seeking advice

[fenderbelly]

Hi all, i've been going to the local men's shed for a good few weeks now.

I've been asked to make up a wish list of new tools. All of the tools we have I'm pretty sure were bought
when the shed first started 15 years ago. A lot of them were bought second hand from people in the community
or from businesses that went bust or were updating their machinery.

My problem is none of the members have a woodworking background.
I could easily say lets just try and replace what we have but I feel that's a cop out on my part.

At present I'm thinking on these lines.

Chisels. we have some but by the look of them they've been used on everything but wood :-)

metal detector, we do use a lot of recycled wood with nails in.

Nail gun/guns. we have a compressor.

we have a bench router but not a portable one.

we have a table saw but everyone curses it when it's being used.
we have 4 dust extractors

I know its a big ask but I'm open, and hoping for any suggestions.
I know we have 2 rounds of grants coming up soon in our area.

[ian]

I'll start the ball rolling


Table saw
Don't argue or beat around the bush -- get a Sawstop Professional.
and just live with the expense of replacing cartridges and blades.


Dusty
get a biggish one -- BobL has a sticky over on the dust forum.
plumb the shed for the DC.

These two items will probably consume all of your upcoming grant funding, but if not...

Planner/thicknesser
get a combo unit with a helical head, and if you can stretch the budget a digital thickness scale.

Drop saw
more correctly a sliding compound mitre saw.
But don't waste your money on a cheap one, and be aware that they throw dust everywhere.


Router
one or two trimmers might be a good option, especially if you have lots of 1/4 shank bits.


Chisels
Don't buy any new ones till more than one person in the shed knows how to maintain the ones you have.
What you currently have are probably half decent, it's just that, from your description, no one in the shed knows what a sharp chisel looks like, or how to keep it sharp.


Hand planes
Wood River seem to be a reasonable combination of price and quality.
Initially I suggest:
#5 and/or #6
#4-1/2 for smoothing


and somewhere in there, add a room air filter to pick up the fine dust thrown around by sanding, the drop saw, the trimmers, etc

[KBs PensNmore]

we have a table saw but everyone curses it when it's being used.

Yes to all the above. My question would be "why is everyone cursing it". Is it because of the noise factor, no guarding, size of it, dangerous, saw dust going everywhere? Then look at rectifying the problem, if it's noise, the problem would be there regardless if it's a new saw or not. Tell them to wear ear protection.
Kryn

[BobL]

we have 4 dust extractors.

The best thing is to (as Ian says) get one big dust extractor, place it outside the shed and reticulate the ducting.
As well as a lot less dust , it frees up a lot more space, and reduces noise levels inside a shed.

I don't know how big your shed is but you usually need to budget a similar amount for ducting/junctions/gates and the DC enclosure, as you will for eh DC.

Regarding room air filters, this once again depends on
- the size of the shed
- the number of users.
- whether you require a completely dust free area to apply finishes.
- does your shed have refrigerated air condition or require heating in winter.

To be effective Standard shed air filters will cope with a couple of users in about 2500 cuft of shed space.
In our men's shed we figured we would need at least 6 room air filters.
In this case it might make more sense to set up a small dust free space/room to apply finishes and just purchase a large ventilation fan or use the evap air con fan if you have one for ventilation.

[fenderbelly]

Kryn, The saw stops for no apparent reason. you wait a couple of minutes press the stop button to make sure its off at the switch,
then you use the pusher to rotate the blade and it will start again.
We've changed the blade but the problem persists.
BobL, we don't have heating or cooling at all.
I like your idea of one big extractor.

ian, we have a sliding compound mitre saw.

I will try to arrange some instruction on the chisels.

Thanks all, good starting points I think. will get shed size tomorrow.

ian

[ian]

Kryn, The saw stops for no apparent reason. you wait a couple of minutes press the stop button to make sure its off at the switch,
then you use the pusher to rotate the blade and it will start again.
We've changed the blade but the problem persists.one of the techy leckies will know the likely answer but my guess is that there is something seriously not right with the motor

[BobL]

Kryn, The saw stops for no apparent reason. you wait a couple of minutes press the stop button to make sure its off at the switch,
then you use the pusher to rotate the blade and it will start again.
We've changed the blade but the problem persists.


I assume the saw has a single phase motor?
The fact that rotating the blade allows it to start suggests the centrifugal switch inside the motor has a problem or the START capacitor is gone.

But that doesn't explain why it stops as neither of those should prevent it from keeping running.

It could be that the RUN capacitor is also gone, this would overheat the motor and then it would trip out.
Check if the motor gets hot, if so do not run the motor this way or you will eventually damage it,

[barnsey]

One might suggest that the operating procedures, safety and admin procedures are not adequate if this is happening and someone needs to step up to the plate! someone gets hurt in that environment and the insurance will walk away.
Just putting it out there.

[fenderbelly]

We think we have solved the problem of the table saw.
The drive belts were really worn, we fitted two new belts and a new blade and it sounds as sweet as.
At this stage we have only tried it on small stuff but we will have to wait until we get a bigger job before we try on something bigger.

Thanks for all your suggestions

[Sawdust Maker]

To hazard a guess the 2 most used pieces of equipment at my men's shed is the tablesaw and the thicky (and probably the SCMS)

Do you have a thicky? detector
Metal is a must - ours lives on the thicky

get the saw fixed - we're seriously looking at the sawstop (some of the saw usuage makes me cringe, and that's only when I actually see what they are doing) The idea is that if you (the member) trips the mechanism than you fork out for a new one

We also have a linisher/disc sander which gets a lot of use

I agree with the dusty outside, we have one of those big ones with a purpose built shedette attached to the main shed.

we tend to get a lot of old tools given to us so get a constant supply of old chisels etc eg titans bergs etc
I'd suggest a good sharpening system but most of the members won't be able to use it properly anyway (eg someone dressed our alox wheel which now has a severe camber on it)

[HUON]

Do you have a drill press and a bandsaw ? or even some good chunky workbenches ?

[fenderbelly]

we have two drill presses and a band saw, also an assortment of benches

:2tsup:

[dazzler]

What do they build would direct what's needed I reckon.

Are they building 4x2 benches, Greene and Greene side tables or something in the middle?

Maybe ask what they wish for the future.

Sounds your dust collection is sorted. Leave one at each major price and build a cyclone for each (good project)

Get the TS setup correctly and build a bunch of jigs/sleds so they have repeatable accuracy.

Mitre saw station and good blades.

Tormek sharpener and everyone learn how to use it.

Sounds like a fun project.


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[Chris Parks]

My suggestion for what it is worth is to visit other sheds and see what they have done. Why the sudden interest in woodworking tools and will the new tools be abused and misused as has happened in the past. The first thing that should happen is an education program to stop that happening but good luck with that, grown men know everything.