203BrownSt

Note: The information on this page is for archival purposes only. Makers Local now resides at 414 Stevens Ave, Huntsville, AL 35801. Please come visit us at the new location!

Mailing Address

The make shop address is not active with the postmaster. Snail mail correspondence should be sent to:

Makers Local 256
PO BOX 2234
Huntsville, AL 35804

Planned Organization of Areas

These layouts were agreed on at the May 2009 meeting and will not be altered until the Nov 2009 meeting.

Lobby with front door

• This will be used like a kitchen.
• Convert corner closet to a shower
• The panty will continue being used for servers
• There is no problem with an oven/stove being in the kitchen, but the shop will not buy one.
• Knock out one, if not both, of the windows and replace them with glass/lexan and blinds.

Large common area

• Predominant work and learning area. It will remain mostly clear except for 4 large work tables and large active projects in need of space.
• A table dedicated for electronics work.
• The projector will stay on the media cart.

Kitchen Loft

• General chill out space, used for hanging out more so than working on projects.
  • Lighting needs work.
  • Semi-permanent ventilation needs to be installed (box fans or case fans).
  • Pipe insulation needs to be added to prevent ouchie boo boos.

Space next to rollup door

• Tools (in general) will reside here. Wood working and welding will occur in the space in front of the garage door (preferably with it open) or outside.

Storage shelves

• Arranged with non-electronic supplies to the left and electronics in the middle "devolving" into electronic components to the far right.
• Wood storage and salvage in left and right near corners respectively.

Storage Loft

• Collapsed cardboard box storage area
• Library for learning and reading
  • Needs wiring, networking, lighting and a sturdier dumbwaiter.
  • Put some kind of gymnastics pad in case someone falls off the ladder and to ensure that area is clear for people coming down.
• Equipped with books and bookshelves, computer and TV with DVD/VCR

Equipment Room

• Storage for items such as the engraver, plotter, computer cart, etc for use either in that room or to be brought out into the main area and returned when not in use.

Issues with the Landlord

Point of contact is Korc

Insurance Info

The meeting with the insurance agent 23 April 2009 didn’t go as well as planned. He doesn’t seem to share the same enthusiasm for the new shop as all of us do.

The insurance inspector came by on 5/15 and didn't seem to hate us, we're waiting to hear back.

We have insurance at the previous rate. All is well.

TODO

Here is a list of the thing that needs to be accomplished:

1. Dead light bulbs need to be replaced and the fixtures cleaned. - DONE 2/10, --Spacefelix 16:30, 8 March 2010 (CST)
   • tool area (VERY IMPORTANT, using power tools in the dark is dangerous)
   • paint booth room (fairly important, as there is no other light in this room)
   • main area (mostly adequate for the time being, but flaky lights are annoying to everyone)
   • materials storage room (low priority)
2. Electrical needs to be refurbished
   • Someone needs to count the outlets so we can get an accurate count of what needs to be replaced.
   • Make special note of any that have damage at the electrical connection. Those that are cracked or are not in good condition need to be replaced.
   • The wiring that is NOT run through conduit need to be removed NO EXCEPTIONS.
3. Storage loft
   • Stairs or an improved ladder need to be installed
     • It would be great if these were built to code, but I'm not sure this is possible with the amount of space we have available.
4. We need to remove the broken tiles and replace the missing tiles in the drop ceiling.
5. find missing items
   • brimstone's SPA942 linksys sip phone
   • brimstone's box of digium cards and appliances
   • jimshoe's wgt634u netgear router
6. find ways to conserve energy
7. build Shop Tables
   • We need materials for 1 more table, at least
8. Outside
   • Any the major holes where insulation is exposed needs to be repaired. This is more of a maintenance task.

Cooling

Attempts

• Attempt #1:
  • Placing a tray of ice in the air collection chamber of the furnace set to fan only. The goal being that it would cool the air passing over it and circulate it through the ventilation.
    • No noticeable change in temperature.
• Attempt #2:
  • Placing ice water in a styrofoam container with the water pump to circulate cool water through copper tubing placed over the intake vent to the air collection chamber of the furnace. Blocked the outside intake so it would only pull air from inside the building.
    • No noticeable change in temperature.
• Attempt #3:
  • Mounting a 15000 BTU loaned air conditioning unit in the west window.
    • Temperature change localized primarily to a single bench. No noticeable change in temperature elsewhere.

Proposed Solutions

• Proposed Solution #A
  • Shop Fans
    • Looks like these run around $100.
      • Omegix can throw $30 towards this or a rolly air conditioner
  • Roll-Around air conditioned units (like what Tuttle from HC mentioned
    • Where do you find these?
    • How much do they cost?
    • Where is the heat vented?
  • Ask landlord to install Air Conditioner
    • At the least lease signing the landlord said he would keep an eye out for an air conditioner. Impression is that we shouldn't keep our hopes up on someone having a free air conditioner. --Omegix 16:23, 1 July 2010 (CDT)
    • Dickie is checking with landlord to see if we can take the value of the air conditioner off the rent, as it would be an item that we left behind when we vacate. --Omegix 16:22, 1 July 2010 (CDT)
    • Pending response from landlord, Jeff (and whoever wants to help) will start investigating either how to get an air conditioner donated, or how we can start a fundraiser with an A/C goal. --Omegix 16:22, 1 July 2010 (CDT)

Heating

Heating Trends

• When weather was 25 degrees (F) shop took roughly 2 hours to heat to "Comfortable if wearing a coat" (didn't have a thermometer, so subjective measurement it is!). This was done using the shop's main heater and one space heater.

Supplemental Heat

• There is currently 1 space heater in the shop Omegix 23:10, 12 January 2010 (CST)
• Omegix has two additional space "hefty" space heaters he can bring to the shop, but they take about 2 hours to ramp up. Additional space heaters of course means a higher utility bill, may be worth attaching a kill-a-wat to them to determine cost per hour.
• Omegix has one additional "light" space heater at the shop, can keep one additional person's hands or feet warm