My partner and I are in a class called EDD and we are planning to create an efficient tool organization method that would benefit FIRST Robotics teams in the pits. It is our hope that this organization method will save teams time in-between matches that can be lost locating tools. To help us gather information on how best to approach this problem, please take this quick survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QTPR2XP
Thank you for your time.
Done.
I love PLTW…
This is a fantastic EDD project! Survey done.
Survey complete.
Please share your solution(s)!
done
Our problem starts after we have barely enough time to make a fix thanks to shipping problems, and when we put tools back in our tool case we don’t put them in the organizer, to “save time”. Between matches, when we are making small changes, the problem is compounded as more and more tools are left unorganized. Although saving us time in the end, this strategy ultimately costs us far more time looking for tools. It’s something that is going to change this year.
I wish you good luck on behalf of team 2134!
Our method is simple. All critical tools for our “crash cart” go in the “lucky bucket” which is a 5 gallon bucket with a tool organizer.
If you need anything more you designed your robot poorly, i.e. too many tools are required for maintainance.
Done. Surprised combination wrenches aren’t a common ‘tool’.
Our cart is also our toolbox. Every drawer (there are six) has its contents, and tools must always be either actually in use or in their place. We enforce that pretty well, so very little time is spent looking for tools - if it’s not in the drawer, you look for who is using it.
We also color-code our wrenches by size, using colored electrical tape.
Lastly, we only have in the cart those tools we actually use on the robot. There is a bin for those oddball tools we don’t use (like a 3/4" wrench - we don’t have any 3/4" fasteners). Some tools have duplicates (or, like #2 philips screwdrivers, triplicate), and some subteams (electrical, pneumatics in particular) have their own ‘suitcase’ with some specialty tools specific to their trade.
Good survey. Heres hoping all goes well.
We have our wrench and allen key set labelled by colored electrical tape too. We also use two big red tool chests, so keeping everything in its place isnt too hard. Many times, if we cant find something, its because someone else is using it. We always seem to be short on 7/16th wrenches though…
Done.
In the pit, we really only use the 1/8" (#10 button head size, all labeled with “10” on them) T handles and 3/8" wrenches for most repairs, the “B” size (1/4" button head size) for removing bumpers and a few other things, and side cutters to cut zip ties (We zip tie the battery connection every match).
We use only #10-24 bolts or 3/16" rivets when possible. This is very important to simplifying tools. We have lots of 3/8" wrenches and 1/8" T handles, so many people can be doing things at once or have the tools in their possession.
We have a rolling tool box. Drawers are labeled so the tools get put in the right drawer. Keeping tools put away makes them easy to find.
Done! In my opinion, we always pack too many tools and overwhelm our peg board and tool boxes, resulting in a tool explosion. Is that a common issue? How many duplicates is too many?
more than 3, usually
Rolling Toolboxes and the shelves to hold all the small parts totes for our Pit. Handheld toolboxes for helping other teams and for fixing our bot in queue or eliminations.
Also standardizing the fasteners helps immensely.
I would say that that depends. If you need different lengths/styles of a tool (like a screwdriver), you’re going to need to pack more. We used a lot of one particular size of allen wrench and 7/16" nuts one year for EVERYTHING. That year we packed probably about 6 of that size allen wrench, two in each style we needed, since it was likely that two people would need to use the same one at the same time.
But if it’s something one-size-fits-most, like a hammer…I would agree with PAR_WIG1350; 3 is probably too many.