Build season for dummies
 

Hey CD, I just made this power point to share with the new members of our team at our meeting on Thursday. I have it set up with just brief bullet points that get a point across but are meant only as supplements to what I will actually say. I was hopping that if you all have any feedback or ideas that I can use to make it better. Feel free to make a copy and edit it for your own use.
Thank you all for your time
-Josiah
https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Not bad! Short and to the point. One more "thing you might want" though: Food(during build sessions.) Skipping meals is not a good idea. The quote on the "General Management" slide is great! Helps to make it interesting and not just text on a screen. :)

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Too real. Thankfully I've been lucky the last two years with decent sleep schedules, my guess is not this year...

Re: Build season for dummies
 

I like your limited use of text on the charts and adding some graphics. Nice approach.

I would recommend dropping the second chart and simply tell your audience that the information presented comes from your experience and information obtained by networking with the broader community. They should listen to you because your are the presenter (.... like chart 4 implies.)

Good luck,

David

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Every single person on the team, read the manual, cover to cover, NO skimming. Do not give the task of knowing the rules to a few people. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, READ THE MANUAL.

So many teams could benefit from just doing that. It is so very important that everyone is sharing valid ideas.

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Yes! This should be the first task for every team.

Re: Build season for dummies
 

As an FTC ref, please, please, please make sure that they do this. Having multiple people ensures that you have redundancies to catch ideas that go against the rules, especially for a new team. I've had even multi year veteran teams come up with issues that cause them to fail inspection, and which are usually written in bold in the front of the manual.

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Controversial topic, but here goes:

<rant>
Wearing safety glasses is not:
1. The easiest way to avoid injury
2. Not difficult

I take this to mean, your team requires safety glasses 100% of the time in the shop.

Getting sleep and not skipping meals is an easier and more effective way to avoid injury overall. Most of the time at robotics, your eyes are not actually in immediate danger.

Safety glasses should only be religiously emphasized when they are actually required:
1. When using machine tools
2. Soldering
3. Putting large force into small objects, especially anything to do with snap rings

Safety glasses seem so easy when you're not doing anything, until they fog up/get scratched/fall off your nose, and you can't see as well. Super annoying, especially if you're off programming/designing somewhere safe. It breaks down trust in the safety rules.

You can say, 'shop rules are to wear safety glasses 100% of the time', but you should make clear it's a rule, you are additionally responsible for making sure you are safe.

</rant>

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Thank you for these insights into the realm of safety.
Please do not take any of the following rant seriously.
-Thank you

<RANT>
1. please share your easiest way to avoid injury
2. yes my team DOES require safety glasses 100% of the time, IN THE SHOP
3. eating food and climbing into bed require more energy than it takes to put on a pair of safety glasses
4 I agree that you do not need safety glasses when in a safe area where there isnt anything that could involve flying objects... However you should have a pair on you at all times during robotics (if you need to enter a shop or work on something that could physically blow up in your face then you will be glad you have them.
5. use shirt to wipe fog off
6. keep inside a glasses case to minimize the main cause of scratched glasses of all kinds, and keep an extra pair in your backpack just in case
7. make a neck strap
8. please refer back to rant point number 4 (code can blow up in your face, but wont physically harm you.. only mental harm here :D )
9. how?
10. you are correct, I can say that 'shop rules are to wear safety glasses 100% of the time'... it is a shop, however, I believe you meant that we have to wear safety glasses 100% of the time. and you would be right again, I can say what you were implying, but that does not mean anyone will listen ;)

<END RANT>

sorry, please do not take any of this rate seriously, I was REALLY bored. In all seriousness though I do understand what you mean and again please do not take any of that rant seriously
-Josiah

Re: Build season for dummies
 

I think, we could resolve this by changing

SAFETY GLASSES ARE MANDATORY

to

SAFETY GLASSES ARE MANDATORY IN THE MACHINE SHOP

(plus some supporting evidence, and reasons when you should wear them outside the shop)
?

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Totally agree. We have one room that is build space, and part time use of another which we use for meetings and roll some computer carts in for CAD and programming. Safety glasses are NOT required in that room. However, in the build space, even if YOU are not cutting or drilling or soldering or applying kinetic energy, odds are someone else is or will be soon.

We are adding a spray bottle of lens-friendly cleaning fluid and low-lint cloths to our safety glass station, to make it easier to keep the glasses clean. (Of course, I keep a lint free cloth in a pill case in my pocket and know that spittle works as well as many cleaners, but kids these days have more particular sensibilities.)

Re: Build season for dummies
 

By understanding that any machine you use is literally trying to kill you, then ensuring you give said machine no chance to make good on that. The best PPE is using your brain. Machine has no brain, use your own. Every year I sit down and have a good strong talk about how dangerous machine equipment is. I blatantly point out to everyone that yes, every machine you use has the ability to kill or maim you and it's your job to pay close attention to your work so that is prevented.

Protect your life.
Protect your brain.
Protect your eyes.
Protect your hands.
Protect your body.
Protect your ears.
Protect the machine.
Protect your work.

In that order. No part is worth a lifetime of disability. Parts are replaceable, machines are repairable, but you are not.

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Very nice, it cuts to the point and is a quick burst of info to help newer students.

Re: Build season for dummies
 

If I'm not USING the machine tool, but I'm near it, am I in danger? You bet I am. If there are people in the room using tools or doing tasks that could result in an object (of any size) flying away uncontrollably, I damned well need to be protected. Generally, that's going to mean safety glasses. Yes, they may fog up, especially in humid climates. Deal. Yes, they can be uncomfortable after extended periods. Deal.

Because, wow, you'll really love what "deal" means when it comes to whatever lodges in your eye from a tool someone else was using across the room.

If you can divide your shop into a "hot" side by the tools, and a "cold" work area away from them, and you can construct a (portable?) protective divider to put in the middle? Great. Otherwise, wear the bloody glasses. Eye surgeons are great, but they aren't cheap, and who's got time for that during build season, anyways???

Well, there was the time a freshman went to urgent care with a minor eye injury. A fragment of a leaf blew into his eye walking back from the bathroom. (Santa Ana winds are so freakish...)

Re: Build season for dummies
 

Safety glasses have already saved someone's eye this year. Someone was using a dremel and a plastic cap flew off and hit our BunnyBot team leader in the face. If he hadn't been wearing safety glasses that cap would have probably turned his eye into scrambled egg. Moral of the story is: wear your safety glasses.