[BBray_T1296]

Our team has had a dark ages of robotics, so now in our enlightenment we have dissected our old junk bots for motors and controllers for our new bots.

1) Our school sponsor/teacher is responsible for ordering our parts. We typically place 3-4 orders from AndyMark, (now) VexPro, and McMaster-Carr each season.

2) Our robotics booster club (like a PTA) has a treasurer who handles all things financial. We turn in receipts (when we go to Ace Hardware etc) to them, and get checks in return because it is far easier to spend our own money now and get repaid a week later with our system.

3) Every single bolt on our robot is either a #10-32 (general purpose) or a 1/4"-20 (heavy duty) with various lengths between 1/4"-3" and both are hex headed. We use appropriate sized washers for each and use either KEPS or Nylock nuts. Because of this we simply have a couple giant bins for hardware. When a bin gets low, we buy a couple boxes to replenish them.

4) Usually when someone breaks a tool, we look in our spare tools cabinet (like for band saw blades) for extras. If there is none that person is automatically delegated to immediately go out and buy another one. They then turn in their receipt to the treasurer (see #2) and get their money back the next week. We don't do a whole lot of inventorying though we should. During build season, each team has a corner of the room and tools are spread out everywhere.