Suggestions for tool purchases with grant money?

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For those unaware, MHV has a sizeable grant/donation to be spent on tools and equipment, however as of now I believe around $2k remains.
There’s no point just having money we can only spend on tools, and then not spending it on tools, so I’m curious what people want in the space.
(I’m not sure the specifics of what it can be spent on, but a space wish list isn’t a bad thing to have, I’ll update once I have more details, however if anyone knows the exact info please post it in this thread)

Granted, we’re not gonna get a decent panel saw or lathe new for that much, but I’m thinking maybe a bunch of smaller items.
So far we’ve got an air compressor that’s been all but authorised, and we’re just waiting on Crash to see if he can find a model that’s suitable.

Other than that, there’s a couple thinks I’d personally like the space to have, and any suggestions from everyone else is much appreciated. If you’re all contributing to the community, it’s best you feel you’re getting your fair share of value in return (cough cough this is me thinking MAYBE more people would join the space and maybe more people would donate if we have a bunch of nice tools for them to use)

Seriously, this money’s not gonna spend itself, so suggest anything and everything, no matter how small or large

My suggestions:

  • Soldering fume extractors, multiple (good for group soldering exercises, we may have some but if so I’m blind and haven’t seen them. Either way, we have like 15 hakkos, 5 fume extractors would be a welcome, safe addition)
  • Cyclonic dust separator for our vacuum (should make dust and woodchip management a bit easier)
  • Some big long hose for our vacuum, so it can sit in a corner with the separator and drum while allowing for easy cleaning of the space
  • Anything that can help with dust management in the space
  • Small desktop CNC that’s strong enough to work soft metals (Might be a significant cost, but I think it’s very much worth it)
  • Desktop laser cutter (this could also be funded from the money returned from the glowforge (I forget who we’re specifically waiting on for this one)
  • Small desktop lathe (I’m talking small, but these can be purchased for cheaper than you’d expect)
  • Robotic vacuum cleaner (Call it superfluous, but it is quite a convenience)
  • Chromecast/Apple TV/Something that can do both (Another thread about possibly the same grant mentioned projectors, if so I’m sure this’d count) (I have a couple of devices that may soon become surplus, so we could possibly use those). We need something that can take miricast/google cast/airplay and put it on the TV, specific device suggestions are welcome (Right now I’m betting on a Nexus Player with an Airplay daemon running)

Those are my suggestions, feel free to add your own, I’ll bring up the final list at the next comity meeting and see what we can get.

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Adding to the list, some Sparkfun inventor kits for Arduino. Not sure if the grant money will cover them, but a nececity anyway.
A number of times people have come in asking for guidance, eventually they settle on one of these kits, and are never seen again. If we had a number on hand, not only would it save these people money, but we might actually get some people coming back.

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Ian and Steve have been talking about getting an air compressor.

Also, this might not be helpful but I have a Miracast device. I tried it out and my PC said it couldn’t play ball with it so I gave up. Would love it if the space could make use of it!

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Miricast could help, I’m not sure what windows uses but Android has switched from miricast to Google cast, and apple devices all use Airplay.
Now that I think about it, the device I want to use will work with Google cast and Airplay, but I’m not sure if it’s miricast compatible, so it might work for everything but windows.

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Placed it and my HDMI splitter near the TV

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What happened to the other $3k? (I’m sure I know… but I can’t remember right now…)

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  • Wish list
    Belt sander,
    Thicknesser Planer,
    drill bit sharper

  • Medium
    power Planer,
    1/2 inch router,
    Impact driver
    nibbler

  • More out there stuff
    Plasma cutter

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We may still have it, I’m just not sure what money’s what.
Next time I see Tony I’ll have him give me a full breakdown of all the money we have floating around, and document it all for future reference

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There is a Canberra business that sells a modular open source cnc router, that can mill soft metals. https://3dtek.xyz/products/x-carve
It comes as a kit, so it should be pretty fun putting it together. I think you can also add a laser cutter module.

The more expensive model also mills steel and has a water jet add on.

Anyone can pop over to their office and check it out.

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Maybe we can look at building one?

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I like the idea of cnc mill (maybe rejiggable for plasma cutter?) as it can give birth to more machines :grin: though we’d wanna bang some guards on it incase a part comes off the vice and gets flung off (checkout nycnc’s blooper reel :scream:)

Plasma cutter would be bloody awesome though in the grand scheme of things it’s pretty low on the list imo

I have a k40 laser cutter at home, it’s alright (definitely no epilog laser lol) but if the space was to get one it’d be a fair run down the rabbit hole to make it makerspace safe due to no interlocks and no machine protection mechanisms. Only set me back $580 ish Aussie paesos though