Quote:
Originally Posted by GeeTwo
To borrow a phrase from my days at the stable, FRC tools are "rode hard and put up wet". Within a year in the hands of high schoolers, our Ryobi tabletop band saw was significantly less functional (not to mention precise) than our DeWalt "portaband", and our Ryobi tabletop drill press (same model as I have at the house and do reasonably nice things with) wasn't worthy to serve aboard the Millennium Falcon. Both are in the junk yard. I don't know if there is a sweet spot or where it is, but low end power tools are definitely not it.
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Reminds me of my
other pastime, which is volunteering with a local summer camp. Similar in many ways. People tend to buy or donate cheap things for camp because, well, we're a charity and have little money. But I've quickly realized that cheap stuff just doesn't hold up. I coined a word for it -- stuff gets "campified". I donated a Canadian Tire drill press (same factory as Ryobi) to camp once that had been lightly used in my own garage. I don't think it even lasted the summer, now the chuck wobbles and falls off. I replaced it with a brand new one, and someone managed to rip off the power cord.
2706 is in its rookie year as a new community based team (e.g. no high school shop to call home). We're going to get by with a chop saw, a drill press and hand tools. We'll be working out of a storage cage at a local sports complex, next to a cage full of volleyballs. I'd love for us to have a lathe or mill eventually, if we could only figure out where to put it!