That would work great for somebody that doesn’t have a truck, I just lay down cardboard in the bed of my truck, a little packaging tape and a split open lawn Leaf bag and spray in the bed of my truck then close the tailgate, LOL
But if I remember correctly, air-based painting is allowed, like the airbrush setup in creative arts, etc?
With acrylic paints. No enamel, or other oil/flammable solvent based paints.
I agree. This has been brought up before, and really does need @Board_of_Directors action. Placement into rules, public decree & placard, something more than tacit knowledge and an old Talk post.
Apparently the BOD voted on this in March of 2019. I guess we have to review all BOD Meeting Minutes to find out all the rules changes…
I found this in the rules:
“These rules and policies are subject to change. Changes will become effective immediately upon successful vote of adoption by the Board of Directors. The DMS Secretary shall maintain the documented version of the official DMS Rules and Bylaws. A summarized version of these rules will be posted in the space, with a link to the full rules.”
This implies the Secretary is responsible for updating the Rules document.
Here it the link & doesn’t look like it was “Voted”
https://dallasmakerspace.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors_Meeting_20190318
I am Richard Meyer @richmeyer. For all current members of the Makerspace, I’d like to provide a little background on the issue of spray painting. I moved away from Dallas over 3 years ago and currently live near Knoxville, TN. I am still a member, see my green dot above. If you search back in the many threads about paint booths, my name will still pop up.
I was instrumental in the development of the North Expansion Project and was the inhouse General Contractor that was appointed by the BOD. My services were all volunteer, I was not paid. When I started the expansion effort, the North end of the Makerspace complex was just an empty warehouse. My background, at the time, was as a Licensed Professional Engineer with the State of Texas and had vast experience working with the City of Carrollton’s Building Code Department, Fire Marshall, and Electrical Inspection Departments. I was the person that acquired all the original building permits for the North Expansion Project. I had countless vists with several City officials as our remodeling plans were written, re-written, and finally approved. It was built per plan and no issues with the City were found.
One thing I learned over the years, and I’ll paraphrase the lyrics to a song by Jim Croce back in 1972. “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Jim.” In my case… “You don’t mess around with the Fire Marshall”. The Fire Masrahll can single handedly close a business down and lock the doors shut. Fire is a serious business.
The City of Carrollton is divided up into smaller sections; residential, commercial, park land, etc. The Dallas Makerspace is located in the Freeway District, since we are close to the I-35 Interstate. Many car dealerships and car repair facilities are located in these areas. Car repair facilities have strictly controlled paint booths with lots of required paperwork. According to the Fire Marshall (from several years ago) the cost to install a qualified paint booth with a fire-rated ventilation system, large or small, would be cost prohibited for DMS. Besides the cost, the regulatory paperwork could not be maintained in a facility that is open 24/7, as there are no controls.
My comment is… Just do not pi$$ off the Fire Marshall. If he says no, then that means NO! If he says you will be fined, then Believe it! If he threatens to close the entire DMS facility down and throws away the key… Believe it!
Simple solution… Do your spray painting somewhere else.
Any chance we can discuss this again with the current Fire Marshal and see if their position has changed?
If they’re still adamant about keeping the status quo, then we should drop it.
I’m going to be honest that from a personal standpoint I have zero interest in seeing the topic revisited to potentially allow it anyways…
In general, we have a hard enough time having people clean up after themselves and be considerate of others, that adding spray paint/aerosols sounds really annoying.
There is no “discussion” with the current or any future Fire Marshal. This is a city ordnance which they enforce.
Time to move on folks.
It is simply the nature of the paperwork required that we know it can’t be met without really changing our organization.
Nice and helpful post, thanks!
There are a lot of things it seems can’t be done because the regulatory overhead just isn’t possible. At the very least, there aren’t enough volunteers. DMS has expanded greatly in floorspace and scope, but manpower is definitely in short supply.
If anyone is interested in volunteering, make sure to let the staff know your interest. Ask how you can help!
The more basic problem is that volunteers just aren’t going to be enough. To meet the regulatory requirements, we’d have to have staff to fill out the logs all the time the folks could spray paint. Either time would be very limited, or we’d probably wind up with inadequate logs and get fined.
Not very practical. Thankfully, spraypainting is not very complicated, one doesn’t need the makerspace for that anyway. The main thing I’d want spraypainting for is to do automotive paint to make my Mystery Machine. That will require some stencil and detail work to get right.
Thanks for the back ground, but let’s get back to my original post: how is a reasonable person to know not to spray inside or outside DMS? It’s not in our rules or posted anywhere. The board did “announce” not to use spray paint but how many people read BOD minutes from 2019 or read posts in TALK?
On Sunday, I saw someone walking around shaking a can of spray paint on their way out the back door. I informed the person of a potential fine from the city but told them it was not a DMS rule not to. Do not know if the spray paint was subsequently sprayed or not inside or outside of DMS.
This appears to have made its way into the agenda for next Board meeting:
https://source.dallasmakerspace.org/display/Board/2024-02-07+Board+Meeting
Thank you @TJSmith for adding it to the agenda!
I was out of town when the original incident took place with the powder coating booth. I will take some responsibility for that as I have had making a sign for the booth on my “to-do” list for awhile. I’ve been busy since October so letting that one task slide was an easy thing to do.
I agree with Dan. Signage stating, Carrolton ordinances AND the lease agreement, prohibit spray painting in the makerspace and the parking lot, would go a long way for clarity and compliance.
Most of the rules of the space are common sense so missing something like the special circumstance of spray paint is understandable. In any event, I looked at it this week and no harm was done. I am making a sign for the spray booth to help prevent future issues. ( Ironically, a powder coat sign is one of the easiest builds I can think of! )
Aren’t there also EPA/Texas Commission on Air Quality regulations for folks discharging aerosol spray paints? Like I’m pretty sure if you want to discharge aerosol paint as a business you got to ensure that everyone has training, the facility is all tickety boo with filtration and fire control, and you have to log and report all discharges of aerosol.
Yes. You are absolutely correct. That’s the reason that DMS doesn’t allow spray painting here.
