Medium/Large project storage racks

[Jake Howe]

Hi all,

At least as a temporary measure, today me and David C set up the spare metal shelves in the studio.

When we came to the space today, two of the tables were filled with items, mostly the large projects from in the members box rooms.
Also, there was the space taken up by the disassembled shelves.

I thought the shelves would be better in the workshop, but David C pointed out that there just wasn't the time/manpower to clear enough space for the shelves in the workshop.
Plus the workshop is fairly grotty and not all projects are suitable to be kept in there.

Yes, these shelves take up the space where a table was, but the table was positioned in such a way only 1 or 2 people could sit at it.

We need these shelves for project storage, there are projects stored and stashed all over the hackspace, where as some of them have asked for permission on the mailing list (for example Andrews outfit project) a lot of things have not had permission sought from the mailing list, for example a pile of wood and tools sat taking up a whole table in the workshop that I have not seen change/move at all for weeks.

Its a pain to have to ask on the mailing list, and often the projects are not quite big enough to be called 'large' projects. They just happen to be bigger than the standard size boxes.

The shelves will fulfil the purpose they did while in the members box room, just with a little more structure to how projects are stored.
Three of the shelves are set up as 'clean project storage' I have covered this is card so the shelves don't get your projects mucky. Try and keep dirty projects on the other shelves.
People don't need to ask permission to store a project on these shelves, they just need to make sure to label it with their name, and put their name and date on the sheet I have attached to the side of the shelves. If it is sat around for ages without being worked on, we can easily see that, and easily contact a member via email.

The idea with the list is you can easily just re-write your name to show that you are working on the project still. Anything with a date older than 3 weeks and we can contact the member.

I am aware that this is taking up space in the studio, I am aware that not everyone will be happy, but its better than several of the tables being covered in half finished projects.
If you have a project kicking around the space, can you make sure to see if it will fit on these shelves.

If it doesn't fit on these shelves you need to be asking on the mailing list for permission to use space for a large project.

As always, make sure you feel your usage of the space is reflected by your monthly membership.

Any questions and suggestions are welcome. If lots of people would prefer to have the shelves in the workshop then myself and David C will work on making some room in there to put the shelves. But consider these commandeered for project storage.

Jake

[Adam Froggatt]

Looks good!

As a secondary plus, it will also help with people working in the studio during friday nights not feeling awkward with the lights on while Bad Movie night happens as the shelves will block (most of) the light.

[garethhowell]

That's great, really useful. Thanks to you and David for doing it.

If we resurrect the library/bookshelf idea, it would be perfect to back onto this.

[Michael Erskine]

I've temporarily put a medium partially assembled project on one of
the taller ground-level shelves - it isn't yet labelled (the system
had yet to reach my ears!) but it will be moved/labelled tonight if I
can get to the AGM. Otherwise it can be disassembled to make space
(only corner-clamped together: no glue)

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[Jake Howe]

Thats no problem, for the most part I am not going to be hardball about it at first.
I don't expect everyone to immediately be aware of how it works.

If I see a project there one week and gone the next, that shows its being used well.
The real issue is people dumping projects planning to work on them in the following month, only for them to sit there month after month with no progress.
Plus the array of project dotted around the space. Which I am going to start leaving labels on telling people to move them to the storage shelves.

What do people think about me officially turning half of the underside of the bench where the CNC's used to live into project storage too?
Pretty much one half is used for project storage already. I can see people doing woodwork projects might not want to drag stuff all the way through to the studio.

Jake

[Charly C]

I have a Large project that won't fit on the shelves and wasn't aware of the asking on mailing list rule :(, but I'm just working on it this week and it will be gone Saturday it's for a photo shoot on Sunday. I'm really sorry if it's an inconvenience and will obviously move it sooner if I need to.

Charly

[Jake Howe]

Hey Charly,

Don't worry about it, half the reason I had been putting the time into these storage racks is that for the most part people have no idea there is a rule regarding large projects.

So, no need for you to apologise, the fault is that we don't have a great system in place.

Short of putting up posters, I can't really think of a way to solve the issue.

I don't think its going to get in the way, plus it would be nice to have a big mostly finished project like that sat around for the Open Day this weekend.

Jake

[Jake Howe]

Thanks to everyone who has taken to using the new Medium and Large project shelves.

Especially people who have moved items that were secreted elsewhere in the hackspace.

There are several items on the shelves, and a few scattered around the space which do not have a name.

The unnamed/lost projects on the shelves are mostly items that were in the blue room, which I have moved onto the shelves.

These consist of -

A bag containing an Amiga, this has Patricks name on.

A 3D printer and accompanying box of parts, I believe this to be Dans.

A Box with a Nintendo 64.

A giant sized circuit, I believe this is Matt Little's

I am aware that people might not have realised this projects have been moved, I am not going to be strict about the 3 week rule, however once the shelves have filled up I am going to start chasing people directly about these. If they are not being worked on regularly, then please take them home again.

There are few of large projects scattered around the workshop, If you can make sure your name are on these, along with a date, that would be great. You can use the labels and pen on the side of the Medium storage shelves to do this. We could do with a slightly better procedure for large projects, as evidenced elsewhere in this thread, people just don't know about the rule regarding large projects. 

I am going to put some time into trying to think of a simpler way for people to keep track of these, perhaps another list people can put details on. I feel that asking permission feels a bit restrictive in terms of people working on projects. Any suggestions on that would be welcome, especially from people who are/have worked on large projects.

 

Jake

[gmjhowe]

Hi All,

Firstly I want to say thank you to everyone who has been using the large project shelves.

However, as more and more projects are worked on, we need to make the best use of this space. About half the projects have not been touched at all this year. If you have a large project on the shelves can you please take it home if not being worked on. Try and ensure you label your projects and note it on the form on the side. Please try and tidy up your projects to make more room too.

I have made a list of projects that appear untouched. Where possible I will be emailing people before hand, however I will start recycling abandoned projects. Starting with ones that have no name, which will be removed without notice. Followed by those poorly labelled or with no date.

Next, there are a few larger projects kicking around, I understand that it is difficult to find space for these projects at time. Especially with all the improvements in the studio. However, it is not ok to leave large projects blocking the bike racks.

As we get busier for the summer, we need all the bike rack spaces available.

This is a pain because some of these projects I can see being worked on (and they look awesome). However, until we have some specific storage for these it is probably best you take them home. Not ideal I know. However lots of people use this space.

I will continue to try and improve our large project storage options, until then please be considerate, do not block other areas of the space that are needed and used. Most importantly, make sure you label your projects.

It is not ok to leave a project in the space without a full name, or contact details ideally with a date, securely attached.

Jake