Gremlins!!?? LONG.

Karl Laustrup

Member
Messages
487
Location
Wisconsin Dells, WI
Been checking in fairly regularly, but have been busy with all the prep for summer so haven't been posting. Had to get this off my chest though, so you're the ones I chose to unload on.

As we approach Memorial Day Weekend, I'm thinking of our service men and women serving our country proudly so that we at home can celebrate a long weekend. :thumb:

As some of you may know I started a build of a display/shadow box for a dear friend that passed away last July. I got started and then I had a couple of things shut down the process. First my Delta X-5 drum sander was giving me boards that were thinner on one side than the other. I found the table to be not parallel to the drum arm and started trying to get it back into a usable form. I've almost accomplished that, although I do have a few minor [I hope] adjustments left to do and then some critical tests on scrap wood. It is not easy to get the table back parallel to the arm and my little pea brain could only take so much of reading the manual and attempting to make adjustments, so I would work on it for a bit and then have to leave it alone for a few days. I have no idea how this got out of whack. GREMLINS? :huh: The only adjustments I've made have been to lower or raise the table for sanding.

Of course those few days became several weeks, if not a few months due to the winter and the extreme cold we endured from just before Thanksgiving until well into late March. No way I could heat my shop using my propane heaters without going broke. Propane here got to over $6.00/gal for a couple of weeks, but was in the $2.50-$3.50 range for a good part of the winter.

After finally getting some weather that would allow me to get into the shop to start the process of building the display/shadow box I ran into another problem. This time with my X-31 combo machine. The jointer part of the machine to be exact. I had run some of the walnut that I will be using through the jointer and planer to get them down to rough dimensions late last year. A couple of weeks ago I decided to get busy on the display box again and proceeded to start finish jointing one edge of each board so I could then cut all the pieces to their final dimensions.

As I was jointing the first board I didn't really notice anything unusual, but by the time I started the second board I noticed that it seemed to be narrower at one end after jointing. I then tried a couple of scrap boards and found that they were doing the same thing. After consulting with my mentor, John Milunias, he suggested I check the outfeed table. I did and found it to be somewhere around 1/8" lower on the end furthest from the cutter head. :eek::huh: Then I checked the infeed table and found it to be around a 1/4" low at the farthest end from the cutter head. :eek::huh: Again I have done nothing to any adjustments on the tables themselves. The only thing is when I want to use the planer the tables are swung out of the way. GREMLINS!? AGAIN!? :huh:

Now I have to get the X-31 manual out to get the tables back to level. :(

It's very demoralizing to try and do some WW'ing only to be stopped by equipment that isn't performing the way it should due to adjustments that have been caused by GREMLINS apparently.

END OF RANT.

Hope everyone enjoys the upcoming long weekend and please work and play safe. :wave:
 
Sorry to hear of your troubles Karl-I hate when that happens. Sounds to me like you have an excess of gravity in some areas of your shop. Maybe if you turn your machines around the other way they will correct themselves.:dunno: Just trying to help.
 
karl my suggestions would be to get john milunas over and have get straightened out,, less frustration and you and him could get caught up on things as well.. the adjustment on the sander is on the side and when i had one it was touchy to hols it.. if you have access to another shop i would let them prep your wood till you get things right if your in a bind.. if you were closer i would do it for you.. for the x31 to go out i would suggest that perhaps you might have had stuff setting on it or the bolts maybe loosened up from use in the past..
 
for the x31 to go out i would suggest that perhaps you might have had stuff setting on it or the bolts maybe loosened up from use in the past..

Can you see me running out to the shop......my jointer is treated like another workbench :eek::scram:Never thought of this.

Sorry to hear your issues Karl but thanks anyhow because i learned something again. :(
 
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