New hackerspace at geekdom San Francisco !!

[polysome]

Hi all,

We are setting up a hackerspace at Geekdom in San Francisco and looking for equipment recommendations.

We have only the basics so far,

1x Rigol DS1102E
1x SmartARB 625
2x Fluke handheld DMMs
1x FX888
1x hotair rework station
Several large desks
powered breadboard, overhead lights, a few cheap FPGA dev kits

We don’t have a 3d printer or laser cutter and would like your advice on recommended models and policies for use. Also how do you suggest setting up the desks, lights, fume extractors etc ?

Any working equipment welcome, PM me for shipping info.

Best
Thom

[JuKu]

We don’t have a 3d printer or laser cutter and would like your advice on recommended models

Make magazine recently had a shootout for 3D printers (vol. 42, Dec2014/Jan2015).

My interpretation of results: Winner: Ultimaker 2 at $2499, best value for money: Printbot Simple Metal at $599.

[george graves]

That is some humble beginnings!  But hats off to you for starting out.

My local hacker space is nice.  You can take a virtual tour here: http://www.bohonus.com/hosted/metrix/.

I think the best part is the people.  But people in Seattle tend to be awesome.

And you might want to read this:  https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-start-a-hackerspace-the-list/the-list

As for 3d printers, you'll get a lot more traction with a open source printer.  Repraps are fun to build. (PITA to tune, but fun to build.)  I see a lot of people that guy a makerbot or something, and then can't figure the damn thing out.  If you build it yourself, yes, you'll have much more frustrations, but at the end of the day, you'll know how the whole thing works.....unlike a black box.

[Vgkid]

@ George Graves, that is a pretty cool looking place.