How about AFTER the introductory class, beginners have a PROBATIONARY PERIOD
Until proficiency is attained, beginner woodworkers would be required to work during specified, posted hours during which there is a mentor/teacher available to assist with answering their questions.
If said beginner were to operate outside of the posted teaching hours and destroy something, then we post a snap of the culprit’s face on the door and all others are encouraged to shake their head in disapproval and sternly say “shame” at every passing.
It puzzled me too. We are going to run some experiments before we send it for repair to see if we can find out for sure, and we will let you know. Unfortunately, it is an area we have not had good video coverage of.
To echo the comment from Dan. I’m continually reminding makers to open blast gates, turn the Felder on and off, clean sanding belts, wear PPE (largely eye protection) etc. Some of the regular offenders are newbies or infrequent shop users, others are experienced woodworkers that frequent the shop.
Unlike “Woodshop 101” all of those certifications come with explicit expiration dates, have liabilities well beyond the individual, are associated with making a living rather than a hobby, and offer ample opportunities to recertify.
Everyone is for safety, but best I can tell our accident rate is remarkably low.
It is amazing that our personal injury rate is incredibly low IMO considering the various type of tools Space-wide and the potential they have to do harm. The tool/equipment injury/breakage (indifference) rate shows how creative our membership can be.
Folks that report breakage I feel are very very likely to have been accidental and don’t consider them “creative” as they are showing conscientiousness in use and taking responsibility. I believe it is the “walkaways” that cause the most heartburn.
Can I offer a different perspective?
The Felder is quieter and generates cleaner air for woodshop workers than the previous systems. That is even in spite of the fact it doesn’t have the right duct sizing and the auto start dust gates are not installed. The duct and automation sits in boxes in the warehouse and it was the decision of DMS leadership to live with what exists rather than spend some money to install and then later move. I had hoped for a different decision, but there are pros and cons either way.
The obvious fact that no one has implemented a regimen to keep the collection hoppers emptied is on people, not the machine. It’s very fixable, very doable, and runs a little counter to the “everything must be remembered and done by volunteers” mentality. So, when somebody finally quits waiting for volunteers to remember to do out of sight things, that problem will go away. As a side note, I don’t think you have any idea how many times the previous dust collectors were either not turned on or were overfilled to extreme levels. On the positive side, once they did fill up, the problem became so obvious that most could not choose to ignore it and they would get attention. The Felder is less obvious, so it can get to be as bad as before … it’s not really worse, it’s just excess volume all at once as opposed to individually on three separate collectors.
As for fewer members and same problems as years ago … not sure that is correct. Membership 4/5 years ago was probably less than today even after the major shrinkage from 2200+. Today DMS shows 1941 members, but it’s only that because a ton of folks joined in the last year. Look at the headcount by payment class: 747 are listed at the 2019 rate. I think you are probably adding about 3 new for every 4 that drop. That plays out as 1200 drops and 900 new. The 900 number is darned close to the 747 actual at the 2019 rate and the gap would be those that joined since Jan 2019 but are already gone. Before I left, I was starting to not recognize a lot of the folk actually at DMS. Others have told me it is even more that way now. My guess is that 4/5 year ago, you didn’t have as nearly as many new trainees as you have today … but someone else will need to run those numbers down.
