Robotics DreamLab

[ebarker]

This is a serious question.

What if you were provided with a substantial sum of money to build a robotics lab. The money cannot be used for salaries, building, etc, but for the purchase of equipment. Examples would be a 3-D printer, mills, lathes, electronics test equipment, etc. A portion could be used to buy robotics kits and curriculum.

What would you purchase? What I'm looking for is concrete examples.

For example an answer should not be 'a lathe' but something more specific like an ACME model 12, approximately $ 5,000 with accessories.

Ultimately I want to have three spending plans. A $ 25K, $ 50K, and $ 100K version.

I can think of a few examples of equipment and supplies right off the top of my head. I have no real good idea of what machines would hit the 'sweet spot' for creating parts for FRC class machines.

Equipment examples include a 3-D printer, mill, lathe, flatbed plasma cutter, flatbed waterjet, and an oscilloscope.

Any suggestions ?

[waialua359]

We are currently working on a 2 year renovation plan for our robotics facilities.
Our plan is to "fix up" existing buildings in which we operate our robotics and feeder programs such as our media center and graphics technology center.

I would suggest visiting other programs first in your area (State) and see what other great programs are doing.
It wasnt until I visited other technology labs in our State, that we were able to come up with some great ideas for layout of potential robotics equipment and infrastructure such as electrical requirements, furniture, Air Conditioning, etc.
With that squared away, it narrowed what type of robotics equipment we could get based on cost and size.

For example,
One item that I am working to get is a waterjet from Flow. Besides the electrical requirements, we needed a 15 x 15ft space in which to house the equipment. We are barely going to make it since our existing industrial lab (old auto shop) had some old mig welding stations that we no longer used and can throw out.

Honestly, if I only had $25k, I'd stock up on lots of materials and potential robotics parts, as its too little to build a "dream" lab with.
$50k would get me a decent mill and lathe. We get ours from MSC which can get both for about $25k and the rest for the above $25k plan. Our mills/lathes run from $8k to $40 CNC-type, with all the basic accessories such as dividing heads, collets, lots of bits/cutters, DRO, coolant, and Pneumatic tool changer.
$100k would help me get all of the basic tooling to start a "dream" lab but assuming you have the facilities to support it already.

Do you have any specific equipments in mind? Then we can suggest vendors and costs.

My .02 cents.

[colin340]

i would look at the haas TL-1 lathe $25,000
and the lowest end tool room mill $25,000 (idk the model number)
suny oswego has both and they are so nice and easy to use and great cost for what they to

at the same time a used Bridgeport with a simple cnc controller is a really great tool for cheap ( $5,000)

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Do you have any specific equipments in mind? Then we can suggest vendors and costs.

Like everything else in the world, robots tend to be built with "local talent, materials, methods" so if all you know is woodcraft you might get a wood robot, if all you know is carbon fiber, you get carbon fiber.

Right off the bat I'd say a 3-D printer, mill, lathe, bandsaw, drillpress, flatbed waterjet or plasma cutter would top the list.

Any large piece metal forming or welding we outsource. We currently outsource milled or lathed parts but for the most part we never have had to make these type items larger than your hand. So machinery that could make a part that sized would be about right.

Sorting out the list -
3d printer ???
waterjet ???
lathe ???
bandsaw ???

I took a look at the Haas TL-1 lathe. Nice stuff, overkill for what we want to accomplish. Maybe I need to better define "DreamLab".

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by ebarker

Sorting out the list -
3d printer ???
waterjet ???
lathe ???
bandsaw ???

I would leave out waterjet. Flow told me that one HS in california recently got one, before our inquiry. They are the only HS in the entire United States that has one directly on campus. Cant speak for other brands.
Waterjets are quite costly as you know, and teams that use such a process to make parts, outsource them all. We were quoted $150,000 for the setup we want without any training.
Our team is planning to get a 3d printer, but always felt it wasn't essential to have one. A nice to have, IMO.
We got a horizontal bandsaw from MSC for about $3000 recently, IIRC. Best investment we made and a definite "must have" for our shop. Our old one broke.
A lathe AND mill, a definite YES if you're going to fabricate your own parts. The biggest learning experience our construction kids have had is making their own stuff using these equipment.

[ebarker]

I kinda figured the waterjet was expensive. A couple of months ago I went to the GWCC, same room where the Championship pits was held for an industry show called FABTECH. You had to have a pass to get in.

I looked at the waterjet stuff and it was very impressive. The machine I looked at had a 65 hp pump. The whole system had to cost 150K if it cost a nickel.

A team locally here got a plasma cutter the same size as the waterjet I was looking at. I think they got a real good deal. It only cost them about $ 25K. It doesn't do as nice a job as a waterjet but still it does a nice job.

[AllenGregoryIV]

It's funny how different dreams can be, right now I'm dreaming we had a horizontal band saw.

Sure a waterjet would be nice too.

[ebarker]

We have a variety of horizontal bands saws ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old.