John Cavanaugh
05-23-2005, 4:49 AM
This is a bit more of a rant than a rhetorical question...
So Ive been working on shop improvement project over the last week which was to build a folding outfeed table for my tablesaw.
I made sure I bought what I thought were all the necessary supplies in advance. I had the melamine, the hardwood, piano hinge, conformat screws etc. All set, or so I thought...
Building the frame etc was pretty straightforward which I accomplished during this last week working at night. Cutting down the large 4x8 3/4 inch melamine on the tablesaw (without an outfeed table remember...) was not pleasant and didnt produce a clean cut so I decided I would fix that over the weekend.
Saturday arrives and begin my work. Ok. Ill trim just hair off of this melamine to clean up the cut and make it a good fit for the frame. Cool, I can use my new trim saw (Skil 5.5" refurb) and rockler cutting guide.
Whoops, no blade in the saw. I guess since I havent used this saw and since it was a refurb I probably should spend some time checking out all the pieces to make sure its safe. Err, the blade included doesnt look like a good match for melamine. Ok. Maybe Ill get lucky and it wont look to bad. Install the blade, grab the cutting guide, Im ready to rock.
Err no. With the blade on the left the motor actually bumps into the cutting guide rather than smoothly sliding against the saw face. Ok, Ill improvise something here. Whoops that didnt work, ok Ill try something else. Hmm, a few more different attempts later Im cutting. Great, just great, I tell myself, the blade produces a fair amount of chipping on the melamine.
Now ive just traded one problem, a wavy cut, for a different problem, a cut with a fair amount of chip out. Ok lets change the blade (im thinking how smart I was to have another blade in case i needed it...) and try again. Great, this blade is just as bad. Argh!!! Finally I tell myself that I can live with the chip out. Its only an outfeed table, its not like this is fine furniture.
Net net here. I just spent over an hour here to get one cut that still isnt a good cut.
Later that night after mounting the tabletop Im looking at one of the support pieces and it doesnt line up appropriately. No problem. Ill just take that off, run it over the jointer (keep in mind my planer hasnt arrived yet, so Im sort of improvising) to thin it down by 1/16 and it will fit perfectly.
Im excited because this is the first chance to actually use my new jointer on project rather than just "test wood". :) Ok. So I decided I should hook up the shop vac. That means I need to do the 4" to 2.5" convertor piping etc. No problems, Ive got the parts. Ok that is finally hooked up, Im ready to make sawdust.
Err no... So I turn my jointer on (its plugged into my fein vac with autostart) and it churns for a few secs then it just stops. Hmm. This isnt good. I quickly determine I blew a breaker. Im nervous here because Im thinking the vac is taking 7amps and the jointer 15amps which puts me over 20 amps. Never had any problems with my TS & vac at same time, so it must be that the jointer is taking a full 15 amps and my saw was only taking 12-13.
I go upstairs to the subpanel and look at the breaker I was expecting to see tripped. You know, the one labeled "Garage GFCI 20 AMP". Nope. No breakers tripped at all. Ok, outside to the main panel. Thats odd, the breaker marked "Hallway, bathroom 15 AMP" is tripped. Ok, that sort of makes sense, the wall where I was plugged in was on the wall where the hallway is. Ill just reset this breaker and plug into a different outlet in the garage and things will be ok.
Er no... So I end up trying every single outlet in the garage. They are ALL on this "Hallway, bathroom 15 AMP" circuit, with the exception of the garage door opener outlet, that of course is connected to the wonderfully well documented "Master bedroom, closet 15 AMP" circuit.
Where the heck is this phantom Garage 20AMP circuit that was listed on the subpanel?? Well obviously it must be one of the outlets in the KITCHEN. So now Im completely stunned as to how my wife has three, count them three 20 amp circuits in the kitchen, two circuits completely dedicated for outlets. And me, Im stuck with one 15 amp covering the 3 car garage & hallway & bathroom. What kind of an idiot wired this house?? Argh...
Net net. It took me well over an hour to make that one cut on the jointer that I needed. And in the end Ive found that I cant run my jointer & shop vac at the same time on my measly 15 amp circuit.
Oh well, I hope next weekend goes more smoothly...
--
John Cavanaugh
So Ive been working on shop improvement project over the last week which was to build a folding outfeed table for my tablesaw.
I made sure I bought what I thought were all the necessary supplies in advance. I had the melamine, the hardwood, piano hinge, conformat screws etc. All set, or so I thought...
Building the frame etc was pretty straightforward which I accomplished during this last week working at night. Cutting down the large 4x8 3/4 inch melamine on the tablesaw (without an outfeed table remember...) was not pleasant and didnt produce a clean cut so I decided I would fix that over the weekend.
Saturday arrives and begin my work. Ok. Ill trim just hair off of this melamine to clean up the cut and make it a good fit for the frame. Cool, I can use my new trim saw (Skil 5.5" refurb) and rockler cutting guide.
Whoops, no blade in the saw. I guess since I havent used this saw and since it was a refurb I probably should spend some time checking out all the pieces to make sure its safe. Err, the blade included doesnt look like a good match for melamine. Ok. Maybe Ill get lucky and it wont look to bad. Install the blade, grab the cutting guide, Im ready to rock.
Err no. With the blade on the left the motor actually bumps into the cutting guide rather than smoothly sliding against the saw face. Ok, Ill improvise something here. Whoops that didnt work, ok Ill try something else. Hmm, a few more different attempts later Im cutting. Great, just great, I tell myself, the blade produces a fair amount of chipping on the melamine.
Now ive just traded one problem, a wavy cut, for a different problem, a cut with a fair amount of chip out. Ok lets change the blade (im thinking how smart I was to have another blade in case i needed it...) and try again. Great, this blade is just as bad. Argh!!! Finally I tell myself that I can live with the chip out. Its only an outfeed table, its not like this is fine furniture.
Net net here. I just spent over an hour here to get one cut that still isnt a good cut.
Later that night after mounting the tabletop Im looking at one of the support pieces and it doesnt line up appropriately. No problem. Ill just take that off, run it over the jointer (keep in mind my planer hasnt arrived yet, so Im sort of improvising) to thin it down by 1/16 and it will fit perfectly.
Im excited because this is the first chance to actually use my new jointer on project rather than just "test wood". :) Ok. So I decided I should hook up the shop vac. That means I need to do the 4" to 2.5" convertor piping etc. No problems, Ive got the parts. Ok that is finally hooked up, Im ready to make sawdust.
Err no... So I turn my jointer on (its plugged into my fein vac with autostart) and it churns for a few secs then it just stops. Hmm. This isnt good. I quickly determine I blew a breaker. Im nervous here because Im thinking the vac is taking 7amps and the jointer 15amps which puts me over 20 amps. Never had any problems with my TS & vac at same time, so it must be that the jointer is taking a full 15 amps and my saw was only taking 12-13.
I go upstairs to the subpanel and look at the breaker I was expecting to see tripped. You know, the one labeled "Garage GFCI 20 AMP". Nope. No breakers tripped at all. Ok, outside to the main panel. Thats odd, the breaker marked "Hallway, bathroom 15 AMP" is tripped. Ok, that sort of makes sense, the wall where I was plugged in was on the wall where the hallway is. Ill just reset this breaker and plug into a different outlet in the garage and things will be ok.
Er no... So I end up trying every single outlet in the garage. They are ALL on this "Hallway, bathroom 15 AMP" circuit, with the exception of the garage door opener outlet, that of course is connected to the wonderfully well documented "Master bedroom, closet 15 AMP" circuit.
Where the heck is this phantom Garage 20AMP circuit that was listed on the subpanel?? Well obviously it must be one of the outlets in the KITCHEN. So now Im completely stunned as to how my wife has three, count them three 20 amp circuits in the kitchen, two circuits completely dedicated for outlets. And me, Im stuck with one 15 amp covering the 3 car garage & hallway & bathroom. What kind of an idiot wired this house?? Argh...
Net net. It took me well over an hour to make that one cut on the jointer that I needed. And in the end Ive found that I cant run my jointer & shop vac at the same time on my measly 15 amp circuit.
Oh well, I hope next weekend goes more smoothly...
--
John Cavanaugh