Dizzy Weekend

Woke up - Sat up, DIZZY!

I didn't notice any problems the night before but I sure did once I sat up in bed!  Vertigo!  Things were spinning pretty good.  I closed my eyes for opened them again.  Things got back to normal.  But if I turned my head too fast things became all spinny again.  Ugh!   WTH?  Really freaked me out.

I spent most of morning trying to figure out what was up.  I wasn't getting worse and in fact if I just moved slow and even, things were ok.

Possibly because of allergies? Inner/middle ear infection?  I did have a lot of fluid in ear the weekend before due to the type of ear protection I use when chipping wood...  Well, life goes on.

Sawmill-lathe project

I could have done more sawmill work, but since I was a bit concerned over dizziness I decided that I would not push my luck with big machines.  Besides, it was too freaking HOT!  Temperatures got into low 70Fs!  So I decided to work in the shop on lathe idea I have for the sawmill.  I have a bunch of smaller logs that aren't going to be good for lumber, but they could be useful for fence posts and small utility posts.  But, you really need to get the bark off of them (bark promotes rot and insect infestation), and it is sure nice to use a perfectly round post!    I looked at the lathe-mizer attachment for the woodmizer mill I have and its just too expensive for me to justify buying it.  But the concept is simple.  So I came up with a design that I think will work and started making it.  I bought most of the hardware for it last weekend at TSC.  I milled a bunch of pieces of oak boards for making a couple of small glue-up panels for the bases of the lathe (head and tailstock need something to sit on - the mill bed is just relatively thin metal support rails offering no support for my head/tail stocks.

First - the glue-up panels

I trimmed the boards to length and then jointed the edges of the oak boards again (I discovered I had the jointer jet at an angle last weekend).  After I cleaned them up a bit I took them inside to glue.

I laid them out to figure out how I was going to clamp them so that they remained aligned and true. That's when I realized how bowed they were.   I read in my woodworker magazine that you could handle "some" bowing when you glue up, but depending what you want to use the panels for, it was usually wise to just get new unbowed boards.  Well, I figured that since I am not making furniture with this stuff that I could accomodate a bit more bow than what a furniture maker would like.  I did consider jointing them on the flat sides to get rid of the bow, but they are already only 7/8" thick which is just about as thin as I would like for the bases.

I decided it was worth while to make plenty of support pieces to make sure the panels were as flat as I could while they were gluing up.  Of course, I was short of clamps!   I rigged up a clamping system shown below that i hoped would keep things straight and square and FLAT!

These are all of the panel boards just laying on 2 support pieces.  This is when I realized how bowed some of these boards were.

You can see the bowed boards  more clearly in this picture.

Getting ready to apply glue to edges.

Glued and clamped

First panel.  I might put these through the thickness planer..  Honestly though, not bad!

2nd panel in the clamps

I wish I knew what kind of wood that top brace is.  Its something I milled.  Its nice wood.  Strong, fine grain.  Birch perhaps?

The head stock assembly

I used the tire sets that I got at TSC for the bearing and for the mounting plates.  I didn't know it at the time, but these things can be disassembled!

These are about $17 at TSC!

I don't need the big rubber tire though.

This is all I need

Made these boards for the uprights

Cut some holes in them to accommodate the bearings

The leftover "holes"

My little drill press had LOTS of trouble getting through this oak!  I am going to have to get a bigger one.

All four boards have their holes here.

Bearing fit in and bolted

BUt its still a bit sloppy...  I ended up using 2 of the tire bearings each side.  I will have to get 2 more tires from TSC.

Get the idea now?  I will have to do some welding.

Face plate issues

I started to look at the steel pulleys that I got to make the face plates with and decided that I need to either grind off the pulley channel part or cut it off with the metal lathe.  But I haven't set up my metal lathe yet...

So I started to look at the lathe to see what I need to do to get it running.

Found the face plate of the motor.  OK, now i know what the power requirements are.  3HP - nice!

Thisis the faceplate of the lathe itself.  Its actually a pretty nice lathe!  Hardened ways (that's what the -H means in the model number).  Its'a 14 inch swing and 40" between centers.

OK - quick guess at wiring and I got it running.... backwards.  When I tried to switch it the circuit blew!  DAMN

Just need to figure out where I need to plug in the power!  I am thinking I am going to end up taking the motor out to get to the connection box so that I can follow the motor wiring backwards..

Heading home early

I took off for the city house early.  I was getting pretty anxious that my dizziness may get worse if it was caused by ear infection!  I was at the farm by myself so I needed to be able to drive well enough to get home!  Waiting too long may get me stranded!

I made it home (125 miles - was getting dark by time i got home).  Wasn't bad drive in retrospect.  I was anxious as hell, but I kept it under control. As long as I don't move my head too much I don't seem to experience the dizziness.

I called my PCP on Monday morning and found out he and his staff were useless.  Furthermore, PCP is changing plans next year and I need to find another PCP!  Long story short, I talked to UHC nurse on phone and she was great!  Told me to go to urgent care and even set up appointment for me.  Also helped me find new PCP!  I went to urgent care where they said I had ear infection after looking in ear.  Gave me prescription for antibiotics and nose spray AND got my blood pressure and diuretics refilled!  YAY!  I made appointment for next week with PCP.  I hope she is ok.  This stuff makes me so anxious.  I am writing this on 3rd day of antibiotics and still dizzy.    Although. search online says that 2-4 days is not unusual, and if lots of fluid and /or damage it can take up to 3 months to get rid of dizzies! UGH!