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Sunday Morning Reflections: We’re There!

This past week we had a visit from Eleni Varitamos, our contact at MassDEV to take a look at the place and see what we’ve done with the grant we were awarded.  It was kind of a turning point for us.  It was a chance to really take a look at what we’ve accomplished, and, get a little validation from someone who has been instrumental in starting up many makerspaces just like ours.

Since then our last piece of equipment came in, our ductless 30″ spray booth, and we’ve got a few more workstations up and running and feeding our 3D modeling, our Imaging and our CNC router.  And yesterday, the cable guy came in and we got our own commercial-grade WIFI installed.  Kind of feels silly to take that as a milestone, but hey, we’ve been patching things together since February to make sure members get what they need, and this was the last piece of the puzzle.

Here’s the list.  Sure, there’s still more we could always use, but it’s a good, solid foundation for our members and a good place to grow from:

  • 3600 square feet of space

Rapid Prototyping:

  • 2 Monoprice Maker V2 3D printers

Imaging:

  • A complete color-capable traditional darkroom (set up currently for B/W), with a second enlarger
  • A complete 5-light studio strobe setup with softboxes, grid spots, stands, booms and backgrounds: 2 ProFoto monolights with others.
  • High-resolution digital camera (Nikon D800) with lenses, Canon Digital Rebel, Nikon D100 IR modified body and various film cameras
  • Epson SureColor P800 17″ Large‑Format Color Printer
  • Epson Surecolor P8000 44″ Wide-Format Color Printer
  • UMax Powerlook 1100 Flat-bed scanner (film and reflective)
  • LaCie 321 Color-correct display
  • Wacom Cintiq 24HD LCD tablet
  • Apple 27″ iMac with Retina 5K Display Workstation

Video/Sound:

  • GoPro Hero 2
  • micro HD video camera
  • High-fidelity USB condensor microphones
  • Marantz PMD671 with two ElectroVoice RE50N/D-B interview mikes

Textile, Visual Arts, Aerial Photo:

  • KAT (Kite Aerial Photography) picavet, JonesFoils KAP Feather, kite
  • BEST Santa Fe II double masted studio easel
  • Singer Sewing Machine – model 5825C “School Model”
  • Sewing machine, industrial

Printmaking

  • Complete Letterpress Studio:
    • Daughaday Model 1 tabletop press
    • Small showcard press
    • Golding Pearl #3 platen press
    • Vintage sleigh press
    • Vandercook #2
    • Potter #2 proof press
    • vintage intaglio press
    • paper cutter
    • Golding Jobber #6
    • Fully stocked type inventory
  • 4-color, 1 station silkscreen  printing press
  • 4 12×14″ frames, 2 20×24″ frames

Wood Shop:

  • Table Saw
  • Drill Press
  • Delta 9″ Band Saw
  • Bench/Belt Sander
  • Various hand and power tools
  • 12″ Porter Cable Surface Planer
  • 6″ Craftsman Jointer
  • DeWalt Compound Mitre Saw
  • CNC Router: Carbide 3D Shapeoko
  • Glowforge Plus laser cutter

Metal Shop:

  • HiTorque Bench Mill 5500 with tooling
  • 52″ shear
  • Throatless Hand Shear
  • Band/Hack Saw
  • Horizontal band saw
  • South Bend 10″ lathe
  • 12-ton Press
  • Compressor
  • Bench Grinder
  • 9″ Grinder
  • Die Grinder
  • Micrometers, calipers
  • Taps and dies
  • up to 1 1/2″ twist drills and hole cutters
  • X-Y Vise

Auto/Motorcycle/Bicycle

  • Hand, power and air tools
  • Impact drive
  • Torque wrench
  • Gear pullers
  • Automotive jacks
  • Transmission/Motocycle Jacks
  • Husky Powerwasher 1550
  • Stands
  • Specialty Bike hand tools

Finishing

  • Paint spray gun (standard)
  • Campbell Hausfeld HV2002 HVLP Paint Sprayer
  • Sandblasting with cabinet
  • 30″ Spray Booth

Electronics, Misc

  • Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscope
  • KORAD KD3005D – Precision Variable Adjustable 30V, 5A DC Linear Power Supply
  • 12V power supplies
  • Fluke Multi-meter
  • 9 complete soldering stations (including 75W terminal soldering iron)
  • Li-Ion battery charging
  • 2 Intel Xeon 2670 @ 2.60GHz 2core Win10 Workstations

Biotech

  • Hamilton Bell V6500 VanGuard Clinical Sealed Centrifuge
  • Bio Rad 1651754P Laboratory Vacuum Pump

Robotics/Coding/RC

  • Complete Coding Lab
  • STEM/STEAM Electronics Snap-Circuits RC Snap Rover kit
  • assortment of general purpose 12VDC motors
  • 2 Channel High Power 30A DC Motor Remote Controller w/remote

Office/CoWorking

  • Dell Color Laser Multifunction Printer C2665DNF
  • 40″ Samsung TV, 48″ Sony TV with stand/support
  • Workstations with MS Office, Adobe CS, Sketchup
  • Sound, video and image editing workstations
  • Software: Adobe CS Suite, Sketchup Pro, MS Office, Audacity, SilverFast SE, i1 Profiler w/i1 Pro, XRite Passport

Where do we go from here?  Well, we’re working on developing a few new classes for the new equipment we have, and we’re going to have a little membership drive to try to get our membership up to the magic number of 50 – right now we already have 30, at various levels.  We’ve got the 2020 MassDEV grant deadline coming up on the 12th, and our Patronicity campaign is wrapping up on the 10th.

This coming weekend we’re having a little print party – PrintaPalooza – followed up by an opening for our latest gallery show, so mark July 7th in your calendar and we’ll get you details within a few days.

But mostly we’re going to spool things down, have a couple of long walks and picnics on the beach and maybe watch a rugby game on the field behind us, wrap up a few projects of our own, and let the members settle in, find their happy space and work on whatever they have going on.  Tune in to our Instagram feed to see what that is, some of it’s pretty amusing. (“Fire Tits”, anyone?)

…and give ourselves a minute to do exactly what Eleni suggested – take some real pride in what we’ve accomplished.

Enjoy your summer, maybe see you on the 7th, and, as always, “Keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.”

 

-Ted Dillard

Director

The Brickyard Collaborative

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Meet the Maker: Mike Meuse

Mike Meuse (pictured above – on the left*) is a 2-wheeled Maker Force! If it’s got two wheels, Mike works on it.  Read on:

What’cha working on at the moment?

At the moment, I am working on a pair of Puch Mopeds from the 70’s for my wife and I. I regularly use the space to maintain my daily driver, a Suzuki DR650 dual sport.

What are your plans for future projects?

Most of my experience has to do with bicycles and motorcycles. With the access that I have at the Brickyard, I hope to expand into many areas. My wife and I have lots of ideas to upcycle items into furniture.

What’s your favorite thing about working at The Brickyard?

I would say its a tie between the members and the access to the common areas. There is a lot of diversity in the skills at the Brickyard and while I am excited to share some of my knowledge, there are many at the Brickyard that have the skills to teach me things that I have wanted to learn for years. Having access to the wood and metal shop is a natural fit for my skill set but I am equally excited about the other areas of the Brickyard.

What’s the most unexpected thing about working at The Brickyard?

The growth. When I joined, I was told that they were working on obtaining certain machines for the members to use. They have over delivered on that promise and have invested in items like the glow forge, 3d printer, lathe and much more.

What would you say to people interested in joining?

Stop by and see what its all about. Just walking around the Space is a good example of the diversity of people and is just a glimpse at what is possible with a makers space.

Tell us a little about your background.

My professional trade is in the cycling industry. I have worked in the cycling industry for 19 years at this point and love every day I go to work. I have had many roles from shop mechanic, shop manager, fabrication, some frame building experience, sales, and bike fitting. I have always enjoyed the challenge of tearing things apart and putting them back together. I dive into my hobbies 100% and always like to learn how to maintain my own gear.

* (Photo above, courtesy of Facebook, is a sterling example of why grown adults shouldn’t be allowed to use smartphones and social media unattended by a person of age 16 – or younger.  Apologies to Mrs. Mike.)

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Meet the Maker: Noel Pichardo

Today’s Meet the Maker: Noel Pichardo!

What’cha working on at the moment?

I’m working on freelance photography and cinematography

What are your plans for future projects?

My first project is to work on a full arcade cabinet for at least two players and have an installation in one of our spaces.

What’s your favorite thing about working at The Brickyard?

Firstly, I love the environment, I feel nothing but inspired when I’m in this space. I find that no matter what it is I love learning all about every station, and how others come to find their niche.

What’s the most unexpected thing about working at The Brickyard?

I never thought I’d find so many people with weird hobbies come together to share a space. To teach each other new skills, expose them to new technologies and inspire creativity through new avenues.

What would you say to people interested in joining?

Come down take some classes feel out the space. Don’t be surprised by how fast you’ll fall in love with the space, but more importantly the people who made it happen.
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Meet the Maker: Kyle Bannon

Today’s Meet the Maker: Kyle Bannon (with his teardrop camper, which he and his fiancé built, in the background!)

What’cha working on at the moment?

Building an aluminum body for my motorcycle, making a diy heat treatment oven for metal out of an old kiln and small woodworking projects here and there.

What are your plans for future projects?

Mid-century style desk collaboration with my fiancé as well as making an English wheel and dies from scratch for the space.

What’s your favorite thing about working at The Brickyard?

The diversity of makers we have and all the random projects people make and bring in.

What’s the most unexpected thing about working at The Brickyard?

How fast the space has grown.

What would you say to people interested in joining?

Think of it as a gym membership for your creative side!

Tell us a little about your background.

I have been been working with metal and restoring cars professionally for the past 10 years and I have always been a maker and tinkerer.