Over the past several months and community meetings, discussions regarding discontinuing the Autobay have occurred.
The topics have centered around whats best for that space, and whether the value of a limited capacity Autobay is more beneficial than expanding the Metal and Machine shop.
A decision to expand the Metal and machine shop has been made. This will help allow more users to utilize these under sized spaces. This will also help when the fiber laser comes online, as the plan is to house that next to the current CNC machine.
The plans for the expanded layouts are still being finalized with a group of volunteer’s interested in the expansion. These ideas will be implemented as they are agreed upon, and the expansion will be completed in phases. An important note, the roll up door will still act as a material loading area, and the expansion plans will allow the use of the door as such.
An important factor in this decision was the availability of other more suitable spaces for Auto repairs.
The Austin DIY Shop, https://diyatx.com/ is a great alternative less than 3 miles away.
Effective Monday June 6th 2022, the Autobay will be removed from Skedda and additional metal working slots will be added as available.
TLDR: The Autobay is being replaced by the expansion of the metal working areas.
Is there any current document or proposal for the layout/plans for the expansion? I have Covid at the moment so I wasn’t feeling up for the community meeting last night, but I’d love to see or hear what the plan is.
Not that my opinion matters, but the diy shop you mentioned is not only much much better equipped, but they have people there who can help if you get stuck. Plus ive seen a couple of times where cars get stuck there because of getting the wrong part… probably the correct decision.
Maybe in a few years when we move to another location we can revisit this though.
The summary of progress so far is that we’ve updated our acquisition plan based on member feedback, and are now working with metalworkers on a layout accommodating what we think is achievable over the next 12 months or so. Starting soon, we’ll execute that layout adding workspace and rearranging equipment we have with solid plan for fitting the next few major acquisitions.