Hi everyone! New member here. Sorry in advance if the following questions and/or suggestions are old hat by now.
Ive been using the wood shop for a couple weeks now and I’ve noticed its not very tidy generally speaking. I was thinking a voluntary clean up time once a week might be an idea to keep it more organized? Or we could schedule just one to happen soon and we can try to upkeep it. Having sharpie lines on the wall outlining the tool that lives there is a pretty good system we could implement (obviously I volunteer myself to help with any of this). If there already is a clean up schedule let me know! Im there.
The next thing I wanted to bring up is the table saw. I have seen people do some insane/life threatening things while I’ve been in there- cross cutting free hand with no sled, not holding the wood down all the way thru the cut, ripping rough lumber thats isn’t flat or straight, etc. Not sure the solution there, just making it known because I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I think maybe some people are using the room without having taken the training, or maybe they’ve forgotten things.
Anyway, Ive really been enjoying the space and getting to know everyone! Hope this message isn’t taken as a complaint, because Im really grateful to the dms:)
I am new as well. I have heard a similar suggestion about the tools area as well (so you are on track). I believe that someone is printing the tools outlines.
Also, the Digital Media Committee hopes to get safety videos out (once we get some equipment and volunteers) as well, so I hope that helps.
I’m gald you noticed these things and are willing to get involved. These are constant issues that we need to address. @coloneldan can you suggest a day or night that we can do this? I can also add you to [email protected] which is where people should be reporting broken tools. As for the sharpie thing we have refrained from that in the past as we get new tools and move things around a lot. I tried to label things and it helped some but some people are just lazy and inconsiderate and don’t clean up after themselves.
As a reminder to everyone else, it is required to have taken wood shop 101 before using the table saw and jointer. The next class is May 4th. Also, I put new blades on the table saw and miter saw please for the love of all that is holy no cutting metal or plastic with these blades. No metal should be cut period on the machines in the woodshop. *cnc router will cut aluminum eventually.
I agree wholeheartedly with @alexrhodes on this. Safety is one our major
responsibilities as DMS members. If you see someone being unsafe please
tell them about it. If they object please let the committee know about it
so we can find them and speak to them about it. Most of the equipment is
very dangerous if misused. As @Alexrhodes said Wood shop 101 is required
before using the table saw and joiner, in particular. Safety and proper
use of the equipment is what wood shop 101 is all about.
As far as a date goes to get together, @munawar (Manny) and I will be at
the space to discuss maintenance of the equipment tomorrow (Sunday May 3).
Feel free to join us to work on cleaning up the shop, to discuss tools
placement and anything else you would like to discuss. A clean shop is
certainly much safer than one with sawdust everywhere.
I was at the woodshop last night… the tables we covered with tools and trash, and 1/2 of the tools had sawdust and wood chips all around them from previous use…
Personally, I do not feel it should be up to a panel of volunteers to pick up messes that are covering the floor and tables. We need to teach those unruly tools to just pick up after themselves. That’s what my parents thought me, and I see no reason that we should allow these toddler tools to leave all their toys strewn all over the place. Stupid tools…they should know better!
I did a once through of the shop with the vacuum and picked up and put away a number of tools that were left on the tables this morning before I started working on my project.
Also, I sent this to the email address for maintenance issues, but the table saw fence appears to be broken (in need of repair). Even when the lock is as tight as it will go, it is still loose enough to move by hand. I have a temporary fix in place, by using a single piece of paper to provide the clamp with enough ‘extra’ to provide a solid grip.
