Feel free to delete if not appropriate, but there’s an auction coming up in Brooklyn Park that has a lot of industrial tables, stools, standing mats, garbage cans, etc. that I think would be beneficial to the space.
I can’t imagine that individual members bidding on these items to donate to the makerspace would work well without serious coordination (will the item be useful for the space, members bidding against each other for the same item, too many of one item, renting a truck to pick up multiple large items, etc). So I’m hoping that by posting it here, @mzocher or whomever can coordinate/choose to bid on what they feel would be most useful, and then gather folks to help transport and/or load & unload.
Good topic for sure @dave_k ! I have been seeing a few K-Bid auctions but hadn’t bid on anything quite yet for the space. But when we’re needing specialized equipment that lasts, an auction is going to be a great source!
Agreed, we don’t want volunteers buying things with their own money then bringing it in to donate. Best we identify important things we need and then make a concerted bid on them.
Related, I was just told about this auction here in Winona. Vernon Schueler Property Anything specific catch your eye in either auction?
In the Vernon Schueler property, there’s a lot of older metalworking equipment that could be useful. The air compressor appears to be still holding air, which is a good sign, but it’s still located up high on a mezzanine and you’d want riggers to carefully remove it. The Carroll-Jamison lathe is probably a good size for what most hobbyists would do with it, and not too heavy to move. The manual milling machine looks very heavy and I would guess is right at the upper limit of what the space could use (again, another machine you’d need riggers to move/transport). The Powermatic vertical bandsaw is useful for cutting flat metal plate, the Kalamazoo horizontal bandsaw is good for tube, pipe, and structural steel. I’d stay away from the old dynamotor welder (looks like a bomb on steel wheels), it’s probably a good welder from 1955 but only for SMAW (stick) welding, which has a significant learning curve compared to wirefeed. There are some hand and power tools that would be useful, but some of it is specialty automotive/heavy equipment (such as the large steel socket sets), and stuff like the keyway broaches or the 1” air impact would not be something a makerspace would ever need (but a machinist or a heavy equipment mechanic would). Side note, I was very impressed with the organization of the lots of the auction, and a little shocked at the 1995-esqe navigation of the pictures being surprisingly efficient.
The K-Bid auction had packing tables that could have the hutches removed, and these would make very good workbenches for the space (lots 569-573, and 593-596). There are industrial stools that would complement the workbenches (lot 535-544). Trash cans (lots 441-445). I’m sure there’s more that would be useful, too.