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Both of my children are in apartments by themselves for the first time this fall so they need more furnature. My son has a new entertainment center, kitchen table, 2 chairs (2 more later), and coffee table. He gets a new bed and then my daughter gets a table and 4 chairs, then probably back to my sons chairs. My daughter already had a bedroom set I made her earlier and she likes a silly coffee table made from an old window. Anyway, while cutting up oak for his bed, I got a scare this morning.
I glued up 44 inch long blanks about 3 inches by 3 inches last night for the legs on the headboard. I was ripping them to final size using the original BT3100 blade which was a little dirty and is not real sharp. At first I was just taking off 1/16 or less removing gaps and sqaureing them. Then I needed to make a full depth rip to get the thickness the same as the width. I thought about putting on my Freud rip blade or at least cleaning the original blade but decided to give it a try. The first rip went slowly but I got done. On the second, the blade stopped twice and the second time would not restart. There was no smoke so I did not know what had happened but I was worried I had hurt the motor or belts. Then I thought to check the breaker. Fortunately, all that had happened was I tripped the 20A circuit. The BT is on a short thick extension cord so I did not expect that but I was happy it was not the motor or belt.
This experience reminded me to use the rip blade and make sure it is in good shape for cuts like this. The BT3100 will do them but not with a dirty blade and it prefers the rip blade. I cleaned both blades (the rip was pretty clean but not completely and the BT3100 blade was dirty) and put the rip blade on.
Jim
I glued up 44 inch long blanks about 3 inches by 3 inches last night for the legs on the headboard. I was ripping them to final size using the original BT3100 blade which was a little dirty and is not real sharp. At first I was just taking off 1/16 or less removing gaps and sqaureing them. Then I needed to make a full depth rip to get the thickness the same as the width. I thought about putting on my Freud rip blade or at least cleaning the original blade but decided to give it a try. The first rip went slowly but I got done. On the second, the blade stopped twice and the second time would not restart. There was no smoke so I did not know what had happened but I was worried I had hurt the motor or belts. Then I thought to check the breaker. Fortunately, all that had happened was I tripped the 20A circuit. The BT is on a short thick extension cord so I did not expect that but I was happy it was not the motor or belt.
This experience reminded me to use the rip blade and make sure it is in good shape for cuts like this. The BT3100 will do them but not with a dirty blade and it prefers the rip blade. I cleaned both blades (the rip was pretty clean but not completely and the BT3100 blade was dirty) and put the rip blade on.
Jim
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