Question: Can I join and co-loc my business from your space?
Answer: No, that would be a violation of our 501c3 rules.
Question: My teenager loves computers. What activities do you have for him/her?
Answer: We are a club for adults, but we encourage you to bring your child and make something with them. See our policy regarding children for more information.
Question: What is my membership fee used for?
Answer: Our revenue helps pay rent, insurance and equipment repairs. No one in our organization gets paid. We do sometimes pay workshop instructors out of workshop fees.
Question: Does Chatt*lab receive government funds?
Answer: We are self sustaining from membership dues. We do not get any government revenue.
Question: Who owns Chatt*lab?
Answer: We are a public corporation that consists of members. We do not have a single or collection of owners other than our members. See bylaws for more information.
Question: If Chatt*lab is public, why can't I use the equipment without membership?
Answer: We are a private club defined by a public corporation. It's owned by the membership, and membership is conditional on acceptance by the rules we define as a club.
Question: How do I join Chatt*lab?
Answer: See our section on how to become a member
Question: Is Chatt*lab a makerspace or a hackerspace?
Answer: We are a hackerspace variety of makerspace. See About Chattlab for a deeper explanation.
Question: If I join, can I leave my tools there?
Answer: Yes, but if they are in the space they will be available for general use by other members. This doesn't include tools that you may store in your personal storage bin, but don't bring a drill press and get upset if others use it. 90% of the tools you use there are other peoples' tools. See Member Equipment
Question: I want to do a kind of “making” that you currently don't have tools for. What now?
Answer: As a member, we encourage you to bring this up with other members and see if there's any group interest in the idea. It could very well be a direction the club wants to take, or you can also use our space for this new method provided it fits in our space.
Question: Can I come by and use your tablesaw to cut some boards?
Answer: If you have a friend that is a member and can let you in the space, and make sure you know what you are doing, yes. We don't have normal hours, just keyed access by members, so there isn't someone there all the time, and we require at least one member present when guests are there.
Question: I stopped by during the day and no one was there. Are you closed?
Answer: We're not a business. We're a group of nerds that share the costs to rent a space and do cool things in it. Every member has a key to the space to use whenever they want. We don't have staff to man a desk. However, you can check out our place during our open meeting nights on Tuesdays.
Question: Can I join for a month so I can finish a project?
Answer: We're looking for people interested in what we do, not a way to save money on tool rental, so no. Setting up a member with orientations, setup, fobs, etc is a lot of work, and we prefer to focus our available time on improving our areas for those that have a long term investment in what we do.
Question: How do I use the vinyl cutter?
Answer: TBD
Question: vinyl cutter
Answer:
Question: What are the material costs of the machines (3D printers, vinyl cutters, etc
Answer: It varies, and we don't always have material there, so you're best bet is to purchase your own material and bring it. It would cost you less because we multiply the cost by a factor of 2 or 3.