New Project keeping me away from blogging

It's been a little hellish here - so I haven't had much time to think about blogging.

Well, I take it back - I've thought about it, but just can't seem to find the time to sit down and write anything. I'm working on a project right now that is on a very tight deadline, and just about everything that can go wrong in the shop is going wrong. OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it sure feels that way.

My good friend Danny, from Exotic Millworks, is helping me with this project, and we spent the weekend in the shop, in a marathon building session. I'll talk more about the project once it's completed and I have a little time to edit the photos, but I thought I'd show you one of the problems we encountered.

It started when I was cutting some gilded picture frame molding on the tablesaw.


This is one of those times when it's good to remind yourself to read your tool manuals from cover to cover. I was cutting some miters when...

BAM!

the SawStop did exactly what it's supposed to do, which is cause the blade to drop within a millisecond, and force it into the block of solid aluminum. Ouch - that was a new H.O. Schumacher and Sohn blade.



Remember ... (to quote from their literature)...the SawStop safety system includes an electronic detection system that detects when a person contacts the blade. The system induces an electrical signal onto the blade and then monitors that signal for changes. Using a digital signal processor to constantly monitor the saw, it’s a smart saw, ready to react if an accident occurs. The human body has a relatively large inherent electrical capacitance and conductivity which cause the signal to drop when a person contacts the blade. Wood has a relatively small inherent capacitance and conductivity and does not cause the signal to drop.

In this case, it wasn't my finger that triggered the system, it was the metal gilding on the picture frame molding, that transferred my electrical signal to the blade.

Of course, it mentioned that in the manual, once I pulled it out and read it, to try and figure out WTF happened.

Luckily - I had an extra brake cartridge at the shop.



Or so I thought.

Turns out my saleswoman sold me the wrong cartridge when I originally bought the saw. Here is the pin configuration on the cartridge we took out


and here is what we wasted almost two hours trying to re-install.


A few choice words later, we got back to the task at hand. Luckily, we had Danny's panel saw at the shop, and my little DeWalt portable tablesaw, so we could still do some work.


You can bet that the first call I made Monday morning was to my saleswoman.


Our next battle was with the stain - I won't go into it because it's rather boring, but I will say that I probably put 150 miles on my van tracking down four different quarts of stain, none of which we liked.

And another 100 miles on the van, buying hardware all over the city. I have now officially found every specialty nut and bolt store in this town. And if I didn't have an appointment with this client in about an hour, I would probably be ready for one of these...