To use the drill press (or any other tool in the Red Zone), you need to be trained in person by the lab manager, Brandon Stafford. Reading this page is a good start, but it does not grant you permission to operate the machine.
General safety procedures
The drill press is in the Red Zone, so you should be following all of the Red Zone safety procedures in the Nolop Safety Policy. This means stuff like wearing safety glasses, non-loose clothing, and the like. Read the full policy for the details.
Safety procedures specific to the drill press
- Clamp the thing you’re drilling. You might think that you can just hold it steady with your hand. That might be true with really small bits at low speed. Do not take the risk.
- Only adjust the speed while the drill press is running. It has a continuously adjustable transmission inside; if you adjust it while the drill press is off, the belt might break when you turn it on. (Here’s what the mechanism looks like, if you’re interested.)
- Make sure the table is level and locked. If you need to adjust the table height, unlock the table first, or you will break the rack that lifts the table.