We are trying to find out what members would like to see in the welding area. Please take 5 minutes and fill out this form. It would really help us out. Feel free also to discuss this in this thread.
Thanks to everyone who responded to the survey. It is now closed and you can view the results here.
We got 16 responses, indicating that there’s not a huge demand for welding, but I know that not everyone looks at the forum or Telegram regularly.
In summary:
- MIG and TIG are the most requested welding types (or “don’t know”)
- Most people want to weld mild steel and/or aluminium
- There was a fairly high need for training or guidance, understandably
- Predicted frequency of use seems low, with most people (85%+) saying they would use welding area every 2-3 months or less
- Pay-per-use/bring your own consumables seems a popular method of funding the welding space
What happens next?
I am currently trying to set up a “minimum viable product” welding setup using the smaller 230V welders we currently have (see thread). This will provide:
- The facility to weld mild and stainless steel, plus aluminium to 3/4mm material (tests pending)
- A low-cost setup
- MIG and stick machines, which are a bit more beginner friendly (MIG especially)
- A pop-up outdoor welding space, which would need to be set up and taken down each time it is used. Given the fairly low demand, this doesn’t seem like a major problem for now.
If you have any questions or ideas, please discuss here or in the other thread.
Thanks Mike
The results link says I need permission to view unfortunately.
I’d say 16 responses is fairly reasonable in terms of demand, while small in the context of 150+ members we have often only had a small number of “active and social” users. Most either come in to do a specific task and leave without getting involved with others or just support the space and occasionally pop in.
Thanks again for doing this. Agree a MVP would be good. Could we use the green room (by the second loo) to get going given we could get a fan in the wall / reinstate a window?
Cheers – can you see the results now?
Let me investigate the green room possibility. I think it’s pretty wrecked ATM due to the water ingress isn’t it?
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That’s works now. I’m happy to help with setup where I can.
If the welding won’t be used super regularly we could make the area dual function, so it could be that the welding stuff stows away for when it is needed. It may be that if we get welding operational we can shout about it and get more people interested in welding who want to join.
We have had members leave before because welding wasn’t available so I think there’s definitely a market.