Dear BRMlab,

I have expressed interest many times, both publicly and privately, that it is vital to have reliable and quality tools. At the time of the Fabtotum crowd funding campaign, a year or so ago, the 3D printer we had in the lab needed constant tuning, we didn't have an optical 3D scanner, nor a milling machine. A member even said it goes against the spirits of a hackerspace to buy such a tool. Yet back then, in my experience with using the 3D printer it proved it wasn't a reliable tool nor a quality tool of its rank. Even so, almost a year later, we still don't have an optical scanner nor milling machine. Does our 3D equal in quality of the Fabtotum? If not, who will take the time to improve it or make a new and better one? Will we approve such an expense and time? As of now, we still have a down larger 3D printer, so what of it?

The downfall of poor quality tools is that they slow progress and stifle creativity. As hackers and makers, we have enough obstacles to overcome than let a tool deceive or encumber vital steps in a process or discovery--testing and measuring equipment at the top and prototyping equipment second--both vital nonetheless.

My idea was to help us. b00lean expressed interest in such vision and so did a small minority, so a small pool of us gathered and helped purchase a future unit.

Sadly, much time has passed, even more than anticipated, yet the question remains, would BRMlab desire, care, and utilize such a tool? At this time, I would like to hear more voting and financial support than voiced we, the original party. For if not, then it can go with General Bytes because b00lean seems to like it. If any members are bashing the tool, I would be curious if they have firsthand experience? If not, part of the effort in acquiring the Fabtotum was that "it could" do all of the proposed feats it its capacity. We believed just as we might believe in something else, like purchasing the SDR and finally much later a member is able to make an incredible GSM device.

As a consensus, however BRMlab votes this evening, I will __abstain__ and hope for this tool or some tool some BRMlab collective deem worthy of our respect, care, and use. We need better tools, and I was hoping for this one. Just think about us and not your ego--to build one as a hack project. That has always been an option, but can you rely on what it makes? A good tool will deliver. A hack will mostly deliver an accomplishment or proof-of-concept that is itself. That's wonderful but wildly different from the mark of a tool. Both have merit, but whether both should occupy the same desktop?... Hmm.

I've made both, and the one thing that annoys me in making a tool, is that I've got to be bitching accurate in every way, letting no computation be an error or succumb to its duplicity tenfold. Otherwise, I'd keep a rubbish bin nearby my knee and simply push the craft to its demise... "Do over!"

On Monday, March 9, 2015, b00lean <b00lean@b00lean.net> wrote:

Ahoj,

Minuly tyden v pondeli dorazil Fabtotum ( http://www.fabtotum.com/ ), ktery jsem objednal a zaplatil 10.10.2013 (celkem 21 463,67 CZK )

Zatim jsem ho nerozbalil.

V rijnu 2013 jsme se dohodli, ze se na fabtotum slozime a moje firma doplati zbytek ( http://brmlab.cz/project/fabtotum )

K prispevku se prihlasili nasledujici:

mario 1000 CZK

pasky 1000 CZK

pborky 1000 CZK

JoHnY 1000 CZK

niekt0 1000 CZK

Ondrej Mikle 1000 CZK

Eliáš 1000 CZK

b00lean doplati zbytek.

Na zminovany ucet(na strance) dorazila pouze jedna platba ( 1 000 Kč - Ján Teluch - nevim nick asi JoHnY)

Nekteri ze zminovanych mi dali penize hotove (vubec uz nevim kdo ale asi jen 2 lide) nebo je vubec neposlali.

Od doby objednani Fabtotum a jeho doruceni se zmenilo hodne predevsim vsak to, ze jiz nejsem clenem brmlabu, nemam do neho pristup a je mi lito zaplatit za fabtotum tolik ze sveho a nechat ho v brmlabu k "opotrebeni/rozbiti" lidmi, kteri na nej neprispeli a tudiz k nemu ani nebudou pristupovat s patricnou odpovednosti.

Navrhuji nasledujici reseni:

A. Fabtotum si ponecham a vyplatim ty, kteri prispeli.

B. Brmlab odkoupi Fabtotum za zbytkovou cenu ze svych penez (zaplati zbytek me).

C. Najde se v radach brmlabu dostatek dalsich lidi, kteri na pristroj prispeji tak aby brmlab nemusel nic odkupovat, nebo brmlab doplati mene.

Prosim o vase konstruktivni reakce a komentare,

b00lean

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