Okay. So how can we help?

JoAnn is not just being obtuse: exactly what pieces do you need help with?  
Is there any special 'function' or action that you want it to perform under
certain circumstances (someone has had a piece of lab equipment out for 31
days and 30 days is the limit kind of stuff).

Otherwise, pretty much think of Excel as a big sheet of paper that you just
start setting up just as you would a log book for the equipment.  Row 1
across the top could be labels for entries in those columns below each such
as
Equipment Name | ID # | Date Out | Out to Name | Due In  | Returned Date |
etc.

and go from there?