Mesa CC Engineering Club -meeting at HeatSync Labs?

[Christopher Forman]

Hi HeatSync Labs - I’m Chris, president of the Mesa Community College Engineering Club.

We’re interested in holding some of our club meetings at HeatSync (even if it’s occasional/slow to start) so our members can learn and build using the tools/resources your space offers. A big focus for us is building projects that have community outreach impact in the Mesa area, so being able to meet and work in a makerspace environment would be huge.

We toured the lab about two years ago and I’ve tried reaching out a few times - so I’m posting here: who’s the right person to talk to about whether club meetups at HeatSync are possible, and what the expectations/process would be?

Thanks,
Chris
Mesa CC Engineering Club

[Jay McGavren]

Hi, Chris,

I am NOT the right person to be your official long-term contact. (We need to set up an email alias like community at heatsynclabs dot org for purposes like this, but that's a discussion for another thread.) But I can at least offer some info.

This should definitely be possible, and I'm sure the lab will be highly interested in making this happen.

This might not be everything, but here are the most important steps:

1. Find one or more cardholder volunteers who can be your host on the dates/times you want to meet.
2. Fill out the Event Scheduling Request form on https://wiki.heatsynclabs.org/wiki/Forms , which will get the meetings added to the calendar on https://www.heatsynclabs.org/calendar/ . (This will depend on Step 1.)

This list is the best place to find those volunteer hosts, so you're off to a good start!

What frequency, days, and times are you imagining, to start? (One option might be to start with a one-off and see how things go...)

-Jay

[Brett Neese]

Also, if you have your meeting during our open hours (Monday-Wednesday 7-10, Saturday 12-5) then there will already be a host there for you. Just make sure not to conflict with another scheduled event!

Brett

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[Christopher Forman]

Hi Jay and Brett - sorry for the slow reply. This semester’s been unusually busy on our end, but things are getting more manageable now that the chaos is settling down.

Thanks for the info - super helpful. We’re aiming to start with a one off pilot sometime in March–April 2026, then ramp from there. Since details (tools/headcount) are still forming, what’s the best way to coordinate scheduling - is this Google Group fine, or is there a Slack/point-of-contact? If easiest, we can pilot during open hours (Wed 7–10pm) to keep hosting simple, then revisit earlier times later. We’re still interested in the earlier 4:30pm Wednesday time for the pilot if it’s feasible (with a host), but we’re also happy to do open hours (Wed 7–10pm) if that’s what works best operationally. Either way, we’ll make sure we don’t conflict with scheduled events.

On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 10:29 AM Jay McGavren <j...@mcgavren.com> wrote:

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[Rafael]

This sounds awesome, I'm interested engineer I'd love to attend

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/CANe7%2BdST1NNPVHm04vXJDNbsEiJCq2ZD1fHO1hqTR66jnjE90g%40mail.gmail.com.

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Rafael Karosuo

LinkedIn

[Jay McGavren]

Slack might be better for coordination. You'll find a link to our Slack at the top of the page at https://www.heatsynclabs.org/ . We're all on there so give us an @-mention once you're on!

We should generally be able to make 4:30pm on a Wednesday work, though we should figure out what the specific date will be.

-Jay

[Christopher Forman]

Hi Jay,

Thanks again for the info, and sorry for the delay getting back to you.

We’d still love to make this happen. For our first visit, I think it would be great to do more of an orientation/tour-style meeting so our members can get familiar with the space before we start planning project work there.

Would Wednesday, April 1st at 4:30 PM be possible?

If that works, I can also join the Slack and follow up there for coordination.

Thanks again,
Chris
President, Mesa Community College Engineering Club

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/3bace63c-e51e-4648-9d15-c3e36473ca31n%40googlegroups.com.

[Jay McGavren]

Hi, Chris,

I've marked my calendar!

Can you please have all attendees sign the online liability waiver at this link beforehand?

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdg59iLo5rDZL7f3GvHIVXVu_32vqjwYCCfuRvyMTK1P5RGhg/viewform

For now I have nothing fancier planned than a tour of the facility, and the group can feel free to hang out.

People can also use any equipment that doesn't require certification. (So nothing in the metal shop, and I would have to supervise any laser cuts, but almost everything else is fair game.)

I can also do a demo of the laser and/or vinyl cutters. Would the group want to see the 3d printers? Because I'd have to do a little preparation (re-familiarizing myself with the equipment) before I could do that.

That's about the limits of my knowledge. If there are any other stations the group wants to know about in-depth, I'll need to see if other members are available.

Do you know when you want to wrap up by? (If desirable, I can plan to stay until open hours start at 7pm, and then attendees will be able to stay until 10pm if they want.)

-Jay

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[Christopher Forman]

Hi Jay,

Thanks so much for the update. That all sounds awesome.

Our meetings normally end around 5:30 PM so we would probably plan to wrap up around then.

I’ll be talking with the club today about everything in more depth and I’ll let you know as soon as possible if there are any other stations the group would want a more in depth look at.

We would definitely love to see the 3D printers if that would be okay. I think the group would be very interested in that.

I also wanted to ask how it works if people wanted to use the 3D printers. Would attendees need to bring their own filament or do you already have a system in place for that? Just wanted to check how that works, if using them would be possible.

Thanks again,
Chris Forman

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[Jay McGavren]

> I’ll let you know as soon as possible if there are any other stations the 

> group would want a more in depth look at.

Any outcomes from your discussion yesterday?

> We would definitely love to see the 3D printers

Sounds good, I'll try to be reasonably-prepped.

Folks wanting to use the printers should read through https://wiki.heatsynclabs.org/wiki/3D_Printers , ideally before the 1st.

> Would attendees need to bring their own filament or do you already have a
> system in place for that? Just wanted to check how that works, if using them
> would be possible.

In order of preference:

- Attendees bring their own filament.
- If they can afford it, attendees donate to cover the cost of filament they use. Official guidance is: "If you are using the lab's filament, take this time to check the box in the lower right of your slicer. It will provide an estimate on the amount of material your print will use and suggest a donation amount." I know that doesn't allow planning in advance, so for now let's say $30 per spool used, or fractions of that for fractions of a spool.
- If they can't afford it, let's not worry about it for now, but let's also please limit the amount of filament used.

-Jay

[Jay McGavren]

I'm hearing the average print consumes about $5 in filament, BTW. And that a common rule of thumb is to "throw in $5 per print unless it's particularly large".

[Christopher Forman]

Hi Jay,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I meant to reply earlier, but I wanted to make sure I had a better sense of the group’s interest and availability before following up. Since people were not entirely sure on availability yet, I did not want to pressure anyone prematurely.

From our club discussion, I think the first visit being more of an orientation/tour-style meeting is definitely the right move. The main thing the group is most interested in seeing in more depth is the 3D printers. Other than that, I think a general introduction to the space and what is available would be perfect for this first meeting. I do not think we need any other stations covered in depth right away.

Thank you as well for the info on the printers, filament, and the wiki page. I will pass that along to everyone so they can read through it before April 1. The guidance on bringing their own filament or donating based on use is also very helpful.

I will also get on having everyone sign the liability waiver ASAP. Part of the delay there was just that attendance was still settling, and I did not want to push people to complete it before they were sure they could come. But now that things are clearer, I will make sure that gets moving right away.

We are still planning to wrap up around 5:30 PM.

Thanks again for being so accommodating and for preparing for the 3D printer portion. We really appreciate it, and we’re looking forward to visiting.

Best,
Chris Forman

President, Mesa Community College Engineering Club

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/heatsynclabs/9519da1e-7748-4072-97da-8ccf98424c30n%40googlegroups.com.