[Swansea Hackspace] Using the hackspace as your own micro-factory

[Gerrit Niezen]

Hi there fellow hackspace members,

Is the hackspace purely a place for people working on their hobbies, or is it a place where you can make things to sell as well?  At the moment the hackspace is very underutilised, given that the time that most of us have to work on our hobbies is either in the evenings or over the weekends. It's more the exception than the rule that someone is in there during the day.

Are there some of you who not only want to use the hackspace to pursue a hobby, but maybe also use it as a springboard for a new business or making some money with a side project? Are you already a small business owner, or do you see yourself making things and selling them in the near future?

And what are the things preventing you from currently doing so? I can imagine lack of time being the main reason, but maybe you feel that you lack some skills? Or is it just that you can't imagine making things at the hackspace because you don't feel that the equipment is reliable enough, or maybe there's a specific tool that you're missing?

If you think you can answer some of these questions, I would like to hear them. I want to help make it easier for people to get started making things, and I want to know what the real problems are people are facing.

I want those of us who would like to make things and sell them as a side project, or maybe even as a small business, to get together and discuss the problems and possible solutions for getting things going. How about getting a meetup running every first Thursday of the month, where we can have someone give a talk on what they would like to achieve, or maybe even on what they have already made and how they got where they are?

If you are interested, please let me know what you think. If instead you think that the hackspace should only be for people to practice their hobbies and should not be used for producing things, maybe it's time to have that conversation as well.

Cheers,
Gerrit