[phrontist]

We have to have a non-student around. Doesn't matter who. Anyone. We usually just grab someone old-looking until they wander off, then grab another. Lather, rinse, repeat. All these complex saftey rules are a bit melodramatic. As long as you have some common sense, and you think before you act, you'll be find. Honestly, how bloody hard is it to operate a mill without hurting yourself? It's a rapidly spinning sharp peice of metal, and as long as your mindful of this very complex situation before you, I think you'll make it out alive.

We received our mill very recently, and no one knew how to use it, mentors included. But it's really just like an Etch-A-Sketch, but with metal and danger. A few trips to the library later (early seventies milling textbooks seem to be written by the most bitter and unpleasent people ever) and we're having a blast covered in (cutting) oil, like baby seals around the Exxon Valdez. Bada bing baby!