New Laser Cutter Project 2014/2014-01-22 Initial Meeting

Meeting 22-01-2014

Ideas meeting for purchasing a new laser cutter. Finance is a larger issue to be discussed as well.

Dominic Morrow, Andrew Armstrong, James Hayward, Martin Rainsford, Michel Foor-Henry.

Main idea from Dominic and Martin (only one suggested). See: Sharks Laser Proposal. Main things:

• £4000.00
• Software can be used on more than one laptop (only one )
• Chiller can run both lasers
• Bed size is 1200x900 cutting area
• Note: The shipping cost is not included in the £4K and James suggested the space pay it. Currently is unknown cost.

Will investigate alternatives. Similar one from other companies are around £6000:

• HPC at £6,250: http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=2
• eBay at £6,900+: http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/laser-cutter
• Others, eg, CTR, are "call for quote". http://www.ctrlasers.co.uk/product/382/categories/CO2+Laser+Cutting+Machines/TMX12+laser+machine+%281200+x+900+MM%29

Raising money:

• We have this cost of X amount, how do we get it?
• Pledge drive can be tried first
  • Will this include laser time?
    • Argument is people will pay more for "free laser time" if payment is part of the usage, and if not then it'll be much less and be a donation.
• Aim would be to raise the money in a few weeks of time

Using the laser cutter:

• Feeling of pledges need to have something back for it (ie; usage of the machine)
• Pay per use:
  • Expensive machine to run (most expensive on the space)
  • Money could go towards a new laser (and other things, like fixing it), or new machines (CNC machines etc.)
  • Note this might price people out of using the machine
  • Could charge at cost, or subsidised
• Membership payment (from membership fees):
  • Easier to manage (no taking individual money, tracking it)
  • Issue possibly with overuse
  • What about
• Both ways?
  • Possibly preferable for membership to have both options

Upkeep cost

• Price list for replacement (laser hours for a tube and so forth)
  • 1200 hours for a tube, 12-18 months replacement time. Plus mirrors is £450.
    • 37.5p/hour or something? Perhaps subsidised.
  • Maybe £3 an hour for cost then?
• £250 for power supply but these are replaced less often.

Final ideas

Main pay-to-use option:

• £1 for 20 minutes (versus £1 for 10 minutes currently) was suggested which still makes roughly £2.60 "profit" back when taking into account average laser
  • Note option is there to charge what we want, just this is based off cost of replacement parts.
  • Pledge users would get time back for what they pledge (presumably)
  • Would this be changing in the future?
    • Change of price could go up or down depending on if we aim to do things with the money such as a second laser cutter to allow more people to use lasers in the space

Secondary free-to-use option:

• Free to use; Hackspace subsidises the running and maintenance costs out of the standard membership fees done on an honour system
  • Remember average running cost is around 40p as above
  • Time could be allocated by scheduling or booking if in heavy use

Tertiary both-of-them options:

• Allow membership to pay what they feel like through normal fees
• Also have a pay-per-time option for those who want to pay through using it

Pledge drive the amount of £4000 with kickstarter-like extension goals of "more laser part spares" which are cheaper when brought with the machine.

• Each donation gets the amount they donated back in laser cutting time (eg: Donate £30 gets you 10 hours time)
• Pledges would need to be collected before a deadline to purchase
• If funds are not made up decision would have to be taken on if Hackspace funds would fill the gap

Timeline

• Request for Comments (RFC) up until midday of the members meeting:
  • Agree on the laser we are buying
  • Agree on payment option (pay to use versus free to use)
  • Agree on pledge process
• Results will be given at the 5th of February members meeting on final decision and if anything has changed
• Pledge drive start that evening for the laser cutter, duration 2 or so weeks or up to £4000
• Check on pledge drive process and see if more funds are needed and if project is successful
• Collect funds from pledges by a deadline
• Pay for laser cutter