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Mojave Makers seeking equipment donations, advice

CliveFX

Plastic
Joined
Jan 12, 2010
Location
Venice beach CA
Hi, My name is Clive, engineer at XCOR Aerospace and wannabe production machinist.
I have recently founded a makerspace on the Mojave flightline, Mojave Makers
Mojave Makers - Makers at Mojave Air & Space Port … & Beyond!
with several other engineers from various companies at the Mojave Air & Space port.

Mojave Makers is patterned off of several successful makerspaces/hackerspaces. The founders have been extensity involved in similar spaces in Dallas, Los Angeles and Huntsville. The Hackerspace movement is a global phenomena that is giving people the liberty to create and learn in warehouses, storefronts and hangers anywhere groups of smart people unite.
We currently exist under the aegis of the Space Studies Institute, a California non-profit. Our plans including applying for our own 501(c)3 status in the next month.
All of our equipment as of yet is member-owned and loaned or donated to the space. Because we are a non-profit, donations to our space, both monetary and equipment, are tax deductible.

one of my goals is to make a place where engineers can really learn how to machine. I know all of you have seen prints come through your shop that shows that the engineers have never turned a crank in their life.

The airport administration has been very friendly to us, and we are opening the doors on a 4000sqft facility this next month. The only problem is that we don't have enough tools!
I have put my entire collection into the space (Seig kx3 cnc mill, harbor freight lathe, about $15k of other tools and equipment) but we do not have any "real steel" so to speak. No bridgeports, no Hardinges, no HAAS or Fadal or really anything other than hobby grade gear.



What I am looking for is some real old school stuff, as well as some nicer new stuff. I have always wanted a Moore No.3. A good Hardinge would be a blessing. More drill presses, lathes, anything. My tooling is hobby grade, and not suited for the punishment of novice users. Ask me about how my R8 shank key got launched out of the spindle into the bearing by somebody who didn't know it was there at my former hackerspace..

As for nicer new stuff, I have been in touch with HAAS but they dropped the ball on me.

My questions to this community are as follows:
1. Do you have any older machines that are taking up shop space that you are dying to fill with new stuff?
2. Do you know someone who does? a machinery dealer? a storage warehouse?
3. Do you know who to contact within HAAS, Fadal, etc, for this kind of educational non-profit connection?

I know this is a long shot. But I also know that there are shops out there with tools collecting dust, I have seen them.

Why should you give to us or help?
Well, obvious reason, it is tax deductible and frees up sqft in your shop. Second reason, I really want to promote this trade and knowledge of machining. Since I was a kid I have always wanted to be a machinist, but it seems to be a very exclusive club. I have been actively steered away from being interested in it, first in high school, then at my first job at NASA, and now even in my current job as an engineer for a progressive spaceflight company. I want to give people the chance to cut metal, to fall in love with the craft. And the people who I want to help are those that need it the most, the people making the drawings for all kinds of amazing aerospace projects.

If you are in the Socal area and think you have anything for us, please get in touch with me at clive @ clivefx.com. If you have any advice for us on how to find tools, please post in this thread.
At some point in the future we might even have budget to buy tools, but since we are not a business it will never be a whole lot.

Thank you for your time!
 
Some people are going to be a bit suspicious of something like this, it contains the words engineer and chinese machinetool and also sounds a bit like its including artsy stuff.

If anybody dares to mock you, kick their asses ;)

Im a free time machinist and volunteer at a local museum and i know how important a good hobby can be :cheers:.

As to getting machines : Try asking local people. I found out about a very nice surplus lathe at the University, it will join our shop in the near future and finally give us a high precision alternative to our well worn Colchester. Since we are a charitable organization, an agreement could be reached...

Then there is an old fab shop which will be torn down this year, it has all sorts of goodies , if you lived in my part of the world i could probably get you litterally tons of stuff for scrap price or free.

Neither of this can be found online or in the newspaper. This is more the realm of ! knowing a scrapper ! , *very* helpful, and the usual chat between likeminded people.

Now you are most likely not charitable, but hey, if you help Kids with their High school projects and things like that i think people will be willing to listen too.

*Warning, this is EUROPEAN advice , if something is totally different in the States, lemme know*
 
The cynic in me says "reality show".

Please tell me this is not so?



The series will revolve around the team of Makers facing off against other groups in maker-related competitions. Competitions like:

•Modifying a lawnmower into a 70mph drag racer.
•Designing catapults to hurl pumpkins across football fields.
•Constructing Rube Goldberg machines.
•Building human-powered submarines

Sounds like it to me.
 
How come a harbor freight lathe, got mentioned above the other 15,000 dollars worth of tooling that you donated yourself?

Because it was all I could fit into my shop. I was working out of another hackerspace in Los Angeles, and we did not have rollup doors or three-phase. So all of my tools were scaled down. I wanted bigger, better stuff, but I did not have the room for them. There is quite a bunch of electronics and rocketry specific stuff as well.
 
The cynic in me says "reality show".

Please tell me this is not so?

Reality show production companies often approach groups like ours. I have been approached by three or for in the past two years. It is up to individual members if they want to participate. Sometimes they offer enough money to make it worth it.
 
money money money. since your aerospace engineers living in the desert there has to be quite a bit of disposable income between you all. unless you all have high maintenance trophy wives or somehting.... not the typical enginer wives (school teachers).

The more I ponder this the more upset I get.
You may be a non-profit but your hardly a "worthy cause". You are a just bunch of middle aged men who want a machine shop. I'd rather sell my tools and donate that to a real charity.

You wanted Haas to Donate a mill to you? no wonder they stopped talking. They have real disadvantaged schools who are on a list for that type of thing.

youre going to have to pony up some cash and buy some tools.

then I suggest a security deposit from each member of $1000 or more for whatever you break so you don't just shrug and walk away after trashing the groups bridgeport spindle .

Just mmyself I put well north of $30,000 worth of shop equipment in my basement. All of it was Rigged off of trailers with tow trucks and rolled in on pipes.
 
Hi, My name is Clive, engineer at XCOR Aerospace and wannabe production machinist.

One of my goals is to make a place where engineers can really learn how to machine. I know all of you have seen prints come through your shop that shows that the engineers have never turned a crank in their life.

Thank you for your time!

Who is going to teach the Engineers/wanna be machinists?
Of course your group will want all CNC equipment. Right? Produce a CAD drawing, push a button, shazam!, finished part.
Reading about and attending a class is one thing, actually making a part (even a simple one) on a machine is a another story all together.

You should cross post this on the Chaski board, Harrold could use a good laugh.
 
No problem there. He said cranking handles. So cranking it is.

Find one of those shops going for auction and get a truckload of old beater machines.
Thats how i would equip a semi public shop if it was up to me....
 
From what i have seen on the net so far, most hobby users are more of the type " we make small things, we have time" .

The kind of people you have to remind to run higher feeds to avoid rubbing....
 
Wow!
We are not actually super well off, and we are not middle aged. Our core group is under thirty actually!
As for ponying cash, I put a few tens of thousands into the tools that are already in the space. You have some pretty crazy ideas about what it is like to be an engineer in Mojave!
 








 
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