As a makerspace member (Prototek OKC) for a few years now, I have learned quite a bit about what to expect and what you will need to do to keep it going.
First of all, you will need lots of funding, and lots of space. A makerspace provides access to tools and equipment that the average college student / apartment housed individual would otherwise not have access to, either because they cannot afford the equipment, or because they have no place to store or utilize the equipment. You will want multiple rooms, and good ventilation also. Machines like 3D printers, Laser cutters, and any other mechanized tool will make noise, and it will be constant since some builds will take hours to print. You will need ventilation for the laser cutter and many other tools. I suggest a separate shop area for the laser cutter and various hand tools / Woodworking tools (we will get to woodworking tools in a bit).
Training: You, or someone of experience will need to train the new members on everything, and be available to help them learn how to use the tools properly, otherwise you will end up with a bunch of expensive broken equipment. You will also need to do safety training for the majority of people. They may be book smart but if they don't work with their hands in a real environment, they don't even know what hazards they should try to avoid. Example: a 3D printer extrusion nozzle runs at approx 210 Degrees C. That is a minor burn risk, but you get the idea..
Accessibility: Your members will likely want to spend long hours there socializing while they work on their projects. This will involve an area that is open for extended hours, or in the case of my local makerspace, a 24 hour access area that is accessible via a RFID card. Then you know who was there, and when. This helps when trying to figure out who broke your brand new saw, etc..
Food/Drinks: You may wish to disallow food and drinks in your space, but these are geeks, nerds, and other people that do not want to be pulled away from their projects for food/drink runs. You will need a work area that allows them to eat while they work.
Material usage: You will need a way to track and charge material usage for some specific items, unless your school is willing to continuously fork out money for it. The best example is the filament for the 3D printers. You will want at least a few color options (Black, Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Clear, etc..) And most people will never use an entire spool of material on their own, so they will not be willing to buy an entire roll of material either. You will need to purchase the material for the space, inventory, and keep it stocked. There will also be heavy users of the 3D printers that if left uncharged, will build everything imaginable, and use up all of your filament. Look into a charge by weight system. Buy a scale and sell the material by weight. This keeps people from going nuts with it. The honor system works, kinda...
Maintenance: You or someone else will have to perform regular maintenance on the equipment. Things break, sometimes things break often, and if they are not functional most of the time, people will stop coming.
Woodworking: (I told you we would get to it) You will need some basic woodworking tools to start with. Table saw, Miter saw, Drill, Bits, Screwdrivers, Various other hand tools, etc.. Why? you ask! Because if you want to get the best price on the materials you buy, then you buy in bulk. For plastic sheets, that will be 4x8 sheets that need to be cut down into manageable pieces that fit into the laser cutter. You will also want to build wood bases for some of your projects, or even just build woodworking projects.
Electronics: Lots of projects have electronics involved, and you will need some basic tools for it like a good Soldering Station (Look up AOYUE for a good chinese cheap(ish) soldering/desoldering station), Soldering tools, Test equipment (Volt Meter, power supply, etc..), and a good bench with good lighting to wo
Last semester I had a class that required testing on Pearson, and even on a typical day (not beginning of semester when everyone is creating accounts, and not during finals), their servers bogged down and responded slowly. Sometimes I would have to refresh a few times to get the page to load. This seems on par for the experience I have had with them.
I had a long description of my problems that were very thoughtfully laid out with actual data to back them up, but then I hit the "options" button to change the format options, and it erased it all.
You are now on your own for this one slashdot. I will not waste another 20 minutes of my life retyping it.
The kids will have oh so much more fun with this...
Picture this: A kid casually strolls up to your house, kicks a sensor a few times, and runs like h*ll while your house floats up off of it's foundation, and you wonder where the earthquake is.. That is pure childish fun there..
On a more serious note:
The rigidity that this house will have to have in order to not break apart while floating, shaking with a real earthquake, and setting down, will make it very heavy and expensive to build. It is not a likely idea for the masses. I would also like to know what happens when the power line feeding such a generator fails, or are you also expected to buy a monster sized generator of your own, and possibly a battery bank, just in case the generator fails to start?
I currently have a Canon Powershot SX20IS. I love it, but sometimes it is just a little bit too big to take some places.
The advantages are:
20x Zoom
Decent sensor size, decent quality pictures
I never have to mess with changing out lenses
Basic auto function all the way to manual function available.
If you are looking to take good pictures, stay within a decent budget, and not be forced to take a class to learn to use all the pretty buttons, then this is a good choice. The only catch with this camera is that it is not small or light to take everywhere with you. You will use it when you have a reason to, and likely store it when not in use.
--
Possibility #2 Cannon Powershot S95
The advantages are:
Small and lightweight, which means easy to put in your bag or pocket while out hiking, etc..
Decent sensor size, decent quality pictures
No changing out lenses!
Basic auto function all the way to manual function available.
Good price for the quality
Disadvantage:
Only 3.8x zoom
--
Possibility #3 Canon EOS
Advantages:
Full sensor, great pictures.
Full functionality if that is what you want.
Disadvantages:
Changing lenses takes time when you are in a rush, this camera is for experienced and knowledgeable photographers.
Big and bulky, requires a small arsenal of lenses which are quite expensive if made of good quality glass.
Class or some other education required in order to use this camera to it's full potential.
If you would like to see some examples of what these can do, a friend of mine runs www.coloradopast.com and has used a Powershot SX10(same as SX20 but with 10x zoom) and now uses an EOS. He takes some amazing pictures.
If you have never heard of "Hit and miss" engines, get ready for an awesome trip into the past. Hit and miss engines were some of the first engines ever used, and are very fun to watch run since they are mostly open engines with all moving parts visible. Check out www.coolspringpowermuseum.org/ for more information. (This is in Cool Spring, PA)
Enjoy!
Slashdot Mirror
I also forgot to add, You will need PC's to run much of the automated equipment, and a quiet area for the coding guys to work on their stuff.
-SL
As a makerspace member (Prototek OKC) for a few years now, I have learned quite a bit about what to expect and what you will need to do to keep it going.
First of all, you will need lots of funding, and lots of space.
A makerspace provides access to tools and equipment that the average college student / apartment housed individual would otherwise not have access to, either because they cannot afford the equipment, or because they have no place to store or utilize the equipment.
You will want multiple rooms, and good ventilation also. Machines like 3D printers, Laser cutters, and any other mechanized tool will make noise, and it will be constant since some builds will take hours to print. You will need ventilation for the laser cutter and many other tools. I suggest a separate shop area for the laser cutter and various hand tools / Woodworking tools (we will get to woodworking tools in a bit).
Training:
You, or someone of experience will need to train the new members on everything, and be available to help them learn how to use the tools properly, otherwise you will end up with a bunch of expensive broken equipment. You will also need to do safety training for the majority of people. They may be book smart but if they don't work with their hands in a real environment, they don't even know what hazards they should try to avoid. Example: a 3D printer extrusion nozzle runs at approx 210 Degrees C. That is a minor burn risk, but you get the idea..
Accessibility:
Your members will likely want to spend long hours there socializing while they work on their projects. This will involve an area that is open for extended hours, or in the case of my local makerspace, a 24 hour access area that is accessible via a RFID card. Then you know who was there, and when. This helps when trying to figure out who broke your brand new saw, etc..
Food/Drinks:
You may wish to disallow food and drinks in your space, but these are geeks, nerds, and other people that do not want to be pulled away from their projects for food/drink runs. You will need a work area that allows them to eat while they work.
Material usage:
You will need a way to track and charge material usage for some specific items, unless your school is willing to continuously fork out money for it. The best example is the filament for the 3D printers. You will want at least a few color options (Black, Blue, Red, Yellow, White, Clear, etc..) And most people will never use an entire spool of material on their own, so they will not be willing to buy an entire roll of material either. You will need to purchase the material for the space, inventory, and keep it stocked. There will also be heavy users of the 3D printers that if left uncharged, will build everything imaginable, and use up all of your filament. Look into a charge by weight system. Buy a scale and sell the material by weight. This keeps people from going nuts with it. The honor system works, kinda...
Maintenance: You or someone else will have to perform regular maintenance on the equipment. Things break, sometimes things break often, and if they are not functional most of the time, people will stop coming.
Woodworking: (I told you we would get to it)
You will need some basic woodworking tools to start with. Table saw, Miter saw, Drill, Bits, Screwdrivers, Various other hand tools, etc..
Why? you ask! Because if you want to get the best price on the materials you buy, then you buy in bulk. For plastic sheets, that will be 4x8 sheets that need to be cut down into manageable pieces that fit into the laser cutter. You will also want to build wood bases for some of your projects, or even just build woodworking projects.
Electronics:
Lots of projects have electronics involved, and you will need some basic tools for it like a good Soldering Station (Look up AOYUE for a good chinese cheap(ish) soldering/desoldering station), Soldering tools, Test equipment (Volt Meter, power supply, etc..), and a good bench with good lighting to wo
Last semester I had a class that required testing on Pearson, and even on a typical day (not beginning of semester when everyone is creating accounts, and not during finals), their servers bogged down and responded slowly. Sometimes I would have to refresh a few times to get the page to load. This seems on par for the experience I have had with them.
I had a long description of my problems that were very thoughtfully laid out with actual data to back them up, but then I hit the "options" button to change the format options, and it erased it all.
You are now on your own for this one slashdot. I will not waste another 20 minutes of my life retyping it.
The kids will have oh so much more fun with this... Picture this: A kid casually strolls up to your house, kicks a sensor a few times, and runs like h*ll while your house floats up off of it's foundation, and you wonder where the earthquake is.. That is pure childish fun there.. On a more serious note: The rigidity that this house will have to have in order to not break apart while floating, shaking with a real earthquake, and setting down, will make it very heavy and expensive to build. It is not a likely idea for the masses. I would also like to know what happens when the power line feeding such a generator fails, or are you also expected to buy a monster sized generator of your own, and possibly a battery bank, just in case the generator fails to start?
I currently have a Canon Powershot SX20IS. I love it, but sometimes it is just a little bit too big to take some places.
The advantages are:
20x Zoom
Decent sensor size, decent quality pictures
I never have to mess with changing out lenses
Basic auto function all the way to manual function available.
If you are looking to take good pictures, stay within a decent budget, and not be forced to take a class to learn to use all the pretty buttons, then this is a good choice. The only catch with this camera is that it is not small or light to take everywhere with you. You will use it when you have a reason to, and likely store it when not in use.
--
Possibility #2 Cannon Powershot S95
The advantages are:
Small and lightweight, which means easy to put in your bag or pocket while out hiking, etc..
Decent sensor size, decent quality pictures
No changing out lenses!
Basic auto function all the way to manual function available.
Good price for the quality
Disadvantage:
Only 3.8x zoom
--
Possibility #3 Canon EOS
Advantages:
Full sensor, great pictures.
Full functionality if that is what you want.
Disadvantages:
Changing lenses takes time when you are in a rush, this camera is for experienced and knowledgeable photographers.
Big and bulky, requires a small arsenal of lenses which are quite expensive if made of good quality glass.
Class or some other education required in order to use this camera to it's full potential.
If you would like to see some examples of what these can do, a friend of mine runs www.coloradopast.com and has used a Powershot SX10(same as SX20 but with 10x zoom) and now uses an EOS. He takes some amazing pictures.
If you have never heard of "Hit and miss" engines, get ready for an awesome trip into the past. Hit and miss engines were some of the first engines ever used, and are very fun to watch run since they are mostly open engines with all moving parts visible. Check out www.coolspringpowermuseum.org/ for more information. (This is in Cool Spring, PA) Enjoy!