This is a spot for things related to making the shop run smoother and for letting people know what's being done toward that end. I (the guy who's been sorting parts) started this page on Thursday, June 14, 2007.

Progress

7/12/07:

   Pumps have been dealt with. The compressor in the front works for Schrader, but it doesn't have the pressure or the adapter for Presta. The two orange Pedros hand pumps have new hoses, so they work for Presta. Several of the old busted pumps are now hidden back behind the parts filing cabinets.

7/2/07:

    I've been working more on sorting parts; recently it's mostly been nuts, washers, and bolts. Last week Erok got a big yellow coiled air hose and hooked the compressor up with a schrader valve attachment and pressure gauge at the front of the shop (by the cone wrenches). A Presta adapter should be coming along eventually. I took some measurements for making a shelf/locker thing to hold recycling bins. I haven't drawn up any plans for it yet though.

    Maybe it's just because I've had my head buried in the parts shelf, but it seems like the shop has generally been running pretty smooth this month.

6/14/07:

    I've been working on organizing the small parts on the bookshelf. I don't have much of a master plan other than "put similar things near each other". For now, I'm just trying to get rid of all the trays of mixed parts by sorting them into existing labeled trays or starting new trays. I've been moving things around some and changing labels as trays start to overflow and as I identify the purpose of various weird little parts. I added an "unsorted parts" bucket on the floor by the parts shelves, and I've been encouraging people to put parts there rather than spending a bunch of time trying to put all their stuff away. Once the major sorting work is mostly done, sorting parts from the bucket could be a good volunteer job (I'm doing it now).

Problems

7/10/07:

• The compressor seems to be working well for schrader valves. Presta is still a problem.
  • (morgan says) the compressor only gets up to about 70 psi, so it's not much use for presta-valved bikes anyway
  • (shaun says) he regularly fills his stubbornly Schrader valved tubes to 100 psi. with this compressor

6/14/07:

• All the tire pumps with pressure gauges seem to be beat up beyond the point of usefulness (7/2/07: using the air compressor helps with this)
• There is currently no reasonably clean and secure place in the shop for people to put their bags
• Many people coming to the shop for the first time tend to linger near the entrance looking really confused or wander around asking "do you work here",  "are you a volunteer", "will you fix my bike", etc. It would be nice to have more signs at the front of the shop explaining how things work. Of course, there isn't really a good place to hang the signs... [note: This was discussed at the June meeting]

6/15/07:

• There are frequently times when it seems like too many people are in the shop: it's hard to walk around, lots of people are waiting for stuff or trying to get help, etc.