[Travis Hoffman]

A lot of what Harding High School's shop teacher George Lazar has in his metal shop was donated to Team 48 by Delphi Packard. All of the equipment is very old and heavily used, but George keeps it in good running order. We've donated three Bridgeport mills, a CNC mill, and a bandsaw, among other items. These were all obsolete but perfectly functional items that were sitting around in a warehouse we lovingly called "The Morgue". This place was great. In addition to the old mills and such, there were dozens of old pieces of manufacturing equipment covered in extruded alumimum and Lexan guarding. We used to let the kids go to The Morgue and strip down these machines. They loved bringing back piles of loot every year. Unfortunately, to save money, Delphi auctioned off its excess and obsolete equipment and stopped leasing the Morgue a few years ago. We miss that place.

Moral of the story - a lot of the equipment companies deem "obsolete" is not broken - it is simply outdated technology that would work fine for FIRST teams. It never hurts to ask local businesses if they have such equipment they may be willing to donate or sell at a big discount.