These are the facilities related projects for the above time period: An original request for a second 220 volt outlet in the MASTS welding area expanded somewhat. Drew, Eric, Gonner and I worked on the installation a new electrical circuit of two 50 amp, 220 volt receptacles for the welding machines, kilns, and other large power consuming equipment, one inside, adjacent to the north rollup door, and the other, outside in the fenced area (formerly a storage area) on the north side of the building. Two new 20 amp, 120 volt circuits were also installed in the fenced area, These outlets are to power the abrasive blaster, now located in the fenced area, and other equipment as required. National Research Laboratories (NRL), Quelab's neighbor to the east, offered to and did remove their two circuit board dryers from the fenced area, in order to give us complete use of the space, and donated two metal workbenches to Quelab. (Thank you, Jay, and a reminder that NRL is a full service printed circuit board manufacturer for 1 to 1000+ quantities of tiny to large circuit boards. Just walk over and ask for a quote.)
During the installation, Drew noticed that the wiring configurations on the existing 50 amp, 208 volt, 3 phase receptacles did not meet The National Electrical Code for 220 volt use and rewired them appropriately. (If needed, they can be changed back to 3 phase mode). The stored items in the fenced area were moved to the Disposition Area in the Annex, repurposed or otherwise removed. Approximately $300 worth of insulated copper cable, copper wire, conduit and other electrical hardware was salvaged from no longer used electrical circuits in other parts of the Quelab building, and the same amount in purchased goods was used in the installation. The plug on the large kiln in MASTS was changed so that it can be plugged into any of the four 220 volt outlets. (See Sherrie for specifics about what else may be needed for the kiln. Thanks for the cake at the July Quelab Officer's meeting!)
Two leaks in the MASTS swamp cooler water lines were repaired, as well as a leak in a cooler's pump to pad water line. (Please talk to me about some suggestions about how to climb onto the roof and what areas to avoid walking on, while on the roof. Since the landlord had been contacted regarding these leaks, and a response was not forthcoming, we did the repairs ourselves! This should also save the cost of the plumber's bill, although this is shared by all of the building's tenants by their respective square footage.)
Last week, JT told me about one of the annex's swamp cooler that is not working, and it is on the facility repair list.
Finally, one of the members expressed a concern about the annex,s south side emergency exit door, as it was opening with some difficulty (as a dead bolt on the door was failing to open completely). On Friday, Darren, Drew and I replaced the lock cylinder on the panic bar portion of the door. Adric suggested that the deadbolt's “tang” or bolt be removed, but the external parts of the deadbolt remain on the exterior portions of the door. Hopefully, evil doers will think that there is a deadbolt on the door, as well as the panic bar lock. The existing Quelab front door key now also will open the south door from the outside. (There will be a clarification of how Quelab's emergency exit doors are to be maintained and if secondary locks may be used, how and when, before the next general meeting.) He also suggested that the chain link fence gate, outside the annex's roll up door, be padlocked to discourage unauthorized access to that roll up door. That was done and the key is on a magnet next to the west side of the roll up door. (Finally, one of the above unpaid technical consultants suggested that it might be a good idea to take cell phone camera pictures of locks during the disassembly process…it only took my two hands to get it apart, but it took six hands and a proclivity of profanity to get it back together again! If two heads are better than one, do six hands cube the effectiveness of only two hands?)