Dallas Makerspace feels like Home

Off Topic Maker Matters
#1

Dallas Makerspace is a magical place. All kinds of people with all kinds of talents.
It is not just a community workshop but a place that we can embrace creativity socially.

I love it when someone comes up with a great idea and others see that spark and add their own inspiration that is in harmony with it. They multiply the creativity and ease… It flowers into something truly great. Please share your examples and pictures of this.

I can see people really want this place to succeed and it is no doubt! We have dedicated volunteers. They may have different opinions on how that happens but for the most part they express that in a way that is harmonious and put their egos aside. I understand that is hard sometimes but we can find in others that part in them that is common rather than different.

We are expanding. There may be growing pains but we will succeed. We will find a way to make this magical place even greater and more welcoming to all that come upon it. I think people coming to us for the first time in a tour are overwhelmed with all of it and the possibilities contained here. That is one of the things that we shine at.

Post the things you really love about Dallas Makerspace here. I want to see why it is a magical place and why you feel like it is home.

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The poison of talk
#2

Few random tags: @heyheymama @AlexRhodes @Brandon_Green @talkers @lukeiamyourfather

There have been quite a few views but only @Diplomat and @Cairenn_Day liked the post … hmmm …

Does no one actually love DMS or thinks it feels like home? hmm?
I know that can’t be true… many of you have put your soul into it. Anything to say?

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#3

Over 25 years ago I dreamed of winning the lottery and building something like DMS

When I first heard about the makerspace movement I looked to see it there was one in the area
and I found DMS This was at over a year before the move to this location I even went my the
Ladybird site a couple of time on a tour night but the lack of parking, the dark lot and such were
not inviting to me (and I live over in Oak Cliff so I am not easily spoked)
The other problem was that at that time the lists of tools and classed were not appealing to me
TBH it seemed to be more geeky and very guy centered At that time I was playing an on line multi player
war strategy game so I have a lot or guys in my circle
But I kept checking in from time to time and in the early spring of 2015 I came out for a tour, I was interesting
in fired arts, CA and woodshop I almost joined at that time, but I had a lot of out of town
shows planed and then my hubby was laid off so I waited till things calmed down
I joined in July of that year and I jumped in teach and help It was the addition of the rolling mill and jewlery that
convinced me to join

I rapidly fell in love the space and the people here A couple of examples I remember
I was talking about jewelry needing a dapping block, Walter was standing there and he asked what it was
Found one on line and showed it to him The next tiem I was at the space He handed me one he had made! Later he made 2 more, We still use them all the time
At a fiber meeting we were discussing inkle weaving and the problem with the size of the looms, Most of them
are almost 3 ft long, the discussion was carried to talk and I found some smaller ones for sale on line
I posted a link and less than a week later, There was Walter with a loom and with a liece of weaving he had done on by watching YT! The Tapper figured out how to cut the frames on the CNC router and we
had loom kits to sell students

Those were a couple in my first year, but I see this all the tiem NickS is making some impression plates for the rolling mil now

This is a magical space and I tell folks that all the time wonderful folks and very helpful
Look at the work the expansion committee has done

There are issues at time, since we are not identical and our passions vary
But even then it show that we all care about the space

heck I have a half painted room at home because my hubby and me cant agree on the color of paint!

There is now a makerspace closer to me but I haven t even vistied it, because DMS is my home

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#4

Members for 3.5 years. I’ve been raising my kid here. What better place? A cornucopia of humanity and its creativity. People that deal with failure and model adaptation as a matter of routine, i.e. the Maker Way. Resiliency. Collaboration. Community. Our values.

And when the worst happened to us (death of my husband/his father), DMS became a sanctuary, too.
Dallas Makerspace feels like Home.

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#5

We came together and made this robotic arm donation work … it is fully functional… and moving quickly

Thanks to all of these people and more that I missed …
@andrewboerder @Christopher_Thomas @actionjackson @engpin @StanSimmons @richmeyer @chimpera @Atomall @dmsfr4nklin @benemorius @hon1nbo @gvasquez

Now we can work on doing cool stuff with it … like milling and welding and digital media …

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#6

I’m 2000 miles away right now and I still feel the need to check in daily. DMS is my home and there is none like it.

I miss knowing what vehicles are being worked on in automotive, and getting to fix random things that break around the space. And I badly miss the opportunities to collaborate on awesome projects like the robotic arm and the weather station and so many others.

There are many spaces but there is only one DMS.

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#7

I’ve been a member for less than a month. I don’t belong to any committees, haven’t made a dang thing, and have hardly done anything but slog through emails in the common room and bum Stan’s bananas (Stananas?)

But man, I feel like I’ve washed ashore in Tahiti.

I’ve been brutalizing myself for two years now trying to get my own little writers’ co-op off the ground. It’s slow and steady (we just got our 501©3 this summer!), but some days I despair. And I can’t tell you how reassuring it is to sag into the arms of a giant, massive, soon-to-be-36,000-square-feet MONUMENT to what good people can do in tandem.

To me, DMS is proof that you CAN do amazing things on all-volunteer labor. You CAN make something fantastic and game-changing and lasting. For-the-love enterprises like this are NOT doomed to implode once they hit critical mass - the inevitable spicy disagreements and hurt feelings and changes of leadership don’t have to sink the ship, if the ship is designed to withstand them.

Just being on the barest fringe periphery of DMS has given me so much fresh resolve to keep rolling my own two-ton stone up the hill. I’ve already made friends and had a wonderful little time de-claying the handi-vac in the breakroom (which was way more fun than email, let me tell you.) I know I’m still looking at it all through honeymoon sugar-lenses… but the Emerald City is still a hell of a city, even when you take the glasses off. And I feel so fortunate to live in a place where a world-class factotery like this is possible.

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#8

Welcome to Makerspace. Try and get the writing group going again at DMS - between your group and DMS it will have the critical mass to sustain itself.

Over the years I’ve been a member my interest ramble around - what is fantastic is there are so many avenues for our interests to wander around.

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#9

Welcome!

TALK still is one of the most toxic areas of DMS. The folks on here can “hide” behind a screen and say unkind words.

I really think if what was said on TALK could only be said in person, TALK would be much more civil. I also think if duelling were allowed, that might create a more civil environment as well.

Finally, most of the arguments are about a 1/10 of a degree difference between siblings. From an outsider’s view, it seems far more serious than it really is.

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#10

Hatcher’s Armory can arrange this… (We will be hosting a rubber band gun war soon)

set to something dramatic of course … haha

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#11

“I also think if dueling were allowed, that might create a more civil entertaining environment as well.”
Dueling Banjos
Dueling Synths
Ahhh… here we go…
Dueling Violins - DMS made.
Oh Kee…

Home indeed
Having a Metallica “Welcome Home” moment.

Speaking of dueling.
Where’s those new nail guns that need Leupold scopes?

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#12

We need someone to make some bagpipes!

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#13

I am planing on classes on making clay rattles and on making a sistrum

Maybe next year with the new space we can get someont to come in and teach how to make drums

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#14

I know some folks that rattle quiet well
Oh wait…

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#15

DMS is a wildly diverse, creative, nonjudgmental (…Talk doesn’t count as it’s an online message board…), welcoming, collaborative, cooperative and supportive community.

Here I am able to learn, grow and creatively express myself without risk of reprisal at a time in my middle-aged life when such opportunities are in scarce supply.

Perhaps most notably, in the 1.5 years since I’ve joined, this place (and all of you) have been a wonder balm for healing 10+ years of deep personal and familial wounds. Its pulled me out of a deep, dark hole and into a place of happiness. And for that alone, DMS has earned my loyalty, respect and admiration.

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#16

I love the way that members evolve. Many seem to join to use one specific “shop” or major tool. The longer they stay, the more diverse skills they learn/refine and the more comfortable they become with those skills. Pretty soon we see makers that want to make every aspect of their project. Why buy something when you can make it?? If that’s not creativity and magic, I don’t know what is …

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#17

When will there be experiments with rail guns? :slight_smile:

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#18

We are awaiting @hon1nbo s expertise …

#19

One is in progress but slow due to life, the universe, and everything

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#20

Perhaps you can teach a mini-class on the basics? Then we can see about getting some parts