Dan - It’s not as simple as “what do you want to make.” For you perhaps, its about a concrete project. For me, the hackspace is about capabilities. I’m a member of the hackspace not because I have $X that I want to make, its because it gives me capabilities that I wouldn’t otherwise have.
I work on a ton of things, and what exactly I’ll be making a month, a year, from now isn’t known to me yet!
Examples of things I’ve worked on with the metalworking tools: custom fixtures for test jigs, parts for robotics.
I want to learn SMD soldering and more about electronics/arduino/LED stuff.
I want to use the laser cutter to make fun things for myself (as soon as I remember to get a design and supplies!)
I want to use the woodworking tools (drill press, band saw, table saw) to make stuff or to help others make stuff.
I want to learn how to use all the tools!!!
I want to provide assistance to people who are using the sewing machines.
I want to get assistance from others when my sewable neopixels don’t work and I have no idea what I did wrong!
Sometimes projects come around from what tools I have at my disposal. Some will be electronics based, some would be wood based but I would never turn up the chance to learn how to make stuff with techniques and tools I’ve never used before.
Most of my projects I can work on at home so if I could pick one thing it would be to learn from others and socialize, that’s when I get my ideas for new projects.
@davidcarne has a good answer. If all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail by necessity.
What projects am I personally interested in making? Mainly robotics (flying, legged, wheeled, tracked, …), and miniature engines. By robotics, I don’t mean using off-the-shelf parts; I’m talking about designing and building every single part myself - chassis, gears, gear boxes, drive shafts, wheels, track links, etc. The key with everything I do is that I am very, very obsessive about accuracy and precision - which is why I love tools like lathes and mills and loath tools like FDM 3D printers. I get a lot of satisfaction from making parts that fit absolutely perfectly together the first time and every time, and the engineering that goes into them. Metal being shiny doesn’t hurt either.
I’m not following what that has to do with anything that has been said here. What are you trying to accomplish with this thread which hadn’t already been beaten to death in the new space layout thread?
I think that’s being a little unexcellent Dan… There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to do high quality workmanship. I could build a desk out of two by fours screwed together with deck screws, or I could do it from hardwood with mortise and tenon joints. I know which one I want in my living room.
Suspending disbelief and imagining I might have any time to do VHS stuff this year…
I’d like to work on a couple small line follower designs, maybe build a CoreXY stage, attend some of Tom’s SMD classes/group builds, figure out how to thread one or the other of VHS’s sewing machines, laser cut random stuff in acrylic or paper.
I’d love to build a giant logic gate puzzle wall for VMMF, reminiscent of what the Ontario Science Centre used to have if anyone here is old and easterly enough to remember that. (Please steal this idea.)
I’d rather not do much of anything in wood, unless I can laser cut it. My wood projects tend to be ugly hacks for necessity’s sake, nothing fun or elegant. When I have a hammer, everything ends up with half-moons all over it.
More electronic projects. Some laser cutting. Learn to SMD solder.
Use the cisco gear to learn VLAN setup and maybe study for the CCNA.
Maybe give a talk on OpenStreetMaps.
I’d like to learn CNC milling and 3D CAD. I’d like to build small steam engines and other miniature machines. I like to socialize with other makers and learn new skills from makers who work with different mediums than me. I’d like to be able to pass on some of my woodworking skills to other makers if we had appropriate tools and equipment.
My project goals for this year all seem to revolve around robots and smart home stuff. Internet of things, anything articulated, autonomous machines, etc.
As rsim said, though, custom is best. I want to make robots, not simply assemble robots.
The catch: I’m brand new to this whole thing. Just started soldering 2 months ago, I’m a total noob to this whole thing. I don’t even really understand what VHS is yet, but here’s how I imagine it could fit in to my goals:
Workshops, mentoring, and just hanging out together so I can learn from others. This is definitely the biggest thing!
Access to parts and tools I don’t have at home. (I basically have nothing.) I don’t even know yet what this means, I just know I have very little.
Group projects. I’m not a solo flier by nature and I want to help people with their things, or work together for multiplicative results.
I imagine everyone has a different response to that, depending on their projects and their comfort zone with “good enough” and “works perfectly”.
Where do I trade off between getting it done right and getting it done? If I need some thing right now, having that thing in a state that works as I need it to for a short time is good enough. Sometimes, I’ll fix/tweak the thing to be better, other times the “getting it done” item gets used for a long time because it works.
“getting it done right” is only important to me for items that require precision building/programming/whatever, or if I’ve agreed to make something for someone else.
As result I would like to see us improve our skills and ability in the area
of surface mount soldering. We already have great skills in this area. To
take this further and improve our ability, we need to take advantage of
tools that will help us with assemblies using bga chips.
Secondly I would like to see a Digital storage scope for embedded
control. I will be away for the first 3 months of 2015. On my return or
before, I hope we get together and gather the funds required for a group by
of digital storage scope.
In my work with embedded control and a digital storage scope is what I need
most. It is the only way to measure widely varying currents, from uA to A
on a sub milli second time scale. With enough storage to capture a few
seconds of data, it is essential for logic debugging.
On my return I hope to restart embedded courses. I am thinking a serious
targeted to an application, robotic control as suggested by Richard.
Starting with dev boards, how to hack them into very capable / power
efficient robotic controllers.
I don’t think the needs/wants from the space have drastically changed. That being said, mapping out the stuff we actually need might be a good idea in general, but taking a more pro-active approach to purging would possibly be better. (Which tbh/imho should’ve been done before the move.)
