandparents.

Making sous-vide cookers is a favourite, 

Some make their own clocks. Others refit radios with new knobs for arthritic grandparents.

Making sous-vide cookers is a favourite,