I was thinking about a shipping container myself, rather than a shed.
There’s room for a 20x8 foot container here:
However the cheapest I’ve seen so far in Canberra is $2k.
I thought a layout something like the following could work:
With anything that’s been expelled from the space being placed in the back of the container, backing forwards through it, and once junk reached the start of the container, anything at the back would be thrown out.
Just an idea.
(Don’t get me wrong, I love sheds, but there’d need to be strict rules about what it’s used for so it doesn’t just become a dumping ground)
I did check, the space you mentioned is perfect for that shed, and at $500 it’s damn tempting, we’d just need to organise delivery (Which I fear would almost be the cost of the shed itself).
I am a fan of a shipping container and it was my searching for one that brought me accross this site shed.
We have considered putting one where you have sudjested and wile it would fit I am not quite sure we could get it in there.
A half sized one would fit in the bar with not issues and if we were to clear out the space behind the bay and knock it down we could fit a full one I reckon.
As to what to keep in it, well that is always going to be an issue regardless of what space we have. I think we just need to deal with it as a culture and regular clean outs.
I love having random materials and things around more than the next guy. (I’ve built my whole film on Junk).
But honestly, I had a decent look today and we are definitely not using our storage optimally. I think we can arrange everything in the space and have it all easily accessible and labelled in the current rooms.
It’s tight and more space and stuff would be awesome, but if we’re literally talking about going broke in 12 months and having to close shop, maybe paying for more storage isn’t the best option right now.
A few nice thick logs and a winch would get it besides the other shed no problems, I’ve got bigger things into tighter spaces with nothing but a tow-bar, some firewood, and my little sister for assistance.
While I think the divider in the bay should be knocked out regardless, I’d say it could be more valuable as a parking space than anything else. Last night we were packed, and I had to squeeze my car past a Tesla worth more than my car, assets, and organs combined. If anyone else arrived, they would have had to park on the street. If we’re expanding, we need to consider parking spaces also.
… I just had a look at the bay, and the divider isn’t where I think it is, it’s between the bay and the garden.
The bay itself is maybe 1.5 car spaces wide, meaning it’s of questionable use as a carpark, and the space may be better utilised by a shed.
It’s still something we need to consider, should we ever come up with an idea more popular than “Sitting around with Pi’s and AVRs arguing about Tesla shares”
I think something with doors on the longer side would be more useful there, a 10-foot shipping container could be difficult to get into.
I just noticed something, when measuring on google maps, I was counting both bays to get ~6x6 meters of space, or 6x3 if we stop where the divider stops.
Currently, the second bay is being taken up by garden, and that would need to be removed to fit it longways.
We could run a 6x3 shed along the wall of MHV,
But it might be a tight fit.
I totally agree with you Amr, my thoughts around this are more long term.
In the immediate future I think we need to clean the place out and give the outside a coat of paint. This would be low hanging fruit in making the space look and feel more accessible.
I agree, but the other option would be someone with authority placing a bunch of stuff outside the roller doors (Or in a designated space) and saying "If someone’s not willing to store it in their own locker or personal space, we’re chucking this in a week.
I will neither confirm nor deny my support of this, as I am rather junior, but if that’s what needs to be done, so be it.
Containers are ?x8ft, so 10, 20, or 40x8ft. The space next to the shed is 10ft wide, and one bay (Say, the one not full of garden) is 9.5. Either could handle a container.
This is key for attracting new members. And please no one forget:
New members = New money = MHV not dying.
We will all eventually move on from this place and need someone to pass the torch to.
(sorry that’s off topic. Just appearance, is important even if we don’t care ourselves)
Which is why spending 500-2k on a container, so that if anyone ever leaves some junk lying around someone else has somewhere to hide it from view until the guilty party comes back and puts it somewhere proper, is something I consider important.
Just going through the workshop now, from the organising alone more than half the detritus is already gone or placed somewhere suitable, so we have that, but if a shed can be found cheap enough it would work as a buffer for cleanliness.
(I was going to offer a while back, I personally need a shipping container in Canberra, I just haven’t had the land to put it on. If I can find one for a suitable price, I’d offer to buy one outright, place it next to the shed, and allow the front 3/4 to be used by MHV as a junk dumping space. Condition being, if MHV folds, it’s still mine, minus contents, and if I needed it somewhere else, you’d have a month or so to empty its contents)
This removes price to the space as a factor. Just an offer.
Design looks fine. I don’t think stickers are a great option. They might become hard to Remove and leave residue (I wouldn’t want one on the MAME cabinet for instance). Maybe laminated paper that gets BluTacked on things? We have a laminator and I can print stuff for free.
But in general, it’s up to the donator or owner to clearly label their stuff. Tuesday night I will try to make sure everyone’s stuff is labelled (I’ll probably just use paper if we don’t have a better solution by then). That way we could start piling all the junk.
EDIT: I also have a butt load of post it notes I’ll donate that we can use in the meantime.
I was thinking something along the lines of these (officeworks link) (simply because I’m lazy and couldn’t be bothered getting anything professionally made), and would be very surprised if something like this would leave any significant amount of residue, there’s simply so little adhesive to begin with. This stuff’s totally different to PVC/electrical tape.
Regardless, I’m not too concerned about what label is used, so long as by the end of the year, all items of interest are labeled in some way, shape, or form.
(I just thought a direct application label was less likely to fall off most things than rubber-banded on, but I know how much some people dread adhesive decay)
As for post-it notes, because they’re only adhered partially they very often get caught and can peel off. They also use the same adhesive as the stickers I mentioned.
There was a third category of stickers I neglected to mention, which was “Property of MHV, hack with prejudice”, for things like the MAME cabinet, space probe, items of key interest, but I didn’t think they’d get thrown out anyway as all committee members know what they are.
I think there probably need to be a difference between the way we label assets and stuff. Assets probably need to have something that is more robust and is likely to be disposed of at the end of its working life so sticky residue isn’t so important. Stuff is more about knowing what is what and the sticker probably isn’t going to have as hard a life as an asset but (super) sticky stuff is going to be a problem.
I suppose what I am trying to say is we can probably have two solutions to the problem.
Rather than the twelve month thing why don’t we pick a particular date, this way we can have a single clean out once a year rather than a continuous/rolling clean. If it is just once a year I can see it getting done at that time rather than some items sitting around for 18 months and some sitting there for 12 months and one day.
Good idea. December 31st is tentatively the date everything unlabelled will be sorted, I guess “This label is valid until the 31st of December, [year label was applied]” could work. In the last few months of the year, give out the next years labels.
