Too bad you're in NorCal and I'm in SoCal, near Pasadena. The people with the straitjackets are still looking for me but I've thrown away the meds. Anyway I have a mill, will most likely add a router and then a lathe in the coming month and move everything to its own ~800 sqft area with maybe another 800 sqft of open office space on top. No where near 24,000 sqft but just enough space to start.
There are some plans for the machines but I am beginning to think there is a very real possibility that everything will sit idle most of the time like the mill. It's a 5 year project and almost 3 years has elapsed.
Once the router and the lathe are added and the work area cleaned up I am thinking of possibly turning it into an semi public workshop but there are always liability concerns and the various cost issue of accommodating more people.
I really like the idea of open source and open forums where people freely share ideas and knowledge. As a person with no background in machining other than a couple classes at the local colleges I don't think I'll ever get started in cnc machining without forums like cnczone. . . . or maybe I shouldn't have stumbled across it. . .
Anyone interested forming some sort of "maching/manufacturing" club or even business? but initially it'll have to be after work hours and on weekends only. If it's a club type of gathering I think Linux OS, an open source cad like QCad and handwritten GCodes will probably be the most likely path . If it's a business type of gathering, I have one copy of visualmill to start and in quick succession we'll need to wean ourselves off educational copies of Rhino and Alibre and deal with the assorted hurdles and challenges of making it viable.
I read through WLee's post a couple time I definitely lack some elements of the dream, passion, skill, and need, but hopefully together with a few people those voids can be filled.
Everything will hinges on moving to an enclosed work area in the next couple month. Anyone interested?  |