Cleaning up the Lab

Today at the NASA lab, several students and mentors were working together to clean up the workspace and prepare for the build season.

The computer workstations upstairs were put together after the painting.  All of the wires were nicely ziptied and the process of software updates began.  In the next few days, we need to update all of the computers with current versions of SolidWorks and other crucial software.  Furthermore, we need to build a wired network at the lab so that we can share printers between the computers.  On the white boards, vinyl stickers were cut to label each teams’ white board.

Downstairs, Devastator was prepared to be removed from the NASA lab for semi-permanent storage at Bellarmine so that it can be used for team outreach events and demonstrations.  This freed up space under the south stairwell so that we were able to move the vertical bandsaw into its own cavity, improving the safety of the workspace.  We also spread out the sanding and grinding area and moved a wall-mounted shop vac out of the sheet metal area into the sanding and grinding area so dust and debris can be vaccumed up.

In the sheet metal and welding corner of the lab, work continued to prepare the area.  We re-arranged the extremely heavy equipment, putting the welder in a position so that its cord could reach the outlet and so that it is easily accessible.  To accommodate these changes, we had to slightly adjust the positioning of the sheet metal shear and break and move the large arbor press into the machine shop.

In the general work area, we continued cleaning and organization and also began resurfacing the workbenches so that they have nice, smooth surfaces to work on.

Everything is coming along great and we are very excited for the Saturday FRC kickoff.