After reading the concerns about the space a lift would take up, I remember seeing these portable lifts:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200386167_200386167
Maybe not this one exactly, but a similar model? Could be stored out of the way so that the space could be used for other things, no anchoring it to the floor to irritate the landlord, and if DMS moves, they could take it with them easily.
There would still be bolt anchors permanently in the floor, but you can bolt/unbolt those columns and roll them out of the way with a bit of work. Which would help mitigate the problem that we have limited space and a permanent lift would make it a 1 car at a time only area at the cost of 60% increase in price vs a normal permanent overhead lift($1600 vs $2500). The other large obstacle to a lift is the administrative overhead of training people to use the lift and preventing untrained people using it (for liability reasons)
Could put a key lock on the lift, then put the key in a box with an RFID actuated solenoid on it that only unlocks if the cardholder is in the TRAINED/AUTHORIZED group after having been properly trained. And a note on the box that says that by unlocking the box and removing the key, the cardholder agrees to assume all liability.
Small stuff, compared to a lot of items on this list:
Wood Shop:
Set of wood carving chisels (we have this set at work and it’s a decent starter set)
http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-pc-Carving-Chisel-Set/H2930
Zero clearance blade inserts for the tablesaw (just buy 2-3, they’re cheap enough)
New frame corner clamp (we have one, but 2 or more makes life easier when building frames)
http://www.rockler.com/miter-vise
Clamps in general (just buy a set collection, they’re all needed anyways…)
http://grizzly.com/products/30-pc-Heavy-Duty-F-Clamp-Kit/H8444
3D printers:
3-4 PrintrBot Simple metal
http://printrbot.com/shop/assembled-simple-metal/
Why these and not more Polyprinters (PPs)? Because they’re small, cheap, durable, and easily portable.
They can be dedicated to PLA or NinjaFlex, and can be used as the designated “PR” printer(s)
when we go to a festival, convention, etc instead of one of the larger in-house PPs. This way the PPs
can stay at the space and keep working there to fulfill the high demand they have. The PPs can remain
ABS only, and hopefully some of the demand for time on them will reduce due to having more printers
available. Not everything needs the build volume of one of the PPs, or requires ABS. Plus we can get 4 of
them for the price of one PPs…
My experience with the printrbot simple is that it’s slow and we already have a supply of ABS, unless the printrbot’s were upgraded or had another completely separate supply of PLA (some people don’t prefer PLA, I’m indifferent) it might cause problems.
The main thing about the Printrbot’s are the speed, they’re about half if not slower speed as the polyprinters, so even with 4 of them, it would do the work of 2 polyprinters.
Also Ninjaflex on the Printrbots isn’t pretty, Lefty does a much better job with ninjaflex.
Also support when the Printrbot is broken isn’t going to be as quick as the polyprinters.
I really like the Printrbot but unless we had the infrastructure for a ‘bot farm’ the Polyprinters do pretty well, We just need a 4th one.
On the topic of a vehicle lift, while working for Chrysler a few years ago I ran into this portable lift they had that is basically a lift on a pallet jack. A quick search of “portable vehicle lift” pulled it right up.
http://jmcautomotiveequipment.com/tuxedo-msc-6k-6-000-lb-mobile-single-column-lift
Sure, it’s $2800 (this first one I found on Google), but it requires no bolting in, is portable, and can lift 6000 lbs. Oh, and it plugs into regular 110 outlets. The guys I worked with used them all the time and swore by them.
(this would certainly bring in at least 5 new members for a 1 year ROI)
Food for thought. 
some of the automotive lift discussion happened over here, too, where these same 2 ideas were thrown into the mix and partially discussed. We also touched on the iDeal Lift portable columnar-based lift, just to bring it full circle.
If anyone can find, my google-fu may be off, but I recall a set of lifts like the iDeals, but rail-based instead of tire-based, so you could use a minimum of 2 to lift an entire vehicle by the rails (like a regular 2-post), but I cannot find those now. I wonder if there was some issue with them that they no longer seem to be sold this way. If we could find 'em, I’d be they’d be the choice, since it’d combine the best options of all these. albeit at the highest cost, I’m sure…
Anyway,tryin’ not to jack the new tools thread for lift discussion…
Nice, some how I missed looking into that kind of lift previously. I went ahead and added a request to purchase one to the next board meeting, there has been lots more support for a lift recently.
I’d like to develop and assemble a brewing system capable of 10 gallon batches of home-brewed beer. This would obviously be a system that would require a few training classes to operate, but I’ve been designing an all-electric brewing system that could be built for less than $1000. I think that with further input from other interested home brewers, it could be an object of glorious, functional beauty.
How about another “design” computer for the Laser Cutter?
Seems like every time I try and do a laser cut lately there is someone sitting at the Laser Cutter computer doing their design work instead of just using it to load and cut…very frustrating.
The computers in the creative arts room have all the software needed for designing vector images. Next time that happens ask the person to move to creative arts.
Here is another vote for a nice electric beer brewing setup.
Along that same line, how about getting a water and ideally a drain line ran to the bio and foundry areas?
@AndrewLeCody, yeah, can we get quotes to trench under the slab from the bathrooms to the bio and ceramics area? I think it would only effect the classroom, project storage & vector areas.
JUST KIDDING. This is the one negative to the otherwise perfect fit for the new space.
But in seriousness I don’t see why they don’t have a water facet anywhere outside the building.
Granted, I haven’t looked to see how the current water lines are run, but would it be possible to run a water line through the ceiling and not worry about a drain line?
A PEX line to a faucet in the warehouse would be very do-able. Drains are more of a problem, but a sump pump in a bucket might work if we can find a suitable exit for it.
Is it possible for us to get a Windows Server set up with the vector graphics tools on them? We will have to deal with seat licensing issues, of course, but this would mean that anyone with their laptop could sit out in the common area and rdesktop into the server, use the design tools, and log out when they are done (and leave).
We do this now with the Mill PC, but that license could also be folded into this server. I’d be willing to dig up a rack-mount server for it to run on, so it could be in the IT room with direct 1GB Ethernet and UPS.
Edit: We sure are going back to a “mainframe” mentality where the PCs are just terminals to a bigger machine, aren’t we?
— Zach
That’s been my plan all along!!! I just need CAL licenses and we can probably do it.
If you have a strong rackmount server, definitely shoot me an email.
I think we are probably eligible for Microsofts non profit licensing.
I vote for a full size drill press for the machine shop / metal shop.
I also think another rolling toolbox would be useful so we could get things like the lathe tooling off of a tub on the floor.