Today I put up the first lengths of French cleats along the west wall. I'd ripped them the last time Ray was here, but not yet put them up. The are ripped to produce a 30 deg bevel. Most people would have done it at 45 deg, but I have the 5/8" arbor installed and it is longer than the standard 30mm arbor. The result is that it fouls the underside of the insert plate, preventing it from being tilted a full 45 deg. I can't understand it, as this is a US-style saw, and 5/8" has been a standard arbor size for years. But I can only get a full 45 deg tilt if I lower the blade or use the shorter 30mm arbor. I do still have the arbor, but all my 30mm saw blades were taken in the raid, so I have only the blade that was on the machine.
It would be easier with two, but I managed by using a stick to fix its position up the wall. Once the middle screw is in it's easy to do the others.
Prompted by phaedrus' thread about his tablesaw, I ferreted about in the log cabin for the remains of the kick-board that used to be on mine. It was rather scruffy after 2 years in a barn, but it cleaned up surprising well. The original red hand was broken, but the hinges weren't rusty and the board itself was OK. It was mounted on the wheel-base, but as the TS is now sitting firmly on the floor I had to find a way of mounting it directly onto the front of the saw.
I started with a piece of plywood and drew round my hand. Then I sawed it out. Yes I do know that that is nowhere near the right sized blade for the job. I just nibbled away,
and painted it red
Because the switch is mounted on the front of the saw and is quite deep, the kick-board needs to be mounted quite a way off the cabinet base, so I found a piece of pallet wood. I've no idea what it is, but it cleaned up surprisingly nicely. You can see the difference between the original and the prepped piece at the back, which is screwed to hinges of the kick-board itself.
I notched out the ends and drilled mounting holes. I then drilled through them
and drilled and tapped two M6 holes in the cabinet. Because they are so close to the floor, I had to remove one arm of the tap wrench and turn it like you would a nut with a spanner.
Although the tapped holes were fine I made a mess of the position of them. Somehow I got them about 2mm too close together, so I had to enlarge the holes in the wood to make up for it. Fortunately I could lay my hands on a couple of penny washers, so all the evidence of engineering incompetence is hidden
So with the kick-board screwed on, I fixed a piece of string through the kick-board and through a screw-eye which is attached to the front panel of the cabinet. This stops the kick-board from falling forward.
Then the Hand is screwed on so that it covers, but does not interfere with the operation of, the stop button.
So now I can switch off my saw with by knee or my foot
.
I'd still got another hour or so of useable daylight, so I finished trimming the doorway outside and painted the power tower ready for installation next time Ray comes.
I wanted to continue working for as long as possible, mainly because I have entered into a pact with Akram. He smokes and I complain about that. I drink too much and he complains about that. So we are having an indulgence-free weekend, no fags for him and no booze for me, from midnight Friday to midnight Sunday. I'm sitting here with OJ and soda. It really isn't the same, is it? It's going to be a loooong evening.
