Our current setup for the 3d printing area doesn’t really work anymore with 2 printers being used often simultaneously.
It would be great to hear some ideas about how we could solve this.
Reconfiguring the area, moving it somewhere else… anything goes, really.
All ideas are welcome and worth discussing! 
Just some quick thoughts…
Move to a longer bench in the emptied woodshop.
We can buy a suitable table on https://www.reyooz.com/
Add (re-add?) OctoPi to both printers so that they can be controlled and monitored from anywhere in the space.
Users could bring their own laptops, or use the ones in the space.
This frees up the Mac for doing something else.
Alternatively, I could provide 2 laptops to be permanently assigned to the printers.
Add ToolControl gadgets.
Add a storage cabinet for the filament with some basic dehumidifier solution.
Change the booking template to list each printer separately for scheduling purposes.
With regards to dehumidifying the filament cabinet, you can buy silica gel very cheaply if you get it as cat litter - as far as I know it’s exactly the same as the stuff you get in the little white DO NOT EAT packets with electronics.
I’d imagine that for basic moisture in the air that would be sufficient right?
Would be ideal to transform the now empty room for 3D printing and electronics , leaving more space to reconfigure the social area.
About dehumidifier, it’s honestly a urban legend, prusa says that PLA and PETG don’t need drying, CNCKitchen did some tests with not particularly different results.
I’m happy to reinstall octoprint on them
Interesting - dust accumulation on filament can still cause issues though right?
Having a dry and dust free storage for materials is never a bad idea imho.
I always thought it’d be good for laser cutter and CNC going there too to free up the messy for metal, but likewise - the old woodshop is at least soundproofed and metal is very noisy. Go fogure. It is…like tetris+ https://youtu.be/NmCCQxVBfyM
Yea I agree- CNC and 3D printing and electronics plus a pc workstation or something could be a good combo for the old woodshop!
Please, let’s make it happen, if we have a contained space we can think about resin printing and other stuff, like an inspection microscope , we could have cupboards where to store materials and not just out in the open collecting dust, we could have a system for catalogue components and refill them when needed , it’s been a dream of mine for years, turn the electronic area in a functional creative tool
Yes
I’d like to hear from more people on this, shockingly I like the clean room as it is with its diverse demographic combining electronics and textiles, modelling computer and all the people coding in one room and oh so nice kitchen…
I know, I like it too, maybe the answer would be to demolish the partition wall 
not to open a whole can of worms, but long term what things do we want to add? Pottery is the big one that comes to mind. I wouldn’t want for us to go through an effort to move things in such a way that prevents us from expanding in the ways that we want
I think that the current shelving and table unit cannot be reconfigured to suit the 2 printers.
Getting a long table instead of a custom built unit means that we don’t foreclose on other options.
Getting OctoPi on each will also change the way people work, as they won’t need to be tethered to the printers.
If we put that in the old woodshop and then change plans plater, it will be easy to move.
So I don’t think we have to have the whole space replanned before doing this.
I just realized I dont even know if the electronic benches can be moved, I wouldn’t do anything “final” but the real problem for people working on projects is the inability to concentrate when mixed with the social area, I’m the first to value the social area with the electronic nights, but electronics has run out of space many years ago, so 3D, and I will be really pushing for “offline” storage, and yes, we have new stuff we want to know but this doesn’t mean that we stop caring about other areas that need attention.
Agreed! We need to look at the whole space and what we have, what we want to add, and what we can get rid of also! I have been suggesting this for months maybe we can do a planning session?
This is done!
These are all good points. Looks like there are two discussions here, the immediate changes we can do to make the 3D area more workable and the more long term plans to make the wider Space function well.
For the immediate changes:
Long term:
I think 3D, electronics, laser and CNC would work well together or even just some of them
I agree, we get a nice diversity in the Clean Room with the different areas coming together there
Do we need more space in the Clean Room for meetings, workshops, general working and social activities? Especially if we decide to have more members then currently?
The question what new areas we want and what areas we want expand hasn’t really been answered but I think strong contenders were pottery, a spray painting booth, more space for workshops and courses…and then possibly expanding the current areas that need more space. Would be great if we could keep this discussion going and see what peoples thoughts are
Great points! I’d personally look at these combos from the practitioner perspective, from calm to chaos:
CAD & 3D modelling, Electronic => clean, sitting
3D printing, CNC, Laser cutting, Textile => ordered, and precision,
Pottery, printing => dirty, standing
Woodwork, Metalwork => dusty, noisy, messy, risky
I’m new here, so I have not much context. I’d probably better to keep my head down and build up decent metal work skills…
Don’t worry Dario. Input is always welcome! 