Micrometers are not C-clamps!

This is the reason I only ever use my own torque wrenches.

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Re-read it, I didnā€™t catch that last bit and I stand corrected.

-Jim

Then let me suggest you get off your concerned high horse and run for a committee chair and run it (into the ground) as you see fit.

All due respect, this is exactly what @contrarian was talking about.

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The problem with this is all the non-participants Talk Rambos will bitch and whine on and on. Case in point is where the committee actually voted in a charge for the cold saw blade which generally is broken due to user error.
There is no winning so I have chosen to no longer argue on here and just use it to post points of information like
-2 broken micrometers
-not going to replace them
End of story

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No one should expect a machine shop to be a welcoming playground where anyone can waltz in with zero knowledge and start screwing around.

Someone colossally dumb enough to do this could easily hurt themselves or someone nearby in a multitude of ways.

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First time you encountered a micrometer, was the ratchet obvious to you ? I remember not knowing what it was way back in Physics 211 lab ( 1985 ). I had the ratchet figured as a locking device of some sort. The obvious part to turn is the large knurled barrel.

Once youā€™ve been taught, the ratchet is obvious. Until then, maybe not.

Donā€™t confuse ignorance with malice. And donā€™t forget everyone at the space is not a pro machinist - with the knowledge that implies.

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thereā€™s a pretty basic rule that should apply to ANY shop:

if you donā€™t know what the fuck youā€™re doing with a tool, put it down and ask someone who does. asking people to follow that is not elitist or unwelcoming, itā€™s how you preserve life limb and property

No one should expect a machine shop to be a welcoming playground

No, Iā€™ve been around Talk long enough to not make that mistake. Thanks for reinforcing @contrarianā€™s point:

I definitely get the vibe that committees feel they own their space and members are a nuisance.

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Iā€™m not advocating yelling at them or humiliate them.

Kinda wonder what they were thinking when the ā€œC-Clampā€ would not hold? :wink:

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ā€œThis fancy looking c-clamp sure is weak.ā€

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I grew up at an airport. Then went to school and worked in labs. Then a national lab. Then a big defense contractor.

Never was a problem for me.

The point is not everyone knows that. DMS is a place intended to promote exploration and learning. The shop is going to have to do more to educate if we want to prevent stuff like this damage from happening so often.

ā€œRudeā€ and ā€œcondescendingā€ are not going to be the preferred ways to achieve that.
.

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If you canā€™t educate people on that one simple rule, good luck teaching them to use the hundreds of available tools properly. This isnā€™t something that requires training in a national lab btw, most people are capable of understanding around the time they graduate from diapers.

Well, if education is impossible, itā€™s time to sell the equipment and close the shop, if not the entire space.

Thanks for the constructive contributions.

In the past Iā€™ve bought mostly cheap imported tools when it comes to DMS. This thread is the reason. Sure, the $200 version of a tool is great and will last a lifetime when taken care of. In reality the $20 version does just as good of a job for most people and when someone inevitably uses it as a hammer or clamp or whatever less than a year into itā€™s life then just buy another one. Most of the tools at DMS are consumables. More training would definitely help but you canā€™t expect everyone to be trained in everything. The alternative is locking things up which leads to a completely different can of worms and related discussions.

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Or time to restrict membership to those with 2 brain cells to rub together.

Not like numbers are hurting, but catering to the no responsibility crowd is not a winning strategy - see TechShop for the end of that road.

That usually requires a lot of time and effort like sifting through days/weeks of security footage. The juice isnā€™t always worth the squeeze and thereā€™s not always someone willing to do it. A ban could be appropriate, I donā€™t know the full circumstances, just saying itā€™s not trivial to prove.

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Each committee could put walls around their space and restrict access to only those they deem worthy. Additionally, we can screen people who come for the open tour nights and turn those deemed unworthy away. We could put a very subtle IQ test into the waiver. :slight_smile:

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Walk them through the Science area and while there, surreptitiously take an oral swab and test it.

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Ugh. Luckily for me I was tool getter for my dad and could recognize bolt sizes by sight by about age five. What i remember most, now at 51 yrs old, is ā€œtouch those mics and youā€™re toast.ā€ I agree. Not a shareable tool.

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