Thursday, December 18, 2014

Project Update: Parts Arriving Soon

It turns out that I found the tilt gear available on Amazon! Because the vendors there only carry select parts, I assumed they wouldn't have the tilt gear, which is notoriously hard to find, and just checked on a whim. When I found the part there, I was able to cancel the eReplacementParts.com order because the Amazon shipping estimate said the parts would be here next week and they were a couple of dollars cheaper. eReplacementParts.com has been a great resource and I did end up ordering a riving knife assembly from them (for safety reasons).

Big Bertha continues to come together. I've ordered urethane tires from an eBay dude located on the East Coast, so they should be arriving some time next week, as well. Yes, the Craigslist dude sold it to me with the blade installed over bare wheels [insert rant about the state of machines I've purchased off of Craigslist here]. And the feet for the jointer should be here then, too. Oh, and I ordered up a switch conversion kit for the table saw because the off-switch on the current setup is horribly difficult to activate. Yeah, not scary at all. I know, it's Christmas week, so I'm giving them all a few extra days to arrive.

To summarize: The parts in transit at this time are

4 - Jointer Stand Foot
2 - Table Saw Tilt Gear
2 - Band Saw 17" x 1.25" Tire
1 - Table Saw Riving Knife Assembly
1 - Table Saw Switch Conversion Kit
1 - Table Saw Miter Fence End Cap

And a partridge in a pear tree.

In case you're wondering what the heck a "riving knife" is...it's a thin metal blade that is installed at the rear of the table saw blade; it mounts inside the saw case and extends above the table to help keep the sides of a cut apart. There are times when I've wished I had one in place, so now's the time to make it so. And then there's the table saw miter fence end cap. The last guy who owned it sawed through the end cap, which is indicative of the level of care with which he operated and cared for the machine.

The next purchase will be a resaw blade for Big Bertha. The blade length is enormous at 130", yet PS Wood Machines (recommended by George Vondriska of Woodworkers Guild of America) carries a 1" wide, 130" long resaw blade for $35.85, so it must not be that uncommon. The only remaining option I need for resawing is a Kreg fence and resaw guide. I'll explain more about these when it comes time to start slicing things up. Then, as Australian harpsichord builder Andrew Nolan was so kind to point out, the only remaining machine I will need is a drum sander to smooth down the slices. I'll be building a 30" wide model from a kit. Of course, I'll be detailing that process here, as well.

The Tortuga Ancient Instruments Holiday Maintenance Program is nearing its end and I can see light at the end of the tunnel, though I have yet to clean the chop saw and Delta 12" band saw; I'll get to them this weekend. Once all parts have arrived and are installed and everything is back in place, I'll call it good and get back to the reason for all of this: building a Flemish-style harpsichord!

Until next time...

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