The number of down tools right now is an aberration, but you’re right that we have a lack of preventative maintenance. That’s largely due to too few people trying to do too much work - there’s a big backlog and emergencies always go to the front of the line. If nobody reports a dull tool, it’s not going to be looked at.
@cfstaley has done a ton of work in the past few months to grow the volunteer steward corps and it’s just now starting to pay off. I don’t have new processes to share just yet, but I think our uptime (especially in the wood shop) will be a lot better in 2022.
To speak to the machine problems you raised:
- the miter saw we’ve had an eye on, but it just kicked the bucket today. There’s a problem report thread with the resolution. We have a new one ordered; it should arrive Friday.
- the planer we know needs a thorough cleaning and calibration. There’s a problem report thread with current status. I don’t know yet who’s signed up for that job.
- the jointer was reported I think early last week as having problems. @cfstaley looked into it and it’s at its mechanical limits - it’s just worn out to the point where it can’t be adjusted back into spec. We didn’t red-tag it because it’s still better than it has been for a while. A new jointer has been ordered and is expected to ship this week. I think woodshop users will be quite happy with it.
- table saw problems are news to me, and the symptom is a little perplexing. At 7.5HP, it’s wildly overpowered for a 10" blade. You could probably crosscut without any teeth at all. @cfstaley has plans to replace the center table but that wouldn’t contribute to the symptom you’re reporting.
- The drum sander feed motor burned out again. Poor comms on this is our bad - there was a discussion via email that I didn’t notice wasn’t a Discourse thread. A new drum sander is in transit, expected to arrive next week (but the drum sander is a poor substitute for a planer – this is likely a contributing factor to motor burnout)
We’re beginning to feel we have an education problem here too. The woodshop safety class was intended to be a quick so we could get new members up and running quickly and not overtax the instructor corps, but maybe that was a false economy.
You’re right that we could really use a shop status dashboard-type view. The official policy of updating Discourse threads with machine problems is really annoying for casual users. @cfstaley has created problem report and maintenance log processes that we’ll be launching soon to help get problems resolved faster and build backing data for real-time (ish) status reporting.
Thank you for your interest in helping out! @cfstaley will loop you in on upcoming volunteer oppertunities.