Post by: mkawa on Tue, 10 June 2014, 07:20:15
As somewhat fewer of you know, I will be moving up to northern california next month. up to now, this stuff has been trapped in my apartment, taking up approximately 1/3 of my apartment. With the move, comes an opportunity. My goal with this gear, which is about 30-40% owned by geekhackers.org, has always been to make it as available as possible to the geekhack community. Up until now, that has been pretty difficult, as I can't really allow 24 hour access to my apartment :P.
Anyway, my idea is to move towards establishing a hackerspace in the SF Bay Area for us by us. It would have to operate on a subscription basis to pay for the space, with the kind of training system that is used at other hackerspaces. This space could also be used for geekhackers.org operations.
I know we have a pretty large contingent of bay area users. I'm also pretty acutely aware of how much space costs in the bay, so I would need buy-in from that pretty large contingent of users to get this going. Can people weigh in on this?
Post by: hwood34 on Tue, 10 June 2014, 07:54:07
Post by: Krogenar on Tue, 10 June 2014, 08:07:00
http://www.davismakerspace.org/
That's in Davis, California -- not sure how far that would be for the Northern Cali. contingent of GHers.
As for SF, they seem to have a number of hackerspaces. Maybe move your tools to their location, and orchestrate a passive takeover of the group by means of an influx of GH members. Is that evil? Ok, yeah, but only a little bit. :D
Some other hackerspaces I found:
https://www.noisebridge.net/
https://sudoroom.org/
Both are in SF.
Post by: CPTBadAss on Tue, 10 June 2014, 08:33:21
Post by: Melvang on Tue, 10 June 2014, 08:48:05
Post by: geniekid on Tue, 10 June 2014, 10:00:04
Post by: exitfire401 on Tue, 10 June 2014, 10:02:53
Post by: Spopepro on Tue, 10 June 2014, 10:11:03
I think this is a grand idea, but... It might be a real challenge to make it work. The Bay Area is flush with options for hackerspaces/makerspaces. However, I don't frequent any of them and the reasons are the ones you'll have to solve.
I live 2 blocks from noisebridge. I basically never go. As a hackerspace done by cryptoanarchists there's no fee, loads of crazy equipment, and everything I've ever tried to use has been broken. I've met a ton of cool people, which is awesome, but I can't really use the space for anything. The sudo room is supposed to be better, but even more computer related. Even further is any of the coderdojos.
There are multiple TechShops, including one about 6 blocks from my house. I don't belong to these either. At over $1K per year plus needing to pay for SBU classes before you can use each piece of equipment, it's just too expensive for how often I would use it. Same thing with the sawdust shop down in the South Bay.
I've found that it's often *not* worth it to do it myself. Acrylic laser cutting is $90 an hour at pagoda arts and that means I can just hand over files and materials and not have to guess about power, speed, and fight with Corel, which is what TechShop requires. There are multiple cnc routing shops in the area and I'm talking to for my next project where they are providing expertise so I don't have to run through tons of material screwing up.
So, all of that is to say... my interest is high, but it would have to fit in the box of: not too expensive (maybe around $50 a month?), stuff that works, good access hours, and enough equipment--and you have the constraints of space costs, liability insurance, and how to manage the space, people, and equipment. I'm pulling for you, and am willing to help a bit, but it's going to be tough.
Post by: jwaz on Tue, 10 June 2014, 10:16:17
Finding, renting and maintaining a space might be pretty tough with a small close-knit contingent of geekhackers. If someone had a garage like space which was close to BART that would be ideal. A lot of SF artists/ bands have practice spaces in West Oakland, this is something sth would know more about. Some don't think too highly of Oakland ???
Anyway, just throwing some ideas around. I'd really love to have a meet up/ work space. I'll ping haata amd see if he has any insight, I know he has quite a bit of equipment and works mostly out of techshop.
Post by: samwisekoi on Tue, 10 June 2014, 10:22:32
The above is to say that I might have some tools to add to the pile, depending on how/if this sorts itself out.
- Ron | samwisekoi
Post by: Heliosphere on Tue, 10 June 2014, 13:01:18
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 10 June 2014, 15:33:55
i'm not interested in conglomming with another hackerspace other than subletting our own private space.
curious how much we'd be looking at for a garage-sized piece of CRE though. ron?
Post by: divito on Tue, 10 June 2014, 16:15:40
Dammit, you cali people get all the good stuff :p
I second this sentiment.
Post by: Melvang on Tue, 10 June 2014, 17:36:52
Dammit, you cali people get all the good stuff :p
I second this sentiment.
That's it I'm moving to Cali. No wait, to many goofy ass strict laws other on gun control and emissions. I am moving to south western oregon
Post by: CPTBadAss on Tue, 10 June 2014, 17:40:02
Post by: mkawa on Wed, 11 June 2014, 07:52:16
STOP TALKING ABOUT BREAKING THE TOOLS CBA. NO BREAKING NO BREAKING NO BREAKING
Post by: CPTBadAss on Wed, 11 June 2014, 08:00:02
Post by: mkawa on Wed, 11 June 2014, 08:09:22
Post by: divito on Wed, 11 June 2014, 20:30:44
Post by: HoffmanMyster on Wed, 11 June 2014, 21:31:54
Post by: Spopepro on Wed, 11 June 2014, 22:28:00
Post by: slickmamba on Thu, 12 June 2014, 01:39:32
Post by: mkawa on Thu, 12 June 2014, 18:47:34
Post by: Melvang on Fri, 13 June 2014, 01:38:01
Post by: dorkvader on Fri, 13 June 2014, 16:50:49
Post by: Melvang on Fri, 13 June 2014, 17:14:16
Post by: jacobolus on Sat, 14 June 2014, 04:18:40
I live 2 blocks from noisebridge. I basically never go. As a hackerspace done by cryptoanarchists there's no fee, loads of crazy equipment, and everything I've ever tried to use has been broken. I've met a ton of cool people, which is awesome, but I can't really use the space for anything. The sudo room is supposed to be better, but even more computer related. Even further is any of the coderdojos.Yeah, I spent some time hanging out at Noisebridge a couple years ago. It suffices for basic projects, but I don’t think you could make substantial use of shop tools without serious frustration. Also, it’s way too distracting inside for me to be productive.
Quote
There are multiple TechShops, including one about 6 blocks from my house. I don't belong to these either. At over $1K per year plus needing to pay for SBU classes before you can use each piece of equipment, it's just too expensive for how often I would use it. Same thing with the sawdust shop down in the South Bay.If you consider the machines, maintenance, staff, and liability insurance costs, I think TechShop is quite reasonably priced. Especially if you don’t know how to use the equipment already. But yeah, it needs fairly heavy use to be worthwhile; I think they might benefit from other membership structures beyond monthly rates (e.g. selling packs of 10 one-day passes, or similar).
They do have a special deal until tomorrow to buy a 20-class coupon for $900 (as a member), which works out to $45/class, which is much cheaper than the standard prices for most classes, and the 20 coupons can be used by anyone (so a group of people could pool together for it). https://secure.techshop.ws/memberships.cfm?step=select_offer
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Acrylic laser cutting is $90 an hour at pagoda arts and that means I can just hand over files and materials and not have to guess about power, speed, and fight with Corel, which is what TechShop requires. There are multiple cnc routing shops in the area and I'm talking to for my next project where they are providing expertise so I don't have to run through tons of material screwing up.I spent a few hours cutting stuff on the TechShop laser cutter... it’s not at all hard to figure out Illustrator or Corel Draw.
What’s your recommendation on CNC routing shops? What kind of capabilities/pricing do they have?
Post by: mkawa on Sun, 15 June 2014, 22:35:26
this is one of the reasons i never considered a cnc router. a tiny mill is much more useful for the kinds of one-off small parts that you want to make out of billet metals but can't justify mill shop costs for. i like the 100w laser tables, and you can get some that are fairly inexpensive, so if we find a space, that may be a cool thing to consider. the cut on those is thin, and the better ones can hold good tolerances on up to 1/8" acrylic, which is a nice general purpose building material.
anyway, a fellow on the board has contacted me about potential inexpensive north county CRE. this would as far as santa rosa/sonoma/san mateo, or possibly as close as martinez, vallejo, san pablo? i am also curious how prices in alameda are right now.
Post by: Spopepro on Sun, 15 June 2014, 22:44:12
Post by: mkawa on Sun, 15 June 2014, 22:46:28
Post by: Heliosphere on Mon, 16 June 2014, 00:32:31
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 16 June 2014, 02:00:54
Post by: Heliosphere on Mon, 16 June 2014, 15:15:21
CRE in SC, MV anywhere on the peninsula is RIDICULOUSLY expensive.Yup unfortunately. I'll just wait and see what you end up deciding.
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 23 June 2014, 14:51:40
Post by: jacobolus on Mon, 23 June 2014, 15:33:23
Post by: Puddsy on Mon, 23 June 2014, 20:36:03
I'll be in socal, so it might not happen
Post by: mkawa on Mon, 23 June 2014, 21:19:05
Post by: Puddsy on Mon, 23 June 2014, 21:20:10
Post by: jacobolus on Mon, 23 June 2014, 22:24:23
If you put it somewhere in the East Bay right near a BART stop, that would be alright. The closer to SF the better. :-)
Post by: mkawa on Tue, 24 June 2014, 01:58:00
much like the forum itself, it's really a question of herding the mice who are willing to put the money and time into the effort into the venture while at the same time finding the right space for lease.
Post by: DubbTom on Sat, 05 July 2014, 13:19:59
Post by: mkawa on Sat, 05 July 2014, 14:03:15
Post by: DubbTom on Sat, 05 July 2014, 14:40:01
Post by: mkawa on Sat, 05 July 2014, 15:28:41
Post by: mkawa on Sat, 05 July 2014, 15:29:27
Post by: DubbTom on Tue, 08 July 2014, 22:46:47
Post by: mkawa on Sat, 02 August 2014, 17:16:47
so, upshot is we don't need to rent commercial space in northern cal (which as everyone has pointed out, is insanely expensive). however, my planned collaborative hackerspace in northern california idea is going to have to go on the shelf for a while :(
Post by: jacobolus on Sat, 02 August 2014, 18:54:41
If they could only fix the weather, Cambridge would be a really nice town. Unfortunately, it’s only nice to be outside in May and October.
Post by: mkawa on Sat, 02 August 2014, 22:47:44