Doesn’t it figure, you get going well with a project and SOMETHING has to act up… You cut the same board three times and it’s still too short, the wife insists on you changing priorities for that night and watching some chick flick with her, buddies show up with beer, or something breaks… And then it all comes down to a grinding halt.
Tonight was that night for me.
I had gotten the cuts made, the holes drilled, and the fasteners put away for the wide table insert on the table saw. And I had tested the function of the fence all the way across the surface of the rails, smooth as butter except for one spot where it appears I dripped glue.. CLeaned off and tested again, beautiful.
Now to set the fence aside and do some crosscuts, but for some reason, hands, fence, and gravity all combined in a way that proved disastrous.
It went in almost perfect slow motion, I could see the fence slipping out of my fingers, and as I lunged it seemed like I was frozen in molasses… as it twisted and turned on its way down the right front corner of the headpiece aimed straight down,
I can still hear the awful sound it made, that snapping of cast metal “TINK” report that seemed to echo through my garage. I could just throw up.
As I picked it up, and the headpiece fell quietly away from the main tube, I realized that a replacement had to be ordered, and NOW!
So now a new experience for me. A visit to M and D Mower’s web site, and ordering a replacement head piece, as well as a scale indicator. Which is a good thing. This makes mine one of the few BT3100s that I know of that will have indicators for both right, AND left scales… Not a huge improvement, but better than a stick in the eye as it were…
I have no one to blame for this but myself. And that is a healthy thing to admit. Now when I get it all back together, I can move forward with those shelves… And what the heck, I was wanting to take the head and tail pieces of my fence off and refinish them. The paint was fading really badly on them…
-- Trying to follow the example of the master.
6 comments so far
a1Jim
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17022 posts in 475 days
posted 113 days ago
Too bad
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com
dbhost
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624 posts in 130 days
posted 113 days ago
I’ve got a spare fence from a BT3000, but those lacked the scale indicator of the BT3100, setting my fence by tape measure is never any fun…. I can finish Kitty Condo this way, but I will be REALLY happy when I get the right head piece back on this thing…
The head piece. You can see how it broke right at about where it goes into the tube.
The BT3000 rip fence assembly complete on the left lacks the scale indicator of the BT3100 (head piece on the right). Not impossible to work with, but not as nice either…
For what it’s worth, the plywood gizmo it is sitting on is the wide table top I am working on. I got the mounting system completed, now I need to get a router plate, route this thing for a plate, a miter slot, and 2 sections of T track for the fence… sand it down, poly the thing, install the T track and router plate, and then build the new router fence assembly… I am almost considering relieving the edges of the top with a 1/4” roundover bit just to keep from jabbing myself on it…
-- Trying to follow the example of the master.
Derek Lyons
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266 posts in 466 days
posted 112 days ago
Some days it just doesn’t pay to chew through the restraints, does it?
-- Derek, Bremerton WA --
patron
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2458 posts in 239 days
posted 111 days ago
now that that is out of the way ,
on to better unknown things .
there is a lining to this ,
maybe under the sawdust ?
-- david ,new mexico ,allheart
dbhost
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624 posts in 130 days
posted 111 days ago
Well, I have a spare fence from a BT3000, and am using it. It has no scale indicator, so I am using the tape to make sure I am lined up right. All I am working on right now is organizers and kitty condo. Don’t need to be super accurate at this point…
-- Trying to follow the example of the master.
Mark Shymanski
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1555 posts in 610 days
posted 111 days ago
Ouch, that has got to hurt. I wonder what it would be like to do woodworking in zero gravity…at least you couldn’t drop things.
-- ...it's rennovation time!!!