New Member
Welcome New Member!
We welcome you to our community and are excited to have you become a part of our space. Port City Makerspace is a very community-oriented workspace that is interested in enabling people to make, create, play, learn, and share! When you come to the space, you can expect to find a collaborative, sharing, and generous community.
In our space you can find a number of Shared Workspaces (List of Spaces), and Equipment (List of Tools), members working on personal as well as Projects for the space, and Category:Volunteers helping to maintain our space.
First Steps
These are some essential steps to get started as a new member!
- Schedule a Safety Checkout and Orientation in the Shop that has power tools you want to use
- Sign a Safety Waiver
- Get your RFID Badge
- Read the Rules: Code of Conduct
- Fill out a Member Questionnaire to help us learn how people find us!
- Join our Slack group to keep in touch with the community about goings-on at the space
- Use our Member wiki for handy info on tools, space, resources, and perks.
- Check out our classes and events on Eventbrite!
Safety Checkout
After joining the space, you'll want to go through the Safety Checkout for whichever shop area you are experienced in and would like to use. This is a brief check and orientation on our shop tools and it is designed to assess if you have adequate knowledge of the tools to operate them safely. These can be scheduled by emailing the Manager, or filling out this form: Safety Checkout Form.
For those that don't have the experience to operate certain equipment in a safe manner, we have Intro classes on our calendar in many subjects that provides that training. (Typically "Intro to Wood Shop", "Intro to Welding", etc)
Sign the Waivers
Everyone that spends time in the Makerspace needs to sign a Safety Waiver. These are required before working in the shop around or with any tool. Waivers can be found at the main desk. Below are virtual copies as well.
Read the Rules
Make sure you know what is expected of you as a member of the space and read through our Code of Conduct. These are mostly common sense rules, but they do need to be followed to ensure a usable, clean workspace is maintained.
Tell us About Yourself
Help us get an idea of what our members do and how you came to find the makerspace. Fill out this questionnaire!
Talk to the Community
Member Slack
We have a Slack channel, a chat/message board for members. You should receive an invite to this when you sign up! You can use this to chat with members, talk about things at the space, share ideas, seek help with projects, etc. It's also a good way to keep in touch with other members outside of the space!
Facebook Group Port City Makerspacers
Join our public group on Facebook: Port City Makerspacers. Share project ideas, a project you've worked on, maker events or news, and so on! Please keep in mind it is a public forum and be respectful!
Newsletters
We have a General Interest Newsletter that goes out once a month that features our classes, events, and highlights from around the makerspace. If you'd like to have your project featured in one of these, just let the manager know!
We also have a Member Newsletter that goes out once a quarter. These have more information about goings-on at the space, changes to equipment/spaces, volunteer work that needs doing, and updates to policy/rules.
Bulletin Boards
At the space there are a couple of bulletin boards that are free use. Mostly they hold business cards for members and people that visit the makerspace. You can also use it to post up help wanted ads, for sale ads, etc.
What a day is like at the makerspace
Chat with members. A good way to start a conversation at the space is "What are you working on?". The whole premise of the space is people making things, so everyone generally has something that they are working on and wants to tell you about it!
Ask for help. People are generally very social and helpful when it comes to working around the space. You can always ask for advice, get tips on best practices, or have someone show you a tool if it's not something covered in a class or Safety Checkout.
Make something. Of course the best thing to do at the shop is make something! It's encouraged to come up with a simple project to get yourself used to working in the space before you take on more serious projects. Let yourself have time to find where things are, how our tools differ from what you're used to, and what its like working around others.
Learn something. Read info about tools, the space, and projects on our Member Wiki. Connect with other members that have skills you're interested in learning. Check out our small library in the Electronics lab with guides, wood working plans, Make magazines, and so forth!
Get inspired by scrap. Generally people bring their own materials for projects, but we do have materials at the space that are free and available for anyone to use. In the Wood Shop, Metal Shop, Bike Shop, and Electronics Lab there are "scrap bins" that are free to pick through. There are also some supplies stored in the Storage Space on racks maintained by one of our volunteers.
Keep the space clean. As members of a shared shop, we all are responsible for keeping the place clean. There are vacuums and brooms in most shops, and cleaning supplies in the bathroom. Do your part, and others will do theirs!
How to help out when you're at the makerspace
The Makerspace is primarily supported by its members and the various ways they contribute. In addition to membership dues, which help pay the bills, there are many things around the space that members can help maintain, improve, or create something new that would help other members.
Maintaining tools: Time conquers all, and the tools at the makerspace are no exception. In order to remain useful and safe for our members we need to make sure the tools are well maintained. If you have the skills and knowledge to maintain any equipment, sign up to be a Resource Manager for one (or more) tools!
Volunteering: Have time to help out? In general we need volunteers to do things like keep the shops looking clean and organized, maintain the website, make newsletters, host instructional classes on our tools, and more. You can help out when you have time, and if you want to really dive in we have a Volunteer Program.
Donating: The Makerspace runs primarily under its own funding, which sometimes is great and sometimes is straining. Donations can help us do things that we otherwise would have to save up for or otherwise fundraise for. Monetary donations can be made through the website here or in person, but if you're making a big one you should let us know first. Equipment donations are welcome but must be review, and can be proposed through the Equipment Donation Form. Anything that is on our amazon wishlist would be great!