Build/Meeting Spaces

[manderson5192]

Having just completed the '08 season, I can't help but think how my team can make next year even better. From watching other teams' videos of robots in action, I can see that there is a very wide array of facilities that teams regularly meet in. On my team, for the most part of the build season, our programming, electrical, PR, and game build teams were able to meet for 3 hours a day, 3 days a week in a physics classroom at our school with very limited (filtered) internet access. Our build/mechanical team met at a small but very nice machine shop (meaning lots of CNC machines and 3 employees there that have become more mentors and friends than sponsors)for 15 minutes away 1 day a week for a few more hours each day. Although we do pretty well each year, I can't help but think that more and longer meetings at a facility where all the subgroups can go would be a significant improvement.

Anyways, the question is: How are the facilities in which your team meets during build seasons? How frequent are your meetings? For how long?

Thanks in advance guys!

[Aces]

My team is fortunate. We meet in our schools metal shop which is well equipped.

It has:
4 mills
1 2.5 Axis CNC machine
TIG, MIG, Arc, and Gas welders
4 Lathes
Hydraulic Iron Worker
and a barrage of other machines and tools

we also have 60 years of stocked up metal to play with

We meet every day afterschool from 3:15 till 10ish on a good night
The PR team meets in the classroom side of the metalshop three days a week

The design team meets in the classroom side where we have four computers with solidworks and camworks.

We build our whole robot in our shop with help as needed from our mentors, but us students do the manufacturing.

[DeAnnaC]

We are a community based team so we do not have school buildings or shop equipment to use. We are currently in the basement of a small strip mall that is very wet during a heavy rain. We only have basic tools: a drill press and band saw were purchased last year (our 5th year). We move frequently as our space is given to us by a donor so we really cannot purchase anything big which would be hard to move. Our current space has an 8 ft ceiling and no heat, so it's been an interesting build season. We've been traveling to Team 931's field on Saturdays to run hybrid mode and to do driver training.

Off-season we meet about once a week year round (we do community outreach about every other weekend during the year) and during build season we were meeting M-F, 6:30 - 9pm and 9-5 on Saturdays. The current location we are at is a 25 minute drive for most of the students and mentors, 2 of our students travel 45 min each way for meetings.

We have a very dedicated and resourceful group and I'm glad to be part of the team.

Good luck to everyone in the coming weeks!

DeAnna

[m3ch4num470r]

Our team gets to use a modest sized tech lab in the school, complete with a small computer lab attatched. The only power tools we have are a bandsaw, power sander, drillpress, and a chopsaw. We meet weekdays 3-6 and weekends 9-5 during build season. Our biggest problem is a lack of storage space and the fact that we have to clean up every day so that the students can use the classroom the next day (takes about 1/2 hour).

[JaneYoung]

For some reason, this thread stirred the Muse -
sorry to become philosophical.
..To stay on topic, 418 builds in a well equipped school shop. This includes a metal shop, a wood shop, a computer lab, a paint room, a forge, adequate storage, and many tools that the team has purchased or had donated. We are lucky.

We build out of closets
We build out of shops
We build out of barns
We build using corporate resources
We build with what we have
We build with what is shared
We build.
We build in wet basements
We build in warehouses
We build in old grocery stores
We build with confidence
We build with inspiration
We are innovative.
We build through snow
We build through ice
We build through hurricanes
We build.
We build in living rooms
We build in garages
We build at NASA
We build with engineers
We build with teachers
We build.
We build through snow days
We build through roofs that leak
We build through illness
We build through sorrow and loss
We build.
We build outside
We build in classrooms
We build with our hands
We build with machines
We build with knowledge
We build with experience
We build with our minds
We build.

[Koko Ed]

Here's a panorama of our new home I took a few weeks ago.

The picture is taken in the front end in the Gene Wicks museum. Software is located to the right. PAW, Mech and Drives and electric are located to the left. The machine shop is all the way at the back end in three rooms. The room you see at the left is our kitchen.

[DarkFlame145]

We work in an semi-out dated school work shop. We have a Horizontal band saw, 3 or 4 drill presses, a REALLY old TIG Welder, a lathe, a mill (both WW2 era), a few belt sanders, a band saw that doesn't cut strait, and a ton of had tools. But this shop works, we may not have the fanciest bot. It's normally a competitive bot and runs well.

[mathking]

We meet in our school's shop, which has a drill press, band saw, table saw and other wood tools that can be used for metal. We bought a mill and lathe in the last year to increase what we can do. It is not a fantastic set up but better than a lot of teams have.

We meet Mon-Thu evenings from 6:30 - 9:00 (to accomodate the mentors) and on Saturdays from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. This year we did two Friday night builds as well (6:30-9:00 or so), one on the last weekend and one the week before to make up for a snow day. On President's day we were here from 9:00 am until 9:30 pm. This meeting pattern has been pretty much normal for us since we started. It would actually be a LOT more convenient for me to meet after school from 2:30-5:00 but that would cut out half our mentors from helping.

[synth3tk]

We meet in the schools metal shop and the wood shop, both rooms managed by our head mentor. Also have access to the web design room. 2:30-5:00pm M-Th, 2:30-9:00pm F, 8:00am-3:00pm Sa.

Hoping to get a pretty nice workspace for the new team. I dont know what to look for under Yellow Pages, trying to find a machine shop or someplace similar to work out of. For teams out of a mallstrip or their own building, how much did it cost you, and for what size?