Thread: any suggestions

You have quite a challenge ahead of you...I hope you can get the help you need... as for the cast iron thicknesser table... clean it off with a bit of turps and when dry, give it a spray with furniture polish and a buff up with a cloth...do it regularly and you will have no problems.. Some use camellia oil.

Regards,

Chipman

Like chipman said one hell of a challenge, as for the cast iron clean it off as chipman said then use silverglide, stops rust and dosen't interfere with the finish of the timber

I spent ten years as the technology guy at a school for multiply handicapped in Melbourne, similar clientele but for 2 through to 18YO. My end of the deal was primarily AV, adaptive technology, mobility and computers but we had two guys who were maintenance and bus drivers. Spent some time in general building maint, some time making and modifying special furniture for the kids, some time with the buses, etc.

A few years before I finished up, some of the senior kids were doing smaller projects with hand tools and assistance where needed. They were also experiencing using power drills and sanders etc with a lot of hands on supervision and some shared or assisted control of the tools.

As a school, one of the priorities with the kids was teaching them to control things with external switches wherever they did not have the ability to operate them directly, so we had a fairly wide range of switches, power boxes etc to draw on for them. I put together a few AND switch boxes so that the if it came to power tools, the supervisor and student both had to operate their switches for the tools to work, so the system gave the superviser full control over whether equipment would operate at any given moment.

For the uninitiated, these switching channels all operate at 5-9V dc 10mA max, and control mains equipment via an electronic system using relays or solidstate relays to supply or interupt power. The mains boxes are enclosed, fused, have a corded mains lead input and provide switched mains via a GPO on top of the box. They are also type aproved for the purpose and cost a pretty penny.

The kids got a lot of pleasure out of participating in these activities, and experiencing operating tools etc. However, all of the high risk shop tools in the workshop were locked OFF whenever the students were in the workshop.

With similar gear and an appropriate level of supporting/supervising staff, I am sure that Jarraman can increase direct involvement for some of the people involved, extending to the drills, sanders, possibly feeding into thicknesser and steadying boards coming out etc. Unfortunately, in many cases it would probably involve 1 on 1 support and supervision so this might limit the number of participants at any time.

Also if you have comp air available, some people with limited movement but reasonable control might be able to use a palm nailer instead of a hammer for nailing.

Thank you all for your support. Will try the the dressings for the bench top. MALB I suspect you know exactly where I am coming from. I oversee a team of support workers so 1:1 is not out of the question. We already incorporate various forms of safety switches and oversight is a constant. I guess the whole point is enabling involvement at some level in terms of meaningful engagement in a project. I have worked with these guys for 5 years but only recently taken on the woodwork shop due to staff changes etc. I have a background in woodwork at hobby level and am an ex- farmer i.e. pragmatic thinker. It never ceases to amaze me just what can be achieved with the right attitude and willingness.
cheers all and thanks for being there

I am starting a disabled lad (with his support worker) in my shed. I found out that he likes to sand. He is not allowed to use any power tools except a sander. I got an old chair and a wine rack at a garage sale for $3. I will direct him on sanding them back. Most kids have something they are good at. I am a qualifed aged care support worker but I no longer work in the field. I volunteer in an area that I prefer.

I found this inspirational. http://www.erikoriginals.com/news.php

Good luck and worth doing - good on you.

Mike

Jarraman, More than happy to hop in with a few ideas or explaination of what I have come accross, particularly as it might help your people develop some more interests and activities. We had a fair propotion of CP kids and a couple of ABI ones, as a baseline our CP people were the more able by far.

I am assuming at this point that you either have access to switches/powerboxes etc or figure that they might not be relevant in your setting. If you need any info on that sort of stuff, PM me and I will do what i can for you in the way of answers, links etc.

The forum also has a Woodworkers with disabilities section which might be usefull for you. http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...play.php?f=142

Best of luck.
Mal