Friday, July 5, 2013

Visit to the 757 Makerspace

There's a new makerspace going up nearby. I finally had the time to visit it today. Although it's a bit further from home, it's still within an hour's drive from the house (through non-workday traffic).

With apologies to all concerned, I'm forced to compare it with the now-closed 757Labs hackerspace as that's the only other "space" I've ever visited.

  • The building is a bit older than the now-closed 757Labs, and it's much more industrial.

  • The location is in an industrial area. 757Labs was in a business area. I see this as an advantage as we can make more maker-type noises without worrying about upsetting the neighbors.

  • There's no hang-out facilities in the makerspace. This was an ongoing point of contention at 757Labs, between those there "to accomplish actual work" and those there to "network" (okay, to hang out on one of the couches).

  • Although there seems to be much the same equipment in both spaces, the makerspace has dedicated locations for them (i.e., a locked room for the equipment which requires special training (e.g., the laser cutter)). Maybe it's just that the makerspace isn't (yet?) overrun with people's in-progress projects.

  • There's a restaurant right across the street which has been described as having a "full menu". I'll hold my opinion until I've visited it.

  • There's just so much more space, though fewer chairs. Hopefully it'll force a focus on work (and cleaning up after yourself).

  • The dues appear to be around twice what 757Labs required.

  • Web site here. Facebook page here.

  • Oh, and parking! We won't talk about the parking issues experienced at 757Labs. Let's just say that, from the looks of it, the makerspace just has more.


I'm looking forward to being a member and getting some of my on-hold projects completed. First need is some cases for Raspberry Pi's with different daughterboards installed (e.g., PiFace, RazBerry).

No comments:

Post a Comment