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!

Family Thanksgiving

Neat moss

Before we left for the farm I was taking Smokey out walkies and I noticed how well the moss filled in the cracks on my back patio!  Beautiful!  Almost like I planned it!

New Bandsaw Blades arrived!

The shipment of blades arrived from bandsawbladesdirect.com!  I ordered 2 blades.  One bi-metal re-saw blade and one carbide tipped re-saw blade!

Lenox blades from bandsawbladesdirect.com.  They took a while to arrive, but not bad considering no shipping charges!

Close-up of the carbide tipped blade once installed on the bandsaw.

Installation was easy.  The only issue I had was trying to figure the correct tensioning, but that's not just with this blade but with any bandsaw!  It seemed to run better when tension was above 5 (sorry, don't know units on the scale!).  It did produce a very nice cut and it cut through everything with no burning (like the normal blade that I had on the saw).  Very fast and beautiful cuts!  I used CT blade to cut up the slabs left over after last weekends milling and chipping operations.

Chipping

The new bandsaw blades let me saw the slabs into something that would fit in the chipper.  I sliced up all the slabs I had left over (and the new stuff) and chipped away! 

I figure I must have at least 2 cubic yards of chips there now.  I should put them on some trees next time.  Not sure which trees though.  Maybe the hazelnut?  Could do the persimmon too, or the remaining smaller sour cherry trees.

Jointer up and running!

I finally got around to putting a long cord (and appropriate plug) on my 8" jointer!  We stopped at Edgewood hardware when we were out getting food Friday and I got the needed hardware (12/3 extension cord and plug).  I fixed the plug and gave it a shot!  Still works!  Much nicer jointer than the one I had been using.  The fence stays rock solid perpendicular to the bed!

See the yellow cord there?  Thats new!  I turned it on and it really hums!  I ran a board through it - very nice!

The old 6" jointer.  Harbour Frieght special. Thinking of setting it to maximum offset to rough-in badly warped boards!

More saw-milling

I put one very long straight old oak log on the mill and started in on it.  It was VERY straight an took the full 17' of sawmill bed space that I had.  While the log wasn't very big I did manage to get a 17' 5x6 out of it!  

Thats an 8x8 on the right.  There is an additional sticker under the 5x6 (center).  That's a 5x5 (I think) on the right.

5x6" 17' footer! Its actually trying to bow!  I sticker-stacked it ASAP.  I am hopefully that it will ry further without more deformation.

Got some nice long boards from the long log too, but they either need edging and/or trimming.  I am saving them until later.

Going to have to do a cleanup of that sawdust soon!  Can barely walk over it now.

Muddy Mess

I chose not to do very much saw mill work because of the muddy situation in front of the barn.  It was bad enough just for the little bit I ran over it to chip the clabs!

I still have a log or two from the old batch (the ones taken down when the garage was excavated).  I have some more over by the house but I have judged them too small to mill. They may become test subjects for the lathe attachment or maybe just firewood and wood chips.

Was muddy from the rains we had last week.  There was standing water in the gardens.

No big ruts yet.  

 Planing boards for lathe device and furniture

I have been planing up some of the nicer (sometimes - lol) oak boards in order to make the lathe device of the sawmill and perhaps to make a coffee table for the house.  I will need to do glue-up panels for both.  I have prepped about 6 3" wide by 4' boards so far.  I need more so I scrounged around and found a few more oak boards.  I planed them this weekend but did not get around to cutting them down and jointing them.

The ones ready to glue are on the roller table surface.  A freshly planed one is leaning on the roller table there.

Freshly planed.  They look nice, but those knots will cause problems.  I will remove them before jointing.

More freshly planed.  

More freshly planed.  Some of these were so warped that they are left with an extremely thin board!  I will have to grade these and even up the thicknesses before I glue them!

Plane makes quite a mess of chips!  

These chips are much finer than the wood chipper chips.

I should use these on some plants!  Maybe bring them back to Silver Spring?

Family Thanksgiving

Mom.  Tom an Julie, and Connie and Ben arrived at our place Saturday - just after noon.  Tom and Julie sent out the pictures that they took - I didn't take any for some reason.  Anyway, it was a good get together!

My sister Connie (on the right) and me.  Lucy, Connie's dog, is checking things out in the lower right.

About to go for a walk around the farm. Tom has the camera.

Julie is operating the camera.  Lucy is being a dog and upsetting Connie.

Got one with Ben! Although he is trying to hide back there, LOL

Some interesting moss Tom found.