Wish List

Asmbly is always interested in acquiring quality tools and machinery for use by its members. This page includes a selection of our priorities for 2022.

If you own one of these machines and would be interested in donating or hosting it at Asmbly for members to use, please email workshop@asmbly.org for more information.

Wood Shop

• Large oscillating edge sander: eg SB1097 or HS950. Our tiny benchtop edge sander isn't really useful for furniture-sized projects commonly made in our wood shop.

• Tilting spindle sander: eg Laguna SS-24 or Delta 31-484. Our benchtop spindle sander isn't really useful for furniture-sized projects, and a tilting spindle allows sanding bevels without the brute strength sometimes required to maneuver a large workpiece on a tilting table.

• Large combination sander: eg Shop Fox W1712 or Powermatic 31A. Replacing our desktop sanders with a stationary unit would improve capacity and dust collection.

• Two more Laguna Revo 12|16 variable-speed midi lathes. Our woodturning classes are always popular and expanding our lathe fleet will allow us to accommodate more students.

• A large tilting-head scroll saw: eg Excalibur 21. We have a couple small consumer-grade scroll saws but it can be hard to control a workpiece on a tilted table, and flat they're mostly redundant to the big lasers. A tilting-head saw can make cuts that would be very difficult otherwise.

Metal Shop

• A proper fabrication table: eg Fireball Table or, more realistically, one or more Arcflat Tables. We currently have a steel fabrication table that's not particularly flat. A machined fabrication table with convenient fixturing would be a huge help to our welding folks.

• 3-in-1 sheet metal machine at least 36" wide: eg Baileigh SBR-5216. We only have a benchtop brake now; basic sheet metal tooling would be useful to a lot of members.

• A second MultiMatic 220. We currently have one MM220 and one MIG welder. Replacing the old MIG with a second 220 would help with TIG classes and allow sharing of consumables.

• Manual Vertical Mill, 2+ hp, X&Y power feed and 3-axis DRO greatly preferred: eg Bridgeport. Our manual mill *works* but it's not amazing. We're not inclined to invest a bunch of money on repairs and improvements. We're relatively open to options here; we'd consider a contemporary mill with the bells and whistles or great vintage iron that could be updated with modern accessories.

• Metal Lathe, geared head, at least 14x40. Same situation as our manual mill - our lathe *works* but it's not amazing, and we're not inclined to invest much money in it. We're likewise open to either modern or vintage options, so long as it can cut both Imperial and metric threads.

• Drill press, geared head or variable-speed, with coolant system: eg Baileigh DP-1200VS or Grizzly G0779. Enthusiastic members tend to burn up drill bits in the metal shop. Easy speed changes and coolant support will help cutter life, especially when juggling multiple users.

• Mobile gantry crane, at least 1000lbs capacity. Electric hoist and lifting magnet definitely a plus but perhaps not strictly necessary. This would come in handy for a bunch of applications, but will be needed soon for a single operator to load material in the fiber laser.

Electronics Lab

We are currently renovating our electronics lab to bring our outdated equipment up-to-date. Our full wish list for this renovation can be seen on Digi-Key here and here. Below are a few of the larger items we are looking for.

• Oscilloscope 100 MHz digital bench, eg Rigol DS1104Z Plus.
• Power supply 30V 5A with several outputs, eg B&K Precision 1671A.
• Modern soldering stations with fume extraction, eg Weller soldering iron, fume extractor, soldering mat.
• Modern heat gun with variable airflow and temperature control, eg heat gun.

We are not currently accepting donations for electronics consumables such as capacitors, resistors, transistors, ICs, etc.

Autobay

• Portable hydraulic lift, 6000lbs capacity or greater: eg QuickJack. We'd like a safer and more convenient lifting option than jack stands, but we can't afford the floor space for a fixed lift setup. Whatever we get must be easy to move and store when not in use. Difficulty: must also be ANSI/CE safety rated with mechanical interlocks to protect against pressure loss.

As a rule, Asmbly accepts hosting or donation of working, ready-to-use equipment. If you have a candidate machine that needs some attention before use, we may be able to arrange volunteer support for repairs prior to or concurrent with transfer to Asmbly.