BMS provides an amazing workshop and learning environment for individuals.
You must stay within reasonable usage limits and not unfairly impact other members, or cost BMS excessively. For example, laser cutting projects a few times per week is fine. However, using the laser cutter every day is not.
Some membership plans may have limits on certain things. These are "soft limits" and enforced at the discretion of the committee if a member is causing a problem. For the purpose of this policy, several visits on the same day count as 1 visit.
If anything is still unclear, just let us know and we're happy to clarify what is or is not reasonable in your specific situation.
Mentoring and assistance is provided on a best-effort basis by volunteers and other members. It is meant to help you get started and is not a replacement for seeking professional advice or putting in the effort to learn a new skill.
Each tool that requires a safety induction includes basic training as part of your membership. Inductions are free, and you can book refresher sessions as needed. However, if you request an unreasonable number of refresher sessions, further requests may be charged a fee at the discretion of the head maker.
BMS makes no guarantees as to the availability or quality of mentoring or advice that is provided by volunteers. By accepting any mentoring or advice, you acknowledge this and agree to release BMS and it's volunteers from all liability associated with any loss or inury that occurs as a result of mentoring/advice provided.
Occasionally more than one person may want to use a tool at the same time. This is part of using a shared workshop. Members are expected to fairly share tools between people who want to use them.
Tool inductions and workshops always take priority over general member use. These normally won't take more than 30-60 minutes and are an important part of operating our community.
There are also some specific guidelines below, but ultimately it's up to members to communicate and work it out between each other.
Some tools can be booked once per day for a fixed time period. To book, access the link in the member portal.
During a booking, use by other members is not permitted without permission from the booking holder. If someone is using the tool when a booking starts, they should cease use as soon as possible and at most within 15 minutes after the start of the booking. Please be kind, if someone is nearly done a job, then let them finish it.
The following tools use the opt-in booking system:
Using any tool without a booking is considered casual use. If someone will be using a tool for a long time, and another member wants to briefly use it, that member should be given priority.
Otherwise, if more than 1 person is waiting to use a tool, members are expected to take turns in no more than 1 hour blocks if it can't be shared easily.
As a member, you are allowed to use any consumables we have on-site for free (e.g., glue, solder, pens, etc.) unless otherwise noted. However, our Consumable Fair Use Policy below applies. If you breach this policy, we reserve the right to charge you for the cost of the excessive consumables used.