Workshop

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Function
The workshops are common facilities for repair, construction and prototyping of electronics and mechanical items. They maintain a stock of commonly used items which can be borrowed or purchased using the usual stores slips.

Management
Electronics workshop supervisor: Mr. P. Kothandan
Mechanical/electrical workshop supervisor: Mr. R. Munshi
Faculty member in charge: U. S. Bhalla.

Location
Electronics workshop: basement of library.
Mechanical/electrical workshop: Utility building, next to control room. This workshop is still to be remodelled.

Equipment and stocks
Electronics workshop: Oscilloscope, precision meters, solder station, small hand tools, power supplies, manuals. Multimeters and small tools can be purchased using stores slips. Stocks inlcude extensive prototyping material including most commonly used components such as capacitors and resistors and common semiconductor devices. Mechanical workshop: lathe, upright drill, welding machine, grinder. Large amounts of raw material such as wood and slotted angles are available. Common electrical items including plugs, sockets, switches will soon be stocked.
In both cases, tools may be signed out and returned on the same working day. Other items have to be purchased against grants using stores requisition slips.

Project work
In order to keep track of jobs, there is a job sign-up log book. Jobs are in three categories:

1: Urgent repairs have top priority. If something critical is not working, this will supersede all other pending jobs.
2: Immediate small projects have second priority.
3: Large projects will be considered background jobs and run when nothing else is pending. Within a category, all jobs will be dealt with in order of request. If a repair or project is complicated, you will be asked to fill in a job sheet with details including circuitry and other information. This is for our records, as projects often have to be modified or repeated.

Mr. Kothandan is also on call for repairs and assistance in small mechanical projects, on the same priority scale. As part of these project duties he may be requested to go to specialised electronics and parts markets in the city. This should not be considered as a replacement for the regular purchase trips.