Induction

This is an exhaustive list for first time hackspace users

Safety First

Please carefully check out the Health and Safety Policy

Community

We are an open community, which means we welcome *everyone*.

We have a code of conduct everyone should be familiar with.

Someone caused upset? We have a Grievance Procedure

Can I store this or that? Probably not, the space is small. If you need to store something, follow our Storage Procedure

Entering the space

When entering the space, if you are the first person in, you must open the shutters

The requirement to lock/unlock the kitchen door is no longer in place as this is now secured by the electronic lock.

In general please only enter by the main door. The kitchen door is for exceptional circumstances. Both doors are susceptable to high winds. Please take extra care when using them during high winds/gusts.

Exiting the space

When exiting the space check to see whether you are the last one in the space. If so, you must fully close the space. If there are others, it is polite to let them know you are off, they may not feel comfortable being in the space on their own or may never have closed up the space on their own, so be nice and check!

To close up:

• Close the shutters
• Check both aircon systems are off or if winter, set to 10'C
• Check the ventilation systems in Woodshop, Metal shop are on their passive mode (not off)
• Check soldering station, laser cutter & 3D printers are off.

And most importantly

• Check you have your keys / mobile phone / Wallet with you.

When leaving the site, please be respectful to our neighbours, avoid talking outside or in the car park.

When leaving the car park please see the section below.

Car Park

The car park is council owned. It shuts around 4:30pm till 5pm every night and opens around 5am.

Locks

There is a combination lock and the password can be found on discord using the bot using the command !eeh gatecode in the member chat channel. The combination lock code is not entered across the middle of the lock, but one notch higher to the top of the lock. This fools a lot of people, especially in the dark. Please examine the bottom of the lock carefully in the light.

There is a second lock which we do have a key for. If you struggle with the combination, we can arrange for a key for you. The cost is £4 and we have no guarentees that the council won't change the lock regularly. We have had four locks since taking on the property, so we advise using the combination lock.

Gate

You will not be locked in to the car park as if there is a car in the car park, the residents will close the gate and hang the lock around it to make it look locked to deter antisocial behaviour.

In the unlikely scenario the gate _is_ locked badly, there is a spare key in the combination keybox by the main door. The combination is not set - it is 0000.

When entering/leaving, leave the gate as it is. The residents will occasionally close it at 5pm but reopen it late/midnight so it's open for the following day. To spell it out:

• If you arrive and it is open, leave the gate open
• If you arrive and it is locked, leave the gate locked behind you.
• If you arrive and the gate is closed but not locked, leave the gate closed but not locked.
• If you leave and the gate is open, leave it open
• If you leave and the gate is closed but not locked and you are the only person in the car park, lock it as you leave
• If you leave and the gate was closed or locked, but is now open, leave it open.

Hopefully completely clear!

Street light

We power but do not own the the street light. The street light will soon be smart and will be controlable through the discord bot.

Ventilation

Our fire doors should be shut at all times. Each room is provided with a heat recovering fresh air vent. These should be left on at all times. There are two different types of ventilation at the space. Both have passive and “on” modes. The “on” mode should be used when you’re occupying the rooms for extended time (more than 10-15 minutes). The larger units in the kitchen and the computer lab have an additional boost mode which are there where air quality is poor or cooking is being conducted. See the section above about cooking at the Hackspace.

Dust Collection

The woodshop has additional dust collection facilities. Whenever cutting woods or plastics in the woodshop, please ensure the overhead dust extractor fan is switched on. At the end of the session, please use the shop vacs to clean the dust off the extractor so it is clean for the next user. Similarly we have large shop vacs for removing dust generated by the machinery. Please use them.

Woodshop specific information

Sawdust makes the floor very slippery. Please be very careful in the woodshop and keep the door closed both when entering and leaving the space. Please cleanup after yourself and remove any waste materials including sawdust/shavings when leaving. If you see someone hasn’t, please take their waste away as well and let the trustees know - we don’t have disposal services.

Heating

The hackspace has several forms of heating depending on the type of room.

• Woodshop has an oil heater
• Metal shop has an IR heater (black)
• Computer lab and social space have air conditioning
• Lobby, toilets, laser room, 3D print lab and kitchen have smart convection heaters.

During the winter:

• Social space/Computer lab aircon is set at 10’C heating to ensure the temperature does not drop causing the paint to flake
• Laser room & 3D print lab convection heaters are set at 14’C
• Toilets, lobby and kitchen convection heaters are set at 9’C
• metal shop and woodshop have their heaters set on very low to keep the machinery dry. You can increase the temperature but please return it back to the settings previously used.
• You may change the aircon settings as required, but in winter please leave it on 10’C heating.

There is signage by the convection and air conditioning heaters to tell you how to operate and what settings to leave them on. Convection heaters cannot be changed (they are locked at the required minimum temperatures) but they can be boosted for short periods to make the space more comfortable.

Do not remove / move heaters from workshops.