To be fair, didn’t we determine that someone stole them for resale on ebay?
That’s kindof other level ‘repurposing’
Not sure it was the same thief. Given the period of time and the amount equipment that “disappeared” form the E Lab, I suspect more than one person.
“re-purposing for ebay/craigslist” is a novel term for stealing/theft.
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One argument for it not being the same thief was that we didn;t find the materials on his ebay account, nor did ‘used’ materials really line up with what he appeared to be stealing.
Yeah, I definitely did that to a couple of my dad’s flush cutters when I was a kid.
I learned that was not the proper use pretty quickly lol.
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None of our members are kids. Such a mistake is understandable in a child, but the person who damaged these two cutters used one, damaged it, then finished with the second. At least given the specific class of damage that is a reasonable assumption. There really isn’t a good excuse for that type of behavior. At best it is just laziness, at worst it is intentionally disrespectful of the community property.
Doing something and damaging a tool is possible, but to continue to do so can not be explained by simple ignorance. And it certainly can’t be excused.
Taking the nuts and bolts from a gantry crane… That is borderline criminal activity. Any one found doing something like that should be permanently expelled–they are a danger to every member of the space.
I was really lucky that I had a Dad who knew how to use tools and build things, and showed me how to use them.
I’ve realized that a lot of people didn’t have that… their dad worked at a bank and knew how to drive a spreadsheet but couldn’t change his oil… or just wasn’t around at all… but people just not having ANY idea how to use tools is pretty common I think. And unless you work in an industry where you can pick that stuff up, you have to learn it somewhere.
How many people have you seen sawing back and forth with a hand file? It looks hilarious to anybody who knows how to use a file, but SO many people do it.
We are not discussing actions that can reasonably be explained by a lack of knowledge. To illustrate lets look at one of our Code of Conduct rules; “When you break something, own up to it. If you have any doubt about fixing it, ask for help. Don’t make someone feel bad for breaking things, help them understand what went wrong”
The key here is that the person who breaks something is expected to report it. None of these things are reported. In cleaning up the room over the weekend, Art and I came across numerous things that were broken and things that were vandalized. None of these behaviors are excusable. The cutters are a perfect example of what could have been a simple lack of knowledge (they appeared to be used to pry something, tip bent, and they appeared to be used to cut something hard), but the person who did so, failed to report the damage they did to the tool. At that point the behavior is unacceptable.
But there were much damage that was simply inexcusable, even if you never used a tool before. Stealing the alligator clips off of the helping hands is one example, but my personal favorite was someone cut the probe off a test probe, ostensibly to use the banana jack and wire for some temporary use on their project. This kind of behavior is seen in all areas frequently.
If you need something for your project and it isn’t on the donation shelf or parts bin (in electronics), then put your project on hold and go buy yourself your own parts…
I have seen multiple people doing that and as they can tell you, I have taken the time to show them the proper way to use the tool. BUT misusing a file like that doesn’t provide the visual feedback that you just did something wrong like the damage that was done to the wire cutters above. There is a difference. One is as you say, excusable and simply a result from a lack of knowledge, the other is blatant disregard for communal property.
This is the type of case I am talking about. It would never cross my mind to take bolts from the gantry, and I would never think to put up a sign saying “don’t borrow bolts from the crane.” But apparently it is needed.
So before we have to tell somebody that it is wrong to practice plasma cutting and mig welding on the table saw top plate, a simple, all encompassing, DON’T ALTER ANYTHING! Would cover the bases.
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IMO this is the type of thing that should be used as a public example of what not to do. Hopefully someone can figure out who did it, and the person responsible should receive a severe warning amounting to “you’re on thin ice of getting banned” or some other probation that may be available.
While I don’t want to know who did it and think that should be kept private, I think it would serve everyone if the action and the resulting punishment were widely known.
While it’s severely questionable to be cutting DMM probes in half, having equipment fall on you because it was partially disassembled is not something I want to be thinking about.