Unit introduction
This fellow has lots of automated equipment on the framing line to help him make timber wall frames. But he still uses a range of hand-held tools to do the finicky jobs, and to maintain a high level of quality control over the finished products.
The timber industry has plenty of equipment that is built on a very large scale, including breakdown saws, truss presses and all sorts of heavy machines. But the industry also uses a wide variety of tools at the other end of the spectrum. These are the hand-held tools that allow people to work directly with the wood products being produced, and to service the big machines.
So regardless of the mechanisation that is occurring in the industry, and the continuing development of automated machines to handle processing jobs, there will always be a central role for hand-held tools, just as there will always be a need for skilled workers to be directly involved in the production process.
In this unit, we'll look at some of the common hand-held tools used in the timber industry. We'll also examine the different forms of energy used to power the tools, including: mains electricity, compressed air, rechargeable batteries, and of course, old-fashioned hand power.
Assessment
The information presented in this unit will help prepare you for assessment in the competency: FPICOT2219A: Use hand-held tools. You should note that the competency itself is very practical in nature, and the main focus of the formal assessment will be your ability to actually use a range of hand-held tools correctly, efficiently and safely. However, you will also need to show that you have developed a good understanding of the principles involved. This unit will help you with that background knowledge.
'Hand tools' and 'power tools'
Throughout the unit, we'll use the term 'hand tools' to refer to manually powered tools, and 'power tools' when there is an additional source of power involved. The big difference between a power tool, in this sense, and a fixed 'static' machine is that although both of them use a separate energy source, the power tool needs an operator to physically hold it and control its movements.
Working through this unit
There are two sections in the unit Using hand-held tools:
- Types of hand-held tools.
- Operating power tools.
Each section begins with Your job, which introduces you to the topics covered and gives you a link to the Task you will need to undertake to demonstrate your understanding. Your trainer may ask you to submit the completed Tasks as part of your assessment evidence for the unit.
Select the link below to go to the first section for this unit.