Sorry all. I meant Logic analyzer, not a spectrum analyzer…my bad.
1 Like
I agree that for basic tasks the HP supplies fullfill their need but for example last night, I wanted to test an LED without blowing it up. So the proper way to do this is to current limit your power supply at 20 ma. The HP supplies don’t have the ability to current limit with enough precision to know if you are current limiting it at 50 ma or 20 ma. One of those amperages will burn the LED out and the other wont. Also, the HP power supplies are not very high wattage supplies and it would be nice to be able to push more than half an amp at 12 volts.
Edit: Sorry about the thread hijacking. I was unaware the other thread existed. I have moved my comments on the need for a modern DC supply here
1 Like
Sorry but electronics is highjacking a lot of this thread. Please add any comments regarding electronics to this thread.
@AlexRhodes BTW, we would love EITHER a spectrum analyzer of a logic analyzer. 
1 Like
Always use a multimeter to make sure the correct voltage/current is coming out of your power supply!! 
My power supply at work (not as good as my home supply) can be off by as much as 20%. Many cheap ones are.
[we now return to your regularly scheduled comment thread]
1 Like
We could use some basic sheemetal working tools:
-
A 48" shear
-
A 48" box and pad brake.
-
A bench-top notcher.
Someone also mentioned a vertical metal-cutting band saw, which is really needed.
If you get the tools I would be willing to teach some classes on them.
3 Likes
I second Stan’s mention of a hood for the metal shop. If we put in a commercial vent hood, with outside air supply around it, we could operate the forge legally indoors. That would allow us to hold the forging classes indoors, and also extract welding smoke effectively.
It would even be possible to use the power hammer, since it could be installed near the forge. Cost would be around $6,000, and we would need to work with the landlord to install it, but there is nothing impossible about it.
1 Like
Temperature Chambers
<img src="/uploads/default/769/efaef6ce7a677c72.jpg" width=375" height=“500”>
I don’t know if this is something that has been thought about but I can vouch for their usefulness. They are great multitaskers. We have 5 of these in various sizes shared between 10 engineers at my company and they are almost always in use. The nicer ones go all the way from -73°C to 175°C. You can program them to do temperature cycling and even control them via RS232 if you need fancy stuff. It might not be something that there is an immediate need for but it is definitely something to think about in the long term.
Edit: I just thought about it and a temperature chamber would be a pretty fun project to make from scratch or hacking something that already has a two stage compressor.
1 Like
Oil-free high-vacuum pumps would be useful for when we start making our own gas lasers from scratch. Others have mentioned that they would like a vacuum chamber for pulling air out of cast acrylic.
We might even consider installing a vacuum line, to run alongside the compressed air line.
2 Likes
I know that the vacuum chamber at work is indispensable when I am working with certain types of resins to get bubble free finishes. Also, a vacuum chamber allows for you to resin strengthen 3D prints. You immerse the part in resin, pull a vacuum, the resin gets sucked into the part, and then you take it out and the resin cures. It fills all the pores that the 3D printer leaves. You can actually make water resistant parts that have functional orings this way too. It is also worth noting that you can get a vacuum oven for not too much more than your basic vacuum chamber.
2 Likes
I feel like I could use a fairly basic rotary table (~6" would suffice - not a cross-slide table: ie. Phase II Enco, MSC, Little Machine Shop) for the Bridgeport - it would get one of my metalworking projects off the ground because it might be months until I have time to sign up for the HAAS course. But it might be that long until I develop the manual machining skills to take advantage of such a thing.
1 Like
Already mentioned by at least 1 other:
- Automotive lift
- Powder Coat cabinet (really we just need an oven, right?)
- Water Jet (Because dreaming is good)
- 48" Shear
- 48" box and pad brake
- Proper evac/fresh air ventilation system for the metal shop/welding area
Things I did not see mentioned by others:
- Better documentation. Right now we have at least 3 disparate logins to get to the billing area, the wiki, the talk page, and ??? I still don’t know how to use them, partly because trying to figure it out always drops to the bottom of my list.
Same for the tools. It’s confusing about what you “MUST” have training on, and what you’re “allowed” to just pick up and use. I completely back safety of yourself and others, but the confusing “just ask someone” is a shitty way to welcome introvert newbies like myself; we should have documentation, whether it’s online or in a manual tethered to the machine in question. I’d like to see something like urls and QR codes on each device with a solid document behind it stating such things as status, manuals, and available training. Here is another thread with some solid suggestions for the documentation. - Tire changer (automotive)
- Tire balancer (automotive)
- Tire inflation cage (automotive)
- Alignment equipment (automotive). Even just the “honing” equipment for manual alignments is a must, in my opinion, for keeping a racing team operational. Even for the LeMons.
- Individual carts for each welder, so they are “self contained” and easily portable whether to get to job sites or just to create space for more than one user or for cleanup. I think the rack is cool, but individual carts would be better.
- Metal casting furnace, e.g. http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/hmkit.html
- Properly ventilated area for metal casting (outdoors? metal shop?)
Thank you for entertaining us noobies. I know many of mine have been kicked around this playground before, but maybe the time is now…
That looks good, I will be lobbying the board for more automotive funds and that is something we could get if they approve the request, anyone interested in seeing more auto equipment can attend the board meeting this sunday to voice their support.
1 Like
After reading the concerns about the space a lift would take up, I remember seeing these portable lifts:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200386167_200386167
Maybe not this one exactly, but a similar model? Could be stored out of the way so that the space could be used for other things, no anchoring it to the floor to irritate the landlord, and if DMS moves, they could take it with them easily.
There would still be bolt anchors permanently in the floor, but you can bolt/unbolt those columns and roll them out of the way with a bit of work. Which would help mitigate the problem that we have limited space and a permanent lift would make it a 1 car at a time only area at the cost of 60% increase in price vs a normal permanent overhead lift($1600 vs $2500). The other large obstacle to a lift is the administrative overhead of training people to use the lift and preventing untrained people using it (for liability reasons)
1 Like
Could put a key lock on the lift, then put the key in a box with an RFID actuated solenoid on it that only unlocks if the cardholder is in the TRAINED/AUTHORIZED group after having been properly trained. And a note on the box that says that by unlocking the box and removing the key, the cardholder agrees to assume all liability.
1 Like
Small stuff, compared to a lot of items on this list:
Wood Shop:
Set of wood carving chisels (we have this set at work and it’s a decent starter set)
http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-pc-Carving-Chisel-Set/H2930
Zero clearance blade inserts for the tablesaw (just buy 2-3, they’re cheap enough)
New frame corner clamp (we have one, but 2 or more makes life easier when building frames)
http://www.rockler.com/miter-vise
Clamps in general (just buy a set collection, they’re all needed anyways…)
http://grizzly.com/products/30-pc-Heavy-Duty-F-Clamp-Kit/H8444
3D printers:
3-4 PrintrBot Simple metal
http://printrbot.com/shop/assembled-simple-metal/
Why these and not more Polyprinters (PPs)? Because they’re small, cheap, durable, and easily portable.
They can be dedicated to PLA or NinjaFlex, and can be used as the designated “PR” printer(s)
when we go to a festival, convention, etc instead of one of the larger in-house PPs. This way the PPs
can stay at the space and keep working there to fulfill the high demand they have. The PPs can remain
ABS only, and hopefully some of the demand for time on them will reduce due to having more printers
available. Not everything needs the build volume of one of the PPs, or requires ABS. Plus we can get 4 of
them for the price of one PPs…
1 Like
My experience with the printrbot simple is that it’s slow and we already have a supply of ABS, unless the printrbot’s were upgraded or had another completely separate supply of PLA (some people don’t prefer PLA, I’m indifferent) it might cause problems.
The main thing about the Printrbot’s are the speed, they’re about half if not slower speed as the polyprinters, so even with 4 of them, it would do the work of 2 polyprinters.
Also Ninjaflex on the Printrbots isn’t pretty, Lefty does a much better job with ninjaflex.
Also support when the Printrbot is broken isn’t going to be as quick as the polyprinters.
I really like the Printrbot but unless we had the infrastructure for a ‘bot farm’ the Polyprinters do pretty well, We just need a 4th one.
3 Likes
On the topic of a vehicle lift, while working for Chrysler a few years ago I ran into this portable lift they had that is basically a lift on a pallet jack. A quick search of “portable vehicle lift” pulled it right up.
http://jmcautomotiveequipment.com/tuxedo-msc-6k-6-000-lb-mobile-single-column-lift
Sure, it’s $2800 (this first one I found on Google), but it requires no bolting in, is portable, and can lift 6000 lbs. Oh, and it plugs into regular 110 outlets. The guys I worked with used them all the time and swore by them.
(this would certainly bring in at least 5 new members for a 1 year ROI)
Food for thought. 
2 Likes
some of the automotive lift discussion happened over here, too, where these same 2 ideas were thrown into the mix and partially discussed. We also touched on the iDeal Lift portable columnar-based lift, just to bring it full circle.
If anyone can find, my google-fu may be off, but I recall a set of lifts like the iDeals, but rail-based instead of tire-based, so you could use a minimum of 2 to lift an entire vehicle by the rails (like a regular 2-post), but I cannot find those now. I wonder if there was some issue with them that they no longer seem to be sold this way. If we could find 'em, I’d be they’d be the choice, since it’d combine the best options of all these. albeit at the highest cost, I’m sure…
Anyway,tryin’ not to jack the new tools thread for lift discussion…
Nice, some how I missed looking into that kind of lift previously. I went ahead and added a request to purchase one to the next board meeting, there has been lots more support for a lift recently.