| Blog series by Gary Fixler | updated 3 days ago | 5 parts | 2052 reads | 65 comments total |
Part 1: sealed with a trip
Let me show you why tonight’s shop-time sucked… Sigh… So I had a 2gal bucket of Anchorseal – prized wood end grain sealer for drying logs and planks. I was carrying it to a spot in the shop where I was to seal up a bunch of European olive bottle blanks I resawed and cut up from a large log tonight. My foot got hung up really well on something – maybe my rolling stand – and I lurched forward hard. Of course, I never trip like that, but since I was car...
Part 2: National Lampoon's Economic Downturn Vacation
I work in video games, and it’s seemed this year to be pretty immune to the recession. Kids always want their video games, and when you can’t do much else, like building that addition, or moving to a new place, picking up a game or two to play away the misery is a comforting alternative. Or so we thought. Looks like it’s finally trickled up, or down, or sideways, and as such, we had The Meeting today. While not officially laid off, I’m on ‘forced vacation&#...
Part 3: Craftsman 13" planer woes
I’ve been so fantastically lazy these past 3 weeks of pseudo-laid-off time. I wanted to use this unexpected break to go nuts in the garage, as it’s what I’ve dreamed of for more than a year now, but I think the anticipation of hard times ahead, and light anxiety of not having a steady income at the moment (first time in 6 years – since shortly after moving to CA) has sapped my motivation almost entirely. I’ve done almost nothing but wait. I’ve had some thin...
Part 4: Jimi_C nails it - my planer suffered a blown bearing
In my last post, I mentioned my planer seizing up entirely. I couldn’t move the belts, and I couldn’t spin the knife wheel. I also talked about how insanely built the Craftsman 13” is, and I still stand behind that. I think taking apart my Toyota pickup’s engine might be less involved. I finally found the secret under the black slide-in plastic caps that the top rods sit in. There were access ports that let me undo some hex screws and finally lift off the top shrouds (...
Part 5: My planer's broken bearing
I got some shots of the gruesome outcome inside the machine. The replacement bearing has been ordered through Sears Parts Direct and should be here in a week or two. Meanwhile, the carnage… Here are some closeups of the broken bearing from the side where it opened up: Note the broken cage and missing balls. No idea where they went: The shaft was pitted beneath the bearing. At first I thought it was damage, and it may be, but I’m leaning a bit toward it being a...
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