We have had a lot of membership growth in the first part of the year and I wanted to see what the new blood that is coming into DMS is looking for.
So what Equipment would you like to see Dallas Makerspace Purchase in 2015?
Old and New members feel free to respond.
Robert Davidson
Another PolyPrinter. Yes we will be building a 3D printer is my class, but we still have a backlog of people wanting to print, and lefty is a dedicated flexible filament printer which is cool but not always used. @LisaSelk has talked about this, just putting in my 2cents (Iāve donated more than 2cents to 3D fab) about getting another printer.
This is a bit of a long shot, but I think it would be neat to have the equipment to do vinyl printing/laminating/cutting in the space. This would allow us to make custom designed stickers of any shape/size, large signage, vehicle wraps, decals (think cars, windows, machine cabinets, etc). We already have the vinyl cutter which allows us to cut custom decals out of colored vinyl. Getting a large format printer that can print on adhesive vinyl material and a laminator to apply a protective cover would open up endless possibilities.
We have large format printers, but Iām not sure they can handle vinyl printing. I havenāt had the chance to mess with our vinyl cutter, but I suspect it will work with the other components if needed. We do have a small laminator for paper in the craft space, but this type of sign/sticker making requires a different kind of laminator and laminate.
Iām only familiar with the large scale equipment I used at a job I had a few years back, but I can research if there are any smaller scale solutions that would be cheaper and fit better into our existing space. Either way, it would allow us to fairly easily improve the appearance of nearly any DMS project that comes along.
I think an employee is needed before any other big tools. More teachers to train on the tools we have or dedicated people willing to teach on new equipment we get. No point in getting more tools if only 5 people can use them.
I also think this type of decision should be done by speaking to the committee chairs. While I think that everyoneās voice should be heard, people who do things to enrich the space over themselves should have more weight. What I mean is that if there is someone willing to teach a class, but we donāt the equipment for them to teach that class, we should focus more on that equipment over equipment someone wants just to complete their own project.
Butā¦since youāre asking.
I know some of my suggestions are already in the works but just want to throw it out there.
My 2 centsā¦
I second the leather/canvas sewing machines!
CNC Lathe
012345678901234567890
Iāve been asked by a couple members about getting a Long Arm Quilting
Machineā¦
One of my co-workers was hoping we would have a Pad Printerā¦ After
Googling āPad Printerā, I agree! At the time he asked, I noticed a handful
of low end pad printers for around the $500 - $1,000 range. Since I have no
experience with them, I asked him moreā¦ He indicated having one starting
around the $1,000 range would be good. (It would be sooooooooooo neat to
have a pad printer to go along with our screen printer set-up!) 
An employee who would be at the space to keep things organized and train members on various equipment would be nice, finding someone and then defining their responsibilities clearly would be challenging, plus the potential issues with people thinking oh we pay someone to clean up and then being even messier than they are now.
Also expanding to another building next door to have a dedicated large auto annex and paid storage area would be nice.
I second the 3d printerā¦the two are ALWAYS in use.
Or, configure the flexible one to be a regular one and if someone wants to print flexible, have them schedule requests to print flexible and then re-configure it on ādemandā?
Just an ideaā¦
An employee could also peruse camera footage to make sure that an appropriate culture of cleanliness is maintained.
A vertical bandsaw/drill press for metal would be nice too!
I agree with the need for more 3D printing bandwidth. And more space for the 3D printing work area(s).
I would also like to see a smaller laser cutter along the lines of something like an Epilog Zing.
Thank you for asking.
Take a look at UTA fab lab, itās small right now, and they 5 3D printers; the makerbot was down, the soliddoodles arenāt that good, and the uPrint SE is $1/gram, their Cube printer uses proprietary filament carts. They do have a small epilog laser cutter which would be nice for us. Itās in the UTA library you can get in with a UTA id or a State issued ID. The makerspace has a lot more space and better equipment but itās interesting to see how they handle it as an educational institution. The same with the future Makerspot at the NRH library. DMS still has much more diverse range of tools and I think weāre doing pretty well with just volunteers.
TL;DR: Compared to other educational makerspaces, we are doing pretty well with the tools we have. What tools should we purchase that does towards our goal to educate?
A lift for automotive.
Iām available as an employee.
2nd!
And perhaps a 4th axis setup for the HAAS.
ā Zach
With the growth weāve been experiencing, I would definitely like to look
into growing into the suite next to us!
In addition to the long arm, and pad printerā¦ 
For 3D Fabā¦
Short Term Goals:
Also, def need another laser. Small / Medium / Large - any of above! There
is no doubt the laser is a big draw and there needs to be at least one more
to keep up with demand (and to serve as a backup when our current laser is
down for any reason).
Iāve already reached out to the landlord, hopefully Iāll know more this week.
I support all the wants for MORE SPACE. We are doing better than we have ever done in the past with space management, but we are starting to pile up on each other. Thursdays in particular. Vector is pushing projects in and out all the time. And the shuffle around the space, though working, is getting to be a mess.
Also, John K isnāt great at asking, but his area needs a few tools to allow for more than one person to work at at time. To my knowledge another Brent throwing wheel would be great, preferably a direct drive. And Iāll try to get him to layout a pathway to more space owned tools rather than his personal ones.
If spectrum analyzer is desired, need to check into a Tektronix RSA306 spec an, for $3500. Needs an i7 core computer, but looks amazing to me. Thinking about buying one personally for interference contract work.
It would be amazing to have a spectrum analyzer around, but I am concerned with the level of sophistication of our average member compared with how sensitive to ESD and power input these kinds of tools tend to be.
IMO this is kindof an āexpert levelā tool for that reason.
If thatās cool, then awesome, but just wanted to put that out there.
A YAG or similar type of laser capable of marking metal would be nice. It wouldnāt have to be nearly as large as the current one to be useful.
