Hi, I just joined and can’t find an answer to this. On my tour I thought we were told each department required training before you just show up and start working. I need to drill a few holes in some aluminum rods and see a lot about hot metal working but nothing about simple metal shop tools or safety - is there required training for simple tools like using a drill press?
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We do not have a training requirement for the drill press in Metal Shop or Machine Shop. However we do require Safety Glasses and do not wear gloves. Obviously good housekeeping as well. IE cleaning up afterwards.
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So there’s three areas for “metal working”,
The way I explain it on my tours is you have the fine working area, that’s the Machine Shop. They have a nicer drill press, it’s near the bandsaw in the walkway, and you could use that without training. If you wanted to put accurate holes (or slots!) in things, you could use the Bridgeports but there’s training required for those.
You have the blacksmithing area, it’s not a “fine working” area, but it’s a really nice shop. They’re in their own little room near the Machine Shop, and I don’t believe they have a drill press.
Finally, you have the sorta inbetween shop called Metal Shop, and that’s the one with the welder and the plasma cutter. They also have a drill press and I believe it’s availible for use without training (or if it does require training it’s the on-line one that’s the hot work safety/metal shop safety class which takes about 30 mins on any computer).
One thing to mention as a “member” of all three areas, they all have a little vibe to them and some (un)written rules. With the Machine Shop, it’s a clean area and your working area should be as clean as you used it last, they also care very much about the quality of their tools and drills. No roughing up things because the things in that shop are expensive. With the Metal Shop things are a little more loose on the cleaning front because it’s so dusty but over there, different pet peeves like for instance putting things that could catch on fire in a metal trashcan, or things hot enough to melt plastic in the plastic trashcan.
Welcome to the 'space and I promise we’re all nice people, talk to some folks around and you’ll learn which way is up.
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If you go to our Tools list, you can see what we have and what requires training. The three metal-related shops [Machine shop (material removal with a cutter), Metal Shop (primarily sheet metal and hot metal processes), and Blacksmithing] all have cross-references to the others. Sometimes our partitioning seems arbitrary esp. if you’re new. There is some overlap mostly in the tools to prep your metal to begin your project.
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Thanks John, this list is really helpful. For the drill press there is no class required but for the soft metals saw it says there is. How do I sign up for the course?
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Showing up to a Machine Shop meeting is a sure-fire way, they always have some time before and after that people who know how to use it will show you how it works, what the gotcha’s are, and teach you the code. Unless that process has changed, I know they were talking about a badge system for it at one point.
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