We've chatted about it off and on, but the idea of a toolkit came to mind again.
Thought I'd start a thread where we could suggest what type of tools the club should purchase for members to use when building up their gear.
Some could be 'signed out' but much of it could be used at meetings, before the beer, with the assistance of a more experienced tool user.
Of course a vac sealer is high on the list, but I'm a little concerned about the design of model I used to reseal the mini hops purchase we just did. After a short time, there was quite a layer of the sticky residue inside the sealer, looking like a recipe for disaster. It may be that we need to do some research and save up for something a little more commercial. Alternatively, that design is less than a couple of hundred at Costco, so maybe we buy it, and run it until it breaks and then make a judgment about it's value.
In addition to the vac sealer, here are couple of ideas...We could also stock some of the bits required that the member could reimburse each usage if it gets expensive. Thinking Solder, Flux, oetiker clamps, etc.
Step drill bits, I bet a set of them probably come on sale at CT regularly enough...must have cutting oil used with them or they won't last.
Soldering equipment for making CFC's.
Oetiker Clamp tool.
Greenlee Radio Punches for clean hole punching.
Ideas for some tools could come from the electric brewery page with parts and tools listings...
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/parts-list-for-buildingWe can save on some of the stuff bringing it back from the states. Also we could get our Moncton McGyver(Jr) to check Princess Auto... so a list would be good, then a plan could be developed on acquisition timeframes based on our budget. We'll need Peter's help with that.
I guess at that point we might want to move the discussion on purchasing to the Members Only section so we can vote on a budget and timeframe, but for now, if you can think of a tool for the kit, post it here.
I also suggest that someone be 'official tool librarian' and kind of run a tools part of the club. Immediately, dean comes to mind, with fakr as the assistant tool guy if they'd be willing. I'll obviously help out on the acquisition side as needed getting stuff stateside across, but my toolroom is an unmitigated disaster, so I'd be a very bad choice.
JQ