Whatever the soldiers at Bandiana's Latchford Barracks want to try, a program known as Makerspace is giving them the creative freedom to test their ingenuity.

The equipment provided through Makerspace requires a hands-on approach, where the soldiers get to bring their ideas to life through a combination of 3D printing and professional mentoring.

What's happening at Bandiana makes it the eighth Makerspace program to open in Australia, following Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Toowoomba and Townsville.

The technology was unveiled at the base on Thursday, March 28, with soldiers full of praise for the learning path afforded to them.

One of those excited to be involved was fitter armourer trainee Joshua Harp, who said the gear was so beneficial because "it's given me a lot of insight into all the different cuts and measurements" he needed.

He said his main involvement with Makerspace was to learn the computer design component.

By way of explanation, Craftsman Harp said the civilian equivalent of a fitter armourer "would be somewhere between a gunsmith and a fitter machinist".

"And those trades use a lot of CNC, which is computer-numerical-controlled machinery," he said.

"With the file that we produce after putting it through a program of the 3D design we can then make the machine cut that out, or print it out to be an actual product."

Craftsman Harp said it had been great so far and "we're very lucky".

"We finish work at 4pm, so we are able to come after and do whatever we want pretty much with the equipment," he said.

Army Logistic Training Centre commandant Colonel Matthew Freeman said the base had a soft opening of the program at the end of 2023.

Colonel Freeman said that involved allowing trainees in the technical training areas of the Army Defence Force School of Health, the Army School of Ordinance and the Army School of Logistic Operations "to come in and start to explore some of the machinery".

"We have additive manufacturing, we have 3D printing, we have the ability to do rapid fabrication and prototyping," he said.

"That has transformed into the official opening today, where we're able to announce that we are officially one of the eight Makerspace locations around the Australian Defence Force network of Makerspaces."

Colonel Freeman said Makerspace provided an outlet for soldiers wanting to apply their creativity and individualism to machinery, plus in aspects of manufacturing "they don't actually get to do inside the formal training sense".

"It is an outlet for them to essentially critically think about things that they would like to explore," he said.

"And it doesn't have to be related to their technical training, it doesn't have to be related to any formal capabilities. It's essentially an outlet for the trainees."

For example, Colonel Freeman said the ideas soldiers explored could be related to a hobby.

"They can essentially put that design into a computer-aided design concept and then they can build that."

Colonel Freeman said the examples of this work were many and varied, "whether it's drones and drone parts, whether it's a piece on a Dungeons and Dragons set, whether it's designing a T-shirt".

He said this training allowed soldiers to do such work as building a personal brand or logo, or engraving that brand or logo onto something - "whether it's metal or plastic or wood".

Colonel Freeman said Bandiana provided "a very unique" training centre" with quite a young demographic focused on trade-related skills.

"For them to have access to a Makerspace here on the Border is quite beneficial for them because this is the foundation of their career," he said.

"They will step into the trained workforce and they will step into those brigade roles and they can take that creative thinking and some of the stuff they've learned here in the Makerspace with them.

"We're aiming to have this after hours and outside of their core trade training, and it's not owned by a specific school within the training centre."

Colonel Freeman said the Army Logistic Training Centre had five distinct technical training schools.

"It allows the trainees to integrate and network amongst their other fellow training centre comrades and build social networks and professional networks beyond just the trade training," he said.