Art and I spent the afternoon unpacking, testing, and deploying the new tools (two new Rigol Scopes, two new Signal Generators, a new Hakko soldering station, and some other items). We now have three benches that are nearly identically equipped, and a fourth bench with the National Instruments Virtual Bench with the same functionality (and a little more).
To prevent the items from walking off, we have locked the major tools to the benches they are assigned to. Color coded and labeled the cables and such that belong to each bench. Please try to not move these items to other benches. If something is missing, send in a ticket so that it can be replaced. There are amply āunassignedā probes and cables that no one should need to use one of the assigned and color coded ones on a different bench or outside of electronics.
Indeed a big step forward for the E Lab. With 3 benches having the same main equipment, it now possible to hold small classes on how to use test equipment, project builds, etc. Please keep the probes and cables on the assigned bench.
We are still having a problem w/ people leaving equipment on when they leave. Also tools are walking from the lab to ? And tools are walking to the lab from ?
Simple Rules:
Clean up after yourself. Leave things the way you would like to find them.
Return tools to where you found them.
Turn off equipment before you leave. Turn off the lights - INCLUDING BENCH LIGHTS - if your are the last one out
Donāt have time to 1-3? Time re-evaluate your schedule.
Leave things better than you found them. I.E Be Excellent to others
QED
A note to those who consistently leave a mess and/or equipment on: Both cameras are working very well (Thanks Brooks!). You will be found and weāll have āa talkā. You may lose your privileges in the E Lab.
More upgrades are coming including tools.
Your feedback and suggestions are welcomed!
I am guilty of this on occasion: the e-lab has the only set of nut drivers in the space Iām aware of and theyāre the best tool hands down for servicing light fixtures. Coincident with this, e-lab has all the other tools to do this job (wire strippers, small pliers, flat screwdrivers) so I often borrow the complete tool set to perform swaps. I always return them, although the task can take an hour or more.
One of the real problems with people taking the small hand tools out of Electronics is that they seem to get used on tasks for which they are not suited. This is most noticeable in the wire cutters and the flat head screwdrivers. In the former case we have two pair Xcelite wire cutters that appear to have been damaged by the same person. It appears that they used one to try and cut some hard wire (which damages the cutting edge) and do a little prying with the tip. The second cutter shows the same damage but less of it, so @artg_dms and I have concluded that they started with the first, then used the second to finish their task.
@ESmith has described the only real legitimate reason, in my opinion, for the small hand tools in Electronics to leave the room. If your working on something electronic, and hence need electronics hand tools, why not work in the Electronics room? It will help prevent the tools be lost, and it will help prevent using the tools inappropriately.
If you need a pry bar, find a cheap harbor freight tool to use as such.
If your cutting music wire, steel, or anything hard, use a band saw or at least a tool designed for it. Machine shop has metal snips suitable for that task.
To be fair, I am using the cheap husky flat screwdrivers for light pry duty on the fixtures that mechanically trap the tombstone plate. Perhaps Logistics will simply source some nut drivers so as to let e-lab tools remain in the e-lab; we otherwise have everything else for the job in the workshop.
As I said, Eric, your use seems very appropriate, though I was unaware of the āpry barā aspect. Art is planning on ordering some āchipā pry bars which are suitable for the kind of prying that needs to be done with Electronics.
It is really @artg_dms who should say what the ārulesā are for Electronics. I was simply vocalizing my opinion given the abuse of tools we have seen in Electronics, and frankly elsewhere in the space. Somewhere on his phone Art has pictures of a particularly egregious abuse in the wood shop. I pulled a set of hex keys out of the tool box and noticed that someone had ground one of the small hex keys (the one I needed) into a tiny screw driverā¦
