T is for Title

Greetings once again from the wilds of North Vancouver.

I seem to be slipping into a rut in which days blow by without much progress on “things,” which is kind of disturbing, but what can I do except carry on?

Despite all the good news this week — particularly the absence of a violent overthrow attempt of the US federal government — I have spent too much time doomscrolling. I really need to break that habit.

Thankfully my friend Doug sent me almost 200 pages of his next novel to review and comment on. I’ve been doing that, and enjoying it greatly.

I also spent a lot of time in the shop, but the results aren’t all that visible. The single biggest accomplishment is that the mitre saw stand (that’s the Canadian spelling of “miter”) is done. These photos show it before I replaced the castors with new ones that actually lock:

The wings open up 30" on either side so long stock can be supported. There are t-tracks in both wings to let me attach stop blocks for accurately repeating longer cuts. I still need to make those stop blocks, but that is only a matter of time. (More on that below.)

I did learn a lesson about castors (or “casters,” as some places spell it — I have yet to figure out if that is a Canadian thing or just general weirdness in English spelling). The castors you see in the photos above were bought from Home Depot, and they are terrible. Well, at least the brakes on them are terrible. They roll well, and seem to be durable and otherwise well built, but they will not lock down and stop whatever they are supporting from moving.

In desperation I checked all the local hardware stores (online, of course… Covid being what it is) and found they could order better castors for me, but they’d cost $30 to $40 CAD each, and shipping would take who knows how long. Now, I love supporting local businesses, but spending $120 to $160 for another set of castors seemed crazy, so I checked Amazon. There I found well built castors at a price of just $40 CAD for a set of four — all with locks — that could be delivered on the same day if you’re a Prime member. And so, despite the fact that I really do prefer to buy local, there was no reasonable way to do so in this case.

As promised, the new castors arrived the same day I ordered them and they are already installed. The brakes work well, and the stand is now safe to use. Sadly, I cannot find the receipt for the first set of castors so I probably can’t return them. I might try next time I am at Home Depot, but who knows. As I say, lesson learned: do more research before making a purchase. It turns out the online reviews on the Home Depot website included at least one saying the original castors didn’t lock. I’ve added my own review explaining that clearly as well.

Back to the stop blocks. I plan to make them myself. I have the fancy T-headed bolts and knobs for them, and I even have some oak that might work for these. The problem is that the table saw is out of alignment. I noted an issue with the fence this past week and attempted to align it again, even going so far as to buy a dial indicator and build a custom tool to check alignment more carefully than a simple ruler would allow. Sadly, however, I could not get it to stay aligned. Every time I moved the fence it popped back out of alignment. I have called the manufacturer and some parts are coming to help me try to fix it. I am not sure how that will go, but I will give it a try. They assure me that they will help me with this regardless, and the parts are free. They claim that it should be possible to get it aligned within 1/64th of an inch and that it should stay there. That’s 15 thousands of an inch, put another way, and it was reliably popping out by at least 35 thousands when I noted the issue. Should the parts arrive I will update you next week.

Also, the crack sealing of the garage floor is almost done. One section remains that needs another coat or two, but it is small and hidden under a set of drawers in the back. I am only doing it because my sense of rightness will be deeply offended if I don’t complete the job.

When I wasn’t working on those things, I did a few other odds and ends. In particular I continued patching up some nail and screw holes in various walls around the house, and removed the counter mounted dish soap dispenser that was completely in the way (and entirely unused) in the kitchen. I also managed to re-hang the bifold closet door in the library, since the paint in there has now had plenty of time to cure.

I had planned to share more information about the CNC machine this week, but that requires prep time that simply didn’t happen.

And of course my slow progress doesn’t mean other issues don’t pop up. Just this morning I ran the dishwasher and noted it sounded funny. It seems to work and isn’t leaking, but it made a lot more noise than usual, as if the motor in it is not connected to something properly anymore. I will give it one more try and see if simply running it through a full cycle resolves the issue, but it might be time to replace it. It’s a Samsung, and their dishwashers are terrible. We had one in the last rental and it had several issues as well. If you remember anything from this post it should be that in your hour of dishwasher need you should not turn to Samsung.

I haven’t done my research on what is available up here yet — this is a new problem, after all — but some years back the best dishwasher brands in the US were Miele, Bosch, KitchenAid, and Asko. We had an Asko in California and it was quiet and effective, but who knows if I can find a dealer for those up here.

I need to figure out what my next focus should be and get moving. That said, I don’t really want to paint rooms inside the house during winter. We did it once and I learned it is better to have windows open for that. So what will actually get done is anyone’s guess. Join me next week to see what actually happened.

Cheers!