Once again the space was full of visitors, makers, robots, projects and pizza. Several visitors were so impressed they have signed up for induction as members. Others are making plans to bring their clubs and groups in for an evening of making. Thanks to Jo Brook for organising with the Cambridge Science Festival as she does each year!
Makespace is in its 7th year now and in that time we have had over 1,000 members making and 300 organisations (commercial, charitable and educational) working in Makespace. Over 2,700 people have attended, talks, training and shows and It is all organised by the members of Makespace. Well done.
Hackaday Unconference
Hackaday.com invited hardware hackers to Makespace for a mini Unconference. The 50 attendees gave 8-minute lightning talks bringing forth the cool-stuff of the moment from the hardware hacker community. Many Makespace members gave talks on IoT (Steve H), Makespace (Charlie S), Robots (Rob K), Getting kids into tech (Katy M). There were also visitors from London, Birmingham, Germany and the Netherlands the latter having flown in just for the event.
Events past and future
In addition to what is above and follows there were also events focused on LGBT(Richard, Liam) and Women’s making (Katy) as well as Social Ventures and Wikimedia (Jo, Charles). As with all things at Makespace it is what you make of it. Please do send text and photos of events to management@makespace.org.
Matt S and Migel M. Have helped in the past month updating and refreshing the website and improving the electronic induction system. Thanks to both of them.
Regular events and training sessions can always be found at meetup.com/makespace
Training
Thank you to the people who have run training sessions and Event in the past month (and to the others who will step forward after reading this):
Warco metal Lathe – Alaric W (4x’s !)
Band Saw Training – Graeme D (2x)
Laser training – Mat C, Toby S
Pi Wars Eve – Brian C (who else!)
CoderDojo – Hannah
New Members Inductions – Alaric (4x !)
Autodesk Fusion 360 – Michael D
See the Space – Ward H, Eliot L
Sewing Machine training – Caludia F
Droidscript – David H (4x)
Raspberry Pi-makers – embedded ‘puting Kim SJ (4x)
Ultimaker – Katy M, Andy (3x)
Wood Lathe – Allen ( 3x)
Sunday sessions – Mr C and Fanny B.
CNC Router – Michael D
Fusion 360 Show & Tell – Michael D and 20 others!!
As members of Makespace you are encouraged to host events that promote making and STEM. Please see the item below about booking the classroom.
Becoming a trainer is as easy as watching a training session, doing a training session and then teaching others; watch, do, teach. Being an owner or trainer means you have a say in how the equipment is run, what improvements are made, and what materials are available. Emails for the owners are posted at the equipment get in touch and get involved. Makespace is what you make it.
Master class: Woodworking!
Thank you to Michael Dales who ran an introductory workshop on woodworking! On March 10th, around 10 members attended and learned about the CNC router, the hand router, the mitre saw, the band saw, the scroll saw, etc. They learned how to make a stand-alone hole in a piece of wood with a power tool and the jigsaw. They saw the craft in inventions and products made by other members. They learned that the drill press will follow the grain of the wood, unless one first punches a hole in the middle to ensure the bit stays true. They saw how wood sanded at 2,000 grit is so smooth that it stops feeling like wood. They learned about the options for CNC router bits, either a downcuttter that presses removed wood into the stock or an upcutter that moves removed wood into the extractor, and they either help with chatter or with chirping but not both. It was an all-around informative session.
Safety Always
Fresh safety glass and ear defenders are available in and just outside the workshops. Wear safety glass when working in the workshops. If you see someone else not using the appropriate PPE say something to them.
We need some members to help create a new PPE rack for the workshop, see next item on growing Makespace.
Growing Makespace
How you can help
Makespace is a volunteer run organisation and was built from the ground up by its members. Your skills can benefit Makespace greatly. New people are joining our community each month and each new member needs training. Being a trainer takes as little as 2 hrs per month. If you use a particular item of equipment regularly, please contact the owners of the equipment you use to offer to be a trainer, or via management@makespace.org to discuss becoming becoming a trainer.
Makespace is as economical as it is because you, the membership, make the contributions for which other spaces have to pay. If we had to pay for all that gets done in the space the monthly fee would be many times higher (well done us!) Thank you to everybody who has helps make Makespace what it is!
Watch the google group the notice broad in the main space for other things that need to be done around the space. Right now we need from you:
1 hour every other week on Mondays to give See the Space tours for perspective new members
2 hours every other week, on a day that you can chose, for New Member Inductions
The electronics bench upgraded. An afternoon to organise the components and equipment then 30 min every few weeks to keep it stocked
The Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) racks upgraded outside the workshops and at the equipment
These newsletters edited
Matt S has been working on a huge update of the website. Look for that soon.
Booking the Classroom
The number and scope of events in the classroom continues to expand. This is fantastic and thanks to all who have organised or brought guests into the space.
A reminder for anyone wanting to book the classroom. As part of the insurance and fire requirements, anyone wanting to book the classroom needs to provide a risk assessment and sign the hosting check-list agreeing to supervise guests. The documents can be found here:
Those and other useful documents can be found in the public folder on the google drive. These docuents need a rework to make them more accessible. If you have experience in Google forms please get in contact via management@makespace.org to help. Thank you.
