Power Tools

Overview

Users should familiarize themselves with the power tools safety rules and procedures.
 

Band Saw Safety Rules

1. Always wear safety glasses/goggles.
2. Never cut materials with your hands or fingers in front of the blade.
3. Always use the proper blade speed for the materials you are cutting.
4. USE CAUTION! Chips, parts, and scraps are sharp until de-burred.
5. Always use push sticks.
6. Always set the guard as close as possible to the thickness of the material.
7. Always keep clear of the blade. It will cut even if it is not moving.
8. Do not try to cut very small parts on the band saw.
9. Use a vise to hold round stock securely.
    

Drill Press Safety Rules

1. Always wear safety glasses/goggles.
2. Always run the drill press at the proper cutting speed, appropriate to the material and drill bit size.
3. Hold your work in a vise or clamp to the table. Use the correct clamping pressure.
4. Use cutting oil if necessary.
5. Remove chips with a brush, NEVER by hand.
6. Take note of the “feel” of the drilling operation: too much pressure packs the drill; too little pressure dulls it.
7. Do not use a dull, chipped, or broken drill bit.
8. Try to support the work on parallels when drilling.
9. Never attempt to clean the machine while it is in motion.
10. When drilling deep holes, withdraw the drill and clear out chips frequently.
11. Remove the chuck key from the drill chuck immediately after using.
     

Grinder/Sander Safety Rules

1. Always wear safety glasses/goggles/face-shield.
2. NEVER grind any material other than steel on the grinders marked ‘Steel Only’.
3. Do not use a machine if the tool rest is more than 1/16th inch away from the wheel.
4. Never grind on the side of the grinding wheel.
5. Move your work piece back and forth across the face of the grinding wheel to keep from wearing grooves in the wheel.
6. Always stand to one side when starting the grinder: if the wheel breaks apart, it comes straight out of the machine.
7. Keep the grinding wheel properly dressed and the tool rest adjusted.
8. Always hold your work securely while grinding.
9. Keep your work piece cool when grinding by hand by quenching it in a water bath frequently to prevent burns to fingers.
10. Never use a grinder if its guards are missing or damaged.
11. Never sand thin stock flat on the belt sander.
     

Machine Shop Drilling and Tapping Procedures

Always wear safety glasses/goggles.

Size charts and thread gauges - We have several size charts mounted around the machine shop that display many types of information about drill bits, clearance holes for bolts, and tap sizes.  We also have thread gauges, screw-in gauges, and various other tools to measure English and metric size bolts and nuts.

Different ways of drilling – Drilling may be accomplished by hand, drill press, lathe, or mill.  All methods require that the work piece be held securely in a vice or by clamps.

Parts of a drill bit – Shank, web, flutes, land, cutting edge, point or tip

Larger size drills and hard materials need slower drilling and feed speeds.

Steps for drilling accurate holes - layout, punch, starter or center drill, bore under-size hole, and then ream to size

Counter sink and counter bore – Counter sinking and counter boring are ways of removing material to allow the fastener to be flush with the surface of the work piece.  Counter sinking is an angled cut matching the angle under the fastener head (usually 82 degrees).  Counter boring is a straight cut hole matching the diameter of the fastener head (Allen or hex).

Tapping - always use cutting fluid appropriate for the work piece material.

Taps - Starting, plug, and bottoming
Starting – Used for the initial tapping operation.  The end of the tap has very gradual teeth to help keep the tap straight and to slowly begin cutting.
Plug – Used to complete the tapping process for a through hole.
Bottoming – Used to complete tapping either a through or blind hole.

Pipe taps – Used to form commonly used pipe threads for liquids and gases.  Standard threads are referred to as NPT (national pipe taper).  Variations are: NPTF (fuel), NPS (straight), NPSF (fuel), and NPSM (straight mechanical) threads.

Different ways to tap - by hand – using a tap wrench – employ the chip breaking method when tapping a hole by reversing the tap wrench (half turn) to break the chips after every two or three forward turns.

By machine – Using a tapping head on either a mill or drill press

Threading dies – Used for threading machine threads or pipe threads after material is turned to the proper diameter (tapered for most pipe threads).  Dies need to be held in the matching die handle for an accurate thread.