Cutting the Cord
January 10th, 2009There is no Such Thing as Scrap
It amazes me, how the garage gets bigger every time I rearrange it. Yesterday it was crowded. Today I feel like buying more big tools to fill the empty space.
I was upset because I couldn’t put the table saw against the left wall; it kept my car door from opening. I had to put the saw either on the right side of the garage (inconvenient) or in the middle (in the way). By rearranging stuff, I created so much room on the right side, I can keep the saw in the middle of the garage and have room around it to work. I just back the car out, plug the saw in, and cut.
It’s funny how little loose ends in my life are tying themselves up. When I got my welder, I bought a 50-amp RV cord because I thought I would have to run it to the 220-volt dryer socket. I cut off the female end of the cord and spliced in a big NEMA plug. Then I installed a circuit for the welder, and I didn’t need the cord. So I had fifty feet of cord with a dryer plug on it, just sitting around. It’s heavy, and it takes up a lot of room.
Now I have a situation where I could use a few more feet of cord for the saw. So I’m thinking I may just cannibalize the RV cord! I can have as much length as I need. The cord is a little thinner than the saw cord, but I know it’s ample. There is no way this thing will ever draw anything close to 50 amps. I believe it sucks about 24. That’s plenty of leeway.
I can’t figure out why the saw starts so much more smoothly than the compressor. I assume both starters have a soft-start feature. The saw simply starts running; the compressor goes “BANG” when it starts. Maybe I should double-check the wiring.
January 10th, 2009 at 4:39 PM
I know what you mean. I save almost everything. It takes up alot of room, but I almost always have something on hand when I need to fix things.
When I was growing up we save even small bits of wood. If it wasn’t used to build something in a timely fashion we called it firewood and threw it into the furnace.
January 10th, 2009 at 4:49 PM
I don’t know about the compressor, but the 66 came standard with a Baldor motor. You won’t likely find a smoother, or better electric motor. It’s one of the major reasons I chose a 66 over a Unisaw.
January 10th, 2009 at 4:50 PM
Both motors are big Baldors.
January 10th, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Yeah, but one is spinning up under load (compressing) and the other isn’t (I assume).
January 11th, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Yeah, ed’s right…the saw belt and blade and pulleys is nothing to a motor when it’s unloaded with wood, but the first half stroke of the compressor demands the same amount of work as the1850th half-revolution does.
The compressor’s gonna “jump” when it starts unless you encase it in concrete up to the outlet tube.