Category: Community

All things to do with the greater makerspace hacker space community as well as our local community

September 6, 2024

Member Recruitment Campaign

Together we can grow! 50 New Members in 5 months!

Ace Makerspace has undergone many changes over the last few months, but the strength of the Ace community has remained a constant source of inspiration. As an organization, we are committed to sustaining and growing this incredible community. Right now, we have 166 active members, and are launching an ambitious member recruitment campaign with the goal of gaining 50 new members in 5 months. This means growing our community at a rate of 10 new members per month. With this goal in mind we aim to start the new year off as an even more active, lively Makerspace with a strong and thriving membership base.

This campaign will run for 5 months, from September 2024 through the end of January 2025 culminating in a large fundraising Gala on January 11th.

The Plan

Our membership recruitment plan has four main components, each of which you can be a part of:

Volunteering with Ace at outreach events like Oakland First Fridays
Social media and digital promotion
Flyering
Special promotional deals for members and new sign ups

Outreach Events

Outreach events are by far one of our most meaningful member recruitment activities, so we are planning to attend at least 2 outreach events per month through the end of the year. This means there are plenty of opportunities to get involved. By volunteering with Ace at outreach events you directly support our goal of growing a welcoming community of diverse people.

Outreach events through the end of 2024:

Oakland First Fridays – the first Friday of each month
- Keep an eye out for the OFF sign up sheet, posted 2 weeks prior to the event
Oakland Pride – Sep. 8
TBD: Lake Merritt Autumn Lights Festival – Oct. 17-19
Patchwork Oakland – Nov. 11
East Bay Open Studios – Dec. 7

Follow the #ace-volunteers channel on slack to sign up as a volunteer for outreach events. We welcome suggestions for other events around the East Bay. We are also looking for a core group of outreach volunteers that can help support our efforts.

The best way to learn about Ace Makerspace is directly from members. Volunteers are a key part of the success of our outreach efforts.

Social Media and Digital Promotion

We are ramping up our social media promotion with special highlights on member projects.

How you can help!

Make content for Ace social media (make a reel, write a post and send us some pics)
Share your project pictures and videos with us on slack
Tag us in your posts and share ours with your networks
Become a Teacher’s Assistant and/or class photographer

Training for social media and marketing photography available (no experience needed). Contact Jacky, our former Communications Associate, at [email protected] or on slack to get started.

Promotional Material Distribution; Flyers and Posters

We have simple green half sheet flyers available in “Take a Flyer” boxes throughout our workspaces.

Please pick some up and distribute them freely at your favorite local spots. Think telephone poles, cork boards, coffee shops.

If each person puts up just one flyer that’s 166 flyers, with 20 members posting 10 flyers each will we could hit 200 flyers and so on!

“Take a Flyer” box full of flyers in Ace’s Coworking lounge.

Ace also has nice color posters for more permanent locations. We have a digital version which you can download and print, or you can request a printed one. We have a limited number, so please let us know where you plan to post with your request. We’d love to see these up in:

Coffee shops
Local businesses
Bulletin boards

Have a local business or coffee shop you frequent or like? Ask them to put up a poster of Ace.

Post one of these beautiful volunteer-designed Ace Flyers at your favorite spots.

Special Promotional Opportunities

Referral Program

For the next 5 months (through the end of January 2025) we will be running a referral bonus program for active dues paying Ace Members. For every new member you bring in, receive a $20 honor store coupon to use on snacks, drinks and other products sold through the Ace honor store.

In order to get take advantage of this referral bonus, email [email protected] and cc the person you signed up as an Ace Member. They must have completed the full sign up process before you can claim your coupon.

You can bring an unlimited amount of new members for the length of the promotion and get the coupon each time.

Post Tour Sign Up Promotion

Tours are the main way we show prospective members all that Ace has to offer. For the length of this campaign attendees of tours will receive a 10% discount on the first 2 months of their membership when they sign up for a membership on site immediately following their tour of the space.

Please tell anyone you may personally refer or talk to about Ace that we are running this promotion and encourage them to take a tour.

Why grow?

Ace has the space, tools and resources to foster self-made and community supported creativity that serve both personal enrichment and professional development. Ace has to offer such great values that must be known and accessible to all of Oakland and beyond.

A growing community brings with it a wealth of resources. Members contribute not just financially, but also with their time, expertise, and networks. As our community expands, so does our access to diverse skills, ideas, and opportunities that can propel our organization forward. This pool of resources enables us to undertake larger projects, offer more services, and ultimately, better serve the Ace mission, vision and values.

Thank you to all our members and volunteers for your engagement in this campaign. Please share your thoughts and find updates by joining the #ace-volunteers slack channel. For individual offers of volunteer opportunities and questions email [email protected]. We look forward to the insight and involvement of the greater Ace community.

August 17, 2024

From the ED’s Workbench, New Blog Series

Reflections on the Last 6 Months.

As I reflect on the past six months, I find myself exhaling deeply, as if I’ve just completed a marathon and am finally catching my breath. It’s been quite a journey.

From a marathon, I ran in 2014, my friend and I were almost last. A guy in a bee costume was behind us but only because he stopped to hand out flyers.

The path we’ve traveled has been filled with grief, triage, fear, frustration, overwhelm, uncertainty, scarcity, and the unknown. We’ve encountered situations where we had to accept that some things will remain mysteries, faced layoffs, tightened our belts, and bonded through shared experiences. There has been collaborative and deep work, pivots, tough conversations—many tough conversations—and, of course, meetings, meetings, and more meetings.

Yet, along the way, we’ve also found moments of laughter, excitement, and genuine reward. Just yesterday, I was working through yet another technical glitch with our dedicated board member and IT Steward, drp. Despite the frustration, we found ourselves joking that every task seemed to come with more challenges than we anticipated. It is nice to be at the point where we can laugh about the small things. We have come a long way in a short time.

I’m incredibly proud of our staff and board for coming together to support this community. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has stepped up to help us. The strength of our community seems limitless, and it truly is the glue that holds Ace together.

Figuring out the budget was an eye opener

The biggest challenge, as many of you know, is our budget. This is the mountain we’re currently climbing.

So, what have we been up to in our efforts to turn the tide?

Welcoming and voting in a new board
Promoting staff into roles that better support their work and creating detailed job descriptions
Retaining our valuable staff with adequate employment packages
Creating new educational opportunities and expanding class offerings
Designing a sustainable membership model and crafting retention plans
Sorting out our software issues
Designing a sustainable volunteer program
Engaging members to help craft the future with us
NDA revamp so volunteers can help us with administrative needs
Creating email accounts and Slack channels focused on specific aspects of our work and community, ensuring that messaging doesn’t get lost
Tackling our budget concerns
Finalizing a budget for 2024!
Planning a Gala event and Silent Auction
Organizing ACE’s first public fundraiser
Writing grants—lots of them!
Holding a Town Hall
Creating a pitch deck and plan to attract corporate donors & sponsors
Building relationships
Fixing website issues (though there’s still more work to be done!)
Identifying and revamping systems and procedures that weren’t working
Amping up our outreach efforts
Holding monthly community get-togethers and open board meetings
Hiring instructors for CNC and Laser
Organizing our files and creating collaborative ways to work together

I’ll be honest with you, this has been a mental and emotional rollercoaster for the Ace team. Some of us are feeling a bit burned out and are taking a moment to rest, while others have picked up the baton and are running onward.

While we’ve been deeply focused on this work, we haven’t had the bandwidth to keep in regular touch.

I apologize for that. We’re making communication a priority moving forward.

We are a small but mighty staff with the heart of a powerhouse, even so, we are understaffed. Finding volunteers to help us with our communications will be helpful, but first, we need to get that NDA sorted out!

We’ll keep pushing forward—ACE is on the move!

Be part of our journey forward, volunteer ([email protected]), be engaged, donate, stop by and have lunch with us, and tell folks about Ace.

Onward!

My friend Nano and Me

Juliana

Your Interim ED

May 13, 2024

Workshop Care Night’s for Beginners Too!

The Ace Workshop is a community lead, driven, and maintained resource. As makers who share space, we all have a role to play beyond simply working on our projects and cleaning up after ourselves, we also work together to maintain and care for our tools. While routine tool repair and maintenance may not be the most glamorous part of woodworking, it’s essential for keeping the tools we love to use in good working order, safe, and ready for use.

In the past, tool maintenance often fell by default on a small group of expert users which lead to volunteer burnout, longer tool down times, and a pervasive bystander culture in the shop. To make this process more inviting and sustainable we realized we needed a way to:

Build a more intentional woodworking tool maintenance culture
Decrease barriers for folks interested in helping out who didn’t know where to start or who were experiencing the imposter phenomenon
Create an inviting pathway for community members of all skill levels to get involved
Make routine workshop care tasks in general more approachable, fun, and beginner-accessible

…and so Workshop Care Night was born; a new beginner-friendly social evening all about working together to care for our tools, make repairs, and practice concepts covered in our Shop Basics class like logging assets and finding information on the wiki.

Why it works:

Maintenance and tool care is wayyyy more fun together!
It’s a great way for new folks to meet people in the woodworking community
Its a beginner-accessible way to get started with tool repair (no fix-it experience needed to help out, there’s tasks for all skill levels)
Tools last longer and work better with regularly scheduled TLC

Highlights from Workshop Care Night in April

Team Shop keeps a running list of maintenance tasks for workshop care night. Each event is different, one month the group may align the Table Saw blade, repair a vacuum duct and re-home new tools; the next the group may wax the tool tabletops and replace the cyclone filter.

In April, a group of 5 volunteers rolled up their sleeves to tackle a list of maintenance tasks while getting to know one-another and jamming to Groove Salad! This group included folks with a mix of skill sets and experiences levels ranging from woodworking beginners to career professionals.

Here’s a look at just some of what they accomplished over the course of two hours working together:

New Member, Greg (he/him/il/le/lui)’s first stop after signing up was rolling up his sleeves and using his electronics know-how to replace the ground pin for the plug for the Ace Jointer at Workshop Care Night.

There are meaningful tasks for every skill level. Jacky (they/them), Ace’s Education Manager doesn’t have a lot of experience in workshop care or woodworking, but rolled up their sleeves to deep vacuum machines and wax the steel table tops.

Drum Sander before vacuuming.

Tools that get heavy use in the Ace Shop like the Drum Sander, Jointer, Planer, Table Saw and Bandsaw need regular deep vacuuming to get particles deep inside the machine. Removing saw dust from harder to clean areas can lengthen a tools lifespan and helps prevent tool down time.

Team Shop* volunteer and experienced woodworker, Alex (he/him) showed Jacky how to open the top of the Drum Sander since they were unfamiliar with the tool. This kind of peer support and knowledge sharing is deeply embedded in Ace culture along with the belief that everyone has something to contribute of value to the community regardless of skill level.

Drum Sander after deep vacuuming.

It’s not about perfection, it’s about getting it to 90% – Howard

Alex worked on replacing the quill return spring on the Drill Press – the return spring helps the spindle holding the drill bit return to the start position. During the replacement, he called Howard over to assist and verify the repair. At Ace we use the buddy system for repairs to ensure fixes are safe, effective, and verified.

By the end of the night, volunteers were a little dusty but feeling good.

*Teams at Ace are groups of volunteers who organize projects, take care of tools, and drive decision making for programs they love. Teams are open to all members and are a fun way to get involved in the Ace Community.

February 8, 2024

MakeXpression Art Opening at Ace Makerspace

Over 60 people came out to celebrate the culmination of an 8 month collaboration between Ace Makerspace and local artist, Miriam Levenson on a line of laser-cut jewelry representative of the Ace’s vision of a world where making is for everyone. This artwork, made possible through a grant from The Blue Heart Creator’s Fund, explores the idea that identity isn’t given, it’s made and disrupts exclusionary cultural narratives around who can be considered a maker. The exhibition featured 8 shadow boxes with laser-cut jewelry and 20 photo portraits taken by Greg Habiby of folks in the community who volunteered to model the artwork. Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed tasty vegetarian snacks catered by Chef Terry Betts, a pop-up store hosted by The Spooky Haus, and micro tours of the Ace Workshops led by Member Services Associate Saron.

Ace Winter Raffle 2023-2024

Win up to $65 worth of Classes in the Ace Winter Raffle!

How to Enter

The Prizes: 3 winners each month will receive Gift Certificates worth $65 to use on Ace Classes
Attend a Tour or New Member Workshop in person
Fill out a raffle ticket with your name and email* on a Tour or at a New Member Workshop
Winter Raffle runs from December 1st, 2023 through March 31st, 2024 with one draw per month, so there will be a total of 9 winners

See Ace Calendar for Tour/Workshop Dates

How to Claim Your Prize

Follow the directions in the email notification

Raffle Guidelines

One entry per person for the Winter Raffle
You must be present at a Tour or New Member Workshop to enter (virtual tours do not apply)
Gift Certificates are specifically for Ace Classes
Gift Certificates can be used to purchase classes for yourself or others
You do not need to be present to win
Ace does not guarantee any specific class availability
Drawings will be held between the 3rd and 5th of each month
Winners will be notified via email
Unclaimed Gift Certificates will expire after 1 year

*Emails will only be used for this raffle, you will not be added to any mailing lists lists, nor will your information be sold

December 6, 2023

MakeXpression at Oakland First Fridays

Over the past 6 months, we collaborated with local artist and co-founder of The Spooky Haus, Miriam Levenson, to create a collection of wearable art that embodies Ace Makerspace’s core values— diversity, community, inquiry, growth, and action—and celebrates the diverse identities held by makers in the Ace Community!

This work made possible through The Blue Heart Creator’s Fund, disrupts exclusionary cultural narratives around who can be considered a maker, and explores the idea that identity isn’t given, it’s made. To celebrate the completion of the project and to share it with our East Bay community we brought the exhibition to the last Oakland First Fridays of the year!

Folks stopped by the booth to look at the exhibit, buy their favorite pieces, and meet the artist, Miriam (above).

The finished MakeXpression collection mounted in shadow boxes at the Ace First Friday Booth. These designs were inspired by the Ace Community who shared words and thoughts representing the diverse identities they hold for the project.

Miriam explicitly created this collection using only Ace Makerspace tools, and beginner-friendly acrylics to encourage makers of all skill levels to experiment with lesser known materials for Laser-cutting (like the neon and glitter acrylics pictured above), and to explore new pathways and methods on their maker journey. Through this participatory design process and choice of materials, Miriam foregrounds agency in a makerspace context and exemplifies the Ace Vision: Making is for Everyone!

Ace Member, Margret, takes in the finished exhibit.

Ace Communications Associate, Jacky, one of the collaborators on this project, models a necklace from the collection.

The MakeXpression exhibit in the glow of the Ace Oakland First Fridays Booth.

November 1, 2023

MakeXpression: Celebrating the Ace Community with Laser Cut Jewelry

Have you heard of Blue Heart? They’re a rad non-profit that promotes, elevates, and distributes funds to grassroots community-based organizations like Ace Makerspace. In August 2022 we were honored as the Blue Heart Partner Organization of the month and this year, through the Blue Heart Creator’s Fund, we’re collaborating with Berkeley-based artist and founding member of The Spooky Haus, Miriam Levenson, to create a laser-cut jewelry line representing Ace’s core values diversity, community, inquiry, growth, and action!

The artist, Miriam, shows off a preliminary design for one of the pieces in our collaborative jewelry line.

The way something can be worn is a powerful statement of agency, allyship, and identity expression. In this way, values can be shared and people can choose to showcase their values through beautiful wearable art.

Our laser-cut jewelry line will visually celebrate the diverse identities of makers in the Ace Community using tools and materials that are accessible to makers of all skill levels. We’ve also invited the Ace Community to participate in this project directly by providing insight into the diverse identities they hold and by inviting them to model the pieces once they are complete. The completed work will also be on display at Oakland First Fridays in December!

The Design Process

In order to make a line that truly represents makers in the Ace Community sent out a poll asking:

Do folks have any words or thoughts that highlight and celebrate your identity you’d like to share to help the project? This can be anything from “I identify as trans” to “I identify as a woodworker.

We received a wide range of responses which Miriam translated into both text and image based designs making deliberate aesthetic choices (font, color, shape, etc…) to amplify the meaning of each piece.

Miriam adds responses from the Ace Community to their mood board and begins to experiment with designs.

As part of their design process, Miriam uses a mood board to play with color, scale, font, and shape until they find the right balance. This process allows them to preview what their art will look like before cutting into their materials and to visualize the collection as a whole.

Miriam puts the finishing touches on an early draft of a jewelry design about queer identities.

Everyone deserves the chance for self actualization. In sharing your identity it becomes clear that you both have equal significance and it becomes harder to have ego of self hood.

— Miriam

The Materials

Miriam made a point to source lesser known materials for our jewelry line in order to raise awareness of unusual materials that makers of all skill levels can access and use successfully no matter where they are on their maker journey. They ordered show-stopping glitter, neon, and marble acrylics from a variety of online shops like Houston Acrylics, CMB Acrylics, and Esty.

The acrylic arrives and Miriam can’t wait to start cutting! They’re extra excited because they don’t get to work with glitter and color-shift acrylics like these everyday.

Making the Jewelry

Once the design files are ready, Miriam cuts and etches the pieces using the Ace Laser and then prepares them for finishing by:

Removing the masking—a gentle adhesive tape that protects the material from scorching during the laser-cutting process
Using Weld-On—a special solvent based bonding agent used for acrylic—to assemble multi-part pieces of jewelry
Adding the chains and jewelry findings that make the pieces wearable

Laser cutting in action. Miriam will glue the letters for the word “neurodivergent” to a base piece of acrylic. This is one of the more complex designs in the collection.

Miriam fills a dropper bottle with Weld-On-a special bonding agent used for acrylic.

It only takes a minute after applying the Weld-On for the letters to fully bond to the base of the pendent.

Miriam holds a laser-cut “MAKER” pendent up to the design file.

A bowl full of laser-cut pieces for the jewelry line.

Stay tuned for Part Two!

May 31, 2023

Designing a CNC Program for Everyone

CNC Program planning in progress with Sharps(left) and Rachel (right).

We love building kick-ass programs at Ace Makerspace, and this past year we had a special opportunity to apply our innovative, collaborative approach to program development to a much-needed community resource—our new Full Bed CNC Router. Like many small businesses, we took out an SBA Loan to survive the pandemic but also wanted to put some of the money towards mission-driven growth that would benefit the broader Oakland/East Bay community around us.

Did you know the Ace CNC router was the only public access router in the east bay not on a college campus? The community needs a more robust resource for people to use, run their small businesses, and gain job skills. It needs to be accessible for beginners and easier to maintain.

–Rachel Sadd, ED

We’d been thinking about investing in a new Full Bed CNC Router for our program since 2019, and after a few false starts over the years, we finally gained enough traction to bring our dream to life. Providing an approachable point of entry for folks of all skill levels to learn modern fabrication skills in the East Bay drove our subsequent program development process.

Our new full bed CNC router, X axis mural, and workstation.

The new program we imagined would be:

Beginner-friendly
Affordable
Self-guided
Highly accessible

And would serve:

Folks interested in learning job skills
Small businesses
Folks making repairs
Hobbyists
Current and graduated students looking to continue their education and practice their skills

Student showing off their first CNC Project after class.

The Early Adopters

In order to build our dream CNC Program we put out a call for volunteers to join the Program Development team as Early Adopters.

We are seeking women, non-binary and BIPOC folks to join the CNC Early Adopter team. Ace firmly believes that a variety of lived experiences are needed to grow truly inclusive programs. And we are at a magic moment with the CNC Router Program as we re-design the program for the new router. You do NOT need to be an expert CNC Router Operator. The perspective of new users is also very valuable to program development.”

–Early Adopter Recruitment Post

For a truly accessible program we needed a group with diverse perspectives, skill levels, and lived experiences. We ended up recruiting:

Sylvia- A novice CNC operator with a technical background, who played an instrumental role in curriculum and knowledge check development
Bob- Someone with extensive CNC experience at Ace both as a user and an instructor
Frank- An advanced tool user with no previous CNC experience and an old school approach to documentation
Dave- Someone with CNC experience in both Ace and outside contexts
Sharps- A former tool manager for a shared shop with extensive CNC experience outside of Ace
Liz- Ops manager in charge of the executing the environmental design for the physical space and limited CNC experience
Rob- A technical contractor who helped build out the space and design the X and Y axis murals
Rachel- Executive director of Ace Makerspace

Taking the new CNC Router for a test drive shortly after delivery. Part of developing a new program involves testing the machine in a variety of ways and troubleshooting issues.

Checking the X and Y axes for precision after troubleshooting an early issue with router bed alignment.

Building a Beginner Friendly Program

Building an approachable CNC program requires bridging the gap between the advanced user approach and a more equitable, beginner-friendly approach.

X and Y Axis Murals for easy reference make our newly designed space approachable for novice CNC Operators.

Sylvia, a novice CNC Operator with extensive technical writing experience, played a major role in developing the curriculum and writing the knowledge check. Ace Communications Associate, Jacky, sat down with Sylvia to learn a little bit about her perspective as a novice CNC operator on the team and what beginners can expect from the new program.

1. What prompted you to join the Early Adopters Team?

I joined because the call was for a BIPOC beginner and that was me.

2. What was your experience as a beginner CNC Operator working on curriculum development?

My first experience with CNC Routing was with the Forest Scientific trainer who came to Ace to work with the Early Adopters. That training session, which lacked visual aids and handouts, wasn’t helpful to me as a beginner, although it did seem to resonate with the more experienced users and did take a hands-on approach.

Writing the curriculum was a highly iterative process, and as a beginner I was still able to contribute at our first team meeting by simply asking questions. Rachel provided background on Ace culture with respect to collaborative class development. Sharps wrote an initial draft outline covering CNC Router concepts. Bob contributed his expertise from years of teaching beginner CNC users. Frank [another New CNC Operator] documented the step-by-step process of operating the CNC router. During team revisions Frank and I identified things that were unclear to us as beginners. For example, the Router has 3 axes: X and Y and Z axis, and one of the training slide examples mentioned ‘2.5 axis.’ A beginner wouldn’t be able to decode that.

3. What is one (or more) thing you really thought about/kept in mind as you were contributing to the writing of the CNC knowledge check?

The more brains that attack this the better. I thought the team effort was key, which included leveraging the Laser Team’s tried and tested Laser Knowledge Check as a starting point. Sharps and I generated an initial draft of questions. Then there was a technical review by Bob and Sharps, an inclusivity review by Rachel, a re-write by Rob to transition questions from a true/false format to a multiple choice format, and a review by Jesse M who provided valuable feedback from a test taker perspective.

Revising the new CNC Knowledge Check as a team.

4. What did you learn through the process?

How important it is to address different kinds of learning styles. Some folks are visual, some folks like a checklist, and some folks need things said aloud, while other folks need to touch the machine for the info to take hold.

5. What can beginners expect from the new program?

“An evolving process that they can contribute to in order to make it even better!”

Pilot Classes Begin

Wooden bat coaster practice project for New CNC Router Basics Workshop.

Ace is looking for 4 beginners for the next CNC Pilot Class! It will likely be mid-month and definitely on a weekend. Reply to this thread if you are interested. Update: Please if you have previous CNC experience do not put yourself on the list.

-Pilot Class Announcement

Finally, after installing the New Router, learning how to use the new machine and experimenting with it, designing the curriculum, handouts, knowledge check, and other user documentation on the Ace Wiki, installing a new desk, painting X and Y Axis murals for easy reference, and designing a beginner friendly “data pack”, it was time to pilot the new CNC Basics and Certification class starting with….beginners!

What’s next for the CNC Router Program?

Our program is evolving and we plan to continue iterating our collaborative approach to design as we fine tune our existing CNC Router offerings, grow our program, and develop more great beginner-friendly learning opportunities for our East Bay community.

Here’s a taste of what to look forward to as we continue developing new learning opportunities for CNC Routing at Ace:

Software Design Classes for CNC Routing
- V-Carve Design for CNC Routing (less powerful, but less complicated)
- Fusion 360º Design for CNC Routing (more powerful, but more complicated)
CNC Router Advanced Operation and Certification Workshop focused on 3D Routing and handling specialty materials (like plastic) safely
Open Labs with focused topics like “planing contours” and “cutting plastics”
Practice Projects like dice trays, bee-houses, and clocks

In order to create robust and equitable resources, we invite folks interested in being a part of this exciting process to bring their unique perspectives, skills, and talents to the table. We also plan to continue working side by side with our community as we evolve other current and future programs.

Guitar in-progress on new CNC Router Bed.

February 7, 2023

Bringing People Together in our Tiny Shop

Renovated Ace Shop with brand new tabletop, dust collection, layout, and tool storage.

Every day we strive to create great experiences for everyone who walks through our doors- no matter where they are on their maker journey. Our inclusion-forward approach informs everything we do including how we design our spaces to welcome users across the skill spectrum. This is one of the many ways we take action to implement our mission in everything we do.

Relative to its small size, our shop houses an impressive collection of tools, workstations, and resources which presents unique challenges when it comes to usability and access for makers with diverse skill sets and experience levels. Finding sustainable solutions to address these challenges and create a great shop in which everyone can try new things, learn, grow, and share knowledge requires:

Approaching problems from an explicitly inclusion-forward perspective
Enthusiastically embracing change, innovation, and curiosity
Pro-actively experimenting with solutions
Seeking input, asking questions, and learning together as a community
Engaging in responsive problem solving as community needs evolve

While some of the recent changes are more noticeable like new table tops and work surfaces others are more subtle like adding a side stop to our spindle sander to prevent creep during use. Each adjustment and/or repair big or small was made intentionally in response to community needs, observed patterns of use/breakdown, and bolstered by input from users of all skill levels.

To scale plan for shop renovations made by the community at the 6/29/22 Ace Town Hall.

Optimizing Tool Use Space and Small Tool Storage

While our collective imagination is infinite, our space is limited… This reality was omnipresent during our recent project, the Great Tool Swap.

When it comes to using our shop we constantly negotiate overlapping “tool-use” spaces. In other words, where you stand to use tools like our table saw, drum sander, jointer, and planer blocks access to others and prevents concurrent use.

In order to maximize our tool-use space and maintain reasonable workflow we carefully examined how folks were using the shop, identified chokepoints, gathered feedback from the community, and ultimately decided to re-arrange our dust collection set-up and swap the locations of our drill press and bandsaw.

Changes to dust collection set up.

Beyond overlapping tool use spaces we also have limited storage for smaller tools and supplies like drill bits, saw blades, clamps, and gauges. Overly dense storage makes it hard for folks (especially beginners) to locate what they need and/or discover new tools. It’s also difficult to label dense storage effectively and for our community to keep it organized. By re-arranging vertical storage in the shop and finding new homes for small tools we were able to create a more user friendly visual system for tool storage.

Changes to small tool storage.

Embracing Entropy as an Invitation for Change

Permanent systems are a myth. Just because something has “always” been one way, does not mean it needs to stay that way.

Sometimes systems work in theory but not in practice, become less functional over time because needs for change, or fail to fully resolve underlying issues. Instead of seeking permanent solutions, we look for sustainable ones. For example, when looking holistically at the shop we realized we were stuck in a cycle of reactive Air Quality Management resulting in unpredictable and frustrating shop closures.

We wanted to move toward a more sustainable, predictable, and proactive system so we installed a new manometer, a meter that measures air pressure differences, to measure the draw of shop ventilation. We also added a convenient QR code that allows shop users to easily update our air quality logs. This small change has improved our ability to track filter life and stay ahead of maintenance.

New manometer with a QR code to update air quality logs is attached to our Cyclone Dust Collector.

The Power of User Input

Expertise is valuable but it’s not the whole story when it comes to designing a shared workshop for the Ace Members we serve. Systems that might work for advanced users can discourage new users and/or put up barriers to access. Experienced users may notice issues that new users may not, but resolving those issues requires input and participation from beginners to be effective.

Relying on a narrow “expert is best” framework is also counter-productive to inclusive shop design because it can reproduce the systems of privilege and power that have limited who is normalized in technical spaces. Instead, we include the perspectives of new users as “expert” especially when it comes to navigating the workshop as a beginner.

For example, we learned specifically from new users that they were struggling to identify and find what they needed in the shop making starting out feel intimidating and overwhelming. To better welcome them we added more labels to our tools. We also created two Shop Basics and Tool Overview classes to better demystify shop etiquette and help new folks get oriented.

Items clearly labeled in both English and Spanish stored under a workbench in the Ace Shop.

Folks enjoying their time in the Ace Shop.

And the Beat Goes On

Our community is always changing and our spaces need to keep pace with those changes in order to best serve everyone. Through our inclusion-forward approach to design, we ensure that the changes we make are more effective for everyone who walks through our shop doors.

Students showing off their Sculpted Wood Candle Holders after class.

Students making serving trays at a Dykes with Drills Workshop at Ace.

July 20, 2022

Juicy Takeaways from the June Ace Town Hall

Our community conversation was a blast at the June 2022 Ace Town Hall! Our members and leaders met for an in-depth conversation about all of the awesome things happening at Ace this summer, including:

Our mutual aid initiatives
Working towards sustainability
Finding the leaders we need
The New Dirty Fab (roll-up of metal, workshop, and laser)
Our brand-spankin’ new CNC machine.

Here are some take-aways from our conversation.

This summer in Mutual Aid…

Two thumbs up for our 500 Filters Work Party Volunteers!

We chatted about our two major mutual aid projects this summer: 500 Filters and Book Bags for Kids. (see the calendar for the August Event!)

Q: Is there a slack channel to learn about these projects?
A: Yes! #Greater-Community

Sustainability and Finding the Leaders We Need

“Are you leader curious? Are you team curious?”

Ace treasurer and treasure, Steven, kicked off our conversation with a report on “how we survived the Pando.” We also took a deep dive into how to find and recruit new leaders for our board of directors so that we can continue to survive, grow sustainably and thrive.

Q: Can we visit the board meeting?
A: Yes, members can audit any board meeting

Q: Does it (board member) have to be an Ace Member?
A: No, though in the course of onboarding and being an effective board member, a person becomes an Ace Member.

Q: Is there a financial commitment?
A: Yes. It is not a set amount. It is what feels right for you and what you can afford.

Q: Can I grow into a leadership role?
A: Yes! We (existing leadership) are down to collaborate and co-create a pathway to leadership that works for you.

Q: What training is offered for inclusive leadership?
A: We offer a series of workshops every year that are designed to develop soft skills like Micro-inclusion for Leaders, Boundaries for Better Living, and Taking Care of the New Folks…When they are not like you.

We finished up talking about leadership with a discussion about what Ace members can do to get involved and/or support creating an “attractive leadership pathway.”

Bring up the topic on #general
Start a small group discussion (platform of your choice)
Book time with officers and leaders to discuss more in-depth
Ask for questions to be added to the next board meeting and attend!
Recruit directly

Dirty Fab (Roll-up of Laser, Metal, and Shop)

Tools ready for Dirty Fab?

The major thrust of our Dirty Fab conversation centered on the need for more instructors!

Q: What does Dirty Fab need?
A: Dirty Fab needs people to teach!

Now that the Laser, Metal, and Shop programs fall under “Dirty Fab” we need folks to teach:

Metal Shop Basics
Metal lathe
Wood Lathe Basics
Any Metal Class Subject

The Brand New Ace CNC

Saying goodbye to our old CNC machine!

Ace is getting a new, higher-quality, CNC machine and will be donating our old one to either another organization or a local maker running a business.

Q: Why are we getting a higher quality CNC?
A: The Ace CNC Router is the only public access CNC Router in the East Bay and it falls short of meeting the community’s needs. It is also a pain in the ass (P.I.T.A.) to maintain and our new one will help attract and maintain stewards and teams.

Q: Will people need to re-certify?
A: Yes. When the new machine rolls out it will be a two-track approach. One for folks who are certified on the existing machine and another for folks starting from scratch.

To Be Continued…

We touched on many topics at the town hall, and there is so much to look forward to at Ace this summer, but there is always more to talk about. The conversation will, of course, continue.