When I announced that I would be traveling through some areas of the southeast this summer, [Slade] from Freeside Atlanta emailed me to set up a stop at their hackerspace. I am very happy he did too, because this place was really cool. [Steven Sutton] agreed to walk us through the facility and did a great job of being the tour guide.
Freeside Hackerspace is a 5,500 square foot facility that feels like it just goes on and on. We were greeted with a nice clean work area up front that had 3d printers, collaborative spaces, electronics workstations, a classroom, and project storage. As we moved further back, we found the bar and lounge area complete with kegerator, giant cnc cut pterodactyl, projection system, and several comfy looking sofas.
After we passed through a pair of doors labelled “workshop”, we were greeted with an area more suited to manufacturing filled with lathes, workbenches, all the power tools you could imagine, and even two auto bays. If you have a project in mind, they’ve got the space and tools to make it happen.
I’m still in South Carolina, and would love to visit some more hackerspaces if they fall into our path. If you know of one that is along our route back. let me know. We’re currently in Hilton Head South carolina, but our trip back will take us to Beufort SC. Then, we’ll pass through Franklin NC,Chattanooga TN, Nashville TN, and Paducha KY before we finally head home.
I wonder if that sweet sweet DeLorean is still hanging around those premises. I never really used the facility since we had the Invention Studio at Tech, but I’m glad to see these places popping up and bringing this equipment closer to the public. I only wish that I had one of these hackerspaces near me now.
The invention studio still has someone working on a DeLorean.
My baldness is featured prominently. I approve.
You should see the machine shops next door.
Heck, they’ve got a cold forge back there!
So wish it was closer to me…when will someone put a hackerspace in Athens, GA…maybe I should attempt it.
does anyone know the meaning of the barcode on their sign?
3800065711135
http://www.upcdatabase.com/item/3800065711135
it is the UPC code for ChocoPause Coffee Biscuits. These biscuits must be their key to success.
The barcode is nothing in particular. It’s a generic code that was used by lots of things. At some point, someone put something disgusting in the UPC database, so that whenever someone scanned that barcode, it would come up as that.
Thankfully, it was eventually tracked down to some crackers or something, and the offending entry was removed.
Depending on what database you use, its either the upc code for ChocoPause Coffee Biscuits or a double ended dildo.
Note that Freeside is a Neuromancer reference.
Great to see the reports on the hackerspaces. Still don’t how the status of mu own personal shop will ply out so archiving ideas just in case.
Let me know when y’all are are Chattanooga bound. Chatt*lab is still in buildout mode (see chattlab.tumblr.com) but we can give you a tour of what we currently have in place.
perfect, email me at caleb@hackaday.com and I’ll set up plans with you. I think we’ll pass through chattanooga tomorrow morning/early afternoon.
I remember I was there in those meeting about building freeside, I even saw that none profit paper , yea i go way back