Workshop updates
As you noticed in our previous hardware related post, we are currently busy structuring and improving annually occurring processes. As a result, we’ve noticed that many things are becoming increasingly smooth and organized! We are also working on major improvements in our workshop. Here is a hardware update about our workshop, with the topics: workshop safety, workshop organization and the purchase of our first CNC router!
Safety Workshop
Safety is the most important thing at all times! Of course, we also teach this to our students! Even while wearing mandatory safety glasses, issues can sometimes creep in. Don’t get it wrong, people always work safely in our workshop and with our machines.Everyone working in the workshop wears the appropriate safety gear and knows how to use all the equipment safely, but how do you keep track of this?
Because of a change in management, some important questions arose regarding safety. Things like: “What if something goes wrong?”, “Whose responsibility is this?”, “Can the team be sued in case of injury?”, “Who will bear the costs for this?” etc.
This got us thinking, we sat down to discuss what rules and definitions should be drawn up:
- Make a risk analysis of the complete workshop area
- Create documents for:
- Manuals for every machine
- Safety card located with the machine
- Maintenance card for each machine
- Set up training courses based on the manuals
- Record completed training sessions with an expiration date in our Notion
- Define the area where safety measures apply
- Defining safety rules and responsibility in the team Rembrandt’s Handbook, for which each team member must sign
Risk Analysis
A big part of our hardware team is made up of mentors who are young professionals in the business community. They have professionally drawn up a risk analysis with all possible risks in the workshop and all available machines and tools. It was a lot of work, but it is really important to take it seriously and look into it thoroughly.
In the risk analysis, a distinction was made between several factors of each risk, severity, occurrence and detection are assessed, among other things, and a recommended action is based on a score. At this moment the risk analysis is not yet completely finalized, although it already consists of a big part of what we need to implement.
Defining the Machine Area
We have created 3 zones in our space:
- Green: No safety measures
- Orange: When a mechanical, electrical or air-driven components\machines are turned on Red safety rules apply
- Red: All safety rules apply which are in line with Handbook
We deliberately chose to create an orange zone. We often have general meetings on our field and can create a screen on the wall there. In that case, there are no safety measures on the field (orange zone) and it is treated as a green zone. If, in even a small case, there is another activity on the field, such as a driving robot, the field is used as a machine shop or the like, then the orange zone will immediately change into a red zone.
The zones are indicated on the ground with thick colored lines and there is also a map of the zones in the workshop.
Documents
We have created different documents for each machine to ensure safety and correct usage. Manuals will be placed online in our Notion, the safety card will be printed, laminated and hung at every machine. The maintenance card will also be included in our Notion, whereby we carry out maintenance on machines at different intervals. This is to increase the lifespan and quality of the machines, but of course the most important reason is to guarantee safety.
Trainings
Our new students always received explanations about the machines and tools in our machine shop. However, never according to a fixed program. We have categorized all of our machines into a few groups. From now on we will train all members based on the manuals and categories. People are required to undergo training before they can use any machine or tool. Completion of a training course and the due date are recorded online in Notion.
Safety Rules in Team Handbook
All safety rules are described in the Rembrandt team manual, where responsibility is guaranteed and no legal damage can be attributed to the team. All members have to sign the rules in the handbook at the start of the season.
As you might have noticed, a lot of action has been taken to make our workshop safer for our members. Remember, safety procedures are constantly changing and improvements can always be made!
Workshop Organization
Team Rembrandts celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. And we collected a lot of stuff during those years! (a lot)
We have been telling ourselves for a long time that we should clean up and organize things properly. This offseason, the time had finally arrived!
Thanks to one of our partners, we were able to purchase 135 solid plastic containers at a discount. These fit nicely into our current racks.
We spent 2 whole weekends cleaning up everything, sorting everything out, categorizing it but also throwing unneeded items away.
Everything that was left was put into the plastic containers. We have made color-coded cards for the bins: electro, mechanical, pneumatic, software etc. The cards show what is in the bins, but we also have this listed on our Notion.
Each bin has also been given a code location. This makes it clear to everyone where a bin should be placed and what it should contain.
The storage is now way more structured, everyone can find things, and not to mention: everyone can clean things up!! If people really don’t know where to put things back, we have created a general return box so it can be put into the right place again.
Photo collage of storage:
CNC Router
Over the past 10 years we were dependent on partners to have CNC parts made. But what could be better than your own CNC router! You can produce things in-house faster and students can learn and experience it themselves. A win-win situation!
This summer we bought our CNC router and it has already saved us a lot of time and effort!
We started looking into a CAM program. We ultimately opted for Autodesk Fusion 360. An accessible and free program, about which a lot of information can be found online.
The first test parts were made after the summer holidays. We already used it to mill wood, polycarbonate, thin aluminum sheet and tubes. We are really happy with this purchase!
Future Steps
We are currently finalizing the safety risk analysis. We expect to have the base completed before the start of the construction season, but this will remain a constantly developing project.
The final safety documents will also be ready before the build season starts to make sure we can work safely during the 2024 Crescendo season!
Organizing our storage has been completed and we will maintain this in the future.
The CNC router is currently still operated by mentors. We are developing a manual and training courses so students will be able to operate it.
Written by:
Niels - Hardware Mentor
Ties - Open Alliance Editor