Storing Things at Oxhack

Welcome to Oxhack!

May your stay be uplifting and clutter-free.

This page describes the rules around how to store things at the Hackspace.

Because space is the community's greatest asset, and "stuff" in a hackspace easily gets out of control, we have some strict processes around storing things. These are just to make sure everyone follows common sense guidelines about sharing space. People should be able to perform making tasks easily, without encountering safety hazards, having to dig for what they need or feeling cramped, and these guidelines are here to support that. Please also keep in mind that Oxhack now also runs a prototyping service for startups, and that means that we have to present a tidy physical interface to potential clients.

Membership Required

Unless you are a prototyping client of the Oxhack prototyping service, with an active project being worked on by Oxhack's engineers, you must be a member to store things at the Hackspace.

To become a member, follow the directions here.

Storing Small Personal Items

At the end of October 2015, Oxhack moved from its previous location into its current place in the basement of the Oxford Centre for Innovation.

If you are reading this in early 2016, then the layout and furniture planning are currently underway.

It is the plan that at the end of the layout planning, that there will be a designated place within the Hackspace where each paid up member will be able to access an assigned box (probably ~40L in size). Inside your box you will be able to keep whatever you please that is not food, dangerous chemicals or illegal in nature, off-limits (within reason) to other members. But at this time, we don't yet have boxes or box space available.

Storing Large Items for Personal Projects

There is a special, non-optional process around storing large items you're working on, because they take up community space:

• If you want to store an item that won't fit in your box, you write an email to the mailing list describing the project.
• In your email, include: what the project is, approximate dimensions, whether there will be solvents/mess involved in your work on it, estimated removal date (overestimate this), and where you propose to store the item so it won't be unsafe or in people's way.
• Assuming the mailing list agrees, then stick a label on the project with the words "Do Not Hack", your full name, phone number and agreed removal date.
  Make sure this is all legible to others or the label will be invalid.
• The above-mentioned label is only valid if added after getting the agreement of the mailing list for storing your item.
• Now work on your project, and either take it away before its estimated removal date, or ask for an extension in the same way as above, before that removal date passes.

Storing Medications at the Space

If your well-being would be negatively affected without the ability to store medications at the Hackspace, please speak to the directors in confidence about your needs and we'll help if we can. You can email them at directors@oxhack.org or catch them at most social nights.

The Hackspace seeks to be as accessible as possible, but please remember that no one here is trained to assist in these matters, so the responsibility for the use of such medications is entirely your own. And obviously, if your medication impairs you in any way, then tool usage is off-limits until another time.

Donations to the Space

Donations are the lifeblood of the space, and help us become amazing. Thank you for thinking about donating to the space, and please see the wishlist here. There's also the donations page, where you can post photos of your proposed donations for people on the mailing list to discuss.

However, please also understand that space is at a premium, and even if a donation is amazing to some people it will not necessarily be the right choice to add to the Hackspace for the whole community. We'll need to discuss it to make sure it makes sense given noise, safety, costs, future plans, etc. So please, before you bring something along, inquire on the mailing list about whether it's wanted. If you are shy, it's incredibly urgent or you just need to speak to an individual, you can also email the directors about it at directors@oxhack.org.