Cremer st - Infrastructure/Meeting 2011-01-10

When: 8pm, 10th January 2011

Agenda

• meta meeting:
  • scope of the meeting
  • next meeting
• what areas do we want in the space; rooms suggested so far:
  • quiet
  • games
  • av
  • sound
  • dark
  • kitchen
  • soldering station
  • chill out (R&R not so much quiet)
  • hot tub
  • woodwork
  • metal work
  • reception
  • gallery
  • workshop meeting room
  • where are the areas going to go
  • contents of the areas.
• Old dirty room refurbishment
• Laser cutter positioning
• Bike Storage
• Kitchen plans
  • Can we get a washing machine?
• Desks & workbenches

Apologies

• SpikeUK

Minutes

Notes from 10th January infrastructure meeting, typed in a hurry and mostly paraphrased not peoples' exact words, please correct/extend.

The mailing list

There is an infrastructure mailing list but people don't use it (probably mainly because they don't know it exists, because they can't keep up with the main mailing list)

Jonty: We need to growl at people who put infrastructure stuff on the main list and forward stuff to the infrastructure list.

Meta-meeting

Russ/Jonty: Should we be having this meeting? People who aren't here will want their say, if we post minutes to the mailing list people will reopen issues and we will end up with long threads justifiying everything we have already decided in great detail.

added [11-01-2011, SamLR ] : I think the concensus reached was to set up a polling system somewhere (one-click-orgs?) to allow people to vote on things that needed voting on. As well as this I think it was decided to continue with Robert's original intention that it be less a meeting and more a hack day, i.e. a day/evening set aside to plan and implement large changes (like moving the kitchen)

Moving the kitchen

Jonty: does anyone object to moving the kitchen to the back of Lab 24?

• Smokers could be asked to smoke outside unit 23, smoke blowing in when people are cooking is less annoying than
• Facilities are currently poor for cooking.
• Potential to annoy people with smells discourage cooking at the moment

Russ wants to preserve the robot murals

Jonty: current hot water is crap, there is an unused water heater from unit 23?

Wastewater will be a longish run, Russ will do the maths to check it will work, probably ok.

• Serious kitchen move proposal to be put in mailing list.
• Russ to do electrics
• Is Adrian ok to do plumbing?

Lino or tiles? Tiles better as lino would require leveling the floor. Can anyone aquire tiles at no cost?

Existing cold water pipe can be used, we have a water heater. The waste is the fiddle. Some waste pipes are cast iron. Hob needs 16amp power.

(Subitem, can we get a washing machine? People have to take teatowels home to wash.)

• Jasper: Organised teatowel washing system with two colours of towel?
• Reply: if's it's broken fix it, just wash the teatowels or get on with it.
• Mark: Can anyone find an old style ceramic sink in a skip?
• Jonty: If anyone comes across an old working washing machine maybe we can grab it.

Desks and work surfaces

More desks/work surfaces is high priority, what needs doing?

Jonty: We need more desks, this a high priority. We have just got a shitload of desks but they need assembling and putting in sensible places.

SamLR: may take on assembling some desks/workbenches out of wood.

The required work before actually assembling the desks that we have includes:

1. Getting more bolts - need to know the pitch required by the desks
2. Getting carpet
3. Moving the laser cutter
4. Getting more chairs

Adrian is going to try to look at auctions for chairs.

Jasper: somewhere we have a thread pitch gauge, please tell jasper/the list if you know where it is, it will help fitting new desks

• Someone: what about the details of the layout of the kitchen
• Jonty: whoever does the work on the kitchen decides the details
• SamLR: beer taps through the wall from the back room into the main area?

Enthusiasm for this idea/having a proper bar.

• Jonty: can someone commit to moving the laser cutter including ducting?
• Some response. [note: started that evening]

• Jonty: we need bookshelves
• Russ: bookshelves are easy to make

General space layout

Russ: unit23 is better left as open plan as possible

Storage of bikes

• Jonty: a bike rack inside is not a bad idea but not everyone is convinced.
• Jonty & Russ: is the cost of automating the unit23 door worth it for people to get bikes in. Russ thinks the cost is totally not worth it. There could be people doing big stuff in unit 23 so making that the main entry door might be troublesome.
• Russ: I think people only want to keep bikes inside because we have space and in a few months we won't have space.
• SamLR: I've rarely seen more than 4 bikes here.
• Man at the back: the business centre bike shed had been robbed in the past.
• Jasper: if the stuff on the floor of unit 23 gets wet it turns sticky and nasty
• Jonty: other residents on the floor like us, they come round, we probably won't annoy them by keeping bikes outside.
• Russ: We should not use space without good reason, bikes are ok outside.
• Jonty: we could put hooks on the wall outside for bikes.
• Mark: we can fit a lot of bikes along the walls outside
• Jonty: Lets gets some locks and chains, hand out keys when needed, they have to be big chains to work so peoples own bikelocks may not work.

Moving on, bored of talking about bikes....

Jasper: we need about 8 meters of chain, high security chain is relatively expensive [note: costed on list ~£200 [1] ]

Moving the laser cutter

Lots of past discussion. Basically it has to go in unit 23, we need some people to get on with it and do it however it needs doing. (see moving laser cutter being a blocking issue for desperately needed more work surfaces).

Note: move started 10/01/11, in progress now. Old dirty room now clear of laser cutter stuff and ready for further work

Unit 24 stuff

• Jonty: We also need to make a project mount, it's a suspended ceiling
• Russ: Maybe have the current lounge/electronics lab be all desks

Doing stuff with the unit 23 toilets

• Jonty is not convinced by the idea of having a shower
• SamLR: a shower may be a good idea as people are doing more work with caustic chemicals.
  • Reasonable number of people think its a good idea
• Solarnexius: Possibility of turning a unit 23 toilet into a disabled access toilet
• Jonty: maybe that could have a shower as well.
• Russ: space planning required to see if that's practical
• Jonty likes the idea of a darkroom
• Russ: two major things on changing a toilet to a darkroom, we don't want to loose a toilet. Apparently the best place to put a dark room is where a window is. Also a sink is kinda required.
• Jonty: maybe the current fridge nook?
• Russ, maybe unit 23 toilet with big entrance have a shower, maybe a simple darkroom conversion on the other unit 23 toilet.
  • Reasonable number of hands in the air for a darkroom.
• Russ: propose bit of permanent bench next to the sink(in unit 23) for biohacking, pcb etching etc
• Jonty: on the grounds of dust of lack of disturbance the current fridge nook might be good for biohacking works/storage.

General agreement on turning the toilet (and ante room) that will have the laser cutter extractor running through it into darkroom/biohacking/wet lab?

General stuff we need

• Jonty: We need welding screens
• Russ: We could make welding screens but we need to do welding to do that

Screens are being researched. there is a pledge drive, due to finances it must be paid before ordering

Jasper: a big projector has been donated buts its only 640x480 ?

Other

Russ won't order parts that people list on the components page unless there is a direct link to a supplier of the part