Re: [rp-ml] Huntsville Open Manufacturing meetup recap

 
In a message dated 1/28/2011 7:44:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
bhinzmann@sbi-i.com writes:

Thanks, Raymond.

I've seen articles on hackspaces, but does anyone keep a comprehensive
list of them around the country? Terry? Ed? Some of the ones I've seen
mentioned are:

A2MechShop (Ann Arbor, Mich)
The HobbyShop (Cambridge, Mass)
NYC Resistor (NY,NY)
Hive76 (Philadelphia PA)
TechShop (Menlo Park, CA)

I get the impression the range of equipment varies considerably and
maybe not all have 3D printing, let alone open source. Are the ones I
mentioned even all still in business? TechShop had plans to expand to
Durham, NC, and to Beaverton, Oregon. Did they? I'd like to see an
occasional update on progress on such concepts and business models.

TechShop has a membership model (like a fitness club), I believe, and
gives lessons on equipment for a small fee or barter. How is that
working out? Do other hackspaces do that? I would thing instruction in
how to use 3D solids modeling someware would be a common need for
newbies. What are some of the other common requests?

I suppose it is possible for people sell things on Web sites like
www.thingiverse.com, for instance. Would it be useful to have a list or
a network of such sites?

Just curious.

Brock Hinzmann
Technology Navigator

Hello Brock and All:
 
As of about 6 months back, some published sources claimed there were about
125 hacker spaces in the US and about 400 worldwide. Based on the number
of names I see mentioned it's not hard to believe there could be something
like that. I would guess this is still very much in the growth state.
 
The only "formal" listing I've come across (but I haven't been very
diligent) is the HackerSpace Wiki mentioned by Raymond. Last time I looked into
that, a month or so ago, it was such a mess and had so many dead links I
decided not to list it for now. Maybe it's cleaned up and is more useful
these days.
 
The informal nature and fluid state of these groups, as well as their
somewhat anarchist nature, says to me that a wiki is the preferred way of
providing listings rather than a more formal edited site.
 
There are as yet only a handful of sales places like Shapeways,
Thingiverse, etc. But any and every organization selling additively made stuff is
listed starting in this section of the WWGRP web-site:
 
_http://www.additive3d.com/odd1_lks.htm_
(http://www.additive3d.com/odd1_lks.htm)
 
As categories expand, groups will be broken out.
 
 
Incidentally, everything available below $20K, as well as additional
sources of info and hardware are listed starting here:
 
 
_http://www.additive3d.com/comp_lks.htm_
(http://www.additive3d.com/comp_lks.htm)

 
 
There are several thousand pages on the site and I would urge folks to
burrow through them. If it's additive - it's there someplace!
 
Regards,
Ed
 

Ed Grenda
Castle Island Co.
_EdGrenda@aol.com_ (mailto:EdGrenda@aol.com) (email)

The Worldwide Guide to Rapid Prototyping
www.additive3d.com
Received on Sat Jan 29 21:04:28 2011