Hey, I’ve been noticing in Skedda that woodshop courses will be booked as taking up anywhere from 4 to 6 tables. (Today, for example, Woodshop safety has booked ALL THE TABLES.) I want to use the woodshop today, and woodshop safety is definitely not actually using all the tables, but I don’t really understand procedure around this. Do I just go in, not booking time in this particular instance?
I know that woodshop safety does not actually use 6 tables because I’ve taken it, but what about other woodshop classes?
The spots are blocked Sunday Morning and Wednesday evenings. Is done so the class moves along (not having to wait for someone to get off the machine) as quick as possible. It also helps that there is no activity going around, noise, or other distractions. This gives the persons taking the class all the opportunity to get 100% of the content out of the class. It also makes it safer as moving a group of people from machine to machine would be very hard if there was the normal ammount of people using the shop. Now having said that, you could go in and ask the instructor for permission if what you’re working on is not intrusive while the class is going on. Keep in mind if giving them the courtesy and the class will always have the priority. I know is a PITA at times but in your planning keep that in mind. Also, there are times that even though there is a class scheduled there are no participants. Very rare though. Glad to hear people want to make dust and get their money’s worth :).
As Jose said we book all six slots on Skedda during Woodshop Safety to give students uninterrupted access to the tools while they’re learning. You are still able to book the woodshop for other uses (for example, you can book the artisan workbench if you will only be using hand tools). The wood lathes, CNC, Shaper Origin, etc. are all available during these times as well.
We do understand that this is an inconvenience but safety (especially during our introductory/safety classes) is our main priority. Shop uptime is also taken very seriously, and do our best to cluster classes together to minimize interruption. Woodshop Safety is scheduled at the same times every week (Wednesdays 6:30-9:00PM and Sundays 9:00-11:30AM) so that members can predictably work around them. We also generally book Skedda for classes 4-6 weeks in advance so there should be no surprises.
As a reminder, you cannot use any of the tools in the woodshop without a Skedda booking—thank you for asking and for understanding.
What I want to use is just the drills, the pocket hole jig, and the orbital sanders, which (to my knowledge) require you to book normal tables, since they are power tools. I suppose I’ll just ask the instructor or figure out how to fit it in tomorrow. I doubt me drilling, sanding, and screwing together wood would be disruptive to the class.