Ideas for a new shop

[Billfred]

Some thoughts from a guy who's had varying amounts of space before:

1) If you can get a 30'x30' unobstructed space set aside, that's a half-field. (Sure, a full field is better--but how many of us can't even get a half?)
2) Lay out the walking paths, and get them marked so it is crystal clear that Thou Shalt Not Leave Crap In The Walking Path.
3) Find room for old robots. Leave them together, or at least taxidermy them (take out electronics and such) so they can be displayed. This is highly underrated by a lot of teams.
4) If you can make your shop space a lot like your pit space, it will save you time and frustration at events. (We store parts in a lot of shoebox-sized clear plastic bins that fit inside KoP totes. When it's competition time, they go off the shelf, into the totes, then out onto the shelf in the pit.)

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Billfred

3) Find room for old robots. Leave them together, or at least taxidermy them (take out electronics and such) so they can be displayed. This is highly underrated by a lot of teams.

After 20 years I think someone needs to start making an FRC size robot parking and stacking system. Like the car parks in NYC .

[DaveL]

Like others have said, more space is always better.
Most teams in my area share space with the school wood shop. They have to clean up after each build day. Having a large storage area makes putting things away go much faster.

My team has a dedicated space, but our shop and build room are very small. We put wheels and computers on a table, so the programmers can work in the hallway and avoid the noise of the build room. We have also put many of our storage racks on wheels, so old robots and rarely used items are pushed into the hallway during each build day.

This year we had to drag our barriers out of the build room before we could start working.

My suggestion is to have a computer room for CAD, programming, marketing and meetings and another room for construction and assembly. If your machine tools are in the same room as where the robot is assembled, you should have a safety barrier between so people can move about with out bumping into someone using a chop saw or other equipment. Even better, have some sound proofing material or a glass wall, to cut down on noise in the assembly area.

Once you decide on what large tools are needed, the number and size of assembly tables + storage racks, draw up a floor plan with walk ways. I like Microsoft Visio for this, but other 2-D graphic tools will work.

Best of luck
Dave
Build Mentor

[sanddrag]

One word of advice is that when you've been doing this for a number of years, 3,000 square feet is not anywhere near enough. Think bigger than that. You know it's not enough when you start setting things on chairs, because you've ran out of space on tables, carts, and even the floor.

[maxnz]

Thank you all for your responses so far!

We would like to show a few pictures of other shops as an example Tuesday, so we want your opinion on which 3 or 4 pictures from this thread we should use. Feel free to add your own pictures into your suggestion.

Originally Posted by sanddrag

If they're starting the remodel this summer, it sounds like they're about a year behind in the planning.

Yes, you are correct. They are starting the major part of the remodel in 2017 (they probably will do a few small projects this summer). My mistake.

Also, I have attached a rough drawing of a shop layout. Feel free to make changes, suggest dimensions, etc. We would like to have your thoughts on what the room size ratios should be (such as marketing area vs. machining area, storage vs. machining, machining vs. assembly/planning, etc.).