We're putting a lathe *here* is that gonna get in your way?

17 views
Skip to first unread message

Lex Bailey

unread,
Nov 15, 2021, 7:52:58 AM11/15/21
to york-ha...@googlegroups.com
We've been offered a mini metal working lathe!
The problem is where to put it.
It will need a permanent home, it's not the kind of tool you can move out of the way when you want to use the bench it's on.

With that in mind, we have a few proposals for how to solve this problem, they range from simple and cheap but not creating more space, to trickier and requires (minimal) spending to make some space and improve the benches.

Have a look at the proposals and let us know if any of them will adversely affect your regular hackspace activities.


You can reply to this email with suggestions or things we need to think about. Or join the discord discussion here: https://york.hackspace.org.uk/discord

Thanks.
Lex.

Bob Lewis

unread,
Nov 15, 2021, 8:52:14 AM11/15/21
to york-ha...@googlegroups.com
I cannot see much improvement in the last proposal and it leaves significant "holes" in usage space. I also see no mention of the existing CNC machine re-positioning. Does that mean it is planned to be removed altogether?

In terms of costs, use of MDF for a "new" workbench for the lathe and laser cutter seems over kill when for much less or even zero, two flat panelled doors can provide a sturdier bench top - I have done this twice now to great effect. A thin ply (6mm) ply sheet can always be fitted on top to provide a seamless surface.

All wood is easily obtained from used pallets. There are various useful sizes available from MANY places offering FREE pallets on FB Marketplace. Also, I have personally collected MANY loads of perfectly usable, FREE timber from the same source. The only real cost should be for screws and fastenings which should be minimal.

A bigger and more pertinent point is that this once again raises the question of space v membership v rental cost. Should we not re-examine how we resolve this chicken and egg issue to locate a suitable larger square footage area, ideally with ground floor access.

We could really do with a face to face meeting to discuss possibilities and approach - example: are we able to obtain some sponsorship from a commercial company, location - MUST it be central to York or would we gain cost advantage from a less central location; what would be the transport access implications be for those without vehicles etc.

Right now, I would say we should concentrate on the second option to just rationalise workbench space into as contiguous area around the walls as possible, minimise costs and start a serious look for a larger venue in concert with a membership drive now we have the lathe, something few of us have but would value its usage.

Best regards, Bob.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "York Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to york-hack-spa...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/york-hack-space/CAAbdvMwdrK%2BnyjLTRQTjfNCuM0uV8Fv3H5p5WFPg30oXtFk7eg%40mail.gmail.com.

Lex Bailey

unread,
Nov 15, 2021, 9:17:32 AM11/15/21
to york-ha...@googlegroups.com
Thanks for the feedback, I've left some responses inline below...

Lex.

On Mon, Nov 15, 2021 at 1:52 PM Bob Lewis <bobs.sp...@gmail.com> wrote:
I cannot see much improvement in the last proposal and it leaves significant "holes" in usage space. I also see no mention of the existing CNC machine re-positioning. Does that mean it is planned to be removed altogether?
Can you explain what you mean by "holes"? And yes you're right, the CNC mill is missing in the first plan. This is because we didn't have an obvious place to put it with that plan. Currently nobody uses the CNC mill. I would love to see it get used, and we need someone to figure out how to use it and document that. For now though, it wouldn't be a backwards step to not have it in use. If we do go for plan 1 then I suspect the CNC would be stored somewhere and brought out each time someone wants to use it (if indeed we get it operational), but this isn't particularly convenient. I also prefer the other two plans for this reason, they give us a better place for the CNC mill.

In terms of costs, use of MDF for a "new" workbench for the lathe and laser cutter seems over kill when for much less or even zero, two flat panelled doors can provide a sturdier bench top - I have done this twice now to great effect. A thin ply (6mm) ply sheet can always be fitted on top to provide a seamless surface.

All wood is easily obtained from used pallets. There are various useful sizes available from MANY places offering FREE pallets on FB Marketplace. Also, I have personally collected MANY loads of perfectly usable, FREE timber from the same source. The only real cost should be for screws and fastenings which should be minimal.
I'll leave this for Nick to respond to, as he proposed the materials and costs for all the new benches.

A bigger and more pertinent point is that this once again raises the question of space v membership v rental cost. Should we not re-examine how we resolve this chicken and egg issue to locate a suitable larger square footage area, ideally with ground floor access.
I would love for the hackspace to be in a larger space with ground floor access. Last time we seriously considered this we voted to stay where we are. IIRC this was partly because we had insufficient membership to comfortably sustain the new location with its greater costs, and it was only considered because an opportunity came up, rather than us specifically looking for a new space. I suspect that we still aren't quite at the level of membership where we can do this, but perhaps with the grant money we should reevaluate if we can "break the chicken and egg issue". Regardless, I believe that we should take one of these plans even if we intend to move to a different space soon, since the cost is fairly low and might help attract more members, which will of course help us grow large enough that a bigger space might become an option worth exploring again. If people want to open the discussion of finding a larger space again, then that's great, but let's keep this thread to discussions about the proposals for the existing space.

We could really do with a face to face meeting to discuss possibilities and approach - example: are we able to obtain some sponsorship from a commercial company, location - MUST it be central to York or would we gain cost advantage from a less central location; what would be the transport access implications be for those without vehicles etc.
These are all good questions to save for when we next discuss a possible move. :)

Right now, I would say we should concentrate on the second option to just rationalise workbench space into as contiguous area around the walls as possible, minimise costs and start a serious look for a larger venue in concert with a membership drive now we have the lathe, something few of us have but would value its usage.
Great, a vote for proposal 2 :) I'm also hoping that both the lathe and the better use of space will indeed help attract members.

Best regards, Bob.

On Mon, 15 Nov 2021, 12:52 Lex Bailey, <danielj...@gmail.com> wrote:
We've been offered a mini metal working lathe!
The problem is where to put it.
It will need a permanent home, it's not the kind of tool you can move out of the way when you want to use the bench it's on.

With that in mind, we have a few proposals for how to solve this problem, they range from simple and cheap but not creating more space, to trickier and requires (minimal) spending to make some space and improve the benches.

Have a look at the proposals and let us know if any of them will adversely affect your regular hackspace activities.


You can reply to this email with suggestions or things we need to think about. Or join the discord discussion here: https://york.hackspace.org.uk/discord

Thanks.
Lex.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "York Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to york-hack-spa...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/york-hack-space/CAAbdvMwdrK%2BnyjLTRQTjfNCuM0uV8Fv3H5p5WFPg30oXtFk7eg%40mail.gmail.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "York Hackspace" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to york-hack-spa...@googlegroups.com.

Nick Moriarty

unread,
Nov 15, 2021, 9:54:52 AM11/15/21
to york-ha...@googlegroups.com
Re: materials - for cost estimates, this was based on a draft design to get an idea of the quantities and shapes involved, and only considers material we already have, materials we would recover from existing furniture, and materials we can purchase - as these are routes by which we can be certain of completing it.  If there is an availability of solid wooden doors to make up some of the surfaces, that would be a good saving.

davidb...@gmail.com

unread,
Nov 15, 2021, 4:15:54 PM11/15/21
to york-ha...@googlegroups.com

Good evening.

I confess to not yet being a fee paying member (based in Wetherby), but as I have somehow been included in the email circulation I’d def plumb for 3.

A lathe is a truly useful piece of kit and if you would like some form of tutoring on how to use it safely and correctly, I have a pal who lives in Pocklington & builds steam engines from scratch (been a member of York Model Engineers for over 40 years) who I am sure would be happy to spend a couple of evenings tutoring people.

It’s certainly not as simple as it first seems especially if you want to keep tools for as long as they should last! Sharpening, for example, is certainly a skill based on repetition. Once skilled though its uses are almost infinite…

Best

David

PS. How can I donate tools?  

--

Lex Bailey

unread,
Nov 18, 2021, 12:42:52 PM11/18/21
to york-ha...@googlegroups.com
Okay, we've had a few responses, looks like there's no major complaints with moving ahead with any of these plans, so to decide which one we're going to do please vote on this google form:

I will leave that open for at least 48 hours.

It does require you to log in with a google account, if that's not something you are able to do then email me with your vote.

Now on the topic of spending:
In parallel with that poll form being open, this email is the start of the 48 hour period required by the spending process.
Our most ambitious plan is estimated to cost £200. This is an estimate for the cost, it might be more, it might be less.
We will try to keep the spending to a minimum, recycling existing materials where possible, (and accepting suitable offers of materials we can get for free if they are available, but we aren't counting on it).
With that in mind. I'd like to get authorisation for up to £250 to spend on these hackpace improvements, just so we have a buffer for unexpected costs and materials being more expensive than anticipated.

If we pick one of the two cheaper plans then that's fine, we'll just spend much less than this amount, but if we can get that authorised then as soon as the poll closes we'll know what we want to do and we will have the spending approved at the same time.

So, please fill in the google form, please reply to comment on the spending. Hopefully in about 48 hours we'll be ready to take action :)

Thanks,
Lex.


Lex Bailey

unread,
Nov 20, 2021, 5:41:44 PM11/20/21
to york-ha...@googlegroups.com
I have closed the poll, there were seven votes cast, six of them were for option 3, which is to swap/recycle several of the smaller benches for a new large bench.
image.png

No other comments were left on the poll, and it looks like we also had no objections to spending the money in the prescribed 48 hours.

As such, I suggest that without further ado we build the big bench ready for getting a lathe! :)

We'll now figure out the logistics of this and update people when we know what's going on. We will make sure to put events on the booking calendar as appropriate so that people know when the space is occupied for the work to make this happen.

Thanks all for participating!

Lex.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages