2021-10-06 Transcript

Meeting 6th October 2021
Attending: Andrew Armstrong (chair), Steve Barnett, Gareth Howell, Ian Dickinson, Ali, Malcolm, Betty Ching (edited) 
20:05
Announcements and events:
Ian organising Light Night Beeston (pilot event), we were asked by someone who attended one of our light night events in Notts.
AGM will be happening in December - not that far away now. Will send out information and ask for submissions soon.
20:06
Ian will make a new channel for Light Night on Slack and archive some redundant channels at the same time.
20:07
Actions & Minutes of Last Meeting:
Nothing to add.
20:09
Team Updates:
Skipping craft for later.
None from 3D printing, no members in Comms.
Electronics: potential purchases in proposal from Betty.
Infrastructure: Electrical work is progressing - discuss later.
Laser: Ian did some maintenance last night after Mark noticed it was cutting badly and making a lot of smoke. Cutting well now.
Membership: Ali has now emailed everyone on the backlog (except for those very recently added) and responses are coming in. Prearranged tours are being arranged. 32 responses from second round of emails to those who didn't respond. 16-17 tours booked and 18 or so people waiting to confirm. Ian says several people have completed most of the membership signup process now.
20:11
Not much response from people wanting to join the membership team yet. Planning on making some announcements at AGM about membership.
No metalworking or network announcements.
Safety: Now a trustee responsibility as opposed to a team. Authorising some spends to buy PPE, signage, and storage for PPE. Chunk of money up front but will be worth it in the long run. Fire safety and risk assessments soon.
Snackspace: Need a more permanent team, but Mark has done a run and filled the vending machine.
Software: No updates as far as we're aware.
Woodworking: Bob's taken yellow planer blades for resharpening.
20:12
Bob knows someone with the correct equipment.
20:15
Trustees are a bit worried that teams have 1 or few people in and some are not well equipped to cover their areas of expertise. Will try and organise some kind of in person open day to encourage people to join teams soon. Will try and announce at AGM that we're looking for more people to help out. Might need to disband some teams and create new teams.
Inductions are also a big issue at the moment. Having looked for it there's not an accurate list of who is inducted and who can induct as some of this data was lost a long time ago. Also not a lot of people who can induct on certain tools.
Aiming to clear out the teams to ensure that the lists of team members are accurate. Will be emailing people to confirm they wish to remain in any teams they are in, to filter out inactive members.
Currently not a lot of information to understand what areas are well covered and which are not well covered.
20:17
Gareth: Need to have a bigger conversation on inductions regarding incentivisation. If we can find the right way to incentivise people (not with money) it will help to encourage people. Need to create an agreement between inductors and the wider hackspace.
20:18
Viewpoints were very inconsistent in the Slack conversation about it. Not a concensus among trustees about this yet, but we agree that more organisation is required and we need a better way of keeping the data about non-RFID machines.
20:21
Short term looking at alternative to booking system, trying to get more inductors. Reorganising things will be a more medium term goal.
Ali: Never had an issue with the Google Sheet.
Ian: Laser cutter team were maybe more organised about this.
Marking people as inducted is less consistent on the sheet - not a problem for RFID machine.
Would be good to have a button in HMS to mark people as inducted for the non-RFID machines.
20:22
Bob joins from the space with Jason and Howard. (edited) 
20:26
Craft Room Improvements:
Betty suggests some areas need TLC for storage and is starting off with craft room. Boxes or really useful box towers to make tools findable and usable.
There is a spreadsheet available with costings for this. Some things are not just for the craft room - intended for draws to be interchangable so a set of draws can be selected, moved into another cabinet, and wheeled into the craft room.
Betty is interested in suggestions and adjusments to the quantity of things.
Also added cutting mats + sundries and consumables.
Talking to James he suggested they wanted to replace the long boxes in electronics with really useful boxes so this has been added to the proposal.
20:26
Unfortunately James is not here to discuss this tonight.
20:26
Nothing approved, just a quick plan to get feedback at this point.
20:26
Have a wholesale account on these boxes to save 30% over retail.
20:29
Interlude: several tours today (4 people)

moop  20:35
First row - 6 sets of draws that go under the table.
Next two - inserts for small items.
Below that 6 individual boxes in a tower - one set.
6 boxes with trays in that can be added to the box tower.
2 slightly wider scrapbook drawers for papers and vinyl for the vinyl cutter. Can also store cutting mats e.g. below embroidery machine.
2 more inserts.
0.2 and 0.3 litres boxes are for smaller items.
Robo Drawers are desktop organisers for smaller knitting/sewing/leatherwork tools - go on shelf but easily accessible.
2 new A2 cutting mats, 2 A1, and 1 A0. Thinking about normal green ones but there are more hardwearing ones. Betty will leave a sample of this in the craft room - really heavy duty vs the green ones but no grid - just a cutting mat.
Additional sundries - rulers, rotary cutters, blades, general sewing items.
Pegboard for hanging pegboards in craft room. Ikea SKADIS - customisable and we can maybe print special accessories for this. 6 of these, 3 in craftroom, 3 for use around the space.
Blue stuff is electronics area.
Ikea HELMER drawer is an alternative to the plastic drawer units.
Final item is an IKEA SKARSTA sit/stand desk.
20:36
Comes to ~£1000 without electronics purchases, but including a £215 table.
20:36
PDF 
Craftroom TLC.pdf
352 kB PDF352 kB — Click to view


20:37
Ali: Is it better to buy all of this at once or a bit at a time?
20:38
Betty: Points out we really do need to change the storage in the craft room - not currently efficient.
Bob: Concern at the moment is that there aren't many people here. Should we be seeing what normal looks like before we spend too much money? Obviously a trustee decision though. In tonight and there is one member working in woodworking (other than Bob, Jason, Howard).
20:39
Malcolm: Asks who is doing the work?
Betty: These boxes don't require construction or heavy lifting - just need to transfer the tools into them.
20:40
Ikea SKARSTA desk will not be back in stock for 8-10 months!
20:40
Still maybe worth preordering to get an adjustable high table at a good price. Double the price elsewhere based on Betty's research.
20:40
One issue with buying less if we'd have to buy retail for a higher cost.
20:41
Discussion about open nights -generally the same 6-10 people out of 5-600 people.
20:41
Ali suggests deciding what is necessary and pushing the nice to have stuff further down the line. (edited) 
20:42
Betty suggests improving the space might encourage more people to come in if things are accessible and usable.
20:43
Andrew A: we're wanting to spend money to improve the space and bring people in. Necessary stuff has been paid for - toilets, electrics, etc.
20:45
Considering replacing the studio flooring as it is a safety risk and we have some quotes for that. Somewhat substantial cost but one time and the results should last a long time.
We'd be interested in hearing from teams and other members if they think there are additional urgent necessary spends we're not aware of.
Downstairs toilet would be the next thing we're looking at, but is tied in with other downstairs plans.
Bob: Suggests downstairs metal door is the biggest problem. Need to remind Bizspace that it is our fire escape!
Betty: We're chasing Bizspace about this. They seemed to think this is done, but this has been pointed out to not be the case.
20:47
Matter is in hand and we are staying on top of this.
Andrew A: Float of ~£20000 so the £1000 spend for the craft room seems fine. Treating this a litmus test for how teams and other areas raise necessary spends.
20:47
Betty: Points out it's a tedious job - has spent a lot of time measuring and making sure things till fit - but should be worth the time spent.
20:48
Andrew A: Points out the float is on top of emergency/day to day funds we need to keep available in the bank account. Don't want to sit around for 3-4 years while this money just sits there, we want to figure out how we can use it to improve the space.
20:48
Currently teams don't really spend any money which makes it hard to budget for them.
We'd encourage people to speak up about team requirements.
20:49
Ali: Bigger concern about the downstairs being a dumping ground. How much money and time would it take to sort it out?
20:49
Andrew: Points out that sorting downstairs is a priority for the trustees.
20:51
Arranging a skip to clear out a lot of the junk that is accumulating downstairs.

moop  20:56
Bob raises a point about whether ventilation in the classroom is a problem for safe use of that space, but can't offer a solution currently.
20:57
Needs investigation, but we could make a request to make alterations to those windows.
20:58
Betty will tidy up and prioritise the list into what can be purchased now or later.
20:58
Can go ahead if no major concerns are raised.
20:58
Open to opinions, suggestions, and alternatives.
20:58
Discussion should probably happen in #craft
Also looking for suggestions for improvements in other areas from the teams and members.
21:00
Bob: Regarding woodworking, he doesn't see them wanting to buy anything extra at the moment. If things take off he'd like to replace some benches with better ones. Could do with a replacement bandsaw at some point in the future. Everything else can be left as is.
21:01
Andrew A: Likely to be building benches for CNC near the laser area - could maybe buy more material for woodworking at the same time.
21:01
Likely to need benches for other places also.
21:02
Slowly building a set of questions for a survey on what membership want at some point in the future.
21:02
Gareth: Will try and get costings for staging and presentation setup soon.
21:03
Hackspace 3.0:
Waiting on information from Bizspace about the basement to get the information we need for the structural engineer to continue with both the stairs and the front door.
21:04
Mike Haber joins.
:the_horns:
1

21:06
Financial Update:
Missing 3 months of updates now unfortunately, but no massive outgoings based on the bank account.
£20000 float over what we want to keep in reserve and no expected large spends with the exception of the craft room discussion about and replacing the studio floor (maybe £3000-4000).
No specifics to present yet. Will be interesting to see what the trend is with membership.
21:07
Betty: Of 3 tours at the weekend two have proceeded with the joining process which is positive.
21:08
Reopening Nottinghack:
We have reopened now.
Electrical work is pretty much complete. Need sign off from BizSpace electricians which will happen soonish, and light switches need finishing.
A bit more work necessary with removing old lights and fitting covers.
Kitchen needs work, but this is paid for and will happen.
21:08
Any Other Business:
Bob: Guillotine has been donated. Trustees to thank the donator.
21:09
Will be placed in the craft room.
21:09
Betty: Will find a good place for it.
21:09
Bob: Tells Malcolm the planer blades have come back, will sort out a time to replace them.
21:10
People shown around tonight were impressed.
21:10
Meeting closed.