Latest member news

Here you'll find all the member update emails that get sent out. Hopefully a useful resource for new members wondering what's been happening lately!

Note that some sensitive info may have been removed in these versions.

22 March 2014

Important info if you use the laser cutter! It’s vital you return your temporary access cards or we get a huge fine! Also, Birthday Party :)

Party time!

Bring something you’ve made for Show and Tell at our Birthday Party (7pm, Friday 28th). If you can’t make it to the party, you can still Show what you’ve made by dropping it off in the space with a label beforehand.

Tell your friends - we’re not quite fully booked yet :)

We’ll order in a bunch of drinks and some nibbles to arrive on Friday afternoon and if you can come early to help tidy up, clean the tables, get demos set up and so on that would be much appreciated :)

(Note this is on FRIDAY - it’s not like our usual monthly social night which is on Thursdays)

What have you been making?

We’d love to hear about what you’ve been making! Whether you have a story or a blog post or just a photo or a tweet, it would be great to know so we can share to encourage new makers.

Just email laura.james @ makespace.org or pop pictures on [Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/1546093@N24/pool/]

Laser cutter users!

As some of you may have noticed, the cutter has become filthy over recent weeks and months. This is due to a combination of things:

1) fires/excessive smoke when cutting wood

2) Inadequate or non-existent cleaning after use

3) poor air circulation in the machine.

The last of these will take time to solve. The first two require your assistance. When cutting laser plywood (the only wood currently allowed), please do a test cut to establish the combination of speed and power that just cuts through, but gives of the least smoke and flame. This may be high speed, low power.

When you have finished your job, please leave the lid closed for at least 30s to let the smoke clear. Then you must clean the WHOLE bed using the disposable wipes that are next to the machine. One wipe should be enough to get it clean. Keep going until there is no pale brown residue coming off on the wipe. Those of you with sensitive skin will find a box of disposable gloves on top of the air filter unit.

I have just spent over half a day cleaning the laser cutter and never want to see it in that state again. Anyone seen to not be cleaning the machine after use will be given a warning. Repeat offences will see you banned from using the laser cutter.

Yours,

Toby M

Laser cutter owner

Last call for return of temporary access cards

Please drop your access card, if you took one during the foyer works, back in the office drop box envelope, or mail to us at Makespace, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1RX if you can’t get to the space.

We will be fined £50 for every card we don’t return!

10 March 2014

In today’s update: we want to know what you've been making, two kinds of party, important admin info, and a very important message about sawdust.

Access cards

Thanks for your patience whilst the temporary access was in place. Please return your temporary access card (if you took one) to the box in the foyer asap - if this is going to be difficult for you to do before March 17th please email laura.james @ makespace.org and/or mail your card to Makespace office, 16 Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1RX.

Call for photographs

Do you have pictures of things you’ve made in Makespace, or events at Makespace? We’d love to have them on display at our Birthday Party! Email them to laura.james@makespace.org or add to our Flickr pool http://www.flickr.com/groups/1546093@N24/pool/

Working party

Thanks to everyone who helped tidy up and fit shelves and more on the 1st, and also to those who arranged the lovely new chairs!

There’s still more to do - more photos, more posters, more cleaning, more freecycling of old chairs, more signs - helping make Makespace nicer for everyone and better for making. Do help out, and check the kitchen whiteboard or ask in the space or on the Google Group if you aren’t sure what would be useful (and if you know what would be useful, write it on the kitchen whiteboard!).

Recurly glitch

A few subscriptions which went out in early March were taken without VAT due to a glitch at our payment provider. If this happened to you, you’ll get a second payment of just the VAT bit taken in the next few days.

Do you like woodwork or metalwork?

I was working in the heavy eng lab this afternoon (Sunday 2nd) - and I was dismayed at the state of it.

The saws' bench was covered in sawdust. The bandsaw was covered in sawdust. The compound mitre saw was covered in sawdust. The floor in front was covered in sawdust.

And that last point is not being picky. Dry sawdust makes for a very slippery surface, and you absolutely don't want to lose your footing, pushing stock into the bandsaw. You might end up feeding rather more than wood into the blade.

Let's not forget also that sawdust makes rather good tinder, and the compound mitre saw can throw sparks when cutting metal. This is not a great combo.

I did not appreciate having to sort out other people's mess before I could do any work of my own.

It does not take long to vacuum after you've finished working. It's everyone's responsibility to clean up after themselves when they're done - and it's a safety issue too.

Don’t forget our birthday party!

7pm, Friday 28th March - meet, eat, chat, show & tell

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/Makespace/events/165340252/

This month's social event is our birthday party: hope to see you all there!

February 2014

Read on for important news about 24 Feb - 1 Mar Makespace use - and lots of exciting events!

Upcoming events

   Project speed dating: (25th Feb) http://meetu.ps/29ZTqK (start/join a project)

   Feb Social night: (27th Feb) http://meetu.ps/29ZTqW

   Marble machine making (4th March) http://meetu.ps/2bgT8v

   1 Year party! (28th March) http://meetu.ps/2b7wGR

Don’t forget that Thursdays are our regular maker night and a great chance to work on your projects with others at Makespace. Now is the perfect timing to get your projects finished for Show and Tell at our birthday party!

It’s our birthday!

Let’s celebrate a year of Makespace! We’ll have a birthday party from 7pm on Friday 28th March 2014. Members get first refusal on places - please RSVP but only if you are really going to attend as this will be a popular event.

http://www.meetup.com/Makespace/events/165340252/

Once you’ve all had a chance to RSVP we will open up invitations to the public and to special guests from our sponsors.

Important: notice about access to the space

From 24 February to 1 March (ish) asbestos removal works are taking place in the foyer just outside Makespace. Our front door will be out of action!

We will get special temporary access cards to enable you to get into Makespace through the fire exit door just past the toilets. These will be available to collect from the evening of Thursday 20th at Makespace; if you will need to get into Makespace between the 24th and 1st, please collect a card in advance. Note we will not have enough cards for everyone so don’t take one if you won’t need it!

If you are attending an event, you probably don’t need a card - please just knock on the door in the main space (the one which gives access to the bins). If you're running an event, please note you may need to inform non-members about unsual access arrangements and be listening out for knocks on the night.

We will need to return the cards so please keep hold of them and return them as soon as possible after the foyer is open again (we’ll have a box for them).

Many apologies for the inconvenience - we’ve only just had notification of these works from the landlord :(

Community messages -------------------------------

- - Why are you a Maker? Call for more participants!***

I'm looking for participants for a research project exploring why and how people become makers. Specifically, I'm interested in finding out how people acquire both the skills and enthusiasm to become lifelong makers, whether (and how) these skills and enthusiasm are passed on within families, and the extent to which making as a hobby is transposed into other domains of everyday life, such as repairing household items.

If you've been in MakeSpace recently you might have noticed my flyers on the noticeboards in the kitchen, classroom and outside the main makespace. I'm looking for people who are willing to have a 45-60 minute chat with me about their experiences of making. This could be arranged for a mutually convenient time and place. I'd particularly like to hear from some female makers, as all my participants so far have been male. (Although male makers, I would still like to hear from you...!)

If you'd like to participate, or if you'd like to find out more about the study, please contact me via xxxxx

Thank you!

Beck Collins

3d modelling communities

My name is Matthew, I am from the Horizon research department at the University of Nottingham. I am researching the motivations of designers, animators and users of online 3D modelling communities, and I currently have a questionnaire online to help me understand the different reasons for participating in 3D communities.

https://www.callforparticipants.com/55YC6S

Additionally, If you are interested in the research or would like more information I am happy to discuss this with your team.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Matthew Terrell

Horizon Digital Economy DTC

University of Nottingham

January 2014

After the success of the Christmas party, we agreed we should have monthly social nights. The first is:

Thursday January 30th (that's this Thursday) from 7pm onwards

These events are relaxed and fun, and are a great chance to get to know other makers and chat to them about their projects.

If you haven't quite worked out what you will make in Makespace, or how you can help out and get involved with the community, these social nights are a brilliant starting point - whether you want inspiration from the gifts people made at Christmas, or are secretly just waiting to get roped into the robotic storage project!

It should be a mix of old (in membership terms) and new faces, so if you've become a member recently we strongly recommend it. You can drop in any time during the evening.

Hopefully we'll see you there!

December 2013

Hi everyone,

Read on for essential info about our laser cutter, news about Cambridge Geek Nights, how you can get new kit at Makespace, the Badger, and community messages about meetups for women in tech and research about why you are a maker.

Happy making in 2014,

Laura

Events - cambridge Geek Nights

Cambridge Geek Night last occurred at Makespace. We’ve got a great sponsor who pays for beers and wine, and it’s always a popular event. *But* we’d need to make it happen! If anyone would be up for fixing a date and booking a couple of speakers, *you* could be the new Geek Night organiser and win the gratitude of geeks across town. Get in touch with Laura laura.james @ makespace.org if you’re interested and she’ll put you in touch with sponsor & holder of the twitter account @CamGeekNight etc.

Want a 3D scanner? Want textiles kit? YOU can MAKE IT HAPPEN!

We have active threads on list about textiles and a 3D scanner. If you’d be willing to help select the right kit, help acquire it and get it set up with inductions and so on, then we can get these exciting new items! Just reply on the list to say you’re able to help out - and you can be part of making Makespace better.

Textiles (sewing, embroidery, hackable knitting machines) https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/cammakespace/vcH2v3IYH8Y

3D scanning https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/cammakespace/scanner/cammakespace/rWY6MTEwiTU/yKRsn9WIge8J

Being a kit “owner” means arranging a purchase/delivery; working out a risk assessment (we have templates!); working out what induction is needed (if any), and helping train people if so. Ideally we have several owners for each item of kit so it’s not too big a commitment and you can work together. No previous experience with the kit is needed!

Laser cutter - PLEASE READ!

The lasercutter is obviously one of Makespace’s most popular pieces of equipment and the availability recently has not been as good as we would like. In a number of cases this has been because of mistreatment or carelessness by members causing damage to what is a delicate piece of equipment.

Realigning the mirrors correctly can take an hour and requires one of the owners to be available to make these adjustments.

As those who have been trained on the cutter ought to be aware:-

Dropping the lid suddenly or crashing the waste draw into the machine WILL knock the mirrors out of alignment.

Never leave the lid half up; it will fall down.

Failing to spot a flame quickly WILL result in damage to the lenses and mirrors, recently the focus alignment tab actually got melted by a fire.

We have had several reports of people not watching the cutter adequately while it is working and this should not be happening.

As with other Health and Safety issues in the Space, if you see something going on which is unsafe you should challenge it. In the case of the cutter if you see someone not watching their job go and press the pause button on the machine and remind them to watch it.

We also seem to have an issue where people seem to think that the machine is ‘self-cleaning’, it isn’t! MDF and Ply in particular will leave residue on the bed which is gets much harder to remove with time. It only take a few minutes to clean the bed at the end of your job.

First Aid

Although Makespace cannot provide trained first aiders at any time, Makespace encourages its members and participating partner groups to investigate how they can provide first aid cover for themselves and their guests.

A dedicated course for appointed persons is provided by www.emergencymedicaltraining.com/ for £35 per person. In addition to the requirements of an appointed person, it includes basic first aid training at a lower level than the formal Emergency First Aid at Work or First at Work courses.

There are many first aid trainers available and Makespace does not specify what level or type of training clients or partner groups should have. Examples of training providers for the one day Emergency First Aid at Work course and cost:

   http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/training-courses for £110 per person.

   http://www.first-aidtrainingservices.co.uk/ for £350 for 12 students.

   http://www.factstraining.co.uk/ for £395 for up to 12 students.

The “Badger”

We want to make it easier for members – particularly new members – to get to know who’s who in the space. To this end, we’ve instituted a project to allow you to use your tag to print a label for yourself whenever you enter the space. It’s not required, but it’s encouraged.

The project has now reached beta status. It has been installed at the end of the tables in the main space.

To print a label, just touch your tag to the reader. If your tag is seen for the first time, you will be asked to enter your details. If you want to edit your details, hold down the “edit” button whilst you touch your tag to the reader.

For the technically minded, the code is written in Python and runs under Ubuntu. It uses a USB-connected tag reader from ib technology, and a Dymo “LabelWriter 450” printer. It is installed on an Acer One netbook. Code quality is awful – I was focussing on learning the technologies involved so it has “grown organically”, to put it politely. Anyone who’d like to get involved in adding features or improving the code is encouraged to do so. The software is available at https://github.com/Makespace/Badger.

Community messages

- - Meet-up for women and digital tech ***

Hi, I'm Jessica and I'm starting a monthly meet-up for women and digital technology. The group format and topics will be directed by the needs of it's members. We will have events, talks and/or workshops on a variety of topics depending on what the members want.

I am a visual artist interested in using digital technology and data visualisation. I have used visual programming languages such as Isadora and Pure Data and I would like to build on this. Other topics of interest include: Data visualisation, Processing, Internet of things, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, DJ software, Visual effects software

If you are interested in getting involved, please email me at xxxxx

Thanks, Jess

- - Why are you a Maker? ***

I'm looking for participants for a research project exploring why and how people become makers. Specifically, I'm interested in finding out how people acquire both the skills and enthusiasm to become lifelong makers, whether (and how) these skills and enthusiasm are passed on within families, and the extent to which making as a hobby is transposed into other domains of everyday life, such as repairing household items.

If you've been in MakeSpace recently you might have noticed my flyers on the noticeboards in the kitchen, classroom and outside the main makespace. I'm looking for people who are willing to have a 45-60 minute chat with me about their experiences of making. This could be arranged for a mutually convenient time and place.

If you'd like to participate, or if you'd like to find out more about the study, please contact me via xxxxx

Thank you!

Beck

November 2013

Here’s the latest Makespace updates including:

new stuff

weekly maker nights

monthly member nights

how you can help

Christmas party & Christmas maker morning

purchasing things for Makespace

have you made something cool lately?

Community messages

-  Hack the Lab

New stuff

Makespace has a ceiling-mounted projector and a proper screen in the main space! Many thanks to Brian, Roger and others who made this happen.

the cafe space has nice sofas and comfy chairs

The Laser Cutter has a new tube so is much happier

We are trying out a new Forum - feel free to give it a go and provide feedback! http://makespace.org/forum/

Experimenting with ways to increase the number of inductions on popular kit - please bear with us, we know we need more inductions and are doing our best to balance the demand for induction, our available volunteers (everyone offering inductions and training and running makespace is an unpaid volunteer!), and to make sure everything is suitably safe.

Latest photos: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1546093@N24/pool/

We’re up to 170 members!

Weekly maker nights

Thursday nights from 7:30ish are now member maker nights - a chance to drop by the space and hang out or make things with others. By providing a specific time we hope it’s easier to bump into people and know there will be others around.

(On alternate Wednesdays (next up, 4th December) from around 7:30 will be admin night, when there will be a slightly higher chance of some of us being in the space to process invoices, improve our website/IT systems, and do other general admin.)

Monthly Members nights

Once a month it’s Members night - a chance to make stuff, eat pizza, chat, recruit people to help with your project or Makespace improvement activity, and help with each other’s projects. It’s a great way to get involved with Makespace stuff in general too.

The first of these will coincide with the Christmas party! (see below)

How you can help

The more people who do a little bit to help Makespace operate the better the space is for everyone! We are all volunteers and spreading the load really helps.

There will very shortly be a whiteboard in the space with a list of little tasks you could get started with! Also you’ll be able to add tasks you spot to it :)

For example, if you fancy building stuff, we need to shelve the kitchen alcove so we can put mugs and snacks somewhere. We need to fit the bar table in the cafe area to match the kitchen one.

If you are a coder, especially with Ruby skills, why not help improve our induction system? Contact Phil Cowan webstuff@makespace.org if you can help!

Christmas party & Christmas making morning

Let’s have a party! We can eat food, hang out, admire/help with each other’s projects. The party will happen from 7pm on Wednesday December 11th and all members and their guests are welcome.

Bring some drinks or nibbles! We’ll provide some drinks and hot and cold snacks too using the surplus from the Kitchen Honesty Box too.

And don’t miss Christmas making morning on Saturday December 7th http://www.meetup.com/Makespace/events/150917492/

Purchasing things for Makespace

Sorry to all those who had problems with purchases this autumn including delayed approvals and reimbursements. We’re back on top of things now and hope the replacement parts on the laser cutter and UP printer are working well.

If you want to purchase things, read about how to do this: http://wiki.makespace.org/How_to_buy_things_for_Makespace

If you have any worries about how things are working please tell us, on the Google Group, the Forum, or by emailing management@makespace.org

Have you made something cool lately?

We’d love to feature it on our blog! Examples of interesting projects, events, hackdays Makespace teams have won, and more, all welcome. Send your write up and photos if you have them - even if it’s just a couple of sentences - to publicity@makespace.org

If you’re planning a cool event or build, let us know so we can tweet and facebook it to spread the word in advance! Again just mail publicity@makespace.org

Community messages

Potential Hack the Lab event

The following message is from Jenny Molloy xxxxx - please contact Jenny if you’re interested!

I would like to organise an event entitled 'Hack the Lab', looking at how a maker attitude and open hardware could help experimental scientists (with a focus on life scientists) to work more cost effectively by building and fixing generic and custom lab equipment.

I envisage this as a two day event in Feb/Mar 2014 with around 50 attendees working on a small number (3-4) of pre-planned projects but free to introduce their own ideas.

The grand vision is to explore a decentralised system of manufacture for basic lab equipment, I'm a molecular biologist and regularly order lab equipment components which could be 3D printed (or otherwise manufactured) locally for a very low cost. This is just a small project to offer a couple of examples of what might be done in this direction and hopefully inspire some other researchers to think about the possibilities for their own work.

The format would be a weekend very much in the NHS Hackday style: problem pitches, doing stuff for as long a span of time as possible, demos/feed-back. Constant supply of coffee and biscuits. I will invite some people with funding/media/policy influence along for the demos and wrap-up.

I would hope to hold the event during March (thinking about it, probably the second half to give a decent span of preparation time), engage some key contributors before Christmas and start advertising at the very start of the New Year. I can get a website/wiki/sign-up system/marketing materials etc together over Christmas. I foresee the main logistics difficulty beyond having enough hosts that are appropriately trained to use the Makespace equipment will be ensuring that appropriate components and supplies are ordered in advance. This will require significant organisation and pre-posting of ideas above and beyond what usually happens for software based hack days.

October 2013

All,

A quick update email! If you read no further please take a couple of minutes to tell us how Makespace is working for you.

Many thanks from Laura, Jonny & Simon.

Talk to us! Talk to each other!

The Google Group for chat about Makespace and Making: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/cammakespace (remember you can use the group online like a forum if you don't fancy getting emails)

IRC: #makespace on Freenode, also available via the web http://makespace.org/chat/ If you aren't familiar with IRC, there's help about IRC.

We'd love to see more of you in IRC :) It's a great way to keep in touch without email.

Use the space

We'd love to see more regular (and irregular!) events - it's easy to organise something at Makespace, just book the time on http://www.meetup.com/makespace ! Check the wiki for more info.

Membership

We are up to 158 paying members! We have just opened up a special student deal where membership is limited to term times (same monthly rate as everyone else). Welcome new folks! 150 looked like an important milestone but it's flown past without us noticing properly.

Making Makespace better

We will be doing various reviews in the next 2 months to see how financially sustainable we are, and also looking at reviewing our processes such as induction, purchasing etc, now that we've been open 6 months and have a better idea of how things work in practice. If you'd like to get more involved do get in touch with management@makespace.org or give us feedback via email or preferably in the short feedback survey.

Tidying

We've had some real issues lately with mess - sawdust piled around, tools not put away, important bits and bobs left under benches etc. Please ensure you leave the space as you would wish to find it! This weekend several people are going to go in to do a deep clean and tidy to get things in a better state - do help if you can. We don't want to have to take drastic enforcement or surveillance action; but Makespace is run entirely by volunteers and there are no magic cleaning fairies. If you don't clean up, no one else will. And if you leave the space messy, people will leave and we'll have to close. Don't ruin a good thing for everyone.

Laser Cutter inductions

A message from Tony Toby@moncaster.com

Over the next two weeks I am hoping to run 2 laser cutter induction sessions (provisionally on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 30th). I am aware that there are a lot of existing members that have not yet had a chance to do the training and that often training slots end up going to new members (who are probably more active about checking Meetup).

To try and make the system fairer I am intending to try an experiment. If you would like to attend one of these sessions please reply to this thread [on the google group, or mail Toby directly]. Please include how long you have been a member for and which slot(s) you can manage. I will then offer three of the four slots to people on this list, and the fourth I will offer to the whole group via Meetup. If the offered slots are still available 24 hours in advance then I will open them to the waiting list on Meetup.

Tell us what you think!

A short survey so we can understand what Makespace is doing right and what we can improve:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YWKxqnFM7vnb7rYjiAHIOVZzR2_F0TQy_4tHhk2ZKFg/viewform

August 2013

All,

Many thanks for your support of Makespace by being a member. Here's a summary of recent activity and changes in the space, and what's coming up:

We have a great deal more equipment: http://wiki.makespace.org/Equipment If you're a fan of (or keen to get started with) any of the kit why not volunteer to be a community owner? Owners of specific bits of equipment make sure it's in order, that consumables are available, and support and induct other members in using it. It doesn't have to take a lot of time, especially as we get larger teams of owners, and it helps Makespace be better for all of us.

We've also changed the layout of the space, to make some kit more accessible in the main space (laser cutter, CNC Mill, vacuum former) and to add more equipment in the workshop. The separate 'classroom' is still available for events, and we've furnished the second upstairs room with sofas. The stock of snacks and drinks is better than ever, too, and the aircon is fully operational :) There are still a few bits of work to do, such as adding a window bench in the cafe and shelves in the kitchen, and setting up some new second hand equipment such as small mills; talk to others in the space or on our Google Group[1] to get involved.

Our events programme has been quieter with the summer holidays, but even so we've had some great things happening, including

Dorkbot Anglia 12, featuring Richard Hoadley a composer who works with algorithms, Colin Dewar who has created an automatic random art generator from an old Super 8 projector, and Tom Scott is a Multimedia artist incorporating Raspberry Pi and more.
Project speed-dating, a chance to meet others and explore ideas for working together
A new Arduino And Cake series
A special Maker Night featuring Sugru to make and fix things, to produce new Instructables for people to reuse around the world
Other talks, and many other regular meetups, including Cambridge Mac Developers, GameSpace, K1 Cohousing, Cambridge Clojure, OpenDCU.org & Pi-makers, and Arty Crafty Maker Night.

We'd love to see more regular (and irregular!) events - it's easy to organise something at Makespace, just book the time on http://www.meetup.com/makespace !

As ever, please spread the word of Makespace to others (we have posters, stickers and cards on the table by the entrance door), and do come along and use Makespace. If you have any feedback about Makespace, good or bad, please post on the Google Group[1] if you are happy to share, or email management@makespace.org if you'd prefer to keep it confidential to the Directors, Jonny, Simon and me.

We're hoping to kick off the autumn season once people are back from holidays with some public events including Maker Nights and more. There are also ideas for some big community projects underway. Get involved! Find out more at the space, in the Google Group, or try our IRC channel [2] to chat with other Cambridge area makers.

Best regards,