Quote:
Originally Posted by dragoon500ly
Interesting, I hadn't given any thought to a team equipped to fabricate, in the field. Have you given any thought to how this would be organized or equipped?
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I have been working on this idea on a larger scale for a project that I have been working at off and on for a couple years, but I haven't made it on a field team scale. Having worked with these kinds of people before, I would say it would be one person on the team who has skills in engineering, welding, glass working, etc. They don't need to have specialized scientific knowledge about the topic. They just need to be able to work with the scientist to understand what is needed, any special concerns and to tell the scientist what won't work for any number of structural concerns, limits to fabrication, etc.
They wouldn't need much in equipment, as I see the team fabricator being used for simple, quick setups. Anything more complex would have been sent to a regional base to have the gear fabricated there. A set of tools, a small welder, power saw, sander, and some kind of torch should handle most of the demands. Supplies would be the tricky part. Some metal and wood could be scavenged, but there would be need for special materials to be in his kit or in a cache. Things like platinum wire and foil, glass tubing of various diameters, blocks of nylon, and so on that would be difficult to scavenge because they are rare or need to be of a certain quality. I like trailers, so this all could be put into small trailer or make the team's trailer bigger to allow for the fabricator's stuff.
Again, this is all pulled from my personal experience with a machine shop at a university that I worked with when I needed some platinum wire welded to some platinum foil for a sensor I was building. Here is a link to the actual shop:
https://web.pa.msu.edu/services/machine-shop/
I am sure that this could concept stand a little refinement.