General Safety Requirements

Mandatory:

• • Safety glasses (provided)

  • Closed-toed shoes

  • Remove dangling jewelry

  • Tie back long hair

Recommended:

• • Hearing protection (provided)

  • Particle filter mask or dust mask

Curriculum

Review Safety Procedures

• • Minors 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult who has taken the class

  • Wear the proper safety equipment: earplugs, safety glasses, respirator (optional)

  • Reiterate that participants must have closed toed shoes

  • All loose or dangly items must be secured and tucked in (i.e. drawstrings, shirt tails, sleeves tucked in)

  • Long hair must be tied back

  • Wood Dust is toxic. Always make sure the dust collectors are turned on, and wear a respiratory mask

  • Point out the following safety equipment:

    • Fire extinguishers (mounted near all exits)

    • First aid kits located at front desk

    • Eyewash Station

  • Main causes of injury are:

    • Not being aware of your environment

    • Kickbacks

Woodshop Orientation

WoodLab Drop-In Fees

• • $45/day (12pm to 9pm)

Review Basic Shop Layout

• • Sanding booth

  • Short Term Storage

  • Communal Use Areas/Tools:

    • Tables with locking wheels

    • Hand and power tools

  • Private studios

  • Wood storage

  • Waste streams:  garbage vs. green wood vs. composites all separate

  • Sawdust treatment and disposal

  • How to keep things tidy - leave any areas you use BETTER than you found them

  • PPE, bits and other consumable available at front. Safety glasses may be purchased 

Review General Safety Guidelines

• • Remind students about safety gear required (safety glasses, closed toed shoes, hearing protection, no loose clothing)

  • Hands are never close to cutting/drilling/turning mechanisms

  • ALWAYS unplug a tool before servicing it/ changing bits or blades

  • In most cases, blade/bit should reach full speed before touching material

  • Ensure participants turn tool off before passing off to next person

  • Point out location of eyewash station

Hand Tools

1. Drill

• • What it’s used for:

    • Chuck drill - drives screws and accepts drilling bits

    • Has a screw setting with adjustable speeds and a drilling setting

    • Has different settings of torque. The drill will give up after a certain amount of torque. The lower the number, the sooner it will give up. The higher the number, the less it will give up.

  • Parts: Batteries, chargers, clutch on the back (adjusts drilling force), how to change bits

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Hold down material - it can spin

    • Keep hands away from end of drill in case you slip (screw into hand)

    • Nail in top of screw to start

  • Capacities:

    • Minimium 1/16" diameter shank 

    • Maximum 3/8" diameter shank

  • Tolerance:

    • Accurate to .01"

2. Brad nailer

• • What it’s used for: Drives very fine nails, useful for supporting furniture glue ups (don’t last very long on their own)

    • 18 gauge nails only, takes 1/2" to 2.5" nails

  • Parts: Air compressor, cartridge, nails

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Review of safety and loading nails

    • Must be pressed against material to fire nail

    • If it jams, the nail can fire out to the left or the right and potentially cause injury.

    • If it jams, disconnect air compressor and open cartridge to check

  • Instructor demo, then student demo

  • Make sure nail is fully in the wood before pulling the brad nailer away. Otherwise the top of the nail may be sticking out of your piece.

  • Can be set to single fire or multiple fire mode.

  • Tolerance:

    • Accurate to .1"

3. Biscuit Joiner

• • What it’s used for: Increases strength of glued joints, and helps align pieces when glueing up.

  • Parts: Various settings, blade, trigger, biscuits (various sizes)

  • Use more than 1 biscuit when joining wood together. Otherwise the piece may pivot if using just 1 biscuit.

  • Do not use on material thinner than 3/4". 

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Secure piece to table with clamps

    • Keep hand clear of blade forward motion

    • Notch on side sets number closest to biscuit size

    • How to line up on wood (“witness marks”)

  • Tolerance:

    • Accurate to .1"

4. Jigsaw (manual)

• • What it’s used for: Freeform cutting

  • Parts: blade, trigger, chuck

  • Maximum Capacity:  Can cut material up to 2" thick

  • Speed adjustment dial can be turned only as far as 6 and back to 1.  Do not force it past 6 or 1, or the speed adjusting function may no longer work.

    • Material to be cut:

      • Wood (speed 5 to 6)

      • Mild Steel (speed 3 to 6)

      • Stainless Steel (speed 3 to 4)

      • Aluminum (speed 3 to 6)

      • Plastics (speed 1 to 4)

• Cutting Action Dial (controls the orbit)

  • 0 - Straight Line Cutting Action

    • For clean cuts in wood and plywood.

• I - Small orbit cutting action

  • For cutting hardwood

• II - Medium orbit cutting action

  • For cutting wood and plywood.

• III - Large orbit cutting action

  • For fast cutting in wood and plywood

• • Important safety guidelines:

    • Dust extraction

    • Vibration

    • Press down on the jigsaw and make sure the base is level when cutting. Not lifted and at an angle.

○ Keep hands clear of blade

○ If the tool is operated continuously at low speeds for a long time, the motor will get overloaded and heat up.

○ If the wood bounces, do not put your hand on it. If there’s a lot of friction and movement, stop and reclamp the piece.

○ You do not need to make your cut in a singular motion. You can cut off excess pieces from the side and continue on.

○ Do not force the jigsaw, just guide it.

• Tolerance:

  • Accurate up to .1"

5. Hand Router

• • What it’s used for: cutting and edging

  • Parts: housing, switches, bit-changing wrenches

  • Has a 1/4" collet, and up to a 2" plunge depth.

    • Bits:

      • Ball bearing - follows edge

      • No bearing - lets you cut into/through material

      • How to change bits -unplug, remove guide, use yellow button to stop spindle from turning, then use wrench to unscrew and tighten collet

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Secure piece to table with clamps

    • Make sure it is not turned on before you plug it in

    • Ensure collet is clamping on flat part of shank (if the bit is too far in, you may clamp on the fillet at transition between the shank and the bit)

    • Keep hands clear of bit

    • Make shallow passes

    • Never start with bit touching piece

    • Conventional vs. climb cuts (conventional is safer and usually preferred)

      • Conventional cuts: Router is moved in the opposite direction that the bit is spinning (ie. if the bit spins clockwise, move around the material counter-clockwise.)

      • Climb cuts: Router is moved in the same direction that the bit is spinning

    • It will burn your wood if you’re not moving it.

    • Tolerance:

      • Accurate up to .01"

6. Orbital Sander

• • What it’s used for: Finishing (NOT MATERIAL REMOVAL)

  • Parts: Sanding pad, on switch, sandpaper

    • Sandpaper we use is generally 60 to 240 grit, but can go up to as high as 1000 grit

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Dust extraction

    • How to avoid pieces flying away

    • Keep hands clear (you could get burned)

    • Don't forget to attach sandpaper

  • Tolerance:

    • Accurate up to .1"

7. Belt / Disc Sander

• What it’s used for: Sanding edges of wood quickly

• Parts: belts, sanding disc

• We use 80 grit sandpaper on the belt and disc sander

• Capacities:

  • Belt Sander: material up to 5" wide

  • Disc Sander: material up to 5" wide

• Important safety guidelines:

  • Ensure long sleeves are rolled up

  • Make sure you have no loose clothing (scarves, hoodies strings, etc.)

  • Ensure Dust extractor is turned on and vent is opened

• Tolerance:

  • Accurate up to .01"

Power Tools

1. Panel Saw

• • What it’s used for?

    • Rough-cutting sheet material

    • Can change cut directions to cut vertically and horizontally

  • Parts: feed rollers/tracks, saw tracks, saw housing, indexing pins, shopvac hookup

  • Capacity:

    • Up to 1.5" thick material

    • Can cut up to 4' high material vertically

    • Can cut up to 5' high material horizontally

    • Uses an 8" blade

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Shopvac hookup

    • Start saw near material, allow to reach full speed before cutting

    • Allow saw to stop spinning before bringing back up into start position

    • Piece must be big enough to span saw's track area (and be supported on either side) - e.g. minimum width = 18"

    • Fingers never within 6” of the blade

    • When rotating to set up a horiz. (rip) cut, ensure material gets fed in correct direction (against saw direction)

  • Tolerance:

    • Accurate up to 1"

2. Chop (Mitre) Saw

• • What it’s used for: cutting long, thin pieces into shorter lengths (no metal)

  • Parts: table, blade, guides, how to move guides

  • Capacities:

    • Uses a 12" blade

    • Maximum Width: 13.5"

    • Maximum Depth: 3.5"

    • Maximum Mitre: 52° left/60° right miter capacity

    • Maximum Bevel: 47° left/47° right

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Start saw in back position

    • Allow saw to stop spinning before letting it fall back into start position

    • Never cross hands in front of blade

    • Fingers never within 6” of blade

    • Kickback zone = back

    • How to cut a deeper piece of wood - pull saw out (lift little lever)

    • Angle cuts

      • saw tilts - make sure it won’t hit guides

      • lever to turn bed and saw left or right

    • Tolerance:

      • Accurate to .1"

3. Drill Press (manual)

• • What it’s used for: drilling in metal and wood

  • Capacity: 

    • Speed: 50 to 3000 rpm

    • Depth: Up to 6"

  • Parts: bits, chuck, display screen

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Secure piece to table with clamps

    • Set the proper RPM for your material

    • Keep hands clear of bit

    • Stop if smoking

    • Never start with bit touching piece

  • Tolerance:

    • Accurate up to .01"

4. Router Table

• • What it’s used for: Holds router upside down, easier for doing longer edges (has guides). It's good for small or medium/large pieces

  • Parts: router attached, guides, fence, collet

  • Capacities:

    • 10,000 to 21,000 RPM

    • 1/4" and 1/2" collets

  • Important safety guidelines:

    • Ensure router is secure

    • How to adjust fence

    • How to change bit

    • How to adjust router depth

    • Move from right to left

    • How to set the RPM on the router

  • Tolerance:

    • Accurate up to .01"

5. Small Table Saw

Notes:

Consumables: We have them (screws, drill bits, etc.) but do not assume they will always be available for use/in good condition, as they are shared by everyone. 

Triggering a saw stop is $250