Building Out a Workshop

[Dragonking]

How many students do you currently have and what do you expect your growth rate to be over the next few years?

[popnbrown]

We currently have 10 students. I expect us to continue growing to about 30-40 students over the course of 4 to 5 years.

[artdutra04]

There are a ton of great tool and machinery recommendations in this thread:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=115165

For storage of large items like wheels, sprockets, motors, etc, the FRC Kit of parts/2015 game piece totes work great.

For storage of small parts like screws, nuts, pneumatic fittings, etc compartmentalized storage trays are a good choice. Since you're asking about a dream shop, then I would recommend the "Design-Your-Own Steel Small-Parts Drawer Cabinet" from McMaster, as they are very heavy duty and having the drawer slides for each tray is very convienent:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#bin-boxes/=wqqq38

Have a large open building space with power and compressed air drops that hang from the ceiling on retractable coils; this way there is always a close source of power without the tripping hazard of cords/hoses running on the floor. Have plenty of really heavy duty workbenches and tables - ideally at a light color to make it easier to find a dropped screw. Light-colored epoxy floors are great - again, the light/white color is great at helping to find the inevitable dropped item.

Have plenty of whiteboards around. Have a few computer workstations with large monitors near the building area for CAD/part reference while building. Have good shop vacs and cleaning equipment - a clean shop is a safe shop. Fridge, freezer, microwave and coffee makers are not to be underestimated. Good speakers are a valuable asset. Have a few comfortable chairs/couch/hammock to relax for a few minutes during long meetings.

[EricH]

Funny... you two guys just described 1197's shop. At least to a point. I didn't realize it was quite so ideal.

We've got a large open area with workbenches around the outside, a small loft (used for leadership/mentor small meetings), a room for electronics (why that has one of the compressed-air drops is beyond me), and a storage/meal room.

And yes, we've got speakers and some random degree of organization (read: 90% chance of finding what we're looking for and the rest is finding something that will work) and the fridge/microwave/coffeepot. Some lockers. Plenty of power drops in the ceiling, and yep, they're retractable. Not a lot of practice space, but getting out through the garage door isn't hard and there's a parking area out there that we're able to largely keep empty.

That big room used to be the auto shop at the school. The lifts and such are long gone... but the robotics team has been busy.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by EricH

Funny... you two guys just described 1197's shop. At least to a point. I didn't realize it was quite so ideal.

....

That big room used to be the auto shop at the school. The lifts and such are long gone... but the robotics team has been busy.

In many ways cars are (or are about to become) most people's most intimate contact with robotics. The suitability of the auto shop is not just functional, but symbolic. :-)

I'd suggest considering what the shop will be used for "the other 46 weeks" of the year. Summer workshops? Classes? Headquarters for pursuit of a Chairman's award?

Jason

[EricH]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

I'd suggest considering what the shop will be used for "the other 46 weeks" of the year. Summer workshops? Classes? Headquarters for pursuit of a Chairman's award?

Jason

In our case...driver practice, prototyping, and other FRC offseason activities. It's not open as often, though.

[MrForbes]

We have yet to find the ideal workshop. This year is pretty good, though. The Pre Engineering classroom is now in the old Print Shop (progress?), and there are several nice work benches with drop down power cords above, a roll up door, and a little bit of storage space. Unfortunately it's a classroom every day, so we have to put our stuff away when we're done with it. But the lighting is good, the teacher plays music often, there's a table to serve dinner, plenty of computers with CAD software, etc. There is a carpeted hallway where we can play with robots, and just a short hike to a larger play area. We even used the shop air once.

Somehow our team has managed to stay about the same size for ten years, with about ten "core" students, and another dozen or so that hopefully are getting something out of it. Since we don't seem to be able to get more mentors involved, I guess the size of the shop is just fine.

[cadandcookies]

I'd also suggest a bin cabinet for storage. When I was on 2220, we had a couple that we mounted on caster wheels that stored everything from safety gear to seven seasons of partially disassembled gearboxes. They're a bit pricy, but they're fantastic things, both for teams that have a dedicated build space and those who have to be more nomadic-- especially the latter, though.

I'm also a fan of good workbenches-- whether it's a station work table like this or a more table-y table like this (as a side note, I'm not recommending this specific supplier-- these are just examples of what I'm talking about-- research is key!).

As for size, I'd lay out precisely what you want in it-- even if you can't afford it all now. If you want to have a Bridgeport and a tooling cabinet in there, but can't afford it now, lay that out. If you're talking 10-15 people in the shop now and maybe 30-40 later, I'd plan for 2-4 workbenches plus whatever machinery you deem necessary.

I'd definitely second/third the idea of having a "clean" side of the shop-- keeping everyone in close proximity is huge, so if you can swing it, go for it.

Best of luck with your pursuit of a new shop space, and keep us updated! It's always cool to see what teams are capable of getting accomplished!

[BeardyMentor]

Speccing out, purchasing, and creating operating plans for model shops and makerspaces at universities and corporations is my job. I would like to share with you some pitfalls that are too easy to fall into.

1) Maintenance and operating costs money. Remember that you are going to need replacement parts, consumables like cutting tools, oil and grease. All of these cost money. Make sure you budget for these. If you are purchasing through a school, build operating costs for a minimum of 5 years into your budget. Always be thinking about sustainability.

2) Plan for training. Just because someone there right now knows how to use these tools does not mean they will be there in the future. Make sure you have a plan for training at least a few people. For manual machine tools this may just be watching some youtube videos. For CNC machines and other more complicated machines, you may need to pay to have someone trained by the manufacturer or put together resources for learning how to operate it.

3) Remember you need tooling. budget 20-50% of the purchase price of a machine tool for work holding and tooling. In similar vein; Make sure you have the software you need. For example; a CNC mill is not a whole lot of use without CAD *And* CAM software. It can be a killer if your school gives you a grant for that $50,000 vertical machining center but not for the CAM software to drive it.

4) work space is just as important as the tools to go in it. Make sure you budget for work benches, storage, power distribution etc.

5) focus on the basics, then move to the more complex stuff. Make sure you have a good set of hand tools before you start moving to machine tools. With machine tools stick with the most universal stuff first then move to the fancy computer controlled stuff.

[pmangels17]

Additionally, you can save a ton of money by building shelving and workbenches/tables from scratch. Use good dimensional lumber for the support, and thick, smooth plywood for the benchtops. We like it because it's cheap and easy to replace, meaning you can mount stuff to it and when the tabletop gets really unusable its not too difficult to change to a fresh top. For example, we usually build plywood "walls" around the bench that holds our bagged robot after bag day, so that students in the shop (it's also a classroom space) don't mess with the bag.

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by BeardyMentor

.
3) Remember you need tooling. budget 20-50% of the purchase price of a machine tool for work holding and tooling. In similar vein; Make sure you have the software you need. For example; a CNC mill is not a whole lot of use without CAD *And* CAM software. It can be a killer if your school gives you a grant for that $50,000 vertical machining center but not for the CAM software to drive it.

If you go down this route and end up with the machine without the software, the student licenses of SolidWorks work just fine with HSMWorks Lite.

Some of the features are disabled in the Lite version but you can do a lot of the basic stuff with it.

Another CNC issue is make sure you understand all the parts of your CNC system before you buy it. A CNC plasma table without the plasma cutter is not very useful. A manual mill with retrofit and no control is equally an issue.

[GeeTwo]

Sorry - meant to post on another thread.
Any ideas on how to learn to use these tools should we buy them? Whether a lathe, a CNC, milling machine, or whatever, we don't have any mentors with experience using these tools.
Example: Off the top of my head, I can't figure out what I would do with a lathe that I couldn't do with a drill press and a bit of patience. Based on the posts, there's obviously something else they're good for.
Are there any on-line tutorials that cover use of these tools, or will each turn into a high-priced coat rack unless we find a local person who can teach us to operate it?

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Any ideas on how to learn to use these tools should we buy them? Whether a lathe, a CNC, milling machine, or whatever, we don't have any mentors with experience using these tools.
Example: Off the top of my head, I can't figure out what I would do with a lathe that I couldn't do with a drill press and a bit of patience. Based on the posts, there's obviously something else they're good for.
Are there any on-line tutorials that cover use of these tools, or will each turn into a high-priced coat rack unless we find a local person who can teach us to operate it?

As far as machining, these are some of my favorite Youtube channels that I've learned a lot from:
-Abom79
-Tom Lipton
-Tubalcain
-Keith Fenner
-Keith Rucker
-Arduinoversusevil (not machining centric but hilarious)

Also, here are some decent resources from MIT: Overview and videos

[mman1506]

Originally Posted by techhelpbb

If you go down this route and end up with the machine without the software, the student licenses of SolidWorks work just fine with HSMWorks Lite.

Some of the features are disabled in the Lite version but you can do a lot of the basic stuff with it.

HSMworks told me that the will be adding the full version to the autodesk student site making it free for teams.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by mman1506

HSMworks told me that the will be adding the full version to the autodesk student site making it free for teams.

It's already free. You just have to do some legwork to get in touch with a rep and get licenses.