I’m considering at joining Asmbly Makerspace, looking for a way to do some rapid prototyping with 3D printing. I’ve done a little bit of FDM 3D printing at a friend’s house (with an Ender3 v2). I’m wondering a couple of things, hoping for some input before investing in a membership:
Is a class required before I could do any prints, or would I be able to start after a fast track orientation session? e.g. I see a " 9:00 AM, INTRO TO FILAMENT 3D PRINTING W/ ALEX" class on Oct 7, but I’d love to be able to print sooner than that
What is the availability of printers typically like? Do folks sign up for time slots? Or if not, do they get pretty busy?
A class is required to use the printer. Most equipment here requires a class prior to use. With membership you get 25 hours of scheduled usage time a month. Printing often requires a great deal of time, so all the hours printing are not actually counted against that time.
We use a scheduling program that allows us to book time. Currently there are 4-6 filament printers and two resin printers, I believe. I have never seen all the printers in use at the same time.
Your best course of action is to sign up for the printing class and the required orientation class prior to joining. When you do decide to join, the online process is quick and easy. You usually receive you access credentials within 6 hours, as it is an automated system.
Hope to see you soon. I just completed my training and need to get some practice in myself.
Thanks Shane, that’s really helpful!
Ah yes, I could see 25hr/mo getting limiting for getting much printing done. Do you like sign up for the time you’ll be there to kick off a print, and then leave and come back when it’s done or something like that?
I did not put it together that I could take the classes before joining. I’ll look more into that. Hope to see you!
@peterwhitesell, yes that’s exactly right on the printers! You’re scheduled time is just when you’re in the shop kicking it off/picking it up. Hope you can make good use of Asmbly for your prototyping! Some people find the lasers really helpful for those purposes as well.
How does the 25 hours get counted in general? Is it 25 hours per device or in total? I don’t think this was covered in the orientation and I can’t find it online. What happens if I want to use asmbly for more than 25 hours a month?
Welcome! The 25 hours are per week. When you come into the shop, you must reserve your time in Skedda. That is where hours are tracked. Hours reset every Monday.
As Stephannie said, hours are tracked weekly. Any hours booked on any equipment (or put another way, any slot on Skedda other than on-duty slots) counts against that 25. Similarly, if you book 2 different pieces of equipment in the shop at the same time, those hours will both count against the 25. The main purpose of the hours limitation is to maintain fair availability for all members for all equipment, which is one of the reasons why we track per machine and not per hour physically in the space.
Exceptions to this are the general woodshop spots and general metal shop, which grant access to a number of different tools via one Skedda slot.