Christian instructed me on the “Big Tools” today. We started with a lesson on safety.
- No loose clothing
- Shoes must have closed toes
- No jewelry, including rings watches, necklaces, earrings
- No hanging strings such as from a hoodie
- Always wear eye protection
- Wear hearing protection as needed
Each machine has its own additional safety rules.
My knowledge of “big tools” is limited and I familiarized myself with the names of the tools in the room. We worked on the table saw, the chop saw, and the drill press.
We started with a board about 3 feet long and sliced off a two inch strip on the table saw.
We took that strip and used the chop saw to cut off 1/2 inch of one end. Christian explained that when purchasing wood that the ends are not always cut squarely and it is necessary to square them off. We used a tape measure, a square tool, and a pencil to mark our cut. Next we made another 1/2 pencil mark on the other end, but this time we used the square to make a 45 degree angle to meet that 1/2 mark. Then we were ready use the chop sow. We lined the saw blade up then raised it and made the cuts.
We moved on to the drill press. We marked the wood again using the tape measure and square tool at 2 inch and 4 inch from the 90 degree end, The wood slice was two inches wide so we measured up 1 inch and made a pencil mark on the 2 and the 4 inch marks to indicate where we would drill. The drill press has a nice laser indicator that shows you exactly where the hold will be. We used that to make our holes precisely where they needed to be.
Our finished product reminded me of the type of block that they put on bathroom keys at gas stations or other places to make sure that you don’t pocket them. The end product was not particularly useful for me, but the information I learned today was invaluable.
