It was never anyone’s intent to seek compensation for the router table build. Several of us wanted access to such a machine, and none of us had room for one at home. It’s much like the space itself in that regard. Hive13 has a long history of members donating or loaning tools to improve the space as a whole. The router table is simply one more in that tradition.
As we gain experience and additional members begin to use it though, it seems reasonable to ask if we want to transfer the ongoing operational costs (minor maintenance, replacement of damaged components, etc) to the group. To that end, I recently proposed a vote to cover replacement of the spindle damaged late last year. That will occur at our next meeting on Jan 12. I will also announce this in a separate message.
I have always had absolutely zero expectation of getting any money I spent back for this machine. When discussions were first taking place about building it we briefly talked about asking for Hive funds. That discussion quickly went in the direction of self funding mainly because of what you are seeing here.
I can’t speak for any of the others that heavily donated but I would appreciate all support on purchasing this software for our members. If we purchase this software, I’m willing to spend time teaching other members and publicly advertising CNC classes to promote our space (free certification classes for our members). If we go in another direction, I can’t yet determine how I will feel about being so heavily invested in future projects by getting so little support for something like this.