As many of you may know we are working hard to start BadHaCK (Basingstoke {and Deane} Hackspace) better known as Basingstoke Makerspace.
We are in the loop of having enough people prepared to support us once we have a suitable location, but we can’t get a location without members and regular subscriptions.
To help promote BadHaCK and boost our membership, we took the opportunity to participate in the Tech Evening at Basingstoke Discovery Centre this coming October, only to find out a couple of weeks ago that the event may be cancelled.
The event is now on again, with BadHaCK being the main (if only ! ) exhibitor.
We are able to provide a short talk on Makerspaces plus have about eight displays around the library which visitors can visit after the initial introduction. There are in fact enough locations throughout the library to accommodate about twelve displays. Our aim as with all Makerspaces is to show what anyone can… make/fettle/fix/hack…themselves, aided by a range of equipment not always available to the individual.
We are asking the Makerspaces in the immediate area if they would like to participate too.
Would shmakerspace like to take the opportunity to both promote Makerspaces in general and publicise both themselves and Basingstoke Makerspace by providing a single display too?
Date looks good to me, hopefully should be able to make it with a project that combines textiles, a Raspberry Pi and some sound output (if @JulianWarren is also interested?)
That too would be awesome ! We have not finalised the layout yet, but how much space do you think you would need, if we are talking “desk size” units? (like one per display so two?) And what power requirements?
Depends on how many other Surrey Makerspace people turn up; I can usually manage with half a desk and access to one power socket (using own extension cable).
If others turn up with 3D printers, interactive games and other gadgets we usually take up 2 tables and would probably do with another power socket. @stochastic_forest, @AndrewPatience, @Winkleink, @gingebot, @JulianWarren anyone else interested?
All in one place would probably work better for us, just because it is easier to make sure they are personned all the time, but if it is 2+1 we could make that work, would you know how long the event is ?
The event is from 7 pm to 8.30 pm on Wed 18th Oct 2017, also we have only 30 minutes to set-up, as the DC closes at 6.30 pm.
We hope to overcome the problem of getting ten to twelve displays in place in 30 minutes by having some form of staging post close to (basement) , or in the DC. This would allow us to deliver kit (test as necessary) during the day and then quickly move it to the relevant desk.
It is also possible that the 30 minutes could be more like 45+ as we have yet to ask if desks can be in place prior to 6.30 pm, and as we plan to have an introduction in the community room for the first 10 to fifteen minutes, then that gives us a little extra time.
The restrictions on time plus health and safety will restrict us to displays that don’t belch out noxious fumes, so no smelting, casting or oxy-acetylene cutting !! (not sure about plasma cutting)
As you can see the logistics may restrict what we can display, e.g. no working 3D printers (mechanism could be moving) or laser cutters, but we hope to overcome these by having static displays and a video running on a PC. WiFi is available for connectivity for playing videos not available on a hard disk. Items already cut, printed etc. are welcome.
Keep the questions coming, and we hope to publish more about the logistics in the next month or two.
PS In the end the desk setup has to be what allows you to set-up and function most effectively. If this works out as two or three desks together that really isn’t a problem. It would most likely be against a side wall rather than round a pillar, both locations have power, just three desks round a pillar could be more difficult to arrange. Floor plan to be available next month.
Thank you for the update we look forward to meeting everyone and sharing what we do. As it’s a relatively short event, so keeping the stands personned should be fine. Having everything together probably helps us with branding.
Was the no working printers a health and safety constraint, we’ve given over 30 3D printing demonstrations at events with no fatalities ?
All we have been asked for is PAT testing for electrical kit, I guess Postman Pat will be available but we don’t have confirmation yet
One of our directors has the PAT testing kit so we can if necessary do that prior to the event. Having said that our friends at NADHack found out that the kit only needs checking by a “qualified” person. These terms I’m using may well not be exact, I will have to check the original correspondence. You may have your own experience of what is required.
So… 3D printing is possible and we may have one or even two printers there, especially as we were given one. 90 minutes does not give much time to setup and make a print, but we may all get round this in various ways. Setup can of course be prior to the event in the staging area.
The restriction, if you can call it that is no directly placed on us by the DC, more by the short window to setup-display-dismantle and move the kit back to a staging area for collection the next day.
We are getting close to the date for the Tech Evening at the Basingstoke Discovery Centre… Wed Oct 18th.
We need to organise what display goes where, how the equipment for the display gets from the loading bay to the main area in the library, what setup time is needed and lots of other details.
To help organise this Steve has created a spreadsheet accessible from our Google Group.
If you have someone who is already a member of the Basingstoke Makerspace Google Group you can access and edit the spreadsheet via “Spreadsheet for Displays, Tasks and People for Discovery Centre”
If not please ask for access to the group via our website (or by going direct to the Google Group_
and then access the spreadsheet
Thanks again for agreeing to help promote Basingstoke Makerspace.
Our apologies Eric, we’ve been a bit preoccupied with the always the sun festival.
We normally need around 3 tables, typically a small cart is enough for transport from the loading bay and we can manage with around 1 hour setup time once unloaded.
