New Member Tour

Welcome to KwartzLab!

This document is meant to be a reference for the new member and a guild for the presenting member. The primary topics covered are safety and our working norms. In each area the first aid, fire extinguisher, fire escape, PPE, chore equipment, fair use consumables, and out of order tags will be pointed out along with any rules or conventions applicable to that area.

Before Starting

• Ask if they've paid their dues
• Issue key fobs

Front Room

• Guest entrance is only open during events
  • should stay locked at all other times
  • no fob access
  • is a valid fire escape
• Point out the first aid box
• Bookable for hosting events
• COVID requirements - signs will be posted
  • Currently the requirements are...
  • Also see COVID-19 Restrictions

Textiles Area

Consumables Policy Blurb

• Consumables here function in a ‘take a penny, leave a penny’ system
  • Use whatever you want and when you next have left overs from a project consider donating them to the lab. E.g. electronics components, fabric, paint, yarn, etc.
  • 2 exception: going into production, and taking material for scrap
• You can assume consumables are free to use. So don’t leave your stuff around, other members will assume that anything in here is free to use.

Out of Order Policy Blurb

• Tag items with your name, date, and issue. Take a picture and post to the relevant slack channel
  • Our tools get a lot of use so they will break (we won’t be angry)
  • using broken tools can be dangerous
  • we can’t fix what we don’t know about
• If for whatever reason you don't feel comfortable posting publicly, please tell a board member and we'll post on your behalf

Studios and Paid Member Storage

• paid storage is available either as units of 8cuft or studios
• paid storage is considered the private space of members
  • Do not enter studios without their permission
  • Do not touch items on their storage shelf

Back Entrance

• Is a valid Fire Escape
• Can use fob to enter (push door to release latch)
• Great for bringing in sheet goods
• Dumpster
  • The key to the dumpster is hanging on the wall inside the back stairwell
  • Please help by taking out full garbage bags and putting a new garbage bag in the bin you emptied.

Electronics Room

• point out Consumables
• point out first aid
• point out Out of Order Tags

Fab-lab

Training Policy Blurb If you want training on a tool that requires it, you can post on the relevant slack channel or mailing list, and someone will get back to you to arrange training. Some trainers have created online training in Google Classrooms which must be completed prior to in-lab training. You can also do this if you need help on a project or with a tool that may not need formal training but that you’re unfamiliar with anyway

• 3D Printer filament is an exception to the consumables policy. Details are covered in the training.

Kitchen

• The Drink Fridge and Snack Cabinet are run by members with profits donated to the lab. If you take a drink or snack, pay the box. Many members choose to pre-pay a larger amount at once and draw from that (many keep a tab on the side of the Drink Fridge).
• The drinks and snacks in the pantry and kitchen cabinets should be assumed as Drink Fridge and Snack Cabinet overstock and treated the same as what’s in the fridge in regards to payment.
• You can use the regular Fridge to store your (human) food etc, so long as it’s labelled and dated. Don’t take up tons of space, and do not leave food to rot or get otherwise disgusting.
• See also Drink Fridge, Snack Cabinet, and Fridge.

Hallway

• Some lights are meant to leave on
• There’s a number of automatic lights as you come in, in the locker area which should be enough light to get you to any other light switches you need.
• If you’re the last to leave, turn off the rest of the lights including lights in the front room, fabtronics and kitchen.

Member Entrance

• The member entrance is the door you use to come in to the space day-to-day, using your Key Fob to unlock. It leads you to the loading dock area (the door has our logo on it)
• This door should NEVER be propped open.
• Your Key Fob takes about 15 minutes to sync and it should be tested before they leave for the evening.
• Member chores are posted at the top of the stairs. Any member in the lab is expected to put in 1-2 hours per month through Chores, Build-out Participation, or by participating in a Team.
• We have a lot of Parking available along the side of the building and the angled parking beside the loading dock area. Do not park in the loading dock area unless loading/unloading. Additionally street parking is available if necessary. Leave the first 5 or so spaces near the front entrance open during business hours for Screen Magic
• You will use your Key Fob to enter the building at the member entrance. Do not share your fob with others/guests. Each member should key in each visit (no tailgating please)

Freecycle and IT Room

• The freecycle shelves are items other members thought may have been useful to others. Please take or leave stuff which you think may be useful for others as often as you like, though please do not use for broken e-waste or garbage.
• We are currently using a clipboard log to track Freecycle items (in + out)
• The IT room is taken care of by our IT Team. If you’re not on the team or Board of Directors then you shouldn’t have any reason to enter.

Bathrooms + First Aid

• We’re all responsible for keeping the bathrooms clean and stocked - simple things like replacing the paper towel or toilet paper when empty, taking out the garbage, or giving the sink quick wipe down can go a long way to helping keep the lab clean.
• Cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels etc. in the white cabinet in the larger bathroom.
• If we are completely out of something send a message to the list either asking someone to pick up the thing, or saying you will pick it up
• The main first aid kit is located between the bathrooms as well and should be fully stocked at all times. Mini-kits in each room may be only partially stocked. The first aid locker with additional supplies to restock is across from the bathrooms and is marked with a red plus
• In general, leave the the whole space in the same or better condition than when you came to it

Lay-up Area and Storage

• The lay-up tables are for work-in progress. If you need to leave something to dry, you can leave your project here provided it is well-labeled with your name, current date AND date it’s safe to move.
• Shelves in the lay-up area are for very short-term storage.
• Main storage area has additional storage shelves - shelves are labeled for how long you are permitted to store (the more accessible the shelf, the shorter the storage time)
• Laser Storage and there is some room to store materials here.
• Label your materials/work - regardless if it’s on the lay-up table, lay-up storage, laser storage or main storage, EVERYTHING must be labeled with name and date, preferably with a designated storage label. EACH PIECE SHOULD BE LISTED WITH YOUR NAME AND DATE
• We may in the future start charging a nominal fee for storage - not to nickel and dime members but to make sure that storage doesn’t become a graveyard of dead projects.

Again, just be considerate that you’re sharing the space with others.

Laser

• Laser requires training - request on Slack channel for the laser, or mailing list.
• Show the card box and explain how it will use your same Key Fob, will be enabled once you’ve passed training. This style of lock-out system will be expanded to other tools in the future.
• No material storage within the laser area - our laser team will toss it out
• Feel free to use scraps from scrap bin, or materials from the free materials shelf.
• Laser is one of the few tools in the lab that we as that you not attempt maintenance on unless cleared by the laser team specifically to do maintenance"
• See also Laser Cutters

Paint Booth and Storage

• If you need to use spray paint, or glue or anything that makes unpleasant fumes, you can do so in the paint booth, turn it on and it sucks the fumes up and sends them outside.
• If you are going to use the lay-up tables for larger pieces of higher-fume finishes like Polyurethane, please post to the general slack channel.
• The following materials are BANNED from the entire lab: Chlorinated degreasers, and 2-part isocyanate paint. No cutting or sanding of Fiberglass, carbon fiber. Refer to the finishing cabinet for posted rules about bringing in new solvents, solutions and materials. Refer to the the binder of safety information.

Metal Shop

• no magnesium or magnesium alloys permitted to be worked on in the Metal Shop, we lack the capability to work with them safely
• No member storage allowed - use storage areas for projects
• Same ‘take a penny leave a penny’ system for fasteners etc, but the metal shop is well stocked for fasteners - please feel free to use!
• Many of the tools require formal training - e.g. Metal Lathe, Welding, and more. (Check the wiki for the current list for ["Tools which Require Training"] and pay attention to the yellow "Requires Training" plaques on the tools themselves.
• Please clean up after yourself, including clearing the benches completely when finished, clearing debris off of tools and on the floor all around the tools. There's a special shop vac for (metal) chip collection.
• Basic PPE is available - safety glasses, face shields, ear muffs and disposable ear plugs, welding helmet etc. Feel free to bring in your own as well. Safety is your responsibility, but we very strongly recommend the use of PPE and will stop those doing anything bl
• FIRE WATCH for 30 minutes after any hot work (that’s anything that produces sparks or flame)
• If a machine breaks while you’re using it (or you find it broken), please tag it as out of order and what’s wrong post to the appropriate Slack Channel for the tool. No one will be upset at you for breaking something if you were using it safely, but they will get upset if you knew it was broken and didn’t say anything as that’s time lost we could have been fixing it for everyone else.
• See also Metal Shop

Hoist

• We have a hoist, which can be used to bring large + heavy items up from the loading dock level - Board approval is required.
• We also have a pallet lifter - training still TBD, please contact the board if you have any heavy lifting needs.
• Don't stand on the hole cover. No humans in the hoist or on the pallet lifter. Ever.
• See also Hoist

Lockers

• Each member gets one locker. You can claim one by labelling it with your name. A lock is optional, but your name is not. Unlabelled lockers run the risk of having their lock cut off by the board if we can’t identify who it belongs to, but we really don’t want to have to do that
• Same general storage rules apply - nothing dangerous, nothing that could rot and stink up the place, just be aware that this is a shared space, and you should be fine

Emergency Exit, loading dock and Blacksmithing

no need to go down to the loading bay

• There are 4 exits to the space - the member door, the guest/front door and the emergency exit which is down the stairwell by the main lockers and the door is on the left right at the bottom of the stairs.
• The loading dock is down the same locker stairs and to the right - you can use the right hand loading dock (the one that doesn’t say Screen Magic) to bring in materials. * Make sure everything is locked up tight when you’re done and that someone is watching the door whenever it is open. The doors should NEVER be propped open.
• Blacksmithing has some storage space on the loading dock for outdoor blacksmithing. Blacksmithing requires training - request via the #area-blacksmithing channel. See also Coal Forge

Wood shop

• No member storage allowed - use storage areas for projects
• Many of the tools require formal training - e.g. Wood CNC Router, Disc Sander, and more, with more tools transitioning to requiring training in the near future. (Check the wiki for the current list for ["Tools which Require Training"] and pay attention to the yellow "Requires Training" plaques on the tools themselves.
• If a machine breaks while you’re using it (or you find it broken), please tag it as out of order and what’s wrong post to the appropriate Slack Channel for the tool. No one will be upset at you for breaking something if you were using it safely, but they will get upset if you knew it was broken and didn’t say anything as that’s time lost we could have been fixing it for everyone else.
• There is an out of order tag box in each of the wood and metal shops.
• FIRE WATCH for 30 minutes after any hot work (that’s anything that produces sparks or flame) (specifically applies to the grinding wheel for those sharpening tools in a room full of sawdust)
• Point out scrap wood area - feel free to use anything there, or leave behind useful cutoffs.
• If your cutoffs aren't useful, please dispose of in the black bins, cutting any large piece down to fit if needed. When full, these need to be taken down to the dumpster. Although it can sometimes be one of the assigned chores, it's everyone's responsibility to empty full bins and full garbage cans as needed as well everywhere in the lab
• Basic PPE is available - safety glasses, face shields, ear muffs and disposable ear plugs. Feel free to bring in your own as well. Safety is your responsibility, but we very strongly recommend the use of PPE.
• Most tools now have dust collection - please make sure the right gate is open for your tool and the collector running.
• Please clean up after yourself - all tools should be clear of debris and the floor around the tools should be swept. All hand tools should be put away, and benches left clear when you're finished. If you altered a tool from what would be the "default" setup, please put it back to the default set up (e.g. leaving the mitre saw at 90 degrees, table saw safety guards replaced if they were removed, etc), ready for the next person to use.
• Tools from the woodshop are marked with red and white striped tape and shouldn't be removed from the woodshop. If you do find a tool marked with that tape outside of the woodshop, please return it to the woodshop

Guests

• You are welcome to bring in guests, but they remain your responsibility at all times. It is your responsibility that they adhere to the Code of Conduct
• They must be escorted while in the wood shop, metal shop and laser area.
• They are not permitted to use a tool which requires training or is marked as for member use only.

Communication

• Please join the channel slack channel for all the rooms you use.
• When you join you the lab you would have been added to slack and two mailing lists. The Announce mailing list is required and we do our best to keep the number of messages there to just the absolute bare minimum. The Members mailing list is optional. It's quite a bit noisier as it's where all the new member applications are sent to. If you would like to unsubscribe from the Members mailing list, you can do so via the link at the bottom of every message sent to the mailing list.
• Slack is by far our primary form of communication. Please browse the channels and add join the channels for the tools and rooms you use so you don't miss anything. We do still send the most critical of messages via the Announce, but you will be missing everything from people showing off their cool projects, people helping each other find materials, people getting help for specific tools, etc.

Miscellaneous

Donations and Lending

• check with the appropriate teams before hand.
• Although donations are often welcome, we need to make sure we know what we have, how to use it, and make sure we don't already have too many of the same thing.
• We try to discourage lending tools to the lab because it gets complicated, but talk with the appropriate team anyways.

• You are welcome to bring your own tools but label them with your name! Unlabeled tools forgotten at the lab often get put away with other tools.

• Hiatus - Members in good standing can suspend their membership for 2 to 12 months by applying for hiatus. See [Hiatus and Withdrawal Guidelines]