On Friday in class, we learned how to use two power tools (a bandsaw and a drill press) and tried them out on our own by making keychains. For both of the machines, we are only allowed to use them when we are under Amy's or Jamie's direct supervision and if we are wearing our safety goggles.
To use a bandsaw, one must first determine if the material that is to be cut is thick enough for the machine to cut through. In order to cut through a material, the material must be at least three teeth on the blade tall and it can only be wood, plastic, or some types of metal (aluminum is fine; stainless steel is not). First, one must adjust the height of the safety foot so that the material can fit in between the table and the foot comfortably. To do so, there are two knobs on the back of the machine - one is used to loosen/tighten the safety foot and the other is used to draw it up or down. After it has been determined that the drill press is suitable for cutting the material and that the safety foot is properly placed and secured, one must ensure that their fingers are not in or around the yellow circle near the blade and then they must turn on the machine. Now, to guide the material toward the blade, it would be a bad idea to use one's own fingers because if those are cut off, it would be very painful and since we are not starfish and our limbs do not grow back, one would have to live a life without fingers.
In order to avoid this terrible fate, one must use a block of "sacrificial wood" to push the material that will be cut towards the blade. Using this means that if anything were to go wrong, the wood would get cut and not one's own fingers. Crisis averted. Mission accomplished.
Some benefits to using a bandsaw are that one can cut a large variety of materials with a single tool. The bandsaw also cuts quickly and cleanly. However, it cannot cut any dramatic curves - the blade would brake if one tried to cut out anything more than a slight curve. Another drawback to the tool is that it can dismember one's body via accidental amputation of the fingers.
To use a drill press, one must make sure that the drill in the machine is the size they want their intended hole to be. To replace the drill, one must use a monkey wrench-like tool to unscrew the teeth in the machine and release the drill in place and then one must put the new drill bit in and tighten the teeth using the same tool. Then, put the material which will soon have a hole in it into a vice so that it does not move around and so that one's precious fingers can be saved in case of any accidents. Finally, turn on the drill press and slowly lower it into the material and then bring it up. This allows the material being drilled away to escape from the drill bit. Continue this process until the drill bit reaches the other side of the material.
Some benefits to using the drill press are that it can create holes of varying sizes, depending on the drill bit used. It can also create holes in very specific places if those places are slightly indented beforehand so that the drill bit finds them easily. However, they only make circular holes, which may not be useful for every project.
I wanted my keychain to look like a domino, but I realized that there was no "router" tool that could create grooves in the metal, so I settled for a square with two dots in it. However, due to my poor estimation skills, my square turned out to be a very clear rectangle and my dots ended up being very far away from where they would be on an actual domino. In order to salvage my masterpiece, I rounded three out of the four edges on the keychain and renamed it "one of those text message bubbles on the iPhone," which, coincidentally, it actually looks like.
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