MN Woodshop

Another angle of the Maker Nexus woodshop

About the Maker Nexus woodshop

We have a full woodshop on site. Members take classes to gain certification to use the equipment on their own to build everything from turned pens up to large furniture. We feature a wide variety of hand and power tools, including a SawStop table saw and a 4x4' Shopbot CNC router. Various tables can be used for glue-ups and work assembly. We use mobile dust collectors and ShopVacs to help keep the area tidy.

Non-members may take skill or project-based classes to learn how to use the equipment as well.

Education

Woodworking Camp

Available Tools

Bandsaws

Band Saws

• Jet JWBS-14CS 14" Woodworking Band Saw
• Grizzly G0511 20" Heavy-Duty Bandsaw

Bandsaw tips

Drill Presses

• Delta 17-900 Drill Press
• Delta 11-990 Benchtop Drill Press
• PowerMatic Drill Press

Jointer

Powermatic 60 B 8" Jointer

Woodshop lathes

Lathes

• Nova DVR XP Woodlathe
• Jet 1014 Mini Lathes (4)

Advice on wood lathe use

Miter saws

Miter Saws

DeWalt 12" Sliding Compound Miter Saw

Mortiser

Powermatic PM701 Benchtop Mortiser

Planer

Powermatic PM180 18" Planer

Scroll Saw

DeWalt DW788 20" Variable-Speed Scroll Saw

SawStop table saw

Table Saw

SawStop cabinet table saw

We have a: SawStop Professional 3HP Table Saw. Please read that page on how to not trigger the saw brake inadvertently.

Please see our table saw safety notes.

Panel saw, router tables, ShopBot CNC

Router Table

• We have 1/4" and 1/2" collets

Bosch Router

CNC Router

ShopBot

We have a 4x4 ShopBot. We have a dedicated page for the Shopbot

We have a license to the makerspace edition of Vetric V-Carve. To activate your copy use the license key found in this document on our GSuite file share.

Various hand tools

Manual Tools

• Screwdrivers and bits
• Wrenches
• Pliers
• Chisels
• Rulers
• Machinist squares
• Saws
• Clamps

Fasteners

• Screws
• Nails
• Dowels

Hand Power Tools

• Drills
• Drivers
• Routers
  • Plunge Router
  • Fixed Base Router
  • Trim Router
• Sanders
  • Random Orbit Sander
  • Belt Sander
• Sawzall
• Skilsaw

When using the battery powered tools, always pull a fresh battery off the charger (and put any battery previously attached to the tool onto that same charger) when you start to use a tool. That way, regardless of what pattern other people are following, you always start off with a fresh battery, and at least one other fully-charged battery will be available for the next person who needs one.

Downdraft table, spindle sanders, belt sander

Sanders

• Jet JWDS-1632 16" Drum Sander
• Belt & Disc Sander
• Spindle Sander

Dust Control

Many woodworking tools produce fine dust, which can be both a breathing hazard and a potential fire hazard. Sawdust and other debris on floors can also be a slipping hazard. At Maker Nexus we employ a number of measures to mitigate these hazards.

Hoses from our central dust collectors connect to various machines in the Wood Shop to suck up dust as it is created and filter it out of the air. When using machines connected to the dust collectors, aways check to see that the air intakes are drawing effectively.

Our air filtration units can continuously circulate the air in the shop, filtering out dust not picked up by the dust collectors. A home-built air quality monitoring system incorporating multiple particle counters will control the air filtration units and also allow us to keep a record of air quality in the shop.

We have several shop vacs (as well as dust cloths, brooms, and mops) for members to use to clean their work areas and the surrounding floor. When using tools that require reservations, remember to stop work in time to use the last portion of your reserved time slot—not the beginning of the next person's time—for clean-up.

Finally, when you are using a machine that generates a lot of dust, or when particularly dusty operations are going on in the shop, we recommend—and may sometimes require—that you wear a dust mask.

Dust Collectors

When you turn off a dust collector, after it spins down, turn the beater handle through 3-4 complete rotations to knock free any material that has been pulled tight against the filter paper. If you don't do that, the filters get clogged and CFM goes down, and air quality suffers. (The beater handle is the metal handle that hangs down from the top of the filter.)

• Jet DC-1200VX Dust Collector
• Powermatic PM1900 Dust Collector

Air Filtration

Jet AFS-2000 Air Filtration Units

Personal Protection

Faceshield with airflow TREND AIR PRO Airshield Faceshield