So when is the next class? How about just a printed guide for those who were already trained on the old systems. I don’t see any classes on the calendar. Makes me think makerspace really wants the $50 a month from as many people as possible, but only wants a select few to use the tools.
I am assuming the drivers are locked to our logins. Why not just have a printed, or video, class on the computer, view it, done, drivers unlocked. I can go to a class and daydream and not learn anything and still break the laser. I want to use the laser, I don’t want to break it, whatever is in the class, write it down and post it.
If no one has time for classes, just make a printed training manual. The classes are just demonstrations anyway, no interactive testing to ensure comprehension.
The Laser Chairman has had some concerns about damage to the lasers due to misuse. He has been working on new curriculum and testing to prevent damage. The last time I asked he said it would be ready “soon”.
The existing curriculum is on the wiki. Search for Makerspace Lasers ". It covers the epilog and thunder in depth. People still need to be checked out before using it.
Can we fix the problem pirate style? “Arrrhh, I be takin’ over da
committee, and since none of yee bilge rats be respondin’ lasers for all,
and trainin be damned!”
I just think we make too much work out of the training. For the effort of one class, just video tape the class so others can watch it without having to take a members time to give the same class over and over…If I had access to the class video, I would type it up and put it on line.
Imagine if Khan Academy was live webcam presentations only instead of videos that could be watched by millions at the time of their choosing. Want to learn about quadratic equations, next class two weeks from Wednesday 2:00pm.
This is the link to the Laser Class Presentation shown during our laser classes. It was kind of hidden on the wiki page, so I fixed that page to make the link to this material more obvious.
I’m confused about what the damage the test is going to prevent. The only way I can think of damaging the laser would be to leave a fire unattended. How does a test prevent this? Are we going to set something on fire with the laser and see if they know how to put it out??
There are more ways… On the new laser the bed can go up and down, you could jam something up into the laser, get the bed out of alignment, change settings in the program where the laser prints everything within one plane.
@talkers class was more complete then the classes I took last year on the FSL and the Lasersaur. In particular he produced handouts which made remembering the details much easier.
The big thing though is that each of our two new lasers have very different operational procedures and software interfaces and both are very different from the lasersaur or FSL.
Yes, I was referring to @talkers class on the thunderlaser and the zing. I attended one and have been using the lasers since. I’m wondering if I will have to take the new class/test. And if at some point I will lose the ability to use the lasers we were trained on.
I too heard that we might be required to take a test. But it is also possible that we could loose access until some new class is taken. This is no different from when most of the older members were told they needed to take woodshop basics in order to continue using the wood shop.
And surely that experience highlighted the need (or at least great desire on the part of the members) for “grandfathering” and/or “testing out”?
I still find this whole push to make training mandatory largely distasteful and counter to the entire “Maker Movement”, in which I see autodidactism as integral. Requiring training without a reliable tracking mechanism, having no “test out”, and no formal grandfathering, is, in my view, horseshit.