The only class I see is the one for apr. 1 and it’s full. no other classes for the rest of april or into may as far as I can see. maybe I’m missing something.
metalshop is the main reason i want to pay the fee for membership.
The makerspace is a volunteer run org, and as one of the people who volunteers to teach this class I’m a lot less motivated to teach after reading posts like this.
Before we break down how I can help you make the most out of the $60 a month you pay, what can you do for me?
It’s perfectly fine to ask when the next class is going to happen, but demanding and treating me like a shopkeep is not what I’m volunteering for.
Edit: The wording on this was harsher than I intended, and was not with the spirit of the makerspace. I’m happy to teach anyone with the time I have at DMS, and was stressed about not being able to provide. Not trying to excuse what I said, just explain the headspace I was in when I wrote it.
Clay,
we are all volunteers, including our instructors. Not everything in the metal shop requires training, and often classes don’t hit the calendar until the same week they are being taught as we teach around our schedules.
Additionally I’d make to make sure it’s clear, but the hot work safety is a catch all that counts towards each welding process and the dynatorch (not yet the oven but soon enough). It is not necessary to take that class for much of the shop. There is still the sheetforming tools, grinders (self-training, approx 5 minutes), wet media blasting cabinet, powder coating equipment (the big oven needs training, 5 minute spot train), the sanders, etc. None of that needs the class you are looking at.
If you really want to get involved stop by our committee meeting this coming Saturday. We often provide at least some impromtu training or guidance on equipment to people who chip in as we can depending on what our chores list is for that month’s meeting.
It’s the first saturday of every month starting at noon.
Cheers,
-Jim
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Didn’t mean to treat anyone like the shopkeep. Kinda chompin at the bit to get started but can’t til I take the prereq classes.
I’d be glad to attend the meeting and help with whatever chores that need to get done.
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Now that sounds like “pay to play”. So @malcolmputer you are not a volunteer? You demand to be paid?
Russell
That was a bit of sarcasm, and was probably something I shouldn’t have said.
I’m happy to teach anyone when I have the time, just a bit stressed by not having enough of me to go around.
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Maybe we can get together sometime and I can show you how I do irony. 
I have a real soft spot in my heart for metal shop, even though I don’t show metal shop much love lately. This is an area that I have given a lot of thought to and found no solutions for. I don’t know why there aren’t more people participating in metal shop. It has been this way for the four years I have been a member. It bothers me when I see unnecessary barriers for new people to become active in metal shop.
The main barrier I see to people using metal shop is the cost of the metal and the size of the end products. Projects tend to be of a large size and even though you can find a place or two for your projects around the house you soon run out of places to put them. It is tough to pay what the metal costs for a project and then not have a use for it.
I know we all want Metal Shop as well as all of the other areas of DMS to prosper. I hope we can find a way to improve DMS so we can all enjoy it.
Russell Ward
i would definitely use it. looking forward to meeting you all.
I too would like to see more Hot Safety classes. Holding a single class monthly (which usually fills quickly) IS blocking much of the membership from using the metal shop. If more are held, I apologize but it seems every time I want to take one they are full or there are none on the calendar.
I was trained on the old plasma torch and would love to take a welding course, but I still can’t after more than a year because I haven’t been able to find an open safety course that my schedule would allow. My schedule is wide open now, but I still haven’t been able to snipe an available seat in a class.
No one is jumping on the volunteers, this is more bringing it the committee’s attention that more of these classes should be held.
Most classes do not hit until the week of or one before the actual class. Additionally, most of the shop does not need it and many instructors still prefer to teach a combined safety and machine class for whatever they are teaching. It’s real value is it can be taken separately and allow for shorter class options later, or a “show me you can weld” sign off on a piece of equipment if you are already familiar with that welding process.
Right now there are two Dynatroch classes, neither of which appear to require the separate hot work training (instructor is doing a combined safety+training), though there are not currently any welding classes up.
We have fairly few welding instructors and when classes are thrown up it’s hard to fit more than 6-8 people due to the shop limitations.
There have been a lot more welding classes until the last month or so when things started slowing down, and a lot of committee meetings where we get people some level of training to volunteers helping with the equipment.
Few instructors teach welding courses without the combined safety; the hot process mostly exists for the instructors with less time + makers already familiar with welding to get signed off on stuff they have already done. Eventually it will be a pre-req for everything, but not until we get more instructors.
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I would venture to say that many of the tools people would like to use in the metal shop sit behind the “hot safety wall”. I know for me that is the case. I have no need for many of the non-hot tools if I cannot use the hot.
As for welding, it too is locked behind the safety course, and that is what I bringing up. NOT trying to make trouble or complain. I have seen at least 5 welding courses I could have taken, but I have never seen a safety course I was able to take.
Perhaps an effort could be made to schedule the classes a bit earlier. Maybe that is why we aren’t seeing them on the calendar. They are on there for a few days until the class is taught, then gone from view. At least scheduling them farther out would keep them visible and give other time to plan and schedule around it.
You misunderstand.
The welding courses generally have the safety built-in to the actual welding class for almost every instructor. Only one instructor to my knowledge is teaching the welding classes without the safety portion built-in (thus needing the separate safety class), however if I recall correctly they only do that when they are stacking multiple welding classes into a single afternoon.
The safety is for long term since it covers the safety of everything. You want to get signed off on the MIG since you have MIG experience at home? If you’ve taken any welding class, or our standalone safety, you can make an appointment with the committee or an instructor to do a “show me you can weld” sign off rather than take the class.
In the long term it is the goal to have a unified class, but at the moment it is not required to have that separate class for the vast majority of welding classes. We started offering it so people can take those shorter classes if they pop up, and when we move to it as required for everything then people have already started being rolled into it.
This is the trouble with an all-volunteer group and only a handful qualified to teach welding, and even fewer willing to do so. A lot of us are flying by the seat of our pants in terms of scheduling since none of us do this for a living, and we all have to work outside the space. I personally have been on intercontinental flights with less than 2 days notice from my employer, and I’m also the only person currently teaching some other things. I only have so much time in the world.
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I did misunderstand then! I have tried to register for at least one class MIG class that said it included a safety portion, but was stopped from registering due to the safety pre-req. I should have pursued that a bit harder it seems. Thanks!
I understand the time crunch and we all appreciate the volunteers and instructors around the space!
If it says it includes the safety I don’t know why it would have the pre-req; that should be followed up on.
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