Reunited With the Band Saw

I keep feeling faith for an escape from Hurricane Dorian, which is good, because I still can’t get my generator working.

I bought a Champion 5500-watt generator in 2017, and I followed the directions. After I used it, I ran it dry to prevent ethanol fuel from gumming it up. It gummed it up anyway, because running a machine dry won’t actually prevent the problem. This is known, but Champion continues to put the same useless advice in manuals.

Generators should run on propane, not gasoline. Either that or diesel. Just a clue for you manufacturers. Propane is not complicated. The generators would last longer, and they would never clog.

When I got it running last year, it surged. That ordinarily means a clogged pilot jet. I used a wire drill to open the jet, but the generator would not run, and fuel leaked out.

I put a new carburetor on it, and fuel still leaked out. I put a third carburetor on it, and now the fuel only leaks out right after I crank the generator. I’m using an electric drill to crank it, in order to avoid a heart attack. It kind of amazes me that generator makers don’t put hex fittings on the outsides of their machines in order to make electric drills the default cranking option.

I know I have a spark. I know the plug gap is right. I don’t know how strong the spark is.

I believe the generator is flooding, and the leaking fuel is just gas running out of a piston that can’t burn it.

Irritating. But for ethanol, which is a leftist scam that has many ill effects and no up side, this machine would be purring away.

In my last post, I poked fun at Heavy.com for referring to the hurricane animation at Windy.com as “live.” It’s actually a bunch of computer projections. There are a bunch of well-known computer models used to simulate hurricanes.

Most people don’t know it, but weather forecasting was one of the driving forces for the development of computers. We had tons of weather data and no practical way to crunch it. Now the machinery is much better, so forecasters are able to provide us with much slicker and faster wrong predictions.

There are three models up at Windy, and I have been enjoying watching them. The scariest one says I’m going to get something like 23 knots. That would be refreshing, not destructive.

I will keep praying. One person’s prayers can change the weather. Elijah caused and ended a drought, all by himself, by praying.

This experience reminds me of the things that make Florida a difficult place to live. It makes me think about Tennessee, where the worst weather problems are sporadic tornadoes.

While I was working on the generator, I needed a two-by-four. I wanted to raise the end of the generator to make sure fuel was getting to the petcock, and I didn’t have the right size lumber. I had four-by-fours.

Yesterday, I got my 250V wiring installed, and that meant the band saw was available for use. This made it possible for me to make my own two-by-for. I took a break from the generator, installed the saw blade, banged out a dent in the motor’s fan cover (little problem from its trip from Miami), and put a four-by-four on the saw table. Zzzzzzzzt. Two-by-four. Nice.

Some lady is trying to sell a Jet band saw on Craigslist. I may buy it. Jet is not the best manufacturer, but it’s Taiwanese, so the basic machine should be very good. I might have to add a couple of bells and whistles.

My current band saw is a 19″ job, which is enormous by most people’s standards. I got a good price on it, so I bought it. It’s great, but I keep a 1/2″ blade on it, and that limits the curves I can cut on it. It would be good to have a smaller, handier saw with a 1/4″ blade. Changing blades takes several minutes, and it’s tedious. If I had the Jet, I would have two blade sizes ready at all times. It’s a 14″ saw, so it wouldn’t be as good for big jobs, but that’s what the big saw is fore.

I haven’t reanimated my drill press yet. I would have done that today if the generator had started. I have to reinstall the VFD and power cord. It’s a five-minute job. I hope. Then I have to put the X-Y table and vise back on. Then I’ll be in business.

I can’t wait to hear my table saw come to life again. A good table saw is a wonder tool. They’re super accurate, and mine has a huge 5HP motor, so basically, I can cut redwoods in half. I already have a job in mind. I need to cut down a piece of plywood so I can use it for a shelf in my planer stand. I can do this with the band saw, but it’s hard to trade off the table saw’s crazy accuracy.

The other day I had to buy a two-foot-square sheet of plywood. That was humiliating. I might as well have gone to Home Depot wearing a dress and ruby slippers. A man should break down his own plywood. With the correct technique and a sturdy saw, breaking down entire sheets of sheet goods like plywood is not a problem. Next time I need a piece of plywood, I should get a sheet and then cut the rest in smaller pieces and keep it. The per-square-foot price of plywood goes up a lot when you buy small pieces.

I have a nutty idea for the table saw. I may turn the wooden table into a workbench for woodworking.

When it comes to “proper” tools, woodworkers have various bugs up their butts and bats in their belfries. You should see how they stress themselves over workbenches. A workbench has to be hardwood. No, it has to be spruce. It has to be an English style bench. No, it has to be a Roubot bench. It has to be this thick. It has to be this wide. You have to have this kind of vise.

You know what? They can’t actually prosecute you for violating the rules.

My table used to be a computer desk. I bought the desk in the 1990’s. I don’t think you can get one like it now. The manufacturer probably figured out that it was overbuilt. It was very hard particle board, about 1.5″ thick, covered with sturdy melamine. The ones they make now are relatively flimsy. I couldn’t get rid of the desk, so I cut the top up and put it in my table saw. It’s crude, but it works very well. I put a router lift in it. If I removed the table top and made a new one from laminated hardwood, I could put bench dog holes in it and use holdfasts in it. I have to think about it.

I could put a woodworking vise on the far end of it. It’s not possible to put one on the side of the table, as you ordinarily would, because the sides are covered by a long Biesemeyer fence made of steel.

It would work. Monsieur Roubot wouldn’t come out of his grave and curse at me in French.

You can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Even if the bench was weird and not ideal, it would be way, way better than melamine with no vise.

Anyway, the computers all say they don’t think Dorian will cause any problems here, and the workshop has suddenly become functional. Life could be worse.