EMSBo DMeeting Minutes011515

EMS
Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes
Meeting date: 1/15/2015

Call to order:

A Regular meeting of the Board of directors of EMS, was held at 687 McKinley street, Suite #2, Eugene OR on 1/15, 2015. The meeting convened at 6:07PM, Rick Osgood presiding, and Ben Hallert secretary.

Board Members in attendance: Rick, Bob, Ben
Board Members not in attendance: Kassie, Darryl

Quorum present? Provisional

Also Present Were: Clif Cox

Approve agenda, and previous minutes.

Agenda:

Approve the agenda
Review previous meeting minutes
A quick note on minutes (Ben)
Facilities - status update & preliminary budget
Easter Egg Drop
Donated Raspberry Pi collection - Projects/Incentives?
Adding EMS to directory of amateur radio groups
Grant funding email
Report on call with Maker Media about mini Maker Faire (Bob)

Approval of Agenda: Motion was made by Rick, and seconded by Bob to approve this meeting's proposed agenda as amended.

Unanimous approval.

Motion carried.

Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Rick, and seconded by Ben to approve the minutes of the 12/15/14 meeting.

Unanimous approval.

Motion carried.

Officer's reports:

Secretary: Noted that he would now be functioning in the capacity of secretary and promised several exciting errors as he came up to speed in the role. Bob suggested that when they are transcribed to to the Wiki, Ben send out a mail with a link so the board can review the minutes offline and approve the minutes more quickly at subsequent meetings.

Facilities - status update & preliminary budget:

Bob reported that on Tuesday, Dale got one motor on the donated CNC working. We have at least 3 burnt out chips on it that we are replacing. Good progress. He has no status update on the vinyl cutter. Ben will join Bob in getting it operational. We will discuss offline.

Bob was talking to Craig Godwin; he bought a laser cutter and is happy with it. Bob proposes the EMS purchase a laser cutter like his with a cutting area 'somewhat larger than a sheet of paper'. Bob's suggestion is to budget $600 for a laser cutter including controller board. Rick expressed surprise re: price, Bob noted that Chinese built lasers are less expensive than some of the domestic models that have informed expectations.

Rick said he would love to have a laser but has a concern re: long term viability. He doesn't want a half working laser that will break down and require constant maintenance/fiddling to keep running. Bob spoke with Craig who said that while small-bed Chinese CNC lasers have firmware that is not as good as the aftermarket kits, the actual laser equipment is equivalent. He agrees that assigning a responsible party to maintain it would be important.
Rick proposed creating a plan re: equipment ownership/responsibility in advance followed by an organized effort to have widespread training on how to operate it. Ideally, many members would be comfortable in operating it when things are done so that the equipment would not become an inanimate fossil that's only dusted off occasionally by a small cadre of Laser Priests who would be the only parties able to use it.

Rick contemplated defining some incentive for maintaining the equipment to avoid a '10 people can, but zero people do' situation when tools are out of order. Bob noted that purchase of tools is only part of the acquisition.

Ben suggested implementing a 'squawk sheet' for identifying things that need to be done/fixed. He suggested having a field for the fixer to identify themselves afterwards. This would allow the board to recognize their efforts. Bob and Rick expressed interest in pursuing next steps.

Clif reported on the Printrbot. He got a new controller for it that works and expressed that the only thing keeping it from being fully functional is that there's a problem with the bed not staying level and consequently things don't stick to it, causing print jobs to fail. Bob has encountered this at home with his printer as well. Clif acknowledged that while shims are a quick and dirty solution, a longer-term fix might be more appropriate. He suggested putting a servo on the extruder head with a contact switch and scripting an automatic calibration routine that would have the head move to various points and 'touch' the bed to measure the actual orientation. This would allow it to use the actual bed location as a baseline. He also proposed putting a plastic bed insert on to replace the existing glass. The one he found works with PLA without requiring a heater and should work better with ABS if it is partially heated.

Clif has been reimbursed for the controller board. The bedliner is $60. Clif and Bob suggested installing one on the Printerbot for evaluation before possible acquiring one for the Makerbot as well.

Bob, returning to the subject of the laser cutter stated that he will find a link to a representative device. Clif encouraged research on Alibaba as a source for the cutter. Clif urged consideration for a maintainable, 'non-cheesy' tool that can survive our environment and usage. He cited the non-adjustability of the Printrbot bed as an example of something that did not meet this spec.

Bob also noted that he does not feel confident that his laser cutter will be useable in the shop because of how the evolution of the configuration and software is proceeding. It is his belief that a purchased laser cutter will be more useful to the group.

Bob requested ~$100 for sundries through the end of February. He does not have specific items in mind but his intention is to renew supplies. Rick agreed.

Motion: Bob moved authorizing $100 for use over next 40 days, Rick seconded.

The vote was unanimous.

Motion carried.

Motion: Bob moved to authorize Clif to purchase and be reimbursed for 3D plastic bed. Rick second

The vote was unanimous

Motion carried.

At this point, Clif was leaving and took a moment to express a need for locking cabinet. He will look for one among his usual sources and Rick suggested checking craigslist as well. Bob will check to see if he has anything that could be of use as well. On a tangent related to shop tables and useable workspaces, Bob and Clif expressed skepticism as to the usefulness of the media cart due to both its side and height. Bob will investigate a remediation strategy (TBD) on this subject.

Easter Egg Drop

Pietr's assistance is not available due to schedule constraints. Bob suggested inquiring if the Peter Defazio bridge could be used as a drop zone onto the ground below. Rick will email the list to see if he can identify parties interested in helping to organize the event. Bob praised Rick's organization style with the pumpkin events and seemed to indicate that Rick's appointment to the event would be good. The title 'Humpty Dumpty' was proposed to describe the unfortunate soul tasked with bringing all the King's horses and all the King's men together for the event. Ben committed to assisting Rick in whatever means possible.

Donated Raspberry Pi collection - Projects/Incentives?

We discussed using 1 or more Raspnerry Pi as prizes for the Egg Drop or other events.

We discussed the Time Lapser project Ben is creating for a designated area on Table Island. Rick suggested that we create an EMS You Tube channel that it could automatically post the video to if wanted and Bob proclaimed that automatically featuring these videos on the eugenemakerspace.com page would be a good idea.

Bob action item: He will inquire re: specifics from Clif as to what we have in the donation that contained the aforementioned Raspberry Pi's.

Bob wishes to put in a 'zero objects surface' sign on Table Island to help drive the idea that things are not to be left lying about. Ideally, we would start this with the table then expand to other surfaces.

Adding EMS to directory of amateur radio groups

The initial consensus was "Sure, why not?" but a group reading of the mail seemed to uncover an unexpected requirement that some sort of class or certification be acquired first. Bob noted that if being in the directory led new members to the group, then it could be useful. Pat Robertson (sender of the mail) would like each club appoint a PIO and then do some certification of some sort. Rick will read through it again to determine the scope of the requirements.

Grant funding email

We will do nothing, it looks like marketing spam. The lowest priced equipment with a purpose that would really benefit the maker space is very expensive.

Report on call with Maker Media about Mini Maker Faire (Bob)

Bob reported that Nick and the marketing person (Emily) plus someone from Maker Media in California met to discuss the Mini Maker Faire. There was apparently criticism regarding the size of the event, but the contact renewed the application anyways. She suggested in strongest possible terms that a 'beer party' with free beer for Makers would be a good idea 3-3.5 months ahead of the next event with the purpose of brainstorming things to bring to the Maker Faire.

Bob noted that we have never done a food/drink event for the EMS. Is this a missed opportunity for driving membership or teambuilding? We also discussed doing an EMS event at Falling Sky or equivalent some night for members.

The group determined to pursue organizing a non-shop get-together.

Action Items:

Rick:

Re-read Ham directory mail to determine requirements
Email discuss to seek parties to assist with the egg drop event

Clif:

Purchase plastic liner for Printrbot
Look for locking cabinet

Ben:

Create an EMS You Tube channel

Bob:

Check his own supplies to see if he has something that could be used for a locking cabinet
Investigate next-steps regarding the media cart situation
Research <$1,000 laser cutters and provide a link to the board
Request inventory of the donated Raspberry Pi's and other equipment.

Group:

No clear owner was given to this generally agreed-upon consensus to organize a social event of some sort out-of-shop within the next month.

Adjournment:

Bob moved for adjournment, it was seconded by Rick.

Unanimous, the meeting was adjourned at 7:19 PM.

____________________________ ___________________
Secretary Date of approval
Eugene Maker Space