Hot, tired and angry.....
Thursday Aug 9: Sometimes it's just trying to work that becomes frustrating. For two days I have been trying to cut out some blanks to make some boomerangs to sell at a demo in just over one week. With the heat and humidity, my garage becomes unbearable. In addition, it seems like a family of yellowjackets has built a nest inside the a cinderblock that frames the one window. I see many flying to and crawling in a crack in the corner of the window frame. I tried spraying in the crack in the evening but still see them. Tuesday evening I grabbed a can of bug fogger and spray everytime a few more try to enter. Soon I have many yellow jackets buzzing around on the floor dying. That sort of taken care of I tried to cut out the boomerangs and found that the blade on the bandsaw was pretty much shot from the work Ian and I had done. Besides, it was a scrolling blade and not very suited to stack cutting. I waited to try again Wednesday, hoping it would cool off a bit as garage temperatures were over 100F.
Wednesday evening I try again but find I have no extra blades. Looking around I found one I had remover from the saw but it looks rather old. I install it and am soaked from sweat in the time it takes to do that. I grab the wood and start cutting. It is terrible and I give up after one cut. I now know I need blades.
Thursday morning I go online with Sears, locate 93-1/2 inch blades and order them for pickup at lunch. I pick three up, a 1/8, 1/4 and 3/8 inch wide version each. When I get home I again try to cut. After installing the 1/4 inch one, I thought it was looser than normal even with the tension at the maximum. Any more and the top wheel of the saw would hit the case. I try one cut and after about 2 inches of cutting the blade pops off. I struggle to get it to stay on and decide this blade must be a little long. Even though the outside temperature dropped a bit from the last few days, it's still very hot in the garage and I am soaked with sweat again. I remove the 1/4 inch blade and try the 3/8 inch one. Again I cannot get proper tension. These blades all seem too long. I don't understand this as I have been using the 93-1/2 inch blades since 1989, when I bought the saw. I am stuck and don't know what to do.
I try to get creative and loosen the bolt holding the support to the upper wheel. I slide two 1/2 inch thich plywood shims, one on either side of the bold, under the support post to raise it some. After tightening it up I try the blade again. Now I can get tension on the blade, but I can't get it to stay on. It appears that adding the shims have thrown the support out of alignment and the wheels must not be parrallel now. I am really sweaty now, and the sweat is pouring off my forehead, into my eyes and on my glasses. I can't really see to work and am about ready to take a sledge hammer to either the saw or blades.
I can't understand why the new blades don't fit. The one I took off the saw was bought at Sears about 18 months ago along with a couple others and they worked great. Has 93-1/2 inches somehow become larger in that time period? Did my saw shrink? Is it the heat and humidity? Am I just crazy? I think I'll try to get to the Woodcraft store in town for a blade from them, and see if the Sears blades just don't fit anymore. As it says in the title, I am hot, and sweaty, and tired, and very angry. And...... I still have no boomerangs cut out!
Dave
Wednesday evening I try again but find I have no extra blades. Looking around I found one I had remover from the saw but it looks rather old. I install it and am soaked from sweat in the time it takes to do that. I grab the wood and start cutting. It is terrible and I give up after one cut. I now know I need blades.
Thursday morning I go online with Sears, locate 93-1/2 inch blades and order them for pickup at lunch. I pick three up, a 1/8, 1/4 and 3/8 inch wide version each. When I get home I again try to cut. After installing the 1/4 inch one, I thought it was looser than normal even with the tension at the maximum. Any more and the top wheel of the saw would hit the case. I try one cut and after about 2 inches of cutting the blade pops off. I struggle to get it to stay on and decide this blade must be a little long. Even though the outside temperature dropped a bit from the last few days, it's still very hot in the garage and I am soaked with sweat again. I remove the 1/4 inch blade and try the 3/8 inch one. Again I cannot get proper tension. These blades all seem too long. I don't understand this as I have been using the 93-1/2 inch blades since 1989, when I bought the saw. I am stuck and don't know what to do.
I try to get creative and loosen the bolt holding the support to the upper wheel. I slide two 1/2 inch thich plywood shims, one on either side of the bold, under the support post to raise it some. After tightening it up I try the blade again. Now I can get tension on the blade, but I can't get it to stay on. It appears that adding the shims have thrown the support out of alignment and the wheels must not be parrallel now. I am really sweaty now, and the sweat is pouring off my forehead, into my eyes and on my glasses. I can't really see to work and am about ready to take a sledge hammer to either the saw or blades.
I can't understand why the new blades don't fit. The one I took off the saw was bought at Sears about 18 months ago along with a couple others and they worked great. Has 93-1/2 inches somehow become larger in that time period? Did my saw shrink? Is it the heat and humidity? Am I just crazy? I think I'll try to get to the Woodcraft store in town for a blade from them, and see if the Sears blades just don't fit anymore. As it says in the title, I am hot, and sweaty, and tired, and very angry. And...... I still have no boomerangs cut out!
Dave
Added on August 10, 2007 by bvdrangs
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