Woodshop Tips: Amplifying Your Shop Phone
George VondriskaDescription
Have you ever missed a telephone call in your workshop because you had one or more power tools running that drowned out the sound of the phone ringing in the background? This is a frustration that many woodworkers share. At times this can lead to a minor inconvenience, and in other situations the ramifications of a missed call could be quite serious. Upgrade your shop with a new telecommunication convenience using this latest addition to Woodworkers Guild of America’s arsenal of woodshop tips.
George Vondriska has done some research to help remedy this situation in his shop, and he has come up with a device that can greatly decrease the odds of missing a call while woodworking. The device utilizes a 120 db ringer, plus a strobe light to get the attention of people in the shop, even with one or more machines running. This allows woodworkers to either receive the call, or call back when a particular power tool operation is complete.
Learn even more woodshop tips that can help you take your shop to the next level with Woodworkers Guild of America.
I bet you have the same problem I do, which is when you're using tools in the shop, all right, you can stop it now, Jenny . I didn't know. All right, when you're using tools in the shop, you can't hear the phone ring, and I catch a lot of grief on this from my kids all the time. I called, and I called, and I called. You didn't answer the phone.
Well geez, if you're running a router, even a shop vacuum, certainly a planer, dust collector, have hearing protection on, it's impossible to hear 'em. So here's the deal: you can get phone amplifiers and strobes like this at a variety of places. Just Google it, they've got it on Amazon. They're not that expensive. It plugs into the phone line and then your phone, in turn, can plug into this so it doesn't cost you a phone.
This is 120 decibels of audio, so it's very loud. Then it's also got the strobe to help get your attention. Now, it relies on having a hard phone line, not a cell signal. So you've gotta have a regular phone line coming into your shop, but for me, it's a great addition to make sure that when I'm in the shop and kids, like Jenny, call me, that I can hear the phone ring and make sure I get it right away so I don't miss a single call from Jenny. Check 'em out online.
Do you know of a strobe light that will work with a smartphone? I found one that had a cradle to put the phone in, but the lights did not look very bright. I'm looking for one mounted on the wall, like in this video. Haven't had any luck. Thanks, Don McBride