Your favorite/most useful tool?

[PMGRACER]

Ours was definitly the Manuel CNC Bridgeport and the 15 axis Manuel NC Lathe!! Truthfully though, the Cray Super Computer became unusually usefull when trying to package the big block chevy we used to power the drivetrain. Of course you can't forget the 32 handed Freshman powerfile!! That really saved our cans!

[ChrisH]

1) AutoCad Inventor - to figure out what I'm building should look like
2) NASTRAN - to figure out if what I'm building will break
3) CNC Mill - esp when Rick V is running it. He plays a mill like Heifitz plays a violin. Besides it makes a pretty good drill press too! If necessary an manual will do most times.
4) lathe - i love to watch the chips fly
5) Datco - a dremmel on steroids
6) band saw - too much work to cut 1" stock by hand

[sanddrag]

I have a couple new favorites. Multi-purpose Super White Grease and Liquid Wrench.

[Pierson]

Has to be my laptop: Fundraising, grant letters, thank you letters, website, team updates, team organization... etc...

[activemx]

right on.. Laptop all the way..

Inventor
Web Designing
Team Management
Emailing
Graphics like Tshirts and Panels design
every little thing you could think of..

i also like the 2.5 Allan key very helpful this year for all those 4mm screws for the bosch.

[Eric Reed]

We bought a compressor four years ago when the robots didn't have on-board compressors. It has sat quietly in the corner since then. This year one of our mentors brought over some pneumatic die-grinders, and I have to say those are cool.

[157#1Driver]

Originally posted by PMGRACER
Ours was definitly the Manuel CNC Bridgeport and the 15 axis Manuel NC Lathe!! Truthfully though, the Cray Super Computer became unusually usefull when trying to package the big block chevy we used to power the drivetrain. Of course you can't forget the 32 handed Freshman powerfile!! That really saved our cans!

15 Axis Machine!! Wow, as a fairly experienced machinist I gotta see that. ( I think you ment 15 tools )

[Eric Reed]

Nope, I think he meant 15-axis lathe. We've got one too. It helps when you are building your robot in extra dimensions, which explains how they got the Chevy block (or was it the whole truck?) in under 130 pounds.

Eric.

[157#1Driver]

15 Axis is a lot. Most machines handle 5-7. Do you put parts on this machine and rotate? Like a turn table?

[jzampier]

Yeah, those 15 Axis- lathes are pretty cool, but i much prefer my temporal-shifting, phase regulated, matter reducing device. Think robot only weights 130 lbs b/c its only in this space-time continuum for a small portion of its existance.

[chellyzee93]

most useful "tool" :
-Kt

[Pierson]

Do Freshman count? They are quite useful for doing stuff veteran members don't have time to do.

[Specialagentjim]

Originally posted by Peciv
Do Freshman count? They are quite useful for doing stuff veteran members don't have time to do.

They are not! They get in the way and try to play with things that make loud noises and/or are shiney. Usually, a shiney loud noise machine is capable of destroying something or is expensive, thus resulting in distrust of engineers towards students. This distrust results in the inability of the team to touch any such machine (even those that know what they're doing).

[SiliconKnight]

Design

* Graph paper and a good ink pen. You'll waste untold hours of CAD time if you don't draw out sketches first.

* Solidworks 2003 - I like it more than Inventor. Let me see what I'm building, calculates how much it weights, and let me see if things are gonna bash into each other. (Interference detection is a god-send when you're building anything with more than 10 parts).

* Cosmos/SM - To see if it'll break, and to use FEA to optimize my designs.

* GNU/SCiTe - my text editor, G-Code editor. Good also to keep to-do lists in. Yeah, I'm arcane like that.

Build:

* Sharpie marker. I was a decent machinist when I knew how to use the shop's precision layout tools and hold 0.002" tolerance on my parts. I became a *good* machinist when I knew where I can cut corners and just mark things with a sharpie marker, locate things with my Mark 1 eyeball, and use a drill press instead of a mill.

* Bridgeport Manual mill. Yes, there are times when we CNC things, but we still havn't gotten to the point where we have enough good CNC operators. I can build just about every part on our robot with a mill and a lathe by hand.

* Clausing-Metosa 14x40" lathe, with carbide indexable tools. You have to admit, being able to see the cutting edge reflected in the mirror finish of a piece of aluminum is pretty darn cool..

* HydroMech horizontal band saw. With a 420V motor, you can just about cut a car in half on that thing.

Field Repairs:

* Dremel. Only complain is that I don't have a cordless one. Never underestimate what a Dremel with an 1/8" end mill chuck into it will do for aluminum removal, at 30,000 RPM (Steady hands *AND* eye protection for *EVERYONE* around you is a MUST!).

* Ryobi 18V Cordless drill/driver I'd go for the DeWalt, but it's my personal drill and I couldn't afford the DeWalt kit.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Definitely Mr. Bridgeport (our mill). It can be used for so many interesting things, especially knocking 1/4" off a solid steel bar...

Other useful tools:
zip ties - can't live without 'em
hose clamps - great for fixing messed up drill clutches
portable welder - great for 10 pm welding in the hotel parking lot
sand blaster - makes sprockets look nice and pretty
lathe - because you never know when you'll need to make a bushing in a jiffy
drill press - who needs a diet when you have a drill press for weight reduction?