The sheet rock upstairs was sanded today. That part is done. Whoopee.

Now we get to prime all that new sheet rock and then paint the whole upstairs. We will be using an off white similar to what we had at TechShop Durham.

I'll be buying it Friday. We have a 10% coupon for Lowe's so unless someone has a better idea, I'll be buying it there.

We had a meeting tonight for the wood shop layout. We went largely what was already planned, but new ideas were added and it will be even better than before.

Trailer #8 was brought to TechShop RDU today and we pulled a few items from it like brooms and trash barrels. When we started the move, we asked for cardboard boxes and pallets.

Now we will be having a bunch of these after we empty all eight trailers. Does anyone want any of these? I seem to remember someone saying they would loan us boxes but wanted them back. If that is you and you are listening now, we will repay you with interest! You can have all you like. We also have half a pallet of unused smaller boxes if anyone wants some of them.

Friday more framing and electrical.

Scott

http://techshoprdu.com/images/sh3d/5905TriangleDr_1stFloor_2.7.sh3d
Door added to ShopBot room

Sheet rock sanding Thursday and painting party on Saturday for the upstairs spaces. Not likely to finish in one day, but depending on how many people show up, it could happen.

Is there a volunteer or volunteers that would like to be in charge of this operation? I will be supplying the paint and supplies and equipment. At least I have one power roller that works incredibly well once you learn how to use it. It can really make a mess of things if not handled right, but works wonders once you get the hang of it.

There is a meeting Monday for people interested in designing the laser room. We need some input from anyone interested in any of the other spaces too. I always think sooner than later, so am suggesting a Thursday meeting for anyone interested in helping us design the layout for the wood shop. Is this too soon? Same would hold true for the metal shop. Any takers for a Thursday evening meeting? How about the sewing room?

I don't think we'll have too much trouble with the plastics lab and vinyl cutter rooms, but we are inviting anyone who wants to say anything about room layouts to attend. again, is Thursday too soon? If so, when would work?

I'm having trailer #8 delivered to TechShop RDU Thursday around noon so I can get brooms, mops, garbage cans and some building materials stored in there out for us to use.

It will be parked parallel to the rear trailer that is in the parking lot now. It will start to get a bit crowded, but we need to get this stuff available. Wish I could have all eight of them there at once, but we don't have the space yet.

We're down to 9 Lifetime memberships available. In a couple of days I will email the offer to everybody, but will keep you posted here as to the remaining availability.

Thanks,

Scott

Matt Santelli and I picked up an old 3D printer today. It was donated by Lord Corporation. Ken Boone works there and set it up for us. Thanks Ken! Here's some info on it. 3D Systems http://www.3dsystems.com/ Actua 2100 solid printer. It was purchased in July, 2000 and taken out of service several years ago. It was only used a few times and in operation when it was removed from service. Should be fun for someone to figure out.

Erick and I crawled through all eight of the trailers looking for electrical supplies and pulled quite a bit out. We have a plan and will be doing a lot more electrical Wednesday. If you want to help with this non dangerous unpowered part of the buildout, Wednesday from noon on would be a good time for you to be there.

There is insulation to be stuck between the metal studs in the ShopBot room and dust collector rooms. This is also something we could use some help with.

I will start to create a list of things people can do and post it. I know there are lots of folks willing to help, but don't know what or when. I will do my best to rectify that. We are hoping to start painting the upstairs by the weekend. This sounds like a painting party! We'll buy the paint and supply food and drinks. Bring painting clothes. This is not set in stone yet, because we aren't sure the place will be ready. Sheetrock mudders are due again tomorrow and should be finishing up the upstairs by Thursday, I believe, so Saturday should be fine...... I hope! Keep watching the blog for more information.

Starting right now, we're going to offer just ten lifetime memberships for $5000 each. This will be a limited time offer and we're not really sure if we will need to offer them again. I am only offering this on the blog for now. If this does not produce the ten, I will send an email out to the whole mailing list, but for now, you have the first chance at them.

As you may also know, we are in our final round of funding so if you are interested in investing $15,000 or more in the new TechShop RDU, please email me at scott at techshoprdu dot com. This is the best time to invest in TechShop. Less risk, better payback and part ownership of TechShop. I can tell you more if you are interested. Shoot me an email and we can talk about it.

Once we get through the funding part, we can concentrate on the fun part.

Thanks,

Scott

More sheet rock mud and more framing. This stuff sure seems to take a lot of time. Actually, it is really going quickly considering all that is happening.

Jeff Bartlett picked up a bunch of insulation and started installing it around the ShopBot room and will continue with the two dust collector rooms once the electrical runs have been installed.

Jeff Schornick and Erick have been working on things having to do with our Internet service, email program and associated technical items. I am told I will have the new email system tomorrow if all goes well. You should see a subscription email in your inbox some time Tuesday.

Two more floor plans.

http://techshoprdu.com/images/sh3d/5905TriangleDr_2ndFloor_base-2.4.sh3d
The kitchen has been updated, but may not be finalized

http://techshoprdu.com/images/sh3d/5905TriangleDr_1stFloor_2.6.sh3d
More changes to the front end of the building.

Scott

Well, I got most of the day off and went flying radio controlled airplanes. It gives me a chance to hang with friends and do something I really enjoy.

But after that, I have been working on the layout some more. Each and every little space of this building has to be thought out and planned... and approved by the landlord in some cases. I wanted to tear down the whole wall in the entryway leading into the machine and wood shops, but they said no because it is a fire wall.

I have been working on the whole front area tonight. This space will house the waiting room, management offices, front desk and retail spaces. I'm still looking for a place to put the 3D printer and associated items.

Changes to the floor plan are all in the front three spaces at the left of the plan.
http://techshoprdu.com/images/sh3d/5905TriangleDr_1stFloor_2.5.sh3d

Matt wants to get to work on this area soon. I will have to run my ideas by the landlord first.

On another note, Jeff Schornick discovered our static IP address turned out to be dynamic so we will be talking to our providers folks Monday.

Erick has been working on the new emailing subscriptions system, synchronization between the local and remote databases, fixing effects of moving from the old domain to the new one and maintenance on the server.

Thanks,

Scott

Saturday was another busy day at TechShop.

The sheet rock hangars finished the upstairs and the mud crew started. This should be done in about three days I think, and then we can paint. They will be back at 8AM Monday morning. All of a sudden it looks like something up there. This is getting exciting.

Quite a few volunteers showed up to help with the framing and got it almost done before running out of studs. That job will continue on Monday.

Mark did more electrical with help from Ryan Wigley.

Not much scheduled for Sunday. Mark and Ryan will show up for a little electrical wiring around 10 or so. they will be happy to let you help if you so desire.

I'm taking the day off and going flying. I haven't been out since January 1. That's a long time for me. Looks like a pretty big turnout is expected at our club flying field. You're welcome to visit if you like. Here's a map to our flying field.

I'll still be available by phone if anything comes up and then of course, back to my computer after dark.

Wow, no changes on either floor plan today.

Talk to you tomorrow,

Scott

Tonight I will include the latest floor plans in the blog. Don't let me forget.

But first, I want to tell you that the back yard parking lot has been partially cleaned out and scraped so the water should not puddle back there any more. I'm not sure we won't need another drain, but progress is being made.

The sheet rock guys surprised us and showed up a day early. They got half the upstairs done already!

Jeff Bartlett is finishing up the plumbing rough in so the sheet rock guys can come in at 8 AM and finish up the top floor sheet rock hanging. Jeff, go home, get some sleep... but thanks!

Matt and crew were slowed down today by having to remove a bunch of the lighting where the walls will go down on the first floor, but Saturday will have them framing like crazy. As always, he really appreciates any help and you are invited to participate.

We got our Internet and phone service today. I'm not giving out the phone number yet because we are going to get a preferred number so it will be easy to remember.

Saturday will have two crews working. Framing and sheet rock and we expect to see a lot of progress. I'm not sure when the tape and mud crew will start, but it could be tomorrow too.

I didn't get any feedback on the painting question I posed last night, so we'll probably choose an off white similar to the first location and go with that. The question last night was, "What does anyone think of letting different groups decide and paint each room as they see fit? A few people that use each room a lot might want something to say about how it is finished out. Any comments on that idea?" email me at scott at techshoprdu dot com if you have a different idea than using the same color we had at TechShop Durham.

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. Here are the latest floor plans.

http://techshoprdu.com/images/sh3d/5905TriangleDr_2ndFloor_base-2.3.sh3d
One more room rented.

http://techshoprdu.com/images/sh3d/5905TriangleDr_1stFloor_2.4.sh3d
We added a door into the wood shop through the tool crib and added three windows in the long wall of the machine shop.

Thanks,

Scott

I seem to be making a habit of changing the floorplan after I post the blog. Here's the latest for the downstairs. I changed the ShopBot room a little, moved the machine shop wall closer to my office and added a door into the Saw Stop area. We're grabbing every square foot we can.

http://techshoprdu.com/images/sh3d/5905TriangleDr_1stFloor_2.3.sh3d

Scott

Thursday's report:

Plumbing rough in was started by Jeff Bartlett today.

Matt and crew did a lot of the downstairs framing. I only changed the plan twice on them. Oops, one more tonight... this morning that is.

Friday we get DSL and phone lines in.

Friday the sheet rock arrives and Saturday morning the sheet rock crew starts upstairs. We are not asking for volunteers for the sheet rock. We have hired a professional crew to do the whole job. It will cost us more than if we had volunteers do it, but it will be done in days. Right now, time is of the essence. We want to open again as soon as possible.

The cement blocks that were blocking the two drive in doors have been removed and today they poured cement to fill in the holes. It should be set in a day or two.

Mike suggested today that many members will want to know when we will be up and running again. Right now, all I can say is that we will do it as quickly as possible. Our original schedule was for the framing and wiring to be done last week, the sheet rock this week and put in machines next week, taking us right up to the end of the month with March 1 as a soft opening, meaning we would have some machines up and running.

I think we will fall a little behind that schedule, but not too much. I will try to keep you posted as much as possible. Keep looking here for the current schedule.

We will be needing to paint our new walls once the sheet rock guys finish putting them up. this should happen before the equipment goes in. What does anyone think of letting different groups decide and paint each room as they see fit? A few people that use each room a lot might want something to say about how it is finished out. Any comments on that idea? We can always decide on one color to paint all the walls if you think that would look better too. I'm open to all ideas.

Thanks,

Scott