Wasn’t it decided that we can’t really do welding in the space?
Are we welding?
Yeah, the big welder belongs to Pete and Joe and should be leaving the space soon.
I’m sorry to burst everyone’s bubble, but we just don’t have the sapce for welding to co-exist with the other uses already established. If/when we expand then a dedicated welding/grinding etc. area can be considered, but for now: No welding please.
Well that has definitely burst my bubble and I’m sure a few others too. One of the reasons I joined was to use the welder. I have a project which needs the welder in 2 weeks, I was hoping we’d have gas by then and be able to doing some welding.
Is there anyway for me to take ownership of the welder and think of a way to make it possible to use? OR to simply start discussions again? As a new member I am not familiar with the process of raising new discussion topics or revisiting old topics.
I’ve shifted this to a new thread.
So, the reasons for “no welding” basically come down to “there’s not enough space to do it safely.”
There’s not enough space in the Dusty room (and a dusty environment is not great for welding in anyway). The metalwork area in Messy is visible to all - even the Clean room. I don’t see how you could shield the rest of the makerspace from the flash.
The tool itself is gigantic. If it’s going to live in the Messy Room, where does it live?
Let’s talk about it, because it’s been a while since we last did and maybe circumstances have changed since then. But safety and consideration for other workshop users has to come first.
Yes, there might be scope for some ingenious solutions here.
To get the ball rolling (and neither for nor against this)
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Pop up welding area? Say in the ‘general assembly’ section, limited to 2 days a month in the calendar, and cleared completely when not in use?
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it’s a bigger welder than we need? Downsize it?
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Also welding goes with grinding, and grinding makes really really nasty gritty dust that kills electronics.
I’m sure we could set up screens and signs to make it safe, but it’s the mess that worries me.
Outside?
We’ve been told specifically and clearly by the landlord that welding isn’t allowed outside.
A welding curtain can easily solve the issue that it exposes it to everyone…
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It protects from direct flashes but the reflected light has an impact on other rooms too.
What about sectioning off part off the snug into a welding space - specifically, the area to the left as you go in.
If we move the current ‘in’ door to the right hand side to close off the snug’s storage area, we could replace it with a welding curtain. This would shield the rest of the space from flash and dust, while still complying with the fire regulations.
I realise there’s a fair bit of work required to make that section into a usable space, such as soundproofing, laying a concrete floor, rendering the back wall, routing power, moving the door, fixing the roof etc, but having a dedicated welding area would be extremely useful.
The question is really how many people would want to use it, and is anyone willing to give a hand putting it together?
These are all good thoughts.
As you say, There’s a couple of design problems with the snug that make it difficult to use from a fire regulations perspective, but these are not entirely insurmountable, for example the snug is a ‘room in a room’ which makes fire-regs hard.
These can be overcome by removing some or all of the partition wall between the snug and the workshops, but then the snug would need to be made more practical and secure. If there is interest from a group in coming up with a design proposal to make this happen it would be a good thing for us all to discuss, I think.
There’s some appetite for doing this, but equally dependent on a number of factors, including the current lease and approval from the membership at large.
There was also an action point from the last members meeting to try and get some external advice on the question of fire regs IIRC.
If its going to halt your project the company three arches down does metal work.
The main block to using the snug other than building regs is also the fact this wall we build was for sound isolation purposes, so removing the door and using the space at the back would need to be very quiet… In practice we need to rebuild the snug from more high density blocks to deaden the noise.
Yes, any new snug structure will need to be relatively heavyweight.
Well that is exactly why we 're calling all of this phase 3… is not going to be easy, but if we decide to go for it is gonna be AMAZING
Maybe it would be good to have a group come together and form a proposal 
and we can then put it to the rest of the members and think about the financial implications.
I’ll put a discussion point in next weeks meeting
Also wouldn’t it make more sense for Phase 3 to be storage not workshop space.
I say both… if we can make it work of course…
I would suggest we have another space utilisation review.
Throw everything up for voting including wood working, etc… ask them to rate which things are most important to them 1 to n.
That way we get a prioritised list, and if any area is less desireable we could consider closing it, if it is more desirable we can keep it.
@tomnewsom thanks for splitting the last discussion and creating this welding specific thread. As a new member I am impressed with the way the space seems to be organised and operated, re-opening a discussion on welding is gladly received.
I understand space is always going to be a premium in a workshop and perhaps not all activities will be possible. I had a workshop in Brighton for a number of years where;
I made furniture,
Fixed the mechanics of old VW vans
Sprayed painted vans and any other vehicle bodywork
Welded all sorts of things
Sewed curtains and clothes
Did upholstery
etc etc
My solution was to have all equipment stored away and when required I would bring the necessary tools out for the job. In essence I had popup spaces for each activity.
I think for activities within the space that may not be undertaken on a daily basis then they could perhaps be timetabled to use a pop space. Its not my place to comment on where or how as I do not as of yet have a good appreciation of the working environment within the space. I would however be happy to work on creating a space if a space can be identified. Movable shields, ply or industrial curtain would make sense to partition off a space. Certainly for welding, a visible barrier would be needed. I’m not sure if any other shielding is required to protect any of the electronic equipment?
@AussieFred thanks, I would look to use their service as a very last resort. As I really enjoy metalwork and particularly welding it would be a massive shame for me to hand this type of work out to someone else. If I dont have the opportunity to weld in the Makers Space I would maybe ask if I can bung them some cash to work in their space, not sure what theyd think of that tho. Plus I am keen to help anyone else to weld and from a few conversations I’ve had with members there is an interest.
So with regards to the actual welder, the one we have there is mega powerful. I would love to play with it! But I have a welder and would be happy to leave it in the space to be used by members. Its a smaller mig welder which would suffice for the majority of welding activities, at least it always tackled every job I had for it.
@unknowndomain I think giving everyone the chance to vote is a great way to see peoples interests, but, I think it would be a shame to scrap activities just because a small percentage of people have a desire for a particular activity. If we used the popup idea and obviously had enough storage to store the tools then I think we may get closer to keeping more members happy.
…edit, basically @Dermot I agree with what you said
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