[Erin Rapacki]

I, too, am an employee of DEKA (six-month intern/coop on the iBOT project). I am also a Mechanical Engineering student at Northestern University... so it was a personal choice of mine to keep helping out with 125, although they are an hour drive's away.

As Mike Dubriel just stated, our team had many problems throughout the BAE Regional. It's true that I have access DEKA and some of their machines, but that doesn't mean that I could volunteer their shops or support. There's a difference between a company who's sponsorship includes mentor help from their employees, and a person who decides to help out a nearby team on their own accord.

It's not that I care so much about the rule being broken, but it's the assumption that if a company simply has a nice machine shop that they should volunteer it to a team for a build season. What the kids must also learn about industry is that with time, the machines break down... and that cost needs to be subsidized by the company. Those expensive machines must be saved for precision parts that are essential to DEKA's success, and that letting the students use them could pose a great risk.

There is a possibility for the students on your team to tour DEKA's shop, but as for use... I think that teaming up with another local machine shop or high school shop may be more appropriate. The company needs to approve use of their machines to high school students because there is a lot of liability involved, don't assume it of an employee to provide that kind of service to a team without taking the proper/legal route.