Quote:
Originally Posted by jpetito
Some cross-pollination from the Districts in California discussion thread--
BrendanB from Londonderry makes a good description of what happens at small events: ad-hoc, extraordinary but disjointed efforts by all to keep the machines operational, but distracting the one or two teams with the depth of equipment and skill to do their own work.
If. If. If CA goes to districts, we will see a model like that unless there's a concerted effort to provide for this side-show of effort. Especially for the "janitor closet" teams with no gear and few skills, having available a decent shop at the venue will keep them in the game when their junk breaks. If you've been in the game awhile, you've seen it- plywood and JB Weld bolt-ups built by MacGyver's children with lots of motivation but no skill--they need to be guided along by those of us on skill-rich teams having the capacity to help.
Joe
Junk Fixer
PS-- Wondering--would this kind of guidance reduce the team attrition percentages?
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Below is what I posted in the other thread because I think you made my post sound more doom and gloom compared to the reality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrendanB
This is what you can expect at most district events: local team's shop if you are at a high school or some tools in a corner staffed by volunteers. 125 has been a big resource in keeping NE events stocked with tools for a machine shop and some transportation issues left RIDE uncovered but teams worked together and everyone shared what they had. It also prompted us to start bringing a larger vice, bandsaw, and belt sander to Boston the next weekend and our pit became a machine shop outpost with volunteers using our tools more than we did.
The machine shops aren't as nice as what teams see in reigonals but you have to keep in mind with teams getting six hours of unbag time in their shops a lot of the machining work teams need to do gets done at their shops. The machine shops still get plenty of use for the times we need it however we use it less than we did during a regional.
It does get beefed up for the District Championships. Connecticut had one of the NASA mobile machine shops this year and I believe WPI uses the shop on campus. |
My post was in response to a comment on the RIDE event this year not having a machine shop which has typically been provided by a team in NE who brings some of their tools to events in the area and wasn't able to that weekend. It was an extreme case and as the OP and I said everyone made it through just fine with several teams already having their own bandsaws, vices, drill presses, etc in attendance.
Several events up here have used the shops at the schools (example Windham) which was staffed by volunteers and one of the team's mentors who loves working on the machines.
As I mentioned too these events are shorter and with unbag time the needs of the machine shop have decreased over a normal three day regional with just your withholding allowance for new parts.
To a degree, yes it is more effort by teams in a district to make things run smoothly: teams bringing tools to supply machine shops, mentors & occasionally student volunteers staffing them, and sharing what you have but we all enjoy it and the district system has brought a lot of teams closer together which has been awesome!