Latest revision as of 13:37, 20 February 2020

A collection of everything that is and could be makespace:

Kit Installed

• Infrastructure
• Equipment

Kit Proposals

Notes:

• We should consider what things should be brought new, second hand or fabricated ourselves using existing kit.
• When thinking about buying or making kit, we need to consider The Real Cost of Equipment and take that in to account
• For basic makespace infrastructure, some items are collected on Kit wishlist: basic infrastructure budget

Building Infrastructure

Main Space

• Electronics workbench with soldering stations
• Mirror at the First Aid station (for removal of eyelashes or otherwise from eyes without having to navigate to the toilets)

Workshop

• Large Laser Cutter
• Large CNC Router
• CNC Milling Machine

• Lathe
• Milling Machine

Hall

Store Room

Kit Wishlist

We can't guarantee when or if we'll get any of this kit, but if there's something you'd like, let us know here. You can also help us prioritise what to get by creating and voting over at http://makespace.uservoice.com/forums/179819-kit-list

Woodwork/metalwork

• Aluminium forming (because local providers aren't very good)
• A big sturdy workbench with a vice
• Hacksaws and files
• A mini drilling/milling machine, for example http://www.chestermachinetools.com/Products/Product.aspx?productID=500 for making PCBs and light wood and metal work. {broken link - 3/11/2012 - roger)

• Dremel/rotary tool - many brands available; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JyTf1tJXXo is a helpful comparison of Proxxon and Dremel mini tools and drill stands. There's a decent Axminster model for £141: http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-axminster-heavy-duty-flexible-drive-unit-prod20091/

• a small manual lathe eg http://www.chestermachinetools.com/products/detail/3 plus lathe tools and a bench grinder to sharpen them.

{Chester appear to have re-organised the website so this link is broken {MB - link reestablished, please check it is the correct model!} }

I assume something like the Conquest Super is what you meant. Also take the 4-way tool-carrier off and throw it away, fit a quick-change toolpost and use indexable carbide tip tooling, grinding HSS lathe tools is a special skill. (roger)

Base price for a Conquest Lathe Super Metric, quick-change toolpost, 5pc carbide tools and drill chuck is £580 (incl vat but not incl delivery)

• A lathe manual or CNC which can cut steel comfortably, so with coolant and colchester studentish sized with digital readout

• Any decent bench drillpress, with drills, holding vice, etc. Maybe a D16 from here: http://www.chestermachinetools.com/products/detail/323 for £230+vat+shipping, plus a drill vice.

• A floor standing pillar drill

• A CNC mill conversion just like http://www.jarkman.co.uk/catalog/cnc/taigcnc.htm Good for PCBs and a lot else. Plus cutters and workholding bits. It will need its own PC, too. Also see http://www.jarkman.co.uk/catalog/cnc/

Parts for that cost him around £1500 - plus some modest assembly time, obviously.

• If possible a real mill with some kind of cnc conversion with low speed settings or just a digital readout

• A bandsaw that will run horizontal or vertical (but mostly horizontal, for chopping the ends off bars) eg http://www.chesteruk.net/store/hv128_bandsaw.htm
• another option for a chopoff saw is a circular mitre saw eg: http://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution-rage-3-255mm-compound-sliding-mitre-saw-230v/65730 though possibly something a bit more robust. Then you could get a conventional bandsaw

• Tools for small-scale metalwork:
  • Bench Peg And Anvil (£9.99);
  • files: 6"/150mm Flat File, Cut 2 Vallorbe (£10.10); Set Of 12 Needle Files, 16cm - All Cut2 (£18.50);
  • saws: Grobet/vallorbe Saw Frame Adjustable (£19.00); 6" Deep Adjustable Saw Frame (£13.50); Vallorbe Saw Blades Grade 2/0, Bundle Of 12 (£2.85); Vallorbe Saw Blades Grade 2/0, Bundle Of 12 (£2.85); Vallorbe Saw Blades Grade 6/0, Bundle Of 12 (£3.70)
  • hammering: Flat Stake - 10cm X 10cm (£18.70); Planishing Hammer Cookson Value Range (£18.25); Hammer With 25mm Nylon Head (£9.50)
  • pliers: Cookson 5 Piece,115mm Pliers Set (£31.15); Ring Bending Pliers, Cookson Value Range (£4.91) 5.5"/ 140mm Maun Flat Pliers Parallel Action (£18.65); Straight 7"/17.5cm Shears (£10.45); Tweezer set (£18.80)
  • soldering: Hand Torch (£20.00); Magnesia Soldering Block (£6.35); Soldering Sheet 300mm X 300mm X 9mm (£6.50); Picklean Safe Pickling Powder 150g (£5.41)
  • marking out: 6" Ruler (£3.40); Standard Steel Scriber (£4.10); centre punch (£5.00); digital calipers (£30.24); 3" square (£8.75)
  • magnification: Optivisor 2.0x No4 (£38.00); Optivisor 2.75x No7 (£38.00)
  • flexible shaft tools: Set Of 20 Drills 0.3-1.6mm (£13.30); Polishing Kit No 2 (£43.45)

Total: £553.08 incl vat and p&p from cooksongold.com. This plus a decent flexible shaft drill lets one do quite a lot, and many items are general-purpose

• a plasma cutter (to cut steel sheet etc - more than the laser cutter is capable of)

• expect more ideas from cambridge Science Centre people :)

• Decent belt/disc sander/linisher

• Polisher for plastics and others (a grinder with attachments)

• Measuring tools - digital calipers, micrometers etc

• Sheet metal folder

• Pipe bender

• G-clamps in various sizes (ordered on eBay --- JCGS 12:10, 30 November 2012 (UTC))

• Small table saw, this sort of thing: http://www.proxxon-direct.com/acatalog/Table_Saw_FET.html

• Router table?

Electronics/PCB tools

• Temperature-controlled soldering station(s)
• Toaster oven (for reflow soldering)
• Fume extractor(s) for above
• Bench power supplies (e.g. a mix of 5V, 12V, variable, and multi-rail PSUs)
• PCB holders or "helping hands"
• Magnifying lamps (for us old-uns!)
• Side cutters
• Abrasive pen
• Heatsink tweezers
• Multimeter(s)
• Oscilloscope (digital and/or analog)
• Logic Analyser
• Signal generator
• Wire
• Selection of basic components (res, caps, v-reg, basic digital logic, basic IC's - 555,358, connectors, cable)
• Some way to order parts (group order to Farnell/RS/Maplin)
• spectrum analyser
• ESD handling equipment, eg. anti-static mats, wrist-strap, earth points, tester
• Small CNC milling machine, desktop size for cutting PCBs.

NB. PCB etching baths and etch-resist are probably unnecessary because the milling machines would allow PCBs to be milled instead of etched.

Printing

• A3 postscript laser printer
• print on demand POD system
• vandercook proofpree with type - for posters etc
• Multi Function Machine ( A3 / A4 Colour Copier, Printer and Scanner)- Each Member has Pay As You go cards (Like they do in Schools)

3D printing

• This is the 3d printer from Portishead: http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/
• http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/08/ultimaker-theres-a-new-3d-printer-in-town.html
• 3D scanner e.g. http://www.david-laserscanner.com/
• lots of 3D pic literature in Makespace
• chocolate printer http://www.3ders.org/articles/20120406-worlds-first-3d-chocolate-printer-now-up-for-pre-order.html

Textiles

• Knitting machine
• Sewing machine
• Overlock machine, important in (semi+)professional sewing
• Embroidery machine - for this to work well you'd want to have a computer to make designs on as there is specific software. The most cheap(ish) diverse set up I'm aware of would a Brother Innov-is 750E which cost at most £900 and software costs around £300.

Acrylic working

For bonding, shaping or finishing acrylic in ways that can't be done by machining:

• Dichloromethane (or Evo-Stik ExtruFix) for bonding acrylic parts
• Extractor hood/fan to reduce dichloromethane inhalation risk
• Strip heater or heat gun
• Acrylic edge scraper
• Acrylic scorer
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Butane or MAPP gas torch for flame polishing (see #glassworking
• Gas for torch

Materials

Laser Cutter materials

Max Size 300mmx600mm

• Acrylic 3mm - Clear 300mm x 600mm
• Acrylic 3mm - Various colours 300mm x 600mm
• Acrylic 6mm - Clear 300mm x 600mm
• Plywood 3mm Various Sizes
• MDF 3mm (Laserable) Various Sizes
• Cardboard 3mm 300mm x 600mm
• Cardboard 5mm 300mm x 600mm
• Paper 300mm x 600mm
• Leather
• Fabric

Modella Milling Machine materials

Max Size 150x200mm

• Machineable wax 40mm x 90mm x 150mm
• Circuit boards 1.6mm x 1000mm x 1200mm
• Wood (Various) 150x200mm

Shopbot CNC Router materials

Max Size 1200mmx 2400mm x 120mm

• Plywood 3-25mm thick
• MDF 3-25mm thick
• Aluminium
• Cast Iron
• Acrylic
• Brass
• Steel
• Foam

Vinyl Cutter materials

• Copper Tape 3M 1126 150mm x 33m
• Vinyl roll (canary yellow) 380mm wide
• Vinyl roll (card red) 380mm wide
• Vinyl roll (royal blue) 380mm wide
• Vinyl roll (cactus green) 380mm wide
• Transfer Tape, Permacel 595B 150mmx 55m
• WHITE Epoxy film 3M 1 150mm x 90m

3D Printer materials

Currently the raw material costs are quite high. Therefore...

• ABS plus cartridge (white) 1000 cm3
• soluble support cartridge 1000 cm3

Additional electronics/PCB materials

• Flux-cored solder (please some 60/40 as well as that silly ROHS, for working with older gear and for ease of use!)
• USB microscope with monitor?

Painting materials

• Brushes
• Water pots
• Acrylic paints in white, black, red, yellow, blue
• Clearcoat spray and/or liquid

Future and Archived Wishlist Items

• These are items not for further consideration at this time, whether because they have been discounted or not a near-term priority

Welding

Welding is something we'll definitely need to talk to the landlord about - they've flagged up that the additional fire risk would mean we need to talk about fire barriers etc and can't go ahead without checking with them first. For now, we will not consider welding until Makespace is successfully up and running, at which point we may re-approach the university on this subject.

• Arc welder (a bit yuk)
• MIG welder (cheap and easy to use)
• TTG welder (suitable for aluminium)
• Welder misc: gas (eg BOC) + cage + bolt to wall, wire, tips, gloves, apron, head shields, lightproof/fireproof curtained area to protect other workers

Safety equipment

This should be considered as part of each equipment or area setup, rather as standalone

• Safety glasses
• Kevlar gloves for cutting
• Nitrile gloves for handling chemicals
• Lab coats to keep chemicals/paint off clothes & skin

Air Tools

Can we use the metal air-lines that are already in place?

• No, we do not plan to use air tools or the air-lines that are in place. There is no compressor, they are noisy, and the convenience/simplicity/consistency of electric tools is our choice. We have decided to leave the lines in for now, but may remove them in time.

Compressor/air for plasma and other airtools

• Cutting/drilling/polishing airtools

Bio work

We have no plans at present to support work with recombinant DNA or other bio work :)

Flameworking

If we want to be able to make borosilicate glass components at Makespace, we'll need at least the following:

• MAPP gas torch
• MAPP gas for torch
• Torch holder with metal or ceramic heatproof bench plate for rolling
• Shears
• Carbon paddle

AV kit

What about providing Audio Visual equipment for creating audio-visual experiences, interactive or not. This can be combined with workshops in animation, film-making, special effects, synthesisers, computer graphics, etc.

Equipment might include: a projector screen (or white wall), a relatively good quality, high-resolution digital projector, amplifier, speakers (with good subwoofer.) Also software for animation, computer graphics, audio synthesis, video editing. Sensors for interactive experience: camera, motion sensors.

One idea is to teach 3D modelling of a character which can be part of a game/video, and also be printed on the 3D printer.

Materials work

For development of novel materials or layers, or devices such as solar panels

• Fume hood or cabinet

Other

• Lego (useful for prototyping shapes as well as for fun)

Software tools

Mostly just downloadable, so here just for reference

LabVIEW

Gimp - www.gimp.org/

Blender - www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

Open office - download.openoffice.org/

Inkscape - www.inkscape.org

Google Sketch up - sketchup.google.com/ with stl plugin

This plugin seems to work quite well www.guitar-list.com/download-software/convert-sketchup-skp-files-dxf-or-stl

However this program repairs any incomplete stl files www.netfabb.com/

Or this program http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

Adobe - www.adobe.com/uk/

Qcad - www.qcad.org/qcad.html

Eagle - www.cadsoftusa.com/freeware.htm

MIT Software - http://fab.cba.mit.edu/content/tools/software/cad_cam/

Stuff to drive the smart white board eg http://osswatch.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2012/10/16/open-sankore-open-source-whiteboard-software/

Workshop Setup References

The FabLab kit

Fab Labs share core capabilities, so that people and projects can be shared across them. This currently includes:

1. A computer-controlled lasercutter, for press-fit assembly of 3D structures from 2D parts
2. A larger (4'x8') numerically-controlled milling machine, for making furniture- (and house-) sized parts
3. A vinylcutter, to produce signs, printing masks, flexible circuits, and antennas
4. A precision (micron resolution) milling machine to make three-dimensional moulds and surface-mounted circuit boards
5. Electronics assembly
6. Programming tools for low-cost high-speed embedded processors
7. Sewing and embroidery equipment
8. You can read more about how Fab Labs started by following this link. www.cba.mit.edu.

There is also a wealth of know-how on Fab Lab equipment and projects.

A la Manchester:

• Dimension 1200es Series 3D Printer
• Epilog Mini 24 Laser Cutter
• Roland Modela MDX-20 Desktop Miller
• Roland Vinyl Cutter
• Shopbot CNC Router
• Janome Memory Craft 200e Embroidery Machine
• 'Fab Vac' Vac former

IEEE Spectrum: http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/diy-essentials/0

Full fab lab list: http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/fab/inv.html

workshop in a container: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsejLtLc70nwdG5DeVJmOVA4OUxpcXl6alFaNzh5Unc&hl=en_US#gid=0

A great outline of prototyping kit and space suggestions from Phil Keenan: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwrlF51mx2ojYTQ5MzA1NGItZDBmNi00YmViLWJjODktYzlkM2M1OTAwNmQ0