What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

One of the things that I have learned is that most people in FRC have many different shop tips and tricks, and I love learning about new things to speed up making parts, neat ways to do things, etc. I'm curious to see people share some of them! Post them below, looking forward to learning some new things!

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

For making sheet metal gussets or anything reasonably small, print out a drawing, stick it to your part with double-sided tape, then cut and drill. Faster and more accurate than manually laying out the part.

Make stuff out of wood when practical. Cheaper and much easier to machine than aluminum/ steel and can have good strength-weight ratio with good design practices.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

One of the easiest and quickest ways to prototype folded pieces (especially Lexan) is to use cardboard. Several times we've simply taken a piece of cardboard and cut it with scissors, fold it, etc to fit exactly how we need it to on our chassis, trace the resulting shape onto a big piece of plexiglass, and band-saw it.

Our battery holder this year was made out of a single piece of folded Lexan that molded around the entire battery with additional padding, so tight that if you set the battery in it, it would take a few seconds to slide down and hit the bottom. We had no battery jiggling issues this year, and the original design prototype never hit a CAD program. Just cardboard and origami. Not necessarily recommended practice, but it was what we needed at the time.

While there's always the insistence that exact measurements with tight tolerances are vital to your success, sometimes just making things relative to everything already in place is the easier and quicker option.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

If you need to make a lot of cylindrical spacers and have a free lathe, use it. Granted, in 2010 I was spoiled rotten with 7 lathes to my disposal, so I could afford to do the following:

I'd always have my main spacer stock (whatever anodized aluminum sample was in the KOP that year) in a lathe with a cutoff tool in the tool post and the proper drill bit in the tailstock. I'd first drill it to full drill bit depth in advance, and then use the cutoff tool to cut off sections as needed; when the drilled hole was getting shallow I'd use the old hole to start a new one. Minus the occasional drilling time it was faster than using a band saw since the stock was already in the machine. Produces a better result too (nice square clean cuts).

For PVC spacers I did the same thing, only no drill required. Probably slower than a band saw in this case (PVC cuts quick) but again, the clean even cuts were much higher quality and required far less finishing (if any). That's another thing I learned/discovered that year: with PVC fittings and a lathe you can do a lot more than you'd think... if you're good enough you can even lathe it thin enough to be flexible (not that I'd want to count on that lasting).

My point: Mills are very versatile, but the lathe is a very versatile machine too. Use what tooling you have, in the most creative and efficient way you can.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

Buy a 2 axis drill press vice like this one - http://m.harborfreight.com/6-inch-cr...not%20provided

DO NOT use it to mill but it makes drilling consecutive straight holes a lot easier.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

I recommend these two books:

Metalworking Sink or Swim: Tips and Tricks for Machinists, Welders and Fabricators by Tom Lipton
Link: https://amzn.com/0831133627

Metalworking: Doing It Better by Tom Lipton
Link: https://amzn.com/0831134763

Both offer more metalworking and shop tips than you could ever possibly want to know and they are both easy reading. Good stuff.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

An organized shop is a happy shop! The less time you spend looking for materials and tools, the more time you have for building. It's also easier to stay focused if you don't spend 10 minutes looking for "that tool I used 3 days ago that is no longer where I tossed it at the end of the day".

Aside from having a generally uniform and consistent system for organizing tools and stock (bins, tool chests, cabinets, carts, etc), which will vary from shop to shop based on space and preference, some tips I have:

- Clean up as you go. Put away tools and hardware when you no longer need them. On weekends or when working for an extended period, before or after lunch/dinner is a great time to take 15 minutes to pause work and tidy up, so you start the second half of your day fresh.

- Painter's tape is good for temporary-ish labels when you don't want to leave adhesive residue on parts. Gaff tape is nice too (and looks better), but expensive.

- Label. Everything. Especially opaque bins, cabinets, and boxes where you can't see what's inside before opening it. If possible, label both the sides and tops of boxes.

- These things. Good for nuts, bolts, bearings, electrical components, pneumatic components, etc.

- Label or throw away broken parts as soon as they break or as soon as you suspect there's a problem. Include the date on the label, i.e. "Broken 7/30/16" or "Inconsistent signal 7/30/16".

- One thing we did this year with great success was using old totes to store materials for specific prototypes/subsystems. Everything for our shooter went in one tote, everything for the intake went in another, etc. Makes it easy to keep work and parts together when you have to pack everything up every night.


Well, my wallet is feeling a little lighter. Looking forward to these reads!

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

I use 3$ Ikea cutting boards as waste boards when CNC milling sheet metal. Way cheaper than buying plastic sheet. Double sided tape sticks to it but peels off easy. It's thick enough that you could face it when it gets too rough and still have a usable amount left.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

This is really clever. Cool!

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

Use countersink drills. Very rigid and you get the correct hole and countersink in one operation. We use a LOT of #10 screws and we've found that a drill depth of 0.465" is spot on for a new drill. They are also available in metric sizes (90 degree).

http://www.mcmaster.com/#countersink-drills/=13ifd9h

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

Holding a vacuum cleaner nozzle near a drill(or anything) is a great way to make cleanup easy and keep dust out of your robot, but what if you need both hands to drill and don't have someone to hold the vacuum? Just clamp the vacuum nozzle near your work area with a quick clamp. This works well on bench vises, as you can clamp the vacuum hose to the vise and direct it to the workpiece. Just don't put too much force on the clamp, it doesn't take a lot for this.

For cleaning dust off of machines/equipment/anywhere you can't get a vacuum cleaner or that won't come off with just suction, using a paintbrush in coordination with a vacuum is effective. For things you clean with air, an air compressor can also be used in coordination with a vacuum. Having a larger brush as a broom for the workbench isn't a bad idea, as you can just push the dust into piles. It gets the dust out of the way quickly, and you can pick it up later.

Have several different drill bits of the same size. Not only does this allow more people to use them and make it easier if one is misplaced, but if you're drilling something that could overheat a bit, it minimizes break times for cooling, as you can take the hot bit out, swap a cool one in, etc. This could apply to other tools as well.

Label everything clearly. Keep everything in one place.

Power strips can be good, as they provide an additional switch that can turn off equipment quickly if necessary. In a way, they prevent too many power tools in one area as they'll probably trip. If you use them, make the switch easily accessible should it be needed in an emergency.

Need to unplug something to plug something else in? Moving something somewhere else? Easy, just unplug the black power cord...wait. They're all black. Label them! It will save time and frustration.

If you have access to the breaker box for your shop and are allowed to, label all of the breakers clearly. Make sure they're readable, and not just numbers, but what is connected to their corresponding circuit breakers. Also, keep the door closed and latched, especially if you need to work around them. If the door needs to be open, find a way to hold it open all the way. Know where the door is if you're working around a breaker box.

You can do other things while a horizontal bandsaw is cutting, but keep an eye on it and make sure everyone knows that it's running.

Try to plan tasks to minimize down/wait time. If there's a wait between two tasks, such as something needs to cool down or a battery needs to charge, think about what could be done during that time. Like this:

1. Cut part
2. Drill holes
3. While drill battery is recharging and/or drill bit is cooling, deburr
4. Finish drilling...etc. You get the idea. :)

I think that's all I have for now.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

Another vacuum tip: If you need to clean the PVC shavings out of a piece of PVC pipe, close off one end (your leg works great for this) and seal the other end with the shop vac. Works great

Get these. Just the first one I found. There are much cheaper ones.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

Those look like they'd be great! I've never seen those with the built-in breakers! Or maybe I have, I just didn't notice the breaker.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

We did this extensively when our build space had to become a classroom the next day - I second it. However, you must make sure that tools (especially tools of which you have only one) are not allowed to take up long-term residence in a project tote. Be sure to have someone NOT part of that project go through the tote every few build sessions, and before any prolonged interruptions in the project. When the project is done, COMPLETELY EMPTY the tote as soon as possible. We've wound up replacing several perfectly good tools and parts that way.

This stuff. It's great for controlling spacing if you can design on an 0.1" grid. We mark the holes to be drilled with a sharpie, then clamp and drill 1/16" pilot holes. This leaves the template for future use; remove it and follow up with final hole sizes. This is great for making unusual versaframe gussets, including on the 3-4-5 triangle, laying out grids of LEDs or knobs, and (with a little planning) even making a passable oval slot with only a drill press and hand file.

We regularly use plastic pegboard for control panels - its easy to tie-wrap or bolt pieces down quickly, and also easy to secure the board, esp. to versaframe.

Like polytechnic, we also use cardboard (usually corrugated) to make templates, but also for flat pieces such as polycarb cover panels for the control board several years and our aluminum-plate profile risers in 2016.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

I've got the second one. It is fantastic. Tom's an awesome guy. Check out his YouTube channel https://youtube.com/user/oxtoolco?

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

1) These containers (I think). If they're the ones I recall us having, you can fit six in a tote and it lets you carry parts to competitions just like they are in your shop. Major key.

2) Worseaframe. Dirty trick, but it worked for us.

3) Clecos. If you build with rivets (and you should), you will wonder how you ever built without them.

4) A bench top 12V power supply (or even just an old robot battery) does wonders for getting your programmers up and running. Stick it all on a piece of plywood and get them busy.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

This actually a pretty neat idea.

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

One thing I intend to do but have yet to implement is to have foam cnc routed in the shape of all of our tools for the bottom of the toolbox drawers. So tired of having to reorganize the tools after they roll around for 5 competitions.



Ever have a wheel or a gear stuck on a drive shaft but don't have a bearing puller handy? Grab two channel lock pliers (or two adjustable wrenches) and open the jaws up all the way. Use the curved outside jaws as a base and use them both as a lever on opposite sides with equal force to pull the pinion or wheel off of the shaft. (see attached image)

Don't have an edge finder for the mill? Use a piece of paper to find zero on the surface or edge of your part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6xGkOWz7RU

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

Ohh man, I forgot about the YouTube Channel! It is good!

Re: What are some of your shop tips and tricks?
 

Thanks; Gixxy and I invented this process for the front panel of an 8-bit adder for his junior research project, and the team and I have continued developing ever since.

To elaborate, for an offseason drive chassis, we needed some 1/4" slots which allowed at least 1" of travel (to tension a chain run). We did this at 1.2" of travel (this technique requires a multiple of 0.4"). The attached image shows the four stages:

1. First, do the 1/16" pilot holes every other hole for the travel length
2. Then, remove the template and drill 1/4" holes for every other hole, including each end hole
3. Follow up with 1/4" holes for the remaining holes (it is critical that the piece be lined up to the bit for this step, or the bit will fall out of the tiny hole into one of the large ones, or off to one side)
4. Finally, use a flat file to knock off the scalloped edges. If you are not careful, you will wind up with a nearly rectangular hole rather than a nice slot with semicircular caps. It will still work, but won't look as nice.