Poll for members: Buying a pillar drill

[Jonty Wareing]

Afternoon,

We wanted to put any purchases we make for the hackspace past
all the members, but doing this for all items will get to be a
bit tiresome so we'd like to set a limit on the amount something
costs before we have to ask everyone.

Currently we're thinking that if something costs more than £100
we have to seek member approval - does anyone have any objection
to this, or would like the amount changing?

Seeing as this isn't decided yet, we're asking anyway to be safe:

We're considering buying a small bench pillar drill for the
hackspace, it costs £65 and we're buying it from here:
http://bit.ly/7gLfwJ

Does anyone have any objections to this, or have a better
suggestion for one?

Cheers,
--jonty

[Nandish Bhatt]

I remember you saying that 'everyone has a drill to donate'....

perhaps a drill stand would be more robust?


http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=drill+stand&hl=en

2009/11/24 Jonty Wareing <jo...@jonty.co.uk>:

[Adam McGreggor]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 03:10:09PM +0000, Aden Bos wrote:
> There is the argument that big machinery will attract more members,

(fnaaar.)

> but I think a convenient location, and ability to make noise is more
> important.

yeap. it looks miles away, and a place that needs instructions on a
wiki to get there really doesn't encourage me.


--
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
(tr. ``Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound.'')

[Paul Dart]

My view on it is that we should be saving up money to move to a
permanent space, so concentrate on equipment for small scale
electronics, and software projects for now, and hold off on big
purchases.  I think a drill stand for a dremmel would be much more
useful purchase at the moment. There is the argument that big machinery
will attract more members, but I think a convenient location, and

ability to make noise is more important.

Aden

I agree.

[Adrian Smith]

How about we keep a priority list on the wiki of things we want to buy,
then people can comment on priority and specs, suggest where to buy, etc.

Adrian (lurking)

[Charles Yarnold]

If the dremel is donated permently, then a dremel press, if not the pillar drill. It's only £65, its not like that much out of the kitty will slow us down in getting a bigger place.

Sol

2009/11/24 Adrian Smith <smi...@googlemail.com>

[Adrian Godwin]

A pillar drill is certainly very useful, but a cheap one like this is likely to be a bit disappointing. It will have poor bearings and a lightweight motor, making it inadequate for either heavy or precise work.

I'd always prefer old, industrial quality equipment over new, hobby quality.

Keep an eye on this site : http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk/latest.html

You might not want to pay out for the nice Startright drills there at the moment, but something else a bit cheaper will likely come along eventually.

-adrian

[Nandish Bhatt]

My understanding is that the limit on getting a permanent place is
subscription revenue *not* capital

so, spending money on a pillar drill/stand will not delay us getting a
perm space...

if anything more resources attracts more members = gets a perm space sooner

(worst case, it is an asset and can be sold later for at least a
portion of the purchase price)



2009/11/24 Paul Dart <paul...@gmail.com>:

[Ben Evans]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 3:10 PM, Aden Bos <ad...@aden.org.uk> wrote:

My view on it is that we should be saving up money to move to a
permanent space, so concentrate on equipment for small scale
electronics, and software projects for now, and hold off on big
purchases.

*delurk*

Does the group "do" software, then? I haven't turned up in the flesh yet, because whilst having an interest in hardware, my skills and projects are all in software, and from reading the mailing list, I thought I might be the only software person.

Ben

[Joel Bernstein]

2009/11/25 Ben Evans <benjamin....@googlemail.com>:

I'm definitely interested in software rather than hardware.

/joel

[Russ Garrett]

It's nice to see so much discussion! Discussion is good.

On Wed, 2009-11-25 at 10:55 +0000, Nandish Bhatt wrote:
> My understanding is that the limit on getting a permanent place is
> subscription revenue *not* capital
>
> so, spending money on a pillar drill/stand will not delay us getting a
> perm space...

Yes, that's mostly correct. We are still a bit short of enough money for
a deposit + 3 months' rent in advance, but I'm happy spending about half
of our monthly income on buying cool stuff.

We had a chat about this at the meeting last night, and I think the
consensus was that it's best to wait until we have a permanent space and
then get a better drill.

However, we now have a dremel (could whoever gave us that please let me
know if it's a donation or a loan?), so what I propose is buying the
drill stand for that which will cost £30ish. Dremels have a higher RPM
and so are a bit more useful for drilling PCBs and the like.

Cheers,

Russ

[Jonty Wareing]

2009/11/25 Ben Evans <benjamin....@googlemail.com>:

> Does the group "do" software, then? I haven't turned up in the flesh
> yet, because whilst having an interest in hardware, my skills and
> projects are all in software, and from reading the mailing list, I
> thought I might be the only software person.

I would say ~50% of the people who attend hackspace events are mainly
software people, although a lot of them tinker with hardware occasionally
too.

Come along and see for yourself!
--jonty