[hackerspaces] Cost sharing for lasers and 3D printers?

[justin corwin]

At crashspace we worked out a laser time charge that was just a bit above
cost to build up some money for anticipated maintenance, and put people on
the honor system to purchase it using online tools or a cashbox, as well as
soliciting occasional donations towards particular projects (new air
filter, new attachments). Last I checked, we were just barely paying for
the costs we've incurred so far.


On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 5:00 PM, Al Billings <albill at openbuddha.com> wrote:

>  Oh, and I should add that a significant portion of collected monies are
> set aside to pay for upkeep. We've had to replace a tube or two since we
> started and those aren't cheap.
>
> --
> Al Billings
> http://www.openbuddha.com
> http://makehacklearn.org
>
> On Friday, January 18, 2013 at 4:58 PM, Al Billings wrote:
>
>  Ace Monster Toys charges for laser cutter usage.
>
> Seven (?) of us got together and fronted the money to buy the giant ass
> laser cutter and got it into the space. Once a quarter, out of funds
> collected, are are paid back a little on the investment.
>
> We charge the public $1 a minute (this is from memory). AMT members pay
> $0.50 a minute. The original investors pay $0.25 a minute and it is applied
> against their investment monies owed.
>
> We built a little odometer that counts every second that the laser tube
> fires (we could build a better system maybe) automatically. We hand keep
> records of the tallies per user of readings when they started and stopped
> using on a given use. People bring their own materials in to laser cut from
> the approved list.
>
> Al
>
> --
> Al Billings
> http://www.openbuddha.com
> http://makehacklearn.org
>
> On Friday, January 18, 2013 at 4:51 PM, Arclight wrote:
>
> Sorry to post off topic, but I have a hacker space related question.
>
> We just acquired a new 3D printer (used commercial-grade machine) and
> of course lots of people have already lined up to use it.
>
> How do other spaces do cost recovery/sharing for machines like laser
> cutters and 3D printers? We know we need to record what people use and
> get them to pay for materials and money towards upkeep, but what's a
> good system?
>
> My experience in the past has been that some hackers either think
> everything should be "at cost" (meaning materials+0.0% markup of any
> type) and that "the collective" will chip in and pay for stuff when it
> breaks. My experience with this is that someone is always left holding
> the bag when some $300 expense pops up and passing the hat yields $38
> and change.
>
> Other folks (like me) feel that the space should charge members for
> materials, plus money to bank for repairs and hidden costs, leaving
> anything left over as profit/money towards a later replacement
> machine.
>
> What system does everyone use? Money jar next to the machine? RFID
> accounting by user?
>
>
> Arclight
> 23b Shop
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-- 
Justin Corwin
outlawpoet at gmail.com
http://programmaticconquest.tumblr.com
http://outlawpoet.tumblr.com
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