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Thread: One of those days...
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3rd November 2006, 06:41 PM #1
One of those days...
Well... it's been one of those days.
A mate had started on a couple of end-grain breadboards, laminated up from 2" lengths of 1"x2" stock, and asked me to thickness them. OK... but as both top'n'bottom were wonky I thought that instead of packing them on a sled to run through a thicknesser I'd make my version of Scooters' router sled and flatten one side before running 'em though the thicknesser. A sheet of MDF, a couple of chassis rails, make up the sled... what? Lunch already? Back from lunch, clamp in the pieces and spent about an hour flattening both breadboards. Hmmm... a little bit of tearout, only to be expected when routing end-grain. Nothing that can't be fixed with some judicious sanding. Ahhh... but will the thicknesser be any better? Not to worry, if it's too bad I can flatten the other side on the router sled as well.
(That's as good as the day got. From there on, it's all downhill.)
Go to run 'em through the thicknesser and spot that they're exactly 5mm too wide for the blades. :mad: Hang on... if I turn them 90° and run 'em through so the glue-lines are parallel to the blade, they'll just fit! So this silly bugger fires 'er up and does just that. Set the height to start, power it up, feed the first piece into the roller and am just pulling my hand back from the wood when... BANG! CLUNK! and the breadboard (which can be measured in Kg) comes flying back out the feed, hitting me square across the palm, forcefully knocking my arm out of the way before bouncing around off the walls and floor. (Thank God I was standing to one side at the time!)
Worse, the thicknesser is making a god-awful CLACKETY-CLACKETY-CLACKETY-CLUNK-CLACKETY type noise. Killed it pronto and, while it's winding down with thankfully increasingly quieter CLICKETY-CLUNKS, pick up the breadboard... which had broken across one glue up line and was now sporting some truly 'orrible dings. The thicknesser stops, so I look up inside and there's the rest of the breadboard, in pieces of assorted shapes'n'sizes. Along with a couple of the knives hanging at awkward angles. I've a nasty feeling one may not be in one piece, either... but I couldn't bring myself to have a closer look just yet. Some things are better left for another day.
So, 'twas pushed to the side of the shop for "future attention" while I set up the router sled again and finished the other board, then tried salvaging the first. That's when I noticed that somewhere along the line the router had skewed from horizontal and was making triangular trenches. Re-align that, finish flattening off and out comes the belt-sander to remedy the latest of todays' blunders. 40 grit seemed about right... and with a bit of elbow grease did a beautiful job. Something finally going right! Worked through the grits down to 120 before switching to the ROS and... sparks throwing out the side of the belt. [sigh] Adjust the tracking and... nup, still sparks. A bit more adjustment, try again, a bit more and... the tracking knob comes off in my hand. Spent another half an hour trying to thread it back on, with absolutely no success, so that went to sit next to the thicknesser too. I picked up the belt from where I'rd removed it while trying to replace the knob and promptly noticed that the glue line was askew... there was no way I'd have ever got it tracking! Why didn't I notice it when it mattered?
I shelved the idea of doing a final sand with the ROS, I just can't afford to lose that today too!
During all of this, the palm of my hand had been tingling like the blazes from where the wood hit me. Not painful, more like just the palm of my hand had gone to sleep. It's 3 hours later and all I have to show for the whole days work are two buggered bread-boards, a thicknesser and belt-sander in dire need of repairs, a router sled that needs work to hold things more securely and a palm that's only just beginning to sting like the buggeries... which is a welcome change to hours of numbness.
Something tells me I'm also going to have a doctor's bill tomorrow.
What a day! [shakes head]
- Andy Mc
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3rd November 2006 06:41 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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3rd November 2006, 06:46 PM #2
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3rd November 2006, 06:54 PM #3
Une Grande Merde, ne c'est pas?
We all have them Skew, but I also wish it were otherwise...
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3rd November 2006, 07:01 PM #4
Sounds like you've had a fun day there Skew, hope your hand is feeling better tomorrow
Cheers
DJ
ADMIN
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3rd November 2006, 07:06 PM #5
Some people have all the fun! All I've managed is to set up for a garage sale tomorrow which included nailing an old door to the house stumps to form a backboard to stop stuff falling over the back of the tables.
Dave . . .
I believe in Murphy's Law of Pre-requisites - Whatever I want to do, I have to do something else first.
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3rd November 2006, 07:36 PM #6
Wot a pr!ck, hope it's all uphill from here, mate.
Cheers...............Sean
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
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3rd November 2006, 07:40 PM #7
not good Skew, hope it doesn't keep you awake all night
cheers
WendyLast edited by RufflyRustic; 3rd November 2006 at 07:41 PM. Reason: wrong thread
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3rd November 2006, 07:47 PM #8
Buuger
G'day Skew,
Bugger!
Makes my day yesterday pale into comparsion when I stuffed up cutting the door for the office, round 2 so far today has gone much better.
Walk away, curse under your breath and tell all who come within close proximity that it's dangerous to do so, have a few beers and come back tomorrow.
Tomorrow you'll curse and swear at yourself a bit more and anything that moves, then take up the zen position and start over.
And the fairies will come and fix the thicknesser and belt sander.
My thicknesser is at your disposal if you need it.
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3rd November 2006, 08:30 PM #9
You poor bugger. You have my sympathy.
Some days we're just not meant to do woodwork I'm sure.
Hope your hand is feeeling better.
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3rd November 2006, 09:20 PM #10
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3rd November 2006, 11:38 PM #11
Thanks for being understanding, people. She in charge just rolled her eyes and started muttering under her breath when I stormed into the house.
No permanent damage done to the hand, I think... although it had me worried for a while. A bit stiff and swollen, but that's not surprising, at least the feeling is back. [Phew!] I'm not looking forward to cleaning up the mess in the shed tomorrow though.
A nice, quiet day spent fishing is sounding good around about now.
- Andy Mc
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4th November 2006, 09:51 AM #12Senior Member
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Skew things like that normally happen on a Friday just to ruin a good weekend.
Hope things have dawned better for you this morning.John H
Why do I never seem to cut "too long"?
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4th November 2006, 12:24 PM #13
Bugger! :eek:
I'm with Waldo.
Get a neighbouring kids tooth into a glass( better obtained when all are asleep ) and into the shed. Oh....and get some extra's for me please. To replace my missing ones
We can only laugh about it .....later.....we hope.
Seriously.....Hoping the hand and spirit are recovering well.
What a #### of a day.
Cheers... Toe Knee
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4th November 2006, 04:51 PM #14Banned
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