October Announcement

[Chris Nash]

Dear Makers,

Its time for another monthly newsletter. Here are the current updates:

Members area update

Our long awaited member area is now up and running! Big thanks to Matt Lloyd from Nottinghack for helping us with the build and implementation of this. This now means that you can update your details, make requests, track banking and find lots of useful tools and links to help the space run smoothly and efficiently. It is in the same place members.somakeit.org.uk and uses the same login and password as the old members area. 

We are asking all members to ensure that their address,payment details and roles (now teams) are up to date.

This is a new system for us too, so please get in contact if you have any questions or some information is not correct.

Hack the Space Day

Hack the Space day was a success. We managed to sort through lots of the clean room, especially the electronics area. Thankyou to those of you that attended, we look forward to seeing you at the next Hack the Space day on Sunday 31st October. Here is a breakdown of what was achieved.:

• Lots of cleaning was done and the space is looking better

• We now have three fully working multimeters and the remainder work and just need batteries

• Many of the useless electronic components have been binned and the boxes under the soldering bench now contain components sorted by type and the level of sorting has been written on the front.

• Event soldering irons marked as broken have been tested and are working

• Bearings have been sorted

• Stationary has been sorted

• We have some OSB boards for use in shelves etc

• Members storage area is tidier.

Septembers Members Meeting

As part of our members meeting in September (see minutes here), we discussed some purchases that could be made to improve the Health and Safety, as well as increase the number of tools available at the space. We compiled a list of items that we felt the space needed and have researched the cost of all of these items. Please follow the link for the items and their costs. As we are a members run organisation, we would like your opinion on whether money should be spent on these items. We will be holding another members meeting on Tuesday 12th October at 7:30pm. If you would like to support or oppose these purchases, please attend the meeting or share your views in the slack channel, comment on this post or email trus...@somakeit.org.uk. 

COVID Grant money

As part of the council's COVID support for small businesses, we have received grants from Southampton County Council to support us to remain solvent throughout the COVID 19 pandemic. After taking care of important infrastructure and health and safety concerns at the space, we still have approximately £22,000 in our account in addition to our savings. We want to make sure that this money is put to the best use possible and meets the needs of our current membership. Therefore, we are asking all members to complete this survey so that you can share your views on how the money should be used to best support the survival and growth of So Make It. Please take the time to share your views, it is important that all members have an opportunity to contribute to the future of the space.

COVID Grant money survey

Floor Painting subcommittee

As part of improvements to the space. Chris Carter has kindly donated some floor paint for us to use for space improvements. Please let us know if you are able to offer time and labour to get this massive job done as quickly and with the least disruption possible. 

[Tyler Ward]

Hi, A couple of thoughts on the list

Resin printer:

* Given we were considering a resin 3d printer as one of our bring new members in items Is it worth getting a cheaper unit like the one linked or spending more and getting a higher end unit. (alternatively could look to get a pair of printers and a single wash station if we want to increase capacity rather than machine quality)

* I also haven't been able to find a good review of this unit, it would be useful to find a couple to check that it isn't going to end up being a high maintenance printer (compared to other resin printers) and therefore out of action a lot.

Air quality monitor

* As it can measure more than dust Is it worth getting two units, one for the workshop and another for the cleanroom?

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[Peter Bond]

As a Form 2 owner/user (and learned with a LittleRP)...  I'd advocate an inexpensive unit over a proprietary one; you've got lower consumables costs and greater freedom on materials (although at the same time you've got the potential for greater chaos in operation while tweaking settings).  

As an example - one of the resins I use for generating castable models has just had a new release for DLP printers.  The cost of the resin + a new build vat for the Form 2 is greater than the new cost of one of the manufacturer-recommended printers...

Don't underestimate how much clean-up resin needs.

Peter Bond

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