Team 294's Memorial Moving Weekend

[kaliken]

As we all got to enjoy BBQ's and at least in SoCal some beautiful weather this weekend, Team 294 Beach Cities Robotics got to do some more strenuous work on Sunday.

We are in the process of moving! We have been lucky over the past 10+ years to have a school that provides such an amazing space for us. But in order for the school to keep up with building regulation code we are being displaced for about a year while we get our building renovated.

Currently, we have a small portable classroom to move into. We are thankful that the school has been accommodating so we have an area for some computers and some basic tools. Unfortunately, we had to leave our Machine shop behind as the renovate for the next year. (Sorry 330, but our lathe next year will be covered and out of commission) Its going to be an interesting upcoming year for us and we are looking forward to a newly renovated workspace that we know will be great! (and hopefully leak proof!)

It was a lot of work and we still have a lot to do... Plus going through the teams history brings back some great memories in my fairly short career with 294.

Here are some shots of the move. We were slowly boxing the past couple of weeks, but yesterday was all the heavy lifting into our storage container...

[Jay H 237]

294 will get through it, 237 had a similar experience last year. Our school was being renovated (renovated "as new" aka completely gutted to a shell the original 1963 building) and 237 was moved to the middle school. We lacked access to most of the machinery we used before as it was all put in storage but were lucky to have a Bridgeport and a lathe setup there while the reno was in process. A few things were done outside at sponsors shops to help us out. This past year we go back into the high school again and the machines were moved back up there and the rest out of storage. Not all of them were fully setup but we worked on that some of the build nights.

[ratdude747]

I'd buy a mini drill press, mini band saw, mini lathe, and perhaps mini-mill if you don't have them already... it would all fit in a small area, perhaps on a well-built table. Don't forget to add a mini-vice, as that is more helpful than one would think.

[Littleboy]

And with all those mini tools, you can build a minibot.

[kaliken]

Thanks for the great words of encouragement and advice. This upcoming year is going to be great as it will add constraints that should help streamline some of our decisions and hopefully simplify designs. It may make some things we usually took for granted a bit harder to achieve. But overall it will be a good experience for the team to go through.

We will be without a mill or lathe, but we have already moved a drill press, a vise, a chop saw, a grinder, and small vertical band saw into the new room. So with those we will have some basic machine functionality. Coupled with several hand drills and some good measurement tools we can get a lot done.

I do like the idea of a mini mill or lathe, especially the lathe. Considering how many shafts and spacers that are made on our lathe, the lathe would be the one piece of equipment I am thinking about getting a small replacement for. I would feel terrible asking for every little thing to be made by our sponsors as we typically only send out complicated parts (CNC, waterjet, and welding) to our sponsors and we machine the rest (brackets, spacers, shafts, etc). Hmm looks like I will have to look at our budget...

[EricH]

Originally Posted by kaliken

I do like the idea of a mini mill or lathe, especially the lathe. Considering how many shafts and spacers that are made on our lathe, the lathe would be the one piece of equipment I am thinking about getting a small replacement for. I would feel terrible asking for every little thing to be made by our sponsors as we typically only send out complicated parts (CNC, waterjet, and welding) to our sponsors and we machine the rest (brackets, spacers, shafts, etc). Hmm looks like I will have to look at our budget...

Has anybody on the team taken one of the El Camino machine shop courses, or could they get into one?

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by kaliken

Thanks for the great words of encouragement and advice. This upcoming year is going to be great as it will add constraints that should help streamline some of our decisions and hopefully simplify designs. It may make some things we usually took for granted a bit harder to achieve. But overall it will be a good experience for the team to go through.

We will be without a mill or lathe, but we have already moved a drill press, a vise, a chop saw, a grinder, and small vertical band saw into the new room. So with those we will have some basic machine functionality. Coupled with several hand drills and some good measurement tools we can get a lot done.

I do like the idea of a mini mill or lathe, especially the lathe. Considering how many shafts and spacers that are made on our lathe, the lathe would be the one piece of equipment I am thinking about getting a small replacement for. I would feel terrible asking for every little thing to be made by our sponsors as we typically only send out complicated parts (CNC, waterjet, and welding) to our sponsors and we machine the rest (brackets, spacers, shafts, etc). Hmm looks like I will have to look at our budget...

We have 2-3 sherline machines (and just converted one to CNC). They are pretty handy for making spacers.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

We have 2-3 sherline machines (and just converted one to CNC). They are pretty handy for making spacers.

Seconded. During my years as a student on 1747, I had one of the shop's 7 lathes dedicated to making aluminum spacers. What I would do is drill out a rod of Aluminum as far as my drill bit would do, and as needed, use a cutoff bit to cut spacers as needed. In addition to producing better spacers, it was also faster then a band saw.

I also had a lathe dedicated to making PVC spacers... same deal, only no drilling required.

294: I strongly suggest getting a mini-lathe... You'd be surprised how much can be done with one.

[kaliken]

Originally Posted by EricH

Has anybody on the team taken one of the El Camino machine shop courses, or could they get into one?

We have at least 2 students that have gone through the course and we plan to have more go through the class this summer. So the El Camino JC shop is great resource. Only bummer is that I have been informed by one of the teams parents that there are plans to temporarily close the El Camino shop in January due to... renovations!!!! d'oh!!!!

I will seriously look at the Sherline models as a small sized replacement that can then be used as a supplemental machine for subsequent years when we are back in our normal shop.

[Peck]

for an on topic religious reference: "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." JOB 1:21 (i read this thread and my brain kept coming back to that verse). In this instance, he is doing both at once.

[Metalcrafters]

Let us know if you need anything, our shop is always open to teams in need of machining. We are always turning handles and making chips!
Just ask....we never turn away.

We are only 1/2 mile from one of your sponsors.