Another use proposal: We could use the space for an elaborate deathtrap. It could be a big draw at halloween.
We have a spraybooth at work, it’s just plastic sheeting on 2x4s with some particle filtering, via a filter box and an exhaust vent that ‘appears’ to be a stove range hood. (not sure if there’s a different fan in it)
Spraying in it is done for brief periods at a time, a few minutes, then 30 minute intervals before the next few minutes of spraying.
I think making it ‘water based paint’ only won’t work, Rattlecans are popular. and I doubt the spray would be so concentrated as to be a fire/explosion hazard, unless people are spraying without the fan running.
I think a box fan would move enough air for most people’s purposes, plus they are cheap, are pretty standard sized, and easy to replace.
Nancy
Sounds like a place to start. (There are always those big square ventilator fans, if needed.)
Speaking of a plastic sheet booth, the booth could be something that gets folded up when not it use. (Not moved anywhere, just folded out of the way.)
As far as “sparks v. solvents”, one approach is to run the fan with a pulley to the motor, with the motor set outside the air/solvent flow stream.
I could get behind a few roving tool Daleks in the Hive.
- Ry
Would be a cool Hive project. 
Tool Daleks!!!
I’m down the our new tool dalek overlords. Heck, we don’t even have to put them into the other room. Also might be a better solution to the deep, messy shelves all the small tools are jammed on.
I looked at the webpages for several of the area Hackerspaces and art collectives, (Wavepool, Level1, i3Detroit) and one thing I noticed is that most have a classroom and or art gallery space that is separate from the work areas. There was a proposal to move the fablab to the new area and make that space into a classroom but the current fablab is small and has a low ceiling. Even if the lounge and fablab were combined it would be low and small and near all the noise.
My proposal is for the new space to be a combined classroom, meeting space, lounge, art gallery, place for open mikes, performances, show and tell, lan-parties, get togethers, crafts and anything else that we could think of to do away from the noisy, dirty work area. I’ve brought friends to see Hive13 who were turned off by the dirty clutter. I’ve heard of possible grants that were lost because of the appearances.
Having a separate area would allow people to continue working when a lan-party or any other group has an event. The fab-lab or electronics area could be expanded into the current lounge area. The current meeting area could be repurposed also.
Would it realistically be possible to have sound insulation put in the new space? As it stands, 2 people having a conversation in that area will disturb the remnant above the space.
I used the word realistically, because I'm sure if we throw 30k at the situation we could have bar fights in that room without issue.
*tenant
These are rented thumbs.
Well… it all depends. What amount of noise do you think is reasonable to emit from the space? How much money can we spend?
If I was doing it, I’d probably get some thick sheets of insulating foam, which is ~$15 per 4x8 3/4" sheet. I can’t remember hold tall the wall at the top that’s shared with the tenant is, let’s assume 4’ or less. So for 40’ of insulation, we’re talking about $75-100, which doesn’t seem unreasonable, and provides some noise reduction.
OTOH, I would say that hearing people talk is a part of apartment living, and we’re doing nothing wrong. It might be different if we were using the space to hold death metal jam sessions, but so far all the applications I’ve heard of sound pretty quiet. Might be different if we move the woodshop or air compressor in there, but otherwise most of the tools in the hive are relatively quiet.
I have never had to try and noise proof a room before, so I have no idea if 3/4" sheet foam would do the job or not. If anyone has experience, now would be an awesome time to shout out. (see what i did there?)
Currently we have gotten complaints from the tenant above when people have been talking outside the fablounge (new official term) after quiet hours. As the new space has less sound insulation than our current space, that would mean that space is essentially off limits during quiet hours. It could also be a source of tension during regular hours.
The sound issue has been the largest reason that the relocation of the lounge has been objected to.
The sound issue needs to be taken up with our landlords. Powertools - I get it. Talking? Eat shit and die. You want utter quiet? Buy a fucking house.
-D
Correction - buy a fucking house in the middle of nowhere, and then you need to deal with the sounds of nature.
-D
Maybe I am just less considerate but when I heard that the only reason that garden street even purchased the property that contains the hive was because their other properties were too loud, I kinda thought the tenant had no reason to complain. Not that I haven’t tried to be respectful but, it made me stop for a moment and say seriously…
I’ve looked into this a little re: a basement woodshop.
To actually work, one needs resilient channel attached to the ceiling, then to attach at least 2 layers of acoustic drywall,
glued together with acoutic caulk. One also need to seal the edges of the drywall against the room wall with acoustic caulk.
Having a room with a double shell (i.e., the inside wall studs are not in direct contact with the outside studs/frames) with insulation in between helps (heavier (more mass/volume) insulation (rock wool?) works better).
(One can check the STC (Sound Transmission Class) rating to see how effective any given material is. The walls should be acoustic drywall. The walls should be sealed to the floor with the acoustic caulk.
It helps to keep heavy machines out of the room, too, because low frequency vibrations are hard to damp out.
Or at least use heavy rubber mats under them.
Ducting, at least, should not be a problem, since we are sending air outside of our space.
And, for maximum isolation, the door should be heavy and sealed with weather stripping, since air is a great sound conductor.
)
“…since we are <> sending air outside of our space.”
Here is a brief description of a soundproofing remodel:
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/2012/11/30/soundproofing-lessons-from-a-custom-built-sound-studio