Page 12 - Wood Review Dec 202 Full issue

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT
Tools That Talk
Duncan Meerding looks at adaptive technologies for those with visual impairment.
For the last 14 years I have been operating as a designer maker of lighting and furniture in Hobart, Tasmania. I have less than 5% vision concentrated around the periphery, meaning
I am legally blind. This does create a range of challenges as a practitioner and means I often do things in a different way utilising more jigs or other pieces of assistive technology.
This article will discuss a few ways I set things up for some more basic operations and also look how my tablesaw and thickness planer now have a ‘talking’ digital read out system.
First things first
To start with, the key thing I do when I approach a machine is to make sure it is isolated from the power and use an off-cut or push stick to make sure it’s not in motion. I then cross-check the stop is on, or the tool is unplugged from the wall for smaller hand held tools. Once I have confirmed that the machine is in this stage I set up ready for the cut. For simple things like cutting up panels or drawers I use a range of talking or tactile tools.
The click rule
For fitting shelves or drawer runners I would often use a talking tape measure. This is only accurate to 1 to 2mm tolerance so for greater accuracy I would cut oversize and reduce the size of stock incrementally by ‘kissing’ the blade. This is what I did for many years, as the talking calipers I have are a bit limiting due to size.
In steps a device I discovered a few years ago via Woodworking for the Blind (ww4b.org). The click rule is great for transcription measuring. The main clicking part looks like a piece of threaded rod with a flat surface ground onto it which then inserts into a tubular piece of aluminium. A bolt for lock-off goes through the rod and intersects with the threads, and this is what creates the sound and feel of the clicking.
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Australian Wood Review
Above: Hobart designer maker Duncan Meerding in his workshop.
From left:
Talking tape measures are good but not as accurate as click rules.
Using a depth stop
to measure in 10mm increments on the tablesaw which has a digital read-out and mini computer fitted to it.
The click rule in action.