Somehow, though, it seems we still have a bunch of Ryobi, even though a few years ago we got rid of a bunch of them. Maybe we keep getting them donated because they aren’t wanted in general . To put it lightly, the Ryobi drills are, in my opinion, total shit.
I’m currently in the process for trying to add another Bosch to our arsenal (it is currently in the space; see the first link for details).
Therefore:
I propose that we rid ourselves of all the battery-based Ryobi drills as a bulk sale on Craigslist (or some other similar method of riding them). I’m happy to facilitate or if someone else wants to take this on, that’s fine too.
I do not expect them to get much money for them; and in 10 minutes of fiddling different batteries, I was unable to get any of them to function. My intention is to sell them, cheaply, as a bulk set.
In today’s system, how would I go about getting the go-ahead to do this. Does this need to be an AGM policy proposal, or can an informal rough consensus be taken in this?
Are there any concerns or questions I can answer regarding this plan?
As you are (currently) the most vocal in championing this cause, allow me to make a few comments:
Thank you
I agree completely that we should get rid of the Ryobis, and replace them with Bosch. I also expect that we will get donated more Ryobis (and other!) drills in the future, and we should remain standardised on Bosch, continually getting rid of others in exchange for The Good Stuff
If people are championing keeping the Ryobis, they should definitely test them out! We’re no longer at the stage as an organisation of holding onto cheap broken gear forever in the hopes that it eventually gets fixed. We can invest in good tools.
“Crappy” Drills are good for:
(1) “Hack A Ryobi” Challenge,
(2) Making Wire Harnesses (no Hacking needed),
(3) Removing weeds,
(4) Driving various Thread Spinners, Looms, etc.
(5) The high torque makes them good for Propulsion (Model Ships, vehicles, etc.)
I agree, crappy drills are useful for those, non-functioning drills are less-so. You have very valid points though, we ARE a hackspace.
But fair enough, if the proposal was to put all the Ryobi drills in a box labeled ‘Piece of shit drills’
That box gets a sealed and dated sticker on it, and if it is unbroken by the time we move they go under my original plans.
If you want to facilitate a hack a Ryobi challenge, I’d welcome that; if it was compelling and we got people actually contributing, that’d be great.!
To clarify, @Rebel_without_Clause, would your no turn to a yes if the plan were to instead, store the Ryobi drills, encourage people to do non-standard things with them, and set a moratorium on them if they are unused?
Yes, the date sticker is a good idea.
And “Hack a Ryobi”/“Ryobi Rube Goldberg” challenge is on!
Any non-manufacturer intended use is fine, except shorting of Batteries.
The ryobi’s suck cause the batteries are dead. That and they are heavier and put more strain on the wrist. But that could all be solved with a battery replacement/upgrade.
The ryobi 18v batteries have 10 18650 batteries in 5s2p configuration.
We could easily pull some of those batteries apart, figure out which cells are bad, and make a good pack out of the good cells. I have a bunch of salvaged 18650 batteries at the hackspace in my bin.
The bosch drills have 5x18650 batteries. in a 5s1p configuration. I’m guessing the batteries are newer than the bosch ones because we have less problems with them.
I agree that the batteries are one reason they suck, but I argue the build quality on the drills is far poorer than our other alternatives.
Thanks for volunteering; when do you propose to do this work? If you do this are you proposing we keep just Ryobi drills (refurbished) or that we keep them all? I get your point that the underlying battery cells are not dissimilar.
Does my amendment of shoving them in a box until someone fixes them seem reasonable? Having them all out and ready for people to use when they can’t be used is a disservice to anyone trying to use a drill.
I am strongly in favour of standardizing on Bosch and make the Ryobi drills available for hacking. Mainly because all of the things that @Rebel_without_Clause listed, I’d not want to “sacrifice” a regular/good drill for hacking purposes.
Awesome, I’ve thrown them in a bin. I recommend any interested party takes a look at them and figures out what to do with them, but at this moment, I say they have gone from ‘non-hackable tool’ to ‘please hack me’ status.
I’m going to close the poll, but if anyone has anything else that is useful to say or objections to how this is being handled, fire away.
. To put it lightly, the Ryobi drills are, in my opinion, total shit.
