Year End Planning and Preparing Your Lab Budget – Part 1

Wednesday, December 14 2016

For next year’s budget: Accelerometers: Put in for a couple of Triax’s as well, they are nice to have to evaluate fixturing effectiveness in multiple axes quickly Fixturing Hardware: 80/20 extrusions, aluminum, Radel and/or Delrin stock Data logging and test equipment.

It’s almost the end of the year again, and whether you work for big or small company you know that it is time for submitting budgets for next year as well as making sure you’ve squeezed the last penny you can out of your budget for this year. If budgeting for operating your HALT lab is included in your task, I may be able to offer some assistance. I’ve been doing just that for the ESPEC Qualmark HALT lab in Denver, Colorado for several years. For next year’s budget: Accelerometers: Put in for a couple of Triax’s as well, they are nice to have to evaluate fixturing effectiveness in multiple axes quickly Fixturing Hardware: 80/20 extrusions, aluminum, Radel and/or Delrin stock Data logging and test equipment: You could need any or all of the following: Programmable power supplies Bench data logger New Oscilloscope or probes Function Generator DAQs for accelerometer monitoring (Like the ESPEC Qualmark QDaq system) Other Product-Specific monitoring equipment Mill: We acquired a small mill at the ESPEC Qualmark lab a few years ago and it has been invaluable for custom fixturing in aluminum, Radel or Delrin. Band Saw Soldering Station Microscope with photo ability But what if you have some year-end cash you need to use up? Here’s a few items that are always nice to stock up on. Kapton tape 5 Min. Epoxy, Large Economy Size! Loctite 454 for accelerometers Hand tools Dremel or equivalent Nuts, bolts, washers and all-thread, 3/8”-20 80/20 hardware bits and pieces If you don’t have a lab yet, next week’s blog will discuss budgeting for testing at an outside lab. Thanks for reading! And remember – if it’s not broken, you’re not done yet!

Neill Doertenbach