Metal Shop Cause Operating Policies

Teams Metalworking
1

please read through the below metal shop operating policies and add your suggestion for
consideration as we will be voting on the polices on Tuesday night the 17th September 2019

Metal Shop Cause Operating Policy
Statement of Purpose: To always have a work space environment with a high standard of safety and a respect for other members of HSBNE using the metal shop.
This can be achieved through the cooperation and adhering to the policies, procedures and processes of the Metal Shop.
METAL SHOP CAUSE LEADER: CRAIG REA
Role of the cause leader:

  1. To oversee the day to day running of the metal shop.
  2. Welcome new members and inform them of the policies.
  3. To supervise and oversee inductions.
  4. Ensures compliance with safety procedures and quality standards.
  5. Co-ordinates the purchase of consumables.
  6. Co-ordinates the repair of machines.
  7. Co-ordinate and hold regular cause meetings.
    ADVISERS: DAVE SEFF and LINCOLN PHILLIPS
    Role of the advisers:
  8. To advise the cause leader on the day to day running of the metal shop.
  9. To act as the cause leader in the event the cause leader is absent.

Section 1: SAFTEY

  1. PPE (personal protective equipment) to be worn when operating machines.
  2. Closed shoes to be worn at all times.
  3. Keep floor space free of obstacles. (trip hazards)
  4. Leave machines in safe state, guards in place, tools put away etc.
  5. Last one to leave- shut all power and lights of; checks gas bottles are turned of, check and lock doors. Return key to the member’s storage room if left in the lock.
  6. Machines are to be used for their intended purposes. E.g. that’s no angle grinding on the machine surfaces.
  7. Due to the danger of injury when using especially the Lathes and Milling Machines. It is recommended that there be at least one other person on site when using these machines.

Section 2: Cleaning and tiding

  1. If you open it shut it. If you break it fix it or replace it, (at least report it) if you dirty it clean it.
  2. It is the responsibility of the members to return all tools used to their correct area.
  3. All untagged material will be discarded.
  4. Sweep down and clean the machine/bench and surrounding floor once finished your session in the metal shop.
  5. No personal tool boxes or tooling to be left in the metal shop. Take them home or leave them in your member’s box.
  6. Only working machines are to be in the metal shop (no project machines)

Section 3: Ongoing budget

  1. Monthly discretionary spending $200 per month non-accruing.
  2. Discretionary funds include but not limited to:
    A. linisher belts, mig wire, saw blades etc.
    B. Parts for the repair of machines.
    C. materials needed for the repair and improvement of the metal shop.
  3. A budget to be set out per machine for consumables used in one year.
    A. Linisher Machines: belts $600 per annum
    B. Mig welder: wire, tips, shrouds, gas etc. $300 per annum

C. Tig Welder: tungsten, ceramics, gas etc. $300 per annum

E. Band saws: saw blades, cutting flued etc. $400 per annum

F. Surface Grinder: grinding wheels, cutting flued etc. $200 per annum

G. lathes. Tips, cutting flued, oil, etc. $200 per annum

H. Milling Machines. Carbide tips, hss cutters, hss drills, cutting flued etc. $250 per annum.
4. A budget to be automatically approved for the core machinery when they break down. (Excluding machine upgrades.) E.g. main motor burns out. To return the machine to good working order, cause leader to work alongside the machine maintainer to work out the best option for repair.

Section 4: machine maintenance

  1. Ongoing maintenance procedure for each machine to be drafted by the maintainer refer to section 7?

Section 5: Machines requiring Inductions
Induction process is explained on the wiki and requires someone to sign off on it.

  1. Lathes, Milling machines, Surface/Tool Grinder, Vertical and horizontal Band Saw, Tig Machine, Mig Machine, Plasma Cutter, Drill Press, lnishers.
  2. Levels of inductions for different machines to be determined by the maintainer and or cause leader for the complexity of the machine.
  3. Label on each machine that requires induction and who is authorised to give that induction.

Section 6: ongoing projects and materials.
The metal shop is a work shop not a storage shop.

  1. The current parking system is to be adhered to in the metal shop.
  2. If your project is small enough to fit in the member’s box then it is to be stored in it while not working on your project.
  3. If your project is too big to store in your members box, then you either take it home with you or store it in a pre-approved storage space outside of the metal shop with a parking ticket attached.
  4. In the special case that your project is too big or too heavy to be moved easily, a short term storage solution in the metal shop must be approved by the cause leader. This item then must have the appropriate parking tag attached and not obstruct other members from working on their projects.
  5. No member’s materials to be stored long term in the metal shop.

Section 7: Process to become a maintainer:

  1. Demonstrate safe use.
  2. Improvement of the tool.
  3. Signed off by the cause leader
  4. Maintain the tool/machine.
  5. Be a regular attender of the space.

Section 8: Level of tooling the metal shop provides.

  1. It is the goal of the metal shop to provide a level of machines and tooling that cater for the experienced to the novice.
  2. Low cost common consumables to be supplied by members.
  3. Members will be able to purchase the common consumables through the metal shop.
  4. Personal and specialised tooling is up to the members.
  5. Examples 1: metal shop provides the Lathe and basic tooling enabling any one to use the machine.
  6. Example 2: metal shop provides angle grinders but not grinding, cutting or sanding discs.
  7. Example 3. Metal shop provides the Tig, gas and Tungsten but not the filler rods.
  8. Example 4. The metal shop provides the Mig, gas and mig wire.

Section 9: Policy Changes
• Any proposed changes to be made to the polices will need to be voted on by the metal shop cause.

1 Like
2

@reatek I just want to check you are asking for the policy to allow you to spend upto $4650 per year without a vote, that seems like it is quite a fair bit of money.

I also wanted to check to make sure these funds will be taken from metal shop cause funds and not from general membership funds.

If taken from cause funds you may want to make sure your cause earns the amount required per year to ensure you can afford the budgets set out in the above policy.

3

thanks AAron, for the feed back, intending to be taken out of the cause funds, but it is a good point to bring up in the cause meeting. i will check with Jaimyn on how much the cause does bring in per annum. also i will do a more scrutinizing look at amounts listed.

4

Hey @reatek,

Going by the consumables budgets you’ve listed above, would it be fair to assume that your approach is for the cause to pay for consumables, or will members also be encouraged to donate for use of consumables?

I think the concept behind your budgets is fine but without either doubling your cause membership or supplementing with purchasable consumables or workshops you may not have enough budget to meet all of your outlined requirements from membership fees alone.

For context, I’ve just taken a look at the membership fees income for the Metal Shop cause and for the calendar year to date it looks like this:

  • Jan 127
  • Feb 136
  • Mar 166
  • Apr 133
  • May 117
  • Jun 163
  • Jul 184
  • Aug 146

I’ve rounded these down to make it easier to work with, but by my calculations it means that the Metal Shop cause is recieving on average $146 per month, which is less than the $375 a month you would need if you were using up all of your budgets annually.

I’m aware that Metal Shop actually has a healthy amount in the bank currently, however even with that I’m not sure you’d be able to sustain all of the proposed budgets if they were to be actively used. From what I understand the welding workshops that @Drew_Spriggs had organised previously were a good little earner so that may be a good option for building up enough funds to manage these budgets, however I think having the cause be responsible for stocking all consumables at its own cost would not be sustainable.

Hope this gives you some context for your policy and available operating funds :slight_smile:

5

Hi nog, thanks for the feedback, i was thinking of other forms of income for the metal shop, so holding payed causes is a good idea and a proven one to implement. keep in mind with the $200 per month non accruing discretionary funds that has been suggested (not passed yet) is more of a upper limit, not a must amount be spent per month. also if the suggested consumables are voted in ( which I"m going to reevaluate) with the suggested machine break down policy voted in there will be less of a demand on the monthly discretionary funds. thanks

6

This discretionary spending does seem like a fair bit, but one has to know that metalworking/machining is not a low cost activity. Owning a machine shop myself I know that expenses can run into the thousands for the year. But the more we put into our shops, the better the membership we will attract.

We need to maintain our core equipment or else people will not bother to spend the money for a membership if none of it is in good working order.

7

All good, I just think it’s prudent that if you’re going to have a budget that you plan for the worst when it comes to the actual expenditure of it - thus calculating assuming the budget will be used (and even exceeded)

@dave well aware of the costs involved with machining and keeping a good shop running, just wanted to chip in with some context of what kind of funds the cause actually gets monthly from membership to make sure that workshops and paid consumables are considered :slight_smile:

8

I am very keen to see what other fund raising business we can do to help support the metal shop.

Workshops, donation points, including inductions to help prevent the destruction of equipment.

I feel the above would be crucial for making the budget of the metal shop sustainable.

Otherwise everything looks ace :wink:

9

I’d just like to suggest that instead of assigning each tool/machine an individual budget, why don’t you do something like make a consumables list with every consumable the metal shop uses. Then you can authorise certain people (ie cause leader, any cause member, machine supervisors etc) to purchase anything off that list (up to $x) as needed, as long as there is metalshop budget. This would give you a lot more flexibility in my opinion and be a bit better suited to how causes operate.

Also, the way that causes should approach consumables expenses (especially high cost things like in the metalshop) is that each member is required to donate $x per unit of use. It might be per minute, hour, job, etc for using a certain machine. This means you’re relying less on cause funds and more on the people using the actual consumables to pay for them. This is how digifab works with the 3D printers and laser - any member must donate $x/hr for the laser and $x/ job for the printers.

I also think running a lot more workshops, classes and other fundraising events would help the metalshop a lot as I know it’s very expensive to run.