Can you contact any local shops and see if you can bring a load of boards down and have them planed? Have the students mark the thickness needed, then have the shop plane them for you.

 

There are worse things to grade students on than their ability to clean up. Honestly, some people might say a student's ability to take care of their workspace is more important than their ability to do the actual work.

Think about it this way, would you rather have a very productive coworker who leaves moldy yogurt in the break room fridge and trash on the table or an unproductive coworker who respects the break room? I'm not paying his salary…

 

WibblyPig not a bad idea. I will take a look online and try to find some shops close enough to do this.

WoodenOyster I understand your point. Cleanup is very important, which is why I assign a weekly participation grade for it that [typically] is a balanced portion of their final grade. At the end of the day (or grading period) you should have something to show for your time, right?

I don't know… i guess its just a matter of opinion, but I feel bad basing an entire marking period on how well they cleaned up.

 

If the two planers you have now are the same brand/similar model will the motor from the newer one fit the older one?

 

I like Steve's idea of contacting local shops. You might find someone who appreciates youngsters that are interested in the trade and would do it for you.

Even though you can't have them all planing their stock down, could you do some sort of short introduction to hand tools, maybe with some hands on demonstrations? I don't know if you do anything like that, but if a kid is truly interested in woodworking, and hasn't experienced the joy of using a well tuned plane or a brace and bit, they should.

Edit : How much planing needs to be done? There may be a LJ near Pittsburgh to help. If I weren't 5 hours away, I'd offer.

 

Sounds like quite the predicament, what's the lead time on getting the new planer & having it ready to run?

 

Can you rent/lease a planer to get by until the new one arrives?

 

You might wanna contact the Rockler store in Pittsburg. I think if you explain your situation, they would be glad to let yall use their shop to plane boards. Just a thought on that one. Which planer did you end up going with? As far as the grading goes, you could always have them write a paper (Laughing). Thought you might like that idea. LOL

 

It might even be possible to swap motors between the two broken machines even if they are different brands. One company makes almost all those motors and they are very similar. I would bet they are similar enough that the armature and brush parts from one would just plug right into the other.

If your school has an automotive shop, perhaps they could help.

Or, perhaps you could contact the supplier of your new machine and explain the situation and get some help with expedited shipment.

 

The other consideration is just have them complete the projects with the wood as is. You don't say if they're making birdhouses or Adirondack chairs or Chippendale highboys, so planing maybe rough sawn is appropriate. If not they can always sand.

 

I taught for 30 yrs. Science, not what you do but similar things do come up. Explain to the students what has happened. Indicate that part of the grade will be on this quarter's report card and a second one will be on next quarter. Then look at each student and grade them liberally this time as it's not all their fault. Be more critical next time. Of course getting the wood planed someplace would be the best solution.

If I were you, for future reference, on a project that takes up a whole quarter's evaluation pretty much, I'd provide grades for different steps of progress. i.e…. An oral or written understanding of the project. A diagram of the project with all measurements. A list or understanding of how to use the tools that will be needed. An evaluation for when all materials are cut to size, for example. Grading on just a few things or only when the item is completed leads to these types of problems. And it's fairer to the student as many of them have different levels of ability to finish a project at a high a level as some others. A student might be great at diagraming or using some tools but have a bear of a time getting some cut lengths perfect. We all have our talents and disabilities.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, it really does give me a few avenues to explore. the project is a DVD/Video game shelf focusing on different joinery methods (Dado, Tongue & Groove, Mortise & Tenon) and really requires using the planer:

most of the kids have the sides and back piece created, and we always save the shelves for last. I suppose we can have them use rough stock and custom fit each individual piece, but I doubt we would meet the deadline for the 3rd marking period.

dhazelton - good idea but the "new" one was only 6 months old… i already took it back to HD. They don't have any in stock so I got a store credit, and I can't justify $400 for another junk machine.

bigblockyeti - delivery should be somewhere within two weeks i believe. End of the grading period is March 26.

Andy - it may come to that… times like these I wish I had a fully loaded shop at home, problem is I can't afford one on a teacher's salary!

Hoss - you know my failures at trying to get my students to write… why bring it up again?! LOL saslt in a sore wound… I do like the possibility of planing a few boards at Rockler.. the store is 5 mins from my house.

Crank49 - Auto shop has gone the way of the Dodo… its only offered now at the Vo-tech school that our kids are bused to. ugh.

Crafstman on the Lake - Thanks for your input. I have a feeling if none of the above suggestions work, I'll be going easy on them this go around. I always try to break down project into 3 items - 1. Progress 2. Process & 3. Product. That way if they are learning the new processes and trying to make progress, they can't fail if they have a really bad final product.

 

I am sure that as we work in our shops we have all had that head scratching moment where we have had to come up with an idea of how to overcome an obstacle. Maybe use this as an oppertunity, and ask the students to come up with a creative woodworking solution to overcome this problem. They still might not get the project finished, but you would have other performance criteria to grade them on. Remember that part of woodworking is problem solving.

 

If the shelves are all that is left what if you adjust the plan and add a different technique…
plywood shelves with a edgeband veneer or plywood shelf and quasi faceframe?

 

Tooch, what did you end up doing?

 

I was talking to a friend about this, he told me I could borrow his planer as long as I put new blades on it. Not a bad trade.

the worst part was- while changing out the blades I was wiping machine oil off the new ones and the blade slipped right through the towel and halfway through my finger. ouch!

Still waiting on the new planer, for now this is a great interim though.

 

Tooch, my thumb can relate!!! Sliced it open on a planer blade last week, just takes a week or so to heal…..

 

haha yeah those things are scary sharp. half way into my finger I realized what was happening but my brain couldn't tell my arm to stop moving quick enough….

the direction of the cut was more of a diagonal, so I was able to compress the flap of skin back down and make a *********************************** bad-aide out of paper towels and tape.