What did you do today?

[twistsol]

Today and yesterday after work, I gathered all the bits, boxes, and stray hardware around the house and I finally finished sorting, labeling and organizing my hardware storage cabinet. I should be able to find stuff now without opening every drawer two or three times. More importantly, now I won't buy it again because I can't find it. I had three partial boxes of screws for anchoring concrete board.




Every bin in the drawers where the content isn't obvious with a glance is labeled, e.g screw size and length.

[LCHIEN]

tough day at the office (NOT).



Red Drum from Galveston Bay System. Released to swim another day. He was longer than the ruler we had to measure, so at least 37 inches.

[dbhost]

That's a nice fish. Where on the bay were you? Looks like you were pretty close to land to have that rock jetty right there... I used to fish the spillway pier when it existed. Ike got rid of that for me...

[LCHIEN]

South Jetty, channel side, about halfway out.

[dbhost]

Ahh. Weather and water was nice....

[dbhost]

Went to Galveston to check on the status of the state park rebuild. Web site says it will be open in April. Eyeballs say no way is that gonna happen.

Went to Seawall and walked the beach with my wife. Spent a couple of hours strolling the beach and Murdochs just enjoying before I had a lumbar issue. Dang... Been a long while since I had that happen... But aside from slipping disks it was a good day.

I did get my new jointer knives in today and they look like a good fit for the Sunhill jointer, so if I can get them to adjust for proper depth, I think I am set for knives and will be able to keep this old jointer going, meaning no need to upgrade!

[Jim Frye]

It was 71 degrees here today, so I washed the cars in the driveway. I discovered a new use for the 190 mph 40 volt leaf blower I received for my birthday. I used it to dry the cars after they had been rinsed. Hey, if the car wash can do it, why not at home? Later on, we watched our granddaughter play in a high school aged national volleyball tournament (three matches) in Kentucky on TV. Tomorrow, we'll get to watch her some more in the finals.

[LCHIEN]

Had the car inspected today as I have to do the registration by the end of the month.
Now the guy called me aside and said I needed new rear brakes, very dangerous. He said I had 3 mm left (when new they are 12 mm) and that was the state inspection minimum. He quoted me a price which was high and I said I would get another estimate and then he suddenly told me that he would pass it anyway because I looked like I would know not to drive it down to the last mm and it should last many months (probably 2 years since I am retired and pandemic and have 2 cars I drive this one like 2500 miles in the last year). So I said OK and he passed it.
Meanwhile I checked and I had the rear brake job done less than 10,000 miles ago. And the the first original set of brakes lasted 35,000 miles.
So I think he was trying to pull a fast one on me. Anyway, inspected.

[dbhost]

He was. I used to work at a state inspection shop when I was in my first career. The wheels do not come off. Are not allowed to be taken off. There is no way to accurately measure linings on disc brakes without dismantling them and actually removing the pads. This guy was blowing smoke... If you want to avoid that, use an ispection station that ONLY does inspections, not repairs. LOTS of shops use inspections as a way to drive sales.

[LCHIEN]

Good point. I know he did not have time or a lift for taking the wheels off. I don't know why that didn't register with me.

[dbhost]

Was it a tire and service center for a national tire MFG that used to be teamed up with Ford? That was the company that finally drove me to changing careers since the managers were such crooks and determined to rip off customers...

[dbhost]

Video engineering for church services this morning. Took the wife out to Olive Garden for the soup and salad thing, Went and did some spot shopping for groceries that were missed and edned up spending more than I had figured, but still not too bad. Apparently Mascara is now considered groceries. Who knew?

Did some reading of the old Articles and found BIll in Buena Parks review of the Sunhill SM-150B jointer where he claimed back in 2008 that Sunhill stated that the Craftsman 21788 knives were a direct fit. Aside from a MUCH better fence, the Craftsman more or less looks to be the same machine so that makes sense... Updated the Sunhill Jointer Knife thread...

Had to get cat food. Lots of cat food. Wife came home with Cat grass which the cat loves, but she always barfs right up. Had a lovely discussion RE: same said cat barf and my toes. You don't wanna know. I don't think the cat listened one bit....

Grilled a New York strip and sauteed asparagus for dinner. . Which oddly enough are going to end up as lunch in a salad tomorrow.

I am on a weight loss plan with the doc, that has me on this herbal stuff that more or less kills my appetitie. Most of the time. It's been working, but it is funny, I go to make a reasonable dinner, take one or two bites and I am done... So cold steak and greens salad for lunch. Could be worse...

Oddly enough, I am feeling pretty good about the jointer knife thing. Yes I admit it 1000% I would like a spiral cutterhead jointer with a wider jointer bed, but I don't "need it". And with the knives being able to be sourced up and the Sunhill back on its feet as it were, hopefully many more years of reliable service will be had with this thing.

Now if I could source up a dead Crafttsman 21788 to get the fence off of, I would be tickled silly...

My dessicant dryer / filter / regulator assembly is leaking at the O rings between segments. For this, and other sealing reasons I went ahead and snagged a box of various size O rings off of Amazon. Hoping to get this sealed up well.

Got the car almost ready for road trippping. I think I need new tires up front. I got a leaker that is wearing the outside edges from underinflation. My fault... Once I get that squared away, pack the personals, pack the cooler, and go. I might spend some time filling my 1lb Flame King cylinders instead of taking the 20lb BBQ tank. Safter, consumes less space, no need for the distribution tree...

[LCHIEN]

Today I messed around with the wire bending jigs. I got one from Duluth trading the other day for $6.95 and made a little larger one using some roll pins I got (see thread on Comparison shopping) from HF today.

Jig


My larger 3/8" jig


Results - I needed some S-hooks and I got better as I went, left to right; the last ones were pretty consistent.


All that was left of the wire hanger when I got through


Public Service Announcement: Wear your safety eye protection. I went out to the shop without my safety prescription glasses. I can actually see close up without them, but at the last minute I decided to put on a pair of plastic safety glasses. Well, when I was using the Dremel with a 15,000 RPM small abrasive cut-off disc to cut wire, the disk split in two halves and one flew up and hit my safety glasses square in the middle of the right lens before I could even blink. Scary to imagine what could have happened.

Be safe, guys! Don't forget that safety equipment.

Eye protection
Hearing Protection
Lung protection - mask, air filter, dust collection as needed.
Finger and limb protection - guards and common sense.

[capncarl]

I’ve been In their store in Duluth Minn…..because I also thought they were an online store too! I did purchase a pair of their famous underwear too!

[furthermore]

Huh, I thought the only thing they sold was overalls and the like. There's one in town, I'll have to check it out!

[LCHIEN]

That stuff and some gadgets. It's got all kinds of outdoors stuff and various things for the Modern man.

[capncarl]

We spent the whole day working in the garden, getting it ready for this growing season. I changed from raised beds to large drums so I needed 8 scoops of raised bed mushroom comp. That’s a 6.5 x 16’ trailer bulging full, about 75 wheelbarrow loads. Oh my aching back.

[furthermore]

Jealous! There's still plenty of snow on the ground here, we won't be ready to germinate our seeds for another few weeks, if the last frost date predictions are even close to correct

[dbhost]

Work stuff. I am getting ready to change over consulting assignments and am trying to train up a colleague in our application. I am not confident in things after I leave.

Did some troubleshooting of my air filter / regulator as I keep hearing a constant, well, whoopie cushion type noise. Took it apart and found the diaphragm was somewhat wavy and much harder than it should be. I think I found the problem. Amazon has what looks like a rebranded version of the Central Pnuematic filter / regulator on the cheap. Ordered one up and it should be here tomorrow.

As I mentioned in the thread RE: the leaking regulator, I am going to take the Central Pnuematic regualtor apart, measure up the diaphragm and try to order a replacement so I can get back to using the one that matches my system, however there are some advantages to the new one, most notably a higher max working pressure of 145 psi intead of 125 psi. It should be noted I set the output pressure from my compressor(s) to 100 psi and then regulate down to whatever pressure I need at the filter regulator, typically 90 or 40 psi depending on the application. Sometimes 25 or so for HVLP / texture gun...

Spent some time doing weight calculations for the truck camper build. I am going to be somewhere between 900 and 1K lbs wet which is fine. I have a max payload of 1900lbs and here is where the owners manual is wierd, it says PLUS passengers and allocates 800lbs for driver and passengers. It doesn't make sense but it is there in black and white... So we are in a very comfortable range here.

I spent a little bit of time trying to copy the curve from the bed sides to the bottom of the truck box today, and failed miserably. Better luck tomorrow I guess.

[LCHIEN]

Started working on the 45 degree miter sled yesterday. Made some more progress today after going to the dentist.
Going to have to go back tomorrow... my temporary crown fell out during dinner.

https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...bt3x-using-smt

[capncarl]

Another garden day. This past Sunday we were able to hire day labor to unload my 6.5x16” trailer loaded with 6 cubic yards of wood chips. That’s a lot of trees, and a massive bucket on a front end loader ( the usual size for a landscape supply bucket is 13 cubic feet. ) The chips were unloaded and spread on all the garden walkways with about 1/2 of one row uncovered. The larborer “ volunteered” to help unload the 8 scoops of mushroom compost Monday afternoon, so I had to jump through hoops to purchase it, get it loaded and ready for him at 3pm. That went well, my back still works! This morning I headed back to the county inert landfill and picked up another 4 cubic yards of wood chips. With no hired help available I shoveled the entire wood chip trailer and wheel barrowed it down the rows, completing the first missed row and added to the first batch. It looks really good, and my back still functions. Now to re-arrange the watering system.

furthermore…
Spring has already arrived here is S Georgia, lots of trees have already greening up and we have high pollen alerts. Yellow pollen is all over the cars and a rain shower has the concrete driveway looking like a yellow river. I dread what the pollen is going to look like when it get in full bloom! 7am temperature is around 65f and highs mid 80s. This weekend we are expecting a cold snap in in the high 20s. That will probably be all the cold weather until mid November. We do get an early start but mid season vegetables suffer from the excessive heat. First frost is usually 2nd week of November leaving us time for a fall garden.

[twistsol]

A bunch of cars were vandalized at the school where my wife works, so I'll be taking time off from work for a few minutes tonight to replace the tail lights on her Volvo. Other than that, working long hours to figure out why and then correct the problem with about $4 million a month of invoices that are not being sent to customers.

[furthermore]

I spent my weekend working on a new project. The 2nd BT was extremely crusty when I got it and it will need some rehab (one arbor shim AWOL, broken SMT slide, FULL of mouse ****) but I took a bottle of Simple Green and some Scotch-Brite to it and it cleaned up alright. Not fully finished, but I'm waiting on replacement shims before I get them both aligned and locked together.

I'd love to hear any frankensaw wisdoms that you all might have!

[dbhost]

New filter / regulator arrived. When I said it looked in the pics like the Central Pnuematic with different colors, I was dead on. The parts, at least externally, are identical. Got it installed, tested it out. Adjustment is a bit slow, but it is also brand new. Got it dialed in to 90psi and letting it stabilize and sit to insure no leakage. Hoping to not hear my compressor any time soon... The paint color on the new one is white, the plastics are gray, other than that, it appears 100% identical to the Central Pnuematic... And was only $4.00 more than the CP on clearance. I know I should have gotten one of the CPs but I just didn't think I would need it...


My wife has decree I shall replace the computer armoire in the home office that SHE picked out, with a proper L desk that we have had sitting in a box for several yearsThis is going to be a problem. My Bass amp in the office / studio is sitting where the corner is going to go, the other corners have guitars hanging and the amp stack it tall enough it will cause a clearance problem. I may have to move it to between the closet doors... For anyone interested, Fender Rumble V3 500 combo + Rumble V3 210extension cab...

[dbhost]

Fired up the Weber kettle and made Chicken Shawarma...

Wife is currently finishing up the Mediterranean salad, I have already heated up the Naan bread (She doesn't care for Pita), going to have a healthy dinner. Sort of an Indian / Turkish chicken Fajita.... Oh and for a touch of Greek, I am going to add Tzatziki for the dressing...

I did spend some time in Sketchup trying to figure out how to make a 10x20 shop work. Simple. Lose the Chicago Electric slider in favor of a Hitachi / Metabo front rail slider, Cut the excess off of the miter saw bench There is a BIG hollow cavity back there, and then lose the second set of rails / wide table on the BT3100, and just do a router table within the OE rails. That also means swapping the base for a box on a mobile base for storing my table saw goodies.

Put the air compressor and dust collector outside under a shed roof, Fence enclosure to keep rain, and dog "watering" away from them.

And finish up the lathe cabinet and 2 more peg board cabinets.

I would keep the automotive tools in the garage, but keep a set of wrenches / screwdrivers and the like, probably load on a blow molded cased set from Harbor Freight for the wood shop...

Is anyone travelling from Sacramento to Houston metro any time soon? There is a poster giving away a 21829, which would fit a downsized shop perfectly!

[capncarl]

Road Trip? That 21829 is a great small saw. A couple of days behind the wheel would solve a lot of shop space problems!

[dbhost]

Tempting. Very tempting. But have you seen gas prices lately? Especially in California. Round trip would be over a grand...