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CTM:// The spaces

Where we meet

The meetup has two homes: The Guild in the city centre for the meetup evenings, and a workshop unit at the Carlisle Enterprise Centre for the hands-on sessions. Both run the same every-other-Wednesday slot - the events list says which space a night is at.

CTM:// The Guild

The Guild

Where the meetup evenings happen, 20 places a night. It's a proper room, not the back of a pub - here's what you're walking into.

The main room: two long oak tables pushed together with leather chairs around them, a large wall-mounted screen, a fire, and glazed doors onto a courtyard.
The main room - this is where we sit
Two booths with leather bench seating and wooden tables, each under a pendant light, against bold retro geometric wallpaper in red and mustard.
Booths, if you'd rather sit off to one side
The other end of the room: a large screen and a whiteboard on the wall, a slatted oak panel and a fire, with tables in front.
Screen and whiteboard, for when somebody gives a talk

Ground floor, The Guild, Carlisle

We're on the ground floor, so there are no stairs on the way in.

On arrival

Find the door at ///steer.cats.cheat and press the bell icon on the intercom next to it - we'll let you in.

Parking

Suggested parking at ///spine.went.petty - a short walk away, and free after 6 PM, which covers the whole evening.

Getting dropped off

You can be dropped off and picked up on the street outside.

CTM:// The workshop

The workshop Work in progress

Unit 5 at the Carlisle Enterprise Centre is where the making happens: an industrial unit with workbenches and a small selection of tools and equipment - a table saw, drills, nuts and bolts, two 3D printers and a resin printer - plus whatever project is currently in bits. The unit is a community effort and still coming together - what's there is what members have built and brought so far. If The Guild is where we talk about tech, this is where we get our hands on it.

Sessions are capped at 5, and while the slot is the usual 6:30 to 8:00 we sometimes run on a little later when people are deep in something.

Inside the unit: a large workbench with a table saw down the middle, shelving with labelled crates, a bench with a mounted enclosure, and a sofa along the wall.
The unit - benches in the middle, somewhere to sit at the side
A tool rail on a white brick wall holding saws, clamps, screwdrivers, safety glasses and ear defenders.
Hand tools and clamps, up on the wall
Shelving with two cabinets of small labelled drawers: screws by size, Wago connectors, pilot lights, cable clips and a drawer marked multimeter plus random junk.
Screws, connectors and spares - labelled, mostly

Built in the unit

A newly built timber workbench with a lit upper cabinet, filament spools and boxes stacked on the shelf below.
The benches were the first project
An electrical back panel mid-build: a Siemens PLC power supply, DIN rail terminal blocks and neatly tied wiring runs.
A control panel coming together
A Bambu Lab A1 3D printer on a workbench next to a foil-wrapped filament dryer and a resin printer.
3D printers, usually mid-print
Rows of Dell thin clients mounted on 3D-printed brackets, wired to a shared power supply and breaker - a cluster mid-build.
Thin clients becoming a cluster

Unit 5, Carlisle Enterprise Centre

James Street, Carlisle, CA2 5BB - about five minutes' walk from the city centre and the station.

Getting in

The entrance at ///stacks.remote.froze is a large dark roller shutter door. If it's lowered, come through the door set into the middle of it, walk up to the red door and press the intercom button for Unit 5.

Parking

Suggested parking at ///moral.stuff.speak - free after 6 PM. Bringing something large or heavy? Ask the host ahead of time and we can sort a temporary parking pass for the night.

Drinks and snacks

Nothing on tap here, so bring your own. (At The Guild the tea and coffee are free - the unit is the exception.)

House rules

Power tools are used only when somebody experienced is there to supervise. Under-18s must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian at all times.

All upcoming dates