Hi All,

There is (hopefully) a big change on the horizon for how machine access and inductions work at the Hackspace. This is very likely to affect you, so please read this post thoroughly!

Over the coming months, we are looking to introduce a shiny new self-induction system for many of our machines. This will replace the current in-person induction system, and the wonky online induction quizzes.

Under the new self-induction system, each induction will consist of two parts. Part 1 will be some learning materials stored on our wiki. Part 2 will consist of a online quiz that tests your knowledge of the materials in part 1. If you pass the test, your hackspace door card/fob will be automatically accredited so that you can switch that machine on by tapping your card/fob on a RFID lockbox attached to the machine.

Because both our current in-person system and online quizzes are not great! The in-person system causes a lot of frustration as there are often not enough inductors for demand. It also puts a lot of pressure on the goodwill of the small number of people willing to run inductions.

Meanwhile, the current online quiz is super janky, involves fiddly padlocks, and relies on folks remembering to put lockboxes back on machines after every use.

Because we recognise that both of these systems are crap annoying, there are current some machines that really should have inductions but don't, just to save on the pain.

So essentially, this new system should make it easier to get an induction, easier to unlock machines, and make hackspace safer to boot.

Hopefully most of them! Some machines are too dangerous or too complex for an online induction, such as the metal lathe.

As of NOW, we have rolled the system out for one machine, the table saw. We are using this to test the system before we roll it out across more machines.

This means that from today, if you want to use the table saw, you will need to enrol your card on the system, and also pass the new table saw self-induction.

To use your current door card/fob on the new system, everyone will need to enrol that card/fob. This is because we currently know which physical card/fob we gave you, but we don't know the digital ID it produces when scanned.

Currently, you need to do this if you want to pass the new table saw induction, and use the table saw, but we encourage you to enrol your card/fob ASAP even if you don't use the table saw, as we will be rolling this out to other machines soon!

To enrol your card/fob on the new system, you need to do the following:

1. Go to hackspace and find the enrolment portal. It looks like this:

2. Press any key to wake the portal up.

3. The portal will ask you to scan your card/fob on the reader glued to the side of the screen. Scan your card/fob.

3. The portal will then ask you to enter 4 digit number printed on your card, or etched on your fob. It will ask for this number twice. It will then ask you to enter the email address you joined the Hackspace with. This is where to find your 4 digit card/fob number:

4. If you don't know what email address you used to join the hackspace, or you are unable to read the 4 digit number on your card/fob, please send a private message to @committee on the forum to ask for help.

Please note! If you joined the Hackspace AFTER 21/11/2023, you can skip the enrollment process as your card will have been enrolled before we gave it to you.

Once you have enrolled your card, you can now self-induct to use the table saw. To do this you should do the following:

1. Read the learning materials on the table saw wiki page, HERE.

2. Go to the hackspace and use your card to log back into the enrollment portal. Becaues you already enrolled your card, the portal will not ask you to do this again. Instead it will give you the opptunity to take the table saw quiz.

3. If you pass the quiz, your card will be automatically accredited to use the tablesaw!

The RFID Box attached to the table saw is super simple to use! Scan your card on the front of the box, and if you are accredited to use the saw, the light will come on. This light means the saw is now powered up and you can use it.

When you're finished, turn off the saw, then press the button on the RFID box. The light will go out again. This means the saw is now not powered up.

Please note, that if the saw has been unplugeed from the mains, it will take about 10 seconds after being plugged in before it will start recognising cards.

Please also know that this is very much a Beta version, and you are helping us test it. Please let us know if you have any problems. We also intend to add more features as time goes on.