Joined local Makerspace and used it to straighten out the P390 bent sheetmetal

 MELBOURNE MAKERSPACE

A Makerspace is a club whose members have access to a pool of tools that are too expensive or large for most to have personally. It also supports interaction among the members as they work on projects. I had belonged to one in Silicon Valley back when I was building my 1130 replica, thus I was aware of the value of such a resource. 

When I moved here I had sold all my woodworking and larger tools, concentrating on the vintage computer and space restoration type of projects and electronics design/construction. Some tasks that would have been a breeze to handle back in my garage in California are impossible with the tools I brought with me. 

Fortunately, the Makerspace here has a full woodworking shop, metal mills and lathes, laser cutters, kilns and lots of other tools. The membership is small enough relative to the club that there is rarely a delay getting access to a particular tool. 

The Silicon Valley club required reservations for machines, some of which had long lead times and limited availability. It was also 2.5 times more expensive for membership and required purchase of pricy classes to be authorized to use each major bit of machinery so the costs quickly ratcheted up every month. 

Here in Melbourne I can ask for help or training but it is not required. It is about a 10-15 minute drive from my shop, thus fairly convenient for when I need to do something beyond my own shop's capabilities.

EASY TO STRAIGHTEN THE PC CARD BRACKET

The twisted up bracket that holds the ends of the PCI plug in cards was such a challenge in my shop. I didn't have a heavy duty vise to hold one end while I applied force to bend it back, thus I wasn't making much progress. I began to look for used servers whose chassis I could outfit with the parts from my machine. That would have cost a bit particularly in shipping as the only two I found were in California and Australia. 

I drove over to the Makerspace at midday. I was the only one inside, turned on the lights and went over to the vise and hand tools. It didn't take too long to force the bracket into nearly orthogonal shape, certainly close enough to support the PCI card ends while in the server. 

I then closed up and drove back to my shop to fit it into the server chassis. I have a few tiny tweaks to accomplish but it is almost there already as you can see from the picture in this post. I will use bolt and nuts in place of the pop rivets I removed; I used to have a riveting kit but that went away before the move. 

Loose fit to demonstrate how much it has improved

SHOPPING AND ORGANIZING FOR NEW HOME

My wife and I have been shopping for the remaining pieces of furniture that we know we will need for the new condo as well as decorations and supplies. The living room of the house we are renting has a dresser and two chairs, while one bedroom is filled with carpets, bedding, large screen televisions and other items. 

The organizing surrounds how to get four U-box pods brought from the U-haul storage facility in Melbourne to our condo, unpacked and everything hauled upstairs. Too, we have to organize moving all the gear we are stacking in the rental house and the boxes and suitcases we brought here. Finally, we have a bit piece of furniture that has to be moved from the antiques store in Melbourne to our place.

Then there are the deliveries. Two California King mattress sets, a bed frame, seven tables of various sizes, and a very large TV all will be delivered to our doorway or into the condo. It is keeping me busy, which is a good thing because time seems to have slowed to a crawl as we wait for the closings and access, finally, to our new place.