VHS Homework Assignment #1 - Your first visit to VHS

[Majicj]

Fairly mundane story for me. I came across the VHS website which always had interesting workshops and talks posted on the events calendar. I finally braved the back alley at 45W and checked out one of the super happy hacker open houses. A cool spot, interesting people, (The VHS space not the alley) and also discovered there was a laser cutter.

I didn’t actually make it back and become a member until a year later at which point VHS was now in the new and vastly improved bunker! So far I’ve taken a few SMD workshops from Tom, played around the 3D printers for a bit when Andrew and Dan were initially working on them and I’ve done a bunch of Laser cut paper artwork.

One of the projects that I’ve been thinking about making is to make a low pressure water jet cutter for soft material like clay so I can ‘cut’ my paper art designs into clay and then fire and glaze them.

Oh btw LUKE I AM YOUR FATHER!

[jon]

I had been tangentially aware of VHS for a while, but between the location and the timing not working well, had never made it down to check it out.

Then I stumbled on a reddit post that VHS had moved and was having an open house. I came down, had a burger, and sat and chatted with a few people (I recall Luke, not sure who else?). It seemed like my kind of crowd, so I ordered the parts for a project that I had been putting off due to lack of tools (my first multi-rotor!) and started coming down.

[KevMacD]

My first visit was at the old location - I survived the alley and someone lowered the keys. I discovered an amazing space that included part quantities “a Buttload of capacitors” and an upcoming Arduino forum the next week. Loved it!!

[robbat2]

Since funvill challenged me to answer, and I’ve been around a long time,
here is my collection of how I came to VHS, and some of my early history
with it.

Before The Bunker,
Before 45W top floor,
Before 45W 2nd floor,
was us making use of space at The Hackery…

Set the date back to September 2008.
The venue is one of the little theatres on Granville Island, as part of
BarCamp 2008.

infil00p gave a talk on hackerspaces, and pitched the idea of a
hackspace in Vancouver; he’d recently been to Germany and see their
awesome spaces.

I think a month or two month after that, I dropped into the open-night,
upstairs at the Emma’s Hackery (later The Hackery, back when Free Geek
and The Hackery were mostly still the same organization).

I think I brought a pack of beer, and enjoyed discussing many things
that evening.

Luke’s VanTrash (now reCollect, our successful decelerated startup) was
brand new then. It helped me remember my trash day far more regularly.

See pg 65 of “Hackerspaces@The Beginning” [1] some of the few photos I
know of our temporary first space; also to see how some of our founding
members have changed in their looks (hint: we have a lot less hair).

I’ve been hosting the mailing lists and website since approximately
October 2009. infil00p hosted them before me, but was moving his stuff
to the cloud, and we didn’t want the lists and site to be in the US.
My co-located server (speedracer) has always been in the Lower Mainland,
so it was ideal.

Prior to 2011, my dues were hosting our website & lists on that server.
It’s the same one I hope to decommission soon (I built it in early
2007). Colo fees have more than doubled in that time, over $200/month
now, and the hardware isn’t getting newer (the IPMI card failed
mid-2013, so emergency management requires visiting it now). I haven’t
had any paying clients to even partially offload the costs for more than
a year either.

According to my Paypal history, I’ve also been paying with Paypal since
May 2011, to the money@vanhack.ca address; I know before that I was
paying some cash, but I think there was a while we used the Hackery’s
account too; before that, but as I note most of my due were in via that
server.

In the early years, there were a lot more group purchases for fun
stuff, all above and beyond our membership dues, and I kicked in for all
of these:

• USRP v1
• Our first 3D printer
• RFID dongles (the workshop I did).
• Laser Cutter

Funnily, I’ve never gone and done our laser training, or printed
anything on any of our 3D printers. They were just cool to have around,
and I thought I’d have free time ™ to use them.

[1] Hackerspaces@The Beginning | PDF | Hacker Culture | Computing

[toptekkie]

Interesting expedition downtown to into the lane behind Save_on_Meats joined later by my son Ben who should/could/would have been followed by his mother - if only she had known where the place was!!
Have two great pics of the lane at night to share but as a new member here cannot upload.
Wish I had known of this shared resource 15 years ago.

[Miriam]

VHS First Impressions Haiku

I first came to the
VHS to fix my 3D printer
on a Tuesday night.

I met Dan Royer, the
first time. He was nice, friendly
welcoming and kind.

I heard about VHS through
a girlfriend of mine who came
to visit before.

I had lots of things
in common with the members;
interests/ hobbies.

On my first visit,
I liked the key on the fish
rod to get in space.

But I felt awkward
waiting in the alley with
my 3D printer

[avetozar]

After a long time of planning to come over, I finally did it last week, and boy am I glad!

I didn’t know what to expect of the visit, but the space and the community took me down the memory lane to the time when I was in elementary school (somewhere in Eastern Europe). At that time, I joined a roleplaying games club in my hometown. It had this community of people who all shared the same passion, and was very DIYish (that was how things were done back then, because money.) Anyway, going there and being a part of the whole thing remained a very fond memory to me.
Fast forward to last week, I’m entering this hack space in Vancouver through the garage door and the moment I get to the main area, I have to roll a saving throw against heavy nostalgia. Success! Whew! The atmosphere feels instantly familiar. I spend the entire tour just nodding and smiling and dropping a question here and there. Despite being told that people of VHS are usually anti-social, everyone I spoke to seemed happy to interact and was very helpful! (Thank you, humans whose names I’ve yet to learn!)

I finally have a place where I can go and get motivated about finishing my little (and big) spare-time projects! Yay VHS!

A way shorter summary of the experience would be: LASERS! GEEKS! NOSTALGIA! (in no particular order)

[DaveK]

It was a dark and stormy night. I had done some Arduino development, but was on a search. A search for like-minded nerds who might have other ideas what to do with this stuff. I parked on the dark street in east van. I hid my few visible valuables in the trunk. I walked over to where the single lightbulb swung, dimly illuminating a vhs logo. I walked in. There were already 3 or 4 geeks there around the table. They looked up. Joe tilted his head. “You must be Dave,” he declared. How could he know that? I hadn’t joined, I didn’t email ahead. Hell, I didn’t even know I was going to go until I plucked up my courage that night. “How do you know who I am?” I asked, mystified. He pointed to the box of parts I was carrying. The label said “Dave”.

[ninetynein]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

It is a period of confusion as one lone rebel has been working hard to assemble the ultimate secret weapon - a theremin kit he bought online. Hearing tales of a rogue electronics club VHS, located in the downtown east sector, the rebel made the perilous journey, only to find the spies moving from their secret base in the second floor (coordinates 45 West), to an even LARGER secret base on the third floor (also coordinates 45 West). By the end of the parsec (roughly 4 hours) the new base was established, and an arrangement was made to review the secret plans to the theremin at a later point in time.

Over the following weeks and months, Obi Wan Brown and his bowtie (not as clumsy as a necktie. An elegant accouterment for a more civilized age) taught the rebel much of the secret knowledge of the ways of the force - several different forces in fact. Despite the operation of many sinister agents through the galaxy, the new knowledge gained by the rebel proved to be enough power to build and destroy an entire motor shield.

The secret weapon still resides in another rebel strong hold (my closet), waiting for the day when it will be completed, and probably restore freedom to the galaxy…

[Jarrett]

In fall of 2012, I started hearing about these things called “hackspaces”.
A quick search for something local turned up this page, but other than that, frustratingly little information. What did VHS look like? Why was the wiki so shitty? What kind of tools, equipment, or people did it contain? Why was it located on Hastings? Didn’t they know that was dangerous?
I did turn up a very shaky video of trip down the alley and the location of the doorbell.

Some time later that winter, I was walking past that area with some friends, whiskey in hand.
“Hey, there’s a thing I want to check out nearby,” I said.
“Don’t step in that puddle,” They replied, pointing at a homeless gentleman that was relieving himself off to the side of the alleyway.
With skeptical looks, and every bit as wobbley as the video I’d seen (whiskey, remember), we headed off into the alley. I found the door and hit the bell.

Instead of the door opening as we were expecting, a tremendous CRASH rang out above. All three of us leapt back and looked for the source of the noise.
“Hello!” Said a friendly-looking silhouette above. It was holding a fishing rod.

We said our hellos, and used the key that was lowered down (on the fishing rod) to open the door.

After walking up the stairs to the sound of the fishing rod being reeled back in, we stepped into the main room.
“Welcome! Take a wheel!” Said someone inside.
“What?”
He gestured vaguely towards a box full of what appeared to be wheelchair wheels, and then turned his attention back towards the far wall.

We looked around and took stock. The room, despite being tiny, was jammed packed full of people, most of them sitting or crouching and listening to a woman talking animatedly about bedbugs.

That was my first VHS experience, and my first Super Happy Hacker House. It was a very surreal night.

Shortly after that, I started working on the road almost all of the time, and the next time I visited VHS was October/November 2013, less than a year ago.

[tomschulz]

My friend Lyle brought me to the old space for Happy Hacker night. I remember it being much more crowded than the new spot. The first time I went to the new space, I was taking a break from a nearby “Electronic Music Enthusiast Late Night Gathering” at Open Studios ( http://sequentialcircus.ca ) and wandered over with some friends visiting from the Bay Area around midnight, happy to find the doors open and people busily tinkering.

[stu]

I never went to the old hackspace, although I heard about it.

I think it was Adam Barlev who invited me to come visit at hackspace, but I’m not sure.

I’m always humbled by the diversity of intelligence at vhs, so I go to learn, and to ‘make a contraption’.

[spuug]

I blame Loial for making me aware of VHS.
The details are hazy, but somehow I got the name of this organization that Loial was all excited about: the Vancouver Hack Space. He mentioned something about someone having to lower a key to unlock the door to get in… that intrigued me enough to find their website, which had their address, which I gave to Google Maps to find out where to go. There was a video showing a walk down a sketchy downtown alley…
So one day in April of 2012, I ventured downtown, found the address on Hastings St., walked around the buildlings and into the alley. But which door was it? Crows… the video said look for the crows… and there on the door was painted a crow or two. I pushed the doorbell button, and a few seconds later I heard a voice from above, from someone poking his head out of a 3rd storey window, asking me why I was there. I called up, “I’m looking for the Vancouver Hack Space!”. “Hold on a second!” answered the voice, and then a key descended on a thin steel cable from a hand-cranked pulley. I opened the latch on the door with it, opened the door, and let go of the key, which was again raised to the window from whence it came. I went up a twisty flight of stairs in the old building, along a short hallway, then up a longer flight of stairs to
the top floor. There was a door open to the right, so I went through, and I was amazed.

The space resonated with me; Loial and the rest of the usual suspects were there to greet me, and all the electronics parts and cables strewn along the walls and benches made it feel like home. I explored the parts bins, seeing a lot of familiar faces part numbers. The Makerbot was busy printing something. I was hooked. A few weeks later I joined as a member, and the rest, as they say, is history.

• William -

[Gavitron]

I came to an open house at 45W in 2010, helped build a wooden desk, and met some excellent like-minded explorers. I’ve been lurking on the mailing list ever since.

[rsim]

I wish I could remember any real details - it was that long ago, and clearly my memory isn’t nearly as good as that of robbat, Funvill, or ninetynien. It was the second floor of 45W, and felt very “cozy”, in that I-can’t-move-and-am-afraid-to-stand-up-straight kind of way. I have no recollection of how I found the space, nor who was there and what happened that fateful night… I swear.

[FVMakersJason]

I work at a large company that builds cranes and every couple of months they would throw away lot’s of perfectly good (often brand new) stuff. We would often receive cranes, and there were optional hoses, fittings, connectors, sensors, you name it, plus we would often replace or upgrade cranes and the old components (which were often in decent shape) all of which would be put in a large bin and then recycled or thrown out.

I had never heard of a hackspace or a makerspace, but I was wondering if there were a way to put these parts to good use instead of just trashing them. So I did a Google search and discovered Hackspaces, and wouldn’t you know it, there was one in Gastown!

My first night out scared the hell out of me, don’t get me wrong, I love the new space. But there was something about that alley that felt like initiation. You had to really want to be there to go looking for the door with the buzzer and the key that came down via string.

Anyway, I only ever spent one night in the old space as I discovered the VHS only a few months before the move. I loved what you guys were doing, but I live and work out in Langley and I’ve got kids. So making the trek out was difficult to do on a regular basis.

So in April, myself and 4 other like minded individuals started the Fraser Valley Makerspace. You guys probably didn’t know that your Hackspace made a Makerspace? Had I not met you guys/gals I don’t think we would have had the idea, let alone the motivation.

Since then you’ve helped out with our bylaws, insurance, and you’ve even donated some tools. Thanks for all of that!

We’ll be out at SHH33 and we’re looking forward to meeting more of you, if you’re ever out in the Valley on a Thursday or Friday night come by, the coffee is awesome.

Fraser Valley Makerspace

[LoialOtter]

I remember my introduction to VHS and my first trip there quite well still.

I was working on a project, a costume… which i still haven’t finished, but that’s another story… I had just got a quote back from one of the local plastic companies for a design I had cooked up for the tail and the price was well above what I had budgeted for and so was looking for alternatives. At the same time I was doing some contract work for Elia over at Great Northern Way Scene Shop and took a few minutes break to look for alternative methods. That’s when I found out about 3d printers. So… knowing about the hackery and figuring they might know something about repraps, I headed over there (cutting my day short because when I get excited and distracted, well, no work can get done) and they pointed me to VHS’s website where I found out about the open night that night (it was a tuesday).

I then went off to tinseltown to find some food as I was still a little early and it’s amazing long an hour can feel when you’re really really really wanting to go somewhere. So I waited only 45 minutes of it then rushed over to try and find the place.

Unfortunately I hadn’t really paid much attention to the directions in finding the place so I ended up looking for it on the front side of the street, then the alley for a bit, and happened to spot someone being let in from a distance which clued me into where it was. I rang the wrong buzzer, then the right one, waited and looked around for the voice that called down to me. A key was lowered to my bewilderment and I unlocked the door on the third or fourth try then headed up. To say I was distracted and a little excited so I spent another five minutes perplexed on the middle floor. Finally someone came to the hall and called me upstairs proper.

What happened next probably made me look a little insane as I couldn’t really spend time greeting and meeting people. Two hours I spent peering at everything in the space, looking through all the cool stuff and being shown the mame cabinet, electronics parts, weird contraptions and everything. I’m still amazed I didn’t notice the elevator gears for more than a month with how much I was looking at everything. I was enthralled.

Once that cleared up a bit I finally started talking to people which I’ve learned since then is a far greater resource and part of VHS than anything it might have as tools or components.

As they may say, the rest is history… and the makerbot still needs fixing… and the costume still isn’t done…

[SteveRoy]

3 or 4 years back I was doing an electronics project - trying to read the temperature of a lake and post it on a website in near real time. I found a kit from Tux Graphics which introduced me to the AVR microprocessor, which led me to the Arduino, which led me to VHS. I visited the old space on Hastings for an introduction to Arduino night and immediately like the vibe and sense of community in the place - and also the vast amount of electronic components. Started coming down to the new space on Tuesday open nights and became a member earlier this year.

[ashley]

I had heard about VHS off and on for a year or more but it wasn’t until last Christmas, sitting at home wondering how to reacquire a life in 2014 after several years of school and a baby, that I decided to look it up and get on the mailing list. The first event announcement that came my way was a board game development night. I called up a friend who is really, really into games and we came down. It was at the new space and I feel like I missed some special rite of passage not having done the pee and the key, but then I’ve been in my share of sketchy alleys waiting to get into after hours clubs in my twenties so I’ll consider those “experiences in lieu of”. At any rate, it was a super fun night. I’ll never forget Cluethulu.

[iMakeRobots]

My first visit is lost in the mists of time. Some say I was here and they built the space around me. Some are liars.
Mostly I’m posting here coz I like getting badges. It’s the boy scout in me. The one I had surgically implanted, right between my dorsal fin and the venom sacs.