Maker space

[danceswithticks]

A local "Makers" group has a nice wood shop with 16" jointer , 20" BS, wide belt sander,  CNC's, 3D printer along with many other woodworking machines plus a metal shop and welding stuff, computer room and textile room. $50 per month gives access to equipment for four nights per week, 5 hours per night.  They seem like a pretty nice, but sort of nerdy group that I may fit in with. I think I may join. Anyone have any experience with the DIY /Hackers/Makers movement?  Access to the big machines is well worth the cost of admission to me.

[EricU]

that sounds like a pretty good deal.  I wish we had something like that here.  I went to the open house at protohaven in Pittsburgh.  Long drive for me though.

[Mr Eddie]

That sounds like a good deal to me.  Do they have areas where you can store your project and tools?  It's nice to meet other people and learn new skills too.

Lonnie

[Wild Turkey]

I remember reading about a situation like that which worked well until some guy appointed himself dictator of the rules and things went downhill fast.

Just saying you need to be sure you know the rules and how they are enforced.

Sounds like a sweet deal

[handi]

A local "Makers" group has a nice wood shop with 16" jointer , 20" BS, wide belt sander,  CNC's, 3D printer along with many other woodworking machines plus a metal shop and welding stuff, computer room and textile room. $50 per month gives access to equipment for four nights per week, 5 hours per night.  They seem like a pretty nice, but sort of nerdy group that I may fit in with. I think I may join. Anyone have any experience with the DIY /Hackers/Makers movement?  Access to the big machines is well worth the cost of admission to me.

I have done classes/ seminars at a few maker spaces. They are an alternative if you can't have your own shop.

But most I have seen start out really nice and go to pot VERY quickly. 
There is a tendency for the members to mistreat tools. Since they have no ownership, they simply do not care. The same thing you see on jobsites or in shops with shared tools.

$50.00 per month might cover the rent, but very few maker spaces charge enough to cover maintenance and repair costs, let alone have someone on staff who not only can do the maintenance, but has the time or gets paid to. I did a MicroJig seminar at a space in Orlando a few years back. Worst SawStop I ever encountered. I had to spend almost an hour cleaning and tuning just to safely use it for my demo. The throat plate was damaged, and the fence had blade cuts in it among other abuses. And the CNC nearby was dirty, the bed was damaged and there were chips and dust all over the thing.

The successful clubs I have seen share a few details: 
1) They not only charge a membership fee, but also a small hourly usage fee to cover maintenance and repair costs. This is fair as those who use most pay most.
2) Members need to take and pass a class in each machine before being allowed to use it.
3) There is at least one staff member working anytime the shop is open to monitor and enforce rules.
4) There is a strict and enforced policy to warn then remove people who do not follow the rules or abuse the equipment. (this is the hard part)

Maker spaces tend to be run like communes where the founders expect everyone to think and act as they do. Good intentions, but sadly not realistic. If you can get in early, and help influence the rules to protect the space and equipment, they have real potential. But few do.

[Strokes77]

What's to keep someone from watching one of those YouTube videos about reclaimed wood... And taking some old barn wood or old painted fence and just run it through the planer taking off the old paint, nails, whatever else?...

Who pays for and changes those blades?

[danceswithticks]

I have done classes/ seminars at a few maker spaces. They are an alternative if you can't have your own shop.

But most I have seen start out really nice and go to pot VERY quickly. 
There is a tendency for the members to mistreat tools. Since they have no ownership, they simply do not care. The same thing you see on jobsites or in shops with shared tools.

$50.00 per month might cover the rent, but very few maker spaces charge enough to cover maintenance and repair costs, let alone have someone on staff who not only can do the maintenance, but has the time or gets paid to. I did a MicroJig seminar at a space in Orlando a few years back. Worst SawStop I ever encountered. I had to spend almost an hour cleaning and tuning just to safely use it for my demo. The throat plate was damaged, and the fence had blade cuts in it among other abuses. And the CNC nearby was dirty, the bed was damaged and there were chips and dust all over the thing.

The successful clubs I have seen share a few details: 
1) They not only charge a membership fee, but also a small hourly usage fee to cover maintenance and repair costs. This is fair as those who use most pay most.
2) Members need to take and pass a class in each machine before being allowed to use it.
3) There is at least one staff member working anytime the shop is open to monitor and enforce rules.
4) There is a strict and enforced policy to warn then remove people who do not follow the rules or abuse the equipment. (this is the hard part)

Maker spaces tend to be run like communes where the founders expect everyone to think and act as they do. Good intentions, but sadly not realistic. If you can get in early, and help influence the rules to protect the space and equipment, they have real potential. But few do.

What's to keep someone from watching one of those YouTube videos about reclaimed wood... And taking some old barn wood or old painted fence and just run it through the planer taking off the old paint, nails, whatever else?...

Who pays for and changes those blades?

[danceswithticks]

I joined starting in February. I'll be able to give an update as I familiarize myself with the system and shop.  The allure of having access to a big planer, jointer, bandsaw, wide belt sander, CNC's and instruction was enough for me to give it a go.  Time will tell if it was worth it. I plan on doing most of my work in my own shop still, and mine is a fairly well appointed home shop with a PM 66 TS, 14" bandsaw with riser, DW735 planer,8" PM60 clone jointer, small lathe, and a number of other benchtop and hand tools that I am very familiar with, but the larger size machines opens up another door for me. The Makerspace woodshop is watched over by a 70'ish gentleman who must initially give me safety instructions and approve me to work on each machine. There does not appear to be much free bench space and the shop could use some organizational input of which the main officer asked me to help with after we talked a bit about  my lean manufacturing experience.  I'm thinking I will use the Makerspace to primarily mill larger pieces than I can at home and finish cutting  and assembling at home. I'm also looking forward to being around other wood nuts like myself.

[badwhiskey]

I joined starting in February. I'll be able to give an update as I familiarize myself with the system and shop.  The allure of having access to a big planer, jointer, bandsaw, wide belt sander, CNC's and instruction was enough for me to give it a go.  Time will tell if it was worth it. I plan on doing most of my work in my own shop still, and mine is a fairly well appointed home shop with a PM 66 TS, 14" bandsaw with riser, DW735 planer,8" PM60 clone jointer, small lathe, and a number of other benchtop and hand tools that I am very familiar with, but the larger size machines opens up another door for me. The Makerspace woodshop is watched over by a 70'ish gentleman who must initially give me safety instructions and approve me to work on each machine. There does not appear to be much free bench space and the shop could use some organizational input of which the main officer asked me to help with after we talked a bit about  my lean manufacturing experience.  I'm thinking I will use the Makerspace to primarily mill larger pieces than I can at home and finish cutting  and assembling at home. I'm also looking forward to being around other wood nuts like myself.

Great, I hope it works out for you.  Our local makerspace is amazing.  They've grown and grown and now own their building.  Before you can use the woodworking tools, you have to go through some kind of review with the woodshop master.  Each section of the space has someone in charge to make sure the stuff is respected and taken care of.  I've taught a turning class at ours and hope to teach more.  I wish we had one when I was just starting out!

[Rob Young]

www.kcwoodworkersguild.org

We have approximately 900 members, about 1/2 of whom pay a slightly higher fee for shop access. In addition to the shop fee, you have to complete a safety course.

The shop is 12,000 square feet. Most pieces of equipment are duplicated (i.e. 5 3hp tables saws -- 2 dedicated for rip with long outfeed, 2 dedicated for x-cut, one dado, multiple router tables, CNC, 2 jointers -- 8" & 12", 2 planers -- 15" and 20", wide belt sanders -- 24" and 37", etc.) And a growing set of hand tools dominated by LN models for quiet work and DeWalt for powered hand tools.

$95/YEAR for shop access which is open more then 40 hours per week. Storage space can also be rented but there is a waiting list.

Because the shop is supervised (all volunteer, I'm one of about 20) and we have pretty strict rules about reclaimed lumber the damage is limited. Yes, people do tend to abuse machines and I've caught people trying to sneak out after doing something stupid (also have the distinct honor of making somebody rage-quit because I asked them to clean up the blade and table after bandsawing treated lumber
). But if for example you pop a SawStop cartridge, you must pay for the replacement. If you rip a wide belt on the sander or clog it due to trying to run reclaimed lumber through, you pay for a new one, etc. But general wear and tear is expected.