![\"\"](\"http:\/\/fcwhack.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Lasersaur-presetup-cropped.jpg\")
<\/a>Rich had sent a report of the fire into Hackaday<\/a>.\u00a0 In the comments section, someone from Dallas Makerspace (TX), said that they had a Lasersaur (large laser cutter) that they may be willing to give us.\u00a0 Michelle contacted them and started a discussion.\u00a0 Eventually FCW got the Lasersaur and some electronic equipment\/parts by just paying the shipping.<\/p>\n Several local people donated items.\u00a0 Curt gave us a nice couch set when he bought a new one for his house.\u00a0 At the peak, FCW had items being stored at 12 different locations.\u00a0 Now, we just needed a building.<\/p>\n In early September, a Ham Radio class was conducted by Michelle at the library.\u00a0 Soon after, FCW set up a display at the Catawba Valley Pride at the Science Center in Hickory.\u00a0 Since almost everything was gone, personal computers were used to set up a slide show.<\/p>\n During this time, the search was still on for a building.\u00a0 Michelle investigated a building at the Industrial Park in Lenoir, and a building in Downtown Lenoir.\u00a0 Rich and Colin checked out a former furniture showroom and two former churches in Granite Falls.\u00a0 Brandon found out that a former school in Hudson might be available.\u00a0 Gene looked at a building in Sawmills.\u00a0 In each case, the building was too small, too expensive, had inadequate power, or required too much repair.<\/p>\n Kay loves to read property listings and realty magazines.\u00a0 While reading one, she stumbled across a building in Granite Falls that looked interesting.\u00a0 Dating back to the 1920’s, the building was on Main street and was being used as a warehouse for an Amazon retailer.\u00a0 That company was purchasing and moving to a larger building and had put this one on the market.\u00a0 It was two floors with a total of 11000 square feet.\u00a0 The building had once been a sock factory and had 3 phase 600A power, but all the heavy wiring in the building had been removed.\u00a0 Several trips were made by the FCW board and members to see the building and it rose to the No. 1 spot.\u00a0 Rental\/lease was not an option, but we perferred to purchase a building if we could anyway.\u00a0 Rich and Colin went to the bank to see how much credit we could get with a reasonable down payment and monthly mortgage.\u00a0 Three offers were made before a deal was reached, but one finally was reached and we were told that FCW could take possession of the building at the end of October.<\/p>\n Then the work started to rebuild the areas.<\/p>\n The Rebuilding Begins<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the meeting, the attitude was “We built FCW once, we can do it again.” The only problem was that the initial build took six years. Even so, there was a determination to rebuild. Meetings were scheduled twice per week. The Saturday meetings were scheduled at the Caldwell County Public Library in Lenoir and the … Continue reading History – The Search is on<\/span> <\/a>