Maker Space 2 (2013 - 2017)

Maker Space 2 (MS2) was in a busy location in Newcastle City Centre. The property had previously been used as an estate agent and as a gallery for The New Bridge Project (https://thenewbridgeproject.com/) who occupied the rest of the building at the time.

Address

18 New Bridge Street West,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 8AW.

Floorspace

91 square metres

Rooms

  • Main Workshop
  • Machine Room
  • Computer Lab
  • Members' Store
  • Wet Lab
  • Corridor and "Hack Me" Shelves

Description

MS2 was much larger than the previous space with multiple rooms that were broadly dedicated to different activities. As the space was originally for retail, there were several large windows which were quite often used to display members' projects. One of the windows was also used for displays, especially at Christmas and Halloween.

The location helped greatly to improve awareness of the space and increase membership. This, in combination with the increased floorspace meant that we could start to acquire more equiment such as a laser cutter.

With more members, we started to open up for regular themed sessions on Thursday evenings.

  • 3D Thursday, on the 1st and 3rd Thursday og the month, for anything related to 3D printing.
  • Make It Sew, on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month, for learning to sew using sewing machines.
  • TWAIN Thursday, (Thursday Without An Interesting Name) when there was a 5th Thursday in a month.

We aslo set up an FPV drone racing circuit with gates hanging from the ceiling and held a few relaxed flying sessions for non-members to join the fun. (Video:https://youtu.be/qNBZ2tCU2GA)

Main Workshop

The main workshop had desks and a large workbench for general use. This room was also used for 3D printing.

Machine Room

The machine room was used for woodwork, metalwork and laser cutting. We had a selection of bench top machines and tools including a drll press, chop saw, band saw, scroll saws and lathe.

Computer Lab

The computer lab was almost the same size as the whole of MS1 and had a couple of PCs permanently set up for CAD etc. This was often a quieter place to work if the main workshop was busy.

Members' Store

Where we stored project boxes and space equipment. The safe place for things that shouldn't be hacked with.

Wet Lab

This was intended to be set up with a sink for brewing and anything else biology related but instead it ended up being used more as storage than anything else. Before we managed to get it set up as a wet lab, we received notice that the building was to be demolished.

Corridor and "Hack Me" Shelves

The corridor between the main workshop and the machine room was wide enough for shelves full of all the stuff that was available for hacking.

Window Displays

The window in the machine room was used for window displays. Most of the time, it had a selection of members' projects on display. (It was a convenient storage place for projects that were being worked on!)

There were some more organised displays as well:

  • Duck TV - a small TV displaying photos the rubber duck from a photography project called Duck 365 (https://www.agm.me.uk/duck365/) being watched by a collection of more rubber ducks. Unexpectedly, the collection of ducks grew over time as more and more people added to it.
  • Christmas 2014: Marble Run - A Christmas window with a marble following the route of a Christmas present. (Video:http://youtu.be/OmBVfjYjjZA)
  • Christmas 2015: Penguin Race - A large Tyneside themed version of the kid's toy. (Video:https://youtu.be/S5oH3TsZ8es)
  • Halloween 2016: Ghosts - 4 ghosts with LED eyes, floating up and down randomly. (Video:https://youtu.be/ftle01KvXbk)