Wishlist

New Space

All Hands Active (AHA) is Ann Arbor's oldest makerspace. Formed in 2009 by a handful of makers, AHA has slowly grown to 50+ members. We offer weekly classes and public free access to tools such as a laser cutter, CNC router, soldering irons, sewing machines, vinyl cutter, and 3D printers. The brightest minds in Ann Arbor come to our space to learn, explore, hack, and make. We invite entrepreneurs to use our co-working space as a place to get started. Over the past 7 years, we've slowly grown our space by continuing to add new tools, classes, and equipment. While we're excited to provide our members and the community with more variety, it's become increasingly aware that our space is running out of room. To allow for more growth and provide makers with more project space, we've decided to relocate.

We're excited to announce that we've secured a new location 2 blocks from our current space on Liberty street! With 300 more square feet, segregated working areas, better power availability, handicap access, and natural light, we can easily say that this relocation will provide our makers with a more comfortable space to work.

Our goal is to give the new location is a more professional look with a fully outfitted classroom that will allow us to offer programs throughout the week. We are humbly asking for the help of our members and the community to raise additional funds to make our new location as awesome as it can be.

What we've accomplished so far

Here's what we've accomplished this past year with the help of our members:

• Acquired new large laser cutter for public use
• Upgraded all public access computers
• Upgraded portions of our network and purchased shared storage for projects
• Built out our kitchen
• Upgraded our electronics bench with new gear
• Purchased more electronics bits to provide the public with for free
• Upgraded our 3D printing area with more printers available to the community
• Streamlined our event class hosting process

Proposed layout of new location

A mock-up of our new location can be seen here.

What we hope to purchase

The total estimate for all the space improvements is just over $12,000. That is a staggering amount of money for All Hands Active. To secure the lease, All Hands Active will need to use everything we have left in our savings. Without your help, our new space will only be a shell. We need to make it feel like a polished new home to ensure our success as we hope to continue growing and impacting the community.

Better Electric Access

We presently run an array of small surge protectors and long extension cords. We've had our new location properly wired with lots of outlets to eliminate many of these. We'd love to finish the job by securely mounting power bars to the wall behind each table and installing power drops from our classroom ceiling.

7 power strips (48") @ $75 each = $525

• 3 new bars for our sunlit work area
• 1 new bar in our craft area.
• 2 new bars for our classroom tables
• 1 new bar for the 3D printer area and store display

5 Moveable twist lock outlet drops @ $150 each = $750

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Total: $1275

Improved security

The new space will offer RFID/pin based locks on the building door and the door to the space. All Hands Active is on the hook to purchase, contract the install and manage the system to keep the building secure for us and other tenants. We've already acquired a new camera system to improve monitoring.

• 2x RFID System and new tags - $300
• Installation by building approved contractor - $500

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Total: $800

Improved Floors

The new space will need floor upgrades to address one of the major issues at our current location. The new space is a mix of carpet and 3 types of beat up tiling. We're removing walls and counters so in addition to mixed flooring we'd have gaps between any existing tile. We want to start fresh and address this issue from the start. To do so we need to remove carpet, re-tile the entire space, and install trim around every wall.

• New tile floor - $3000

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Total: $3000

Decoration and signage.

The new space has been white boxed - it's big but boring. Using our new vinyl cutter we'll create signage for our windows and outdoor advertising locations. We'll need to add splashes of color to the existing walls and have some new signage, business cards, and banners printed with our new address.

• Printed signage/banners - $500
• Paint - $300
• Vinyl for new our door signs - $500

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Total $1300

Better seating

Our present selection of chairs is a collection of donated, mostly broken and certainly worn down home and office chairs. While we do our best to maintain them, some are past their expiration date (The chair with 2 missing wheels or always wobbly wooden chairs).

• Matching office chairs from UM property disposition x 15 @ $40
• Drafting/Tall Chairs x 8 (Sunlit work area) @ $100

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Total: $1400

More work area

Our present work areas are 8ft laminated folding tables which have seen better days. We've also recently completed the build of several nicer wooden work benches. With the larger space we'll need even more tables, and we'd like larger, finished work benches for in entrance and classroom areas. It will give the space more of a finished feel and less like something we've cobbled together over time.

• 2 10ft work benches (1 for crafts, 1 for 3D printing)
• 3 8ft work benches for classroom
  • 10ft coated Oak tops 2x 150
  • 8ft coated Oak tops 3x $125
  • Work bench bottoms 5 x $125
  • Heavy duty Casters for new tables 5x $40

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Total: $1500

More Storage

In our current location we've used many plywood shelves and a mixture of old kitchen cabinets. We find the cabinets to be better at organizing and deterring clutter. above work area's we hope to add storage cabinets. A large improvement is the plan for a rolling

• 10 Steel wall mounted cabinets 10 @ $175 - 1750
  • 4 for craft/laser area
  • 2 for loud noise room
  • 2 for electronics area
• Rolling steel tool chest - 1 @ $400 = $400

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Total $2150

Upgraded Network

The current network at AHA is a mismatch of 10/100 and 1GB switches. We'd like to replace the remaining 10/100 switches and better distribute network connections (wireless and wired) throughout the new space.

• Conduit, wall jacks and cabling - $650
• 16 Port 1GB Ethernet switches (classroom, work room, laser area) 3x $100

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Total: $750

Classroom improvements

The new space will finally have a formal classroom. We'll have new movable benches and many of our tools will be on movable carts. This will make for less disturbance of the work area when classes are going on. In addition our new classroom will be properly wires for power. In the current space we move a TV around the space to present.

• 1080P projector $650
• Projector screen wall mount $200
• Podium $200
• Wall mounted sound system $200

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Total: $1250

Funds:

• Donations of <$1000 are usually project-specific, such as the funds that went to sponsor this year's Power Wheels Racing Series efforts
• Donations of >$1000 don't have a usual mode of use since we've never had one yet, but rest assured we'd put it to really really good use.