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A community "maker space" would require careful curation of community members to be viable. Even if everyone were honest and conscientious. It's so hard to find

A community "maker space" would require careful curation of community members to be viable. Even if everyone were honest and conscientious. It's so hard to find the right tool or material at the right time in my own shop, it would be many times worse if I shared the shop with the neighborhood. Sure it's a long, hard, expensive trudge to accumulate your own tools, but at least it gives you a good chance of having the use of them when you need them.

mrfusion 5y ago
Seems like if it’s a problem they should buy more of the in demand tools. My makerspace also put its popular tools under webcam so you could check if it’s in use before heading out.
- jedmeyers 5y ago
  > should buy more As if the resources are infinite. HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY, FREE, AND MAY NO ONE BE LEFT BEHIND!
black_puppydog 5y ago
Have you ever been to a community maker space? Your Comment reads a bit like you're treating this as a hypothetical. The ones I've seen usually have a mix of people owning (and stashing in boxes or such) their own tools & materials, as well as shared stuff that is usually in okay order depending on the place & people. Especially for things like cnc machines though there's no sane way to own these individually if you're not a power user.
jeffbee 5y ago
I belong to three different community workshops: a membership-based wood shop, a motorcycle repair shop that offers both memberships and drop-in work, and an electronics shop for members. At each I enjoy access to far better tools than I ever had at home, especially the motorcycle shop where I would never have something like a crane, a parts washer, cylinder reamers, and tire changing machines. I feel like this model is greatly superior to garage DIY.
- jedmeyers 5y ago
  Membership-based shops and clubs seem to work much better than 'everyone can come' scheme. Even at Google the maker spaces require an intro class, and an approval from one of the managing members. And one can make a case that a googler is expected to be a more responsible person than a random member of the elite no-car community.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    Having to get readability for the maker space is the most googly thing I can imagine.
- perl4ever 5y ago
  >a motorcycle repair shop that offers both memberships and drop-in work Wow, I never heard of such a thing. Or, I heard many years ago of something vaguely like that, and also how it wasn't viable financially. I think Click & Clack said they'd tried to run a do-it-yourself-with-our-tools garage and there were too many idiots. I wasn't aware of any such thing existing in my area, anyway.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    https://www.motoguild-sf.com/ https://www.motoguild-sf.com/
unholythree 5y ago
Yeah that makerspace rendering is insane. A sewing machine, combo wrenches, some plant in a vase, actual monkey wrenches (for time travelers wtf), and a slugging wrench like iron workers use in heavy construction.

mrfusion 5y ago

Seems like if it’s a problem they should buy more of the in demand tools. My makerspace also put its popular tools under webcam so you could check if it’s in use before heading out.

jedmeyers 5y ago
> should buy more As if the resources are infinite. HAPPINESS FOR EVERYBODY, FREE, AND MAY NO ONE BE LEFT BEHIND!

black_puppydog 5y ago

Have you ever been to a community maker space? Your Comment reads a bit like you're treating this as a hypothetical. The ones I've seen usually have a mix of people owning (and stashing in boxes or such) their own tools & materials, as well as shared stuff that is usually in okay order depending on the place & people. Especially for things like cnc machines though there's no sane way to own these individually if you're not a power user.

jeffbee 5y ago

I belong to three different community workshops: a membership-based wood shop, a motorcycle repair shop that offers both memberships and drop-in work, and an electronics shop for members. At each I enjoy access to far better tools than I ever had at home, especially the motorcycle shop where I would never have something like a crane, a parts washer, cylinder reamers, and tire changing machines. I feel like this model is greatly superior to garage DIY.

jedmeyers 5y ago
Membership-based shops and clubs seem to work much better than 'everyone can come' scheme. Even at Google the maker spaces require an intro class, and an approval from one of the managing members. And one can make a case that a googler is expected to be a more responsible person than a random member of the elite no-car community.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  Having to get readability for the maker space is the most googly thing I can imagine.
perl4ever 5y ago
>a motorcycle repair shop that offers both memberships and drop-in work Wow, I never heard of such a thing. Or, I heard many years ago of something vaguely like that, and also how it wasn't viable financially. I think Click & Clack said they'd tried to run a do-it-yourself-with-our-tools garage and there were too many idiots. I wasn't aware of any such thing existing in my area, anyway.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  https://www.motoguild-sf.com/ https://www.motoguild-sf.com/

unholythree 5y ago

Yeah that makerspace rendering is insane. A sewing machine, combo wrenches, some plant in a vase, actual monkey wrenches (for time travelers wtf), and a slugging wrench like iron workers use in heavy construction.