Strong reminder

[dougbcave]

@Team_Woodshop

This is not specific to the woodshop area, but to all the areas in the space:

Being excellent means cleaning up after yourselves when you’re done with your project. It is not limited to just sweeping the floor.

If you mill lumber and create a lot of sawdust and shavings, cleaning up after yourselves also includes disposing of whatever amount you send to the dust collector, whether it went to the Festool collectors or the Felder, or into the trash cans.

I came early before the Safety and Orientation class Friday to find this…

Not only were the bins full, but because the Felder was off, the automatic blow-by system had a gap to blow enough sawdust to cover about a half inch onto the floor between the hopper and the Powermatic table saw. It also covered both table saws so much that I could not see the color of the saw table tops. I swept the sawdust out of the way to remove the hopper. Then I pulled from under the Felder to combine with what I had swept away. It was enough to fill again one of the bags from the hopper. Thanks to Peter @BirdMan we could carry three bags worth of sawdust and two trash cans to the dumpster before class started.

If you don’t know how to check the Felder and empty the hopper, please ask so you can help keep it in good condition for others to use the woodshop. It’s not hard, and it certainly relieves the next person from the frustration of having to empty it when they were expecting to come and do some work.

As you plan to mill a large amount of lumber, please include time to perform the after-work that is always necessary, and if you need to, recruit someone to help–it just makes it go much easier.

[jphelps]

Thanks for doing all this!

As an aside, I believe the new interlock design were working toward will support a use case whereby as long as we can ontain an alert from the Felder that it’s full, will be able to disable all the machines using it that have Interlocks. Obviously there’s some gotchas there however I believe it’s the kind of use case we will be able to support.

Tagging @TJSmith who’s heading up the Interlock SIG.

[mdredmond]

This is obnoxious and it’s worth pointing out that you can empty the Felder BEFORE it is full if you know you’ve created a bunch of sawdust.

As someone who literally never creates sawdust I sort of resent getting roped into emptying it.

[zashcraft]

Is there documentation for how to empty the Felder? There’s not always someone around to ask, and I (and others I’m sure) could use a refresher after woodshop basics

[skyspook]

There are QR codes on the felder, and more printed instructions with the rest of the documentation in the annex I believe.

[dwolf]

I have noticed an increase in “thoughtlessness” at the maker space over the last few months. Things like the felder above, not cleaning up after using a tool (this happens a lot), not putting tools away, running wood used in concrete forms over the jointer, hogging storage space for months at a time… I could go on and on. When I see “thoughtlessness” I usually say something to someone (but failure to clean up is tough because “when is the person done and is the person coming back?”). But I’m getting tired of it. I gave up cleaning up after people after two months as a member, now after four years, I’m about to give up talking to people about their “thoughlessness.”

What can be done about reversing the trend?

Posting problems like this on Talk is a start but not everyone reads Talk posts. More signs is an idea but we have enough signs that aren’t read as it is. Other ideas?

Note there are a lot of thoughtful people a the makerspaceit?

[jast]

In “new money”:

In “old money”:

Was unable to find the QR codes Justin mentions, so I don’t know if they point to any of these resources, but…
here’s the link to the video:

DMS Felder RL 350

and the link to source: Felder Dust Collector - Woodshop - Global Site

[jsnowfreedman]

If the QR codes were stickers, it’s very possible that they were scratched/got removed at some point. If I’m given some specific links/ titles, I can go ahead and generate new QR codes and slap them on things if people would like

[jast]

Great offer! Sounds like one @SWA is the right person to address, and might be the person who knows what the codes are/where they’re stored. I wasn’t able to find with my rudimentary knowledge & quick search of Source & Wiki.

[TSki]

It is a printed piece of paper that is taped to the front of the machine. I believe the code still works [though it has been several months since I checked it].

[simurghi]

One thing that’s very annoying about emptying the felder is that it’s extremely difficult to do by yourself. The bag, when full, is extremely heavy and wobbly, and sawdust gets into my eyes (despite wearing protection). I generally need a person to help me out lifting into the dumpster, and even then, I still need to use eyewash afterwards. Maybe the face shields over by the lathes would help in this respect.

How about setting up a dedicated time window every day to empty out the felder? Maybe during peak hours, say whoever is in the shop from 6 - 8 (or whenever) should check/empty the felder even if it isn’t full. I know at night, it is very difficult to track down people to help empty it.

[mreynolds]

If someone can send me the qr code, I’ll make an actual sticker sticker this weekend, so it doesnt get torn off easily

[CaryF300]

I’ll dye sub them on some metal that we can attach in appropriate places. I’ve found that a 6" QR code can be easily scanned from 10’-15’ feet away.

[SWA]

Thanks for the signage offers. @Dwolf has placed a massive amount of signage all over the place as @jsnowfreedman has seen during his visits to the wood shop.

Unless we have developed a QR code lookup table that I am unaware of, you might want to hold off on permanent signage. The address for the topics and topic structure is still in flux.

Knowledge of the process is not the underlying issue. The problem is the will to do the right thing and enforcement of the solution.

The solution begins with having a pre-filter trap installed that gathers large particles and only holds 10-20 gallons of material(single person weight). This will be small enough for a single person to empty. Then the trolley will be left holding the finer dust and might make it between weekends. We were heading this way until the cyclone we had earmarked for the job was spirited off to another makerspace. I guess we should begin pursuing this once again.

For the uninitiated, the concept works as follows, although scaled accordingly.

[hforsberg]

IMHO you also need to include the ability. I have emptied the Felder mor than a few times , some by myself. I was advised during one of those times that it is a two person job. When it is full, I use a dust pan to transfer to a trash can (which I usually have to empty first, then empty again after filling it from the Felder). It gets the job done. I see a 20 gal container as a much more manageable alternative to empty.

However:

@SWA

The problem is the will to do the right thing and enforcement of the solution.

My question is, at what point do we shut down the machines, because the extraction is full. Currently, the Felder. In the future the cyclone?

When this cyclone option is implemented, it will resolve the ability issue. But how many times will it overfill, just passing on everything to the Felder, which will then also fill up. And if it does make it “between the weekends”, Some willing person still needs to step up and empty things.

When the cyclone is full, how much will blow all over the floor when some willing person finally opens it to empty.

At this time, I a putting my voice to the call to have some kind of shutdown on the machines when the extraction is full. Because, if the machines won’t run, it moves from a willing to a required. And if it shuts down during your job, maybe you should have emptied it before you started. This is a full about face for me, but I have been a part of the few willing, and feel stronger about the enforcement part stepping in.

[SWA]

I have seen collection canisters that have lights that activate when full. I have no idea of how it works. We can turn the Felder off when the light is activated, and only allow it to be restarted after the smaller collector has been emptied.

[dwolf]

@TSki

I believe the code still works [though it has been several months since I checked it]

I checked it today and it works. The paper the QR code is on is in good condition.

[bertberaht]

@SWA

The solution

… is so easy (and inexpensive) but would need implementation of suggestions from someone who actually designed cyclones in a prior life. There is a mystique about this that only benefits the folks that sell separation equipment.

[jphelps]

If the yellow one in the auction pile is something we want to keep now is the time to grab it. I anticipate an auction item lock down within 3 weeks. After that if we want to get something we’ve tagged for auction back we’ll have to pay a penalty fee to the auction house.

[nic_thornburg]

I cleared off a with table in the project area adjacent to the woodshop that had accumulated several tools I had not seen moved in a few days, put all the stuff away and swept up the area.
(Hoping to buy a little grace since I’m currently storing several projects in progress on the shelves and some lumber I intend to use in the next few days lol)