Friday, February 26, 2016

ZCI for the Bosch

Not quite happy with the insert provided by Bosch, I decided to build my own.  It is a pretty common thing on most mitre saws and should help give a nicer cut.  Of course, I kept the original in case I have to tilt it over on the bevel adjustment.  This will handle everything else.  I rarely use the bevel anyway.  I just stick to mitres and straight cuts for the most part.

I am still getting accustomed to Lightworks.  It is much more powerful than what I need, but I am getting some of my routine tasks down and getting more comfortable with it.  This time I decided to add some music.

It is quite hard for me to decide on what to use for music.  There are some good ones out there, but not long enough.  I tend to go for something with acoustic guitar in it.  I guess that comes from my love of the instrument.  Some, I find, say it is acoustic guitar, but is more keyboard than anything else.  This leaves me on a quest that can last for hours to find what I want.  Your ears can get tired by then.  Fortunately, YT has a bunch and you can mark favourites.

So, today is my birthday, so I guess this is my birthday gift to you.


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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Three little ones

I sometimes remember to get the camera rolling and pass on knowledge that was passed on to me.  I often don't have anywhere to put them though, so I started a new series.  Doc's Little Docs.  We all started out knowing nothing, and often times, small bits of knowledge go by the wayside because people just assume that they are common knowledge.  So although you may think that some of the ideas are self evident, or that everyone knows that, I think little ideas are worth preserving just to make sure.

Here are the first three of a series I will add to as thoughts and ideas strike me.








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Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Why I will not buy a SawStop: A Rant

I have some very strong opinions on some things.  I don't often speak of them in my public discourse because they often times upset people.  I am going to break with that tradition.  Feel free to disagree if you want, but this is how I see it.

Steve Gass is one clever guy.  He had the smarts to invent and patent flesh sensing technology.  It is no secret that he spends a lot of time and effort defending his patent rights.  It is also no secret that he was turned down by every major saw manufacturer to implement, or, license for a fee, his technology.  The third leg of this story is his efforts to have it mandated, by law, the use of flesh sensing technology as a safety feature on all table saws.

He is trying to create a legislated monopoly on table saws.  Which, in my opinion, would like having a monopoly on vehicle seat belts.  Could you imagine being able to demand whatever sum you could dream up from vehicle manufacturers in order for them to produce any vehicles?

If successful, Mr. Gass will be able to ask whatever he wants in order for anyone to build a saw, and the consumables (they use a cartridge remember) that must be included with them.  Manufacturers will only have 2 choices.  Pay Mr. Gass, or don't make table saws.  At this point, Mr. Gass can ask whatever he wants for licensing and who knows how high that will be.  Just think Martin Shkreli for starters (bought the patent for Daraprim and raised the price from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill.....how much will you pay to stay alive?).  Don't believe that?  Mr. Gass is a lawyer, and as such is well trained in manipulating the system to get his way.

So, again, if he succeeds, what will happen to the price of table saws?  Are you willing to pay $2500 for a job site table saw for instance?  How about $5000?   How many thousands of dollars will it cost for a cabinet saw?  Will you go out of business if you don't have one?  What about if you manufacture furniture?  How about picture frames, or pallets, or any other of the myriad of consumer goods that relies on the humble table saw for production?  Mr. Gass would have a strangle hold on many items that are in day to day use, and some may say a necessity, like your house and a lot of things in it.  Do you think all the extra costs will be transferred to the consumer....you and I?  Of course it will.

Mr Gass, if successful, will make billions while we, as consumers, will have to fork it over to him, or go without.  He is trying to create his own proverbial golden goose, and trying to do it at the expense of everyone.  Pure greed.   In my opinion, Mr Gass is also a parasite.

That is why I will not be buying a SawStop.



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Friday, February 12, 2016

A bit more shop work

I did some more work to the shop a few weeks back.  I finally got up the desire to get the footage put together.  I must admit that I have been pretty inactive lately.  I guess there must be some bear in my, wanting to hibernate all winter.

I am embellishing a bit of course.  I do have my chores to do around the house, and winter has not been all that bad this year, relatively speaking.  It has been pretty mild.  Not so much the last couple of days, but I am not going to complain.  A little chill in the air makes it easier to split the firewood.  Still, not much going on in the shop.  The last thing I did in there was bring in the snow blower to repair the recoil starter.  Of course, I had to sweep the snow up after.  I guess I am digressing here....back on topic.

I managed to scrape up a few dollars and get another bundle of insulation.  Here I go about putting it up and getting the shop a tiny bit closer to being done.  At least this part of it.  I don't think a shop ever is truly "done".  It is always in a state of flux, changing as needs arise and work patterns develop.



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Monday, February 08, 2016

Improving the Bosch

I love my Bosch Glide mitre saw.   It is a wonderful piece of machinery.  If you have been following along though, you will realize that it does have some short comings.  One of them is the dust chute.  Here I do a simple job, with a reclaimed inner tube from a wheel barrow, to improve it a bit.  It is still not perfect, but it is a lot better.  I suppose that having the vacuum or a dust collector hooked up would improve it more, but I do not have the power to the shop yet, so we will have to wait to see what that does.



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Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Sill hanging around

I just have not had any ambition lately.  I have hardly been out to the shop, though not totally absent.  I went out there today for 10 minutes and did a bit of sweeping.  I helped Sally out with a bit of wallpapering in the house by removing some trim, and making a few pieces for around a window that I have been promising for a few years now.  Nothing special, just plain old 1 x 4 with some poly on it.  I didn't bother with pics or video.

All in all, I think I just have a case of the winter blahs.  I have not even looked at video to edit or had any interest other than wanting to hibernate for the rest of the winter.    The weather has been nice too and I still have no get up and go.  We lost a bunch of snow to melting and the river is open again.  Still, I just want to hit the snooze button, roll over and go back to sleep.  Oh well, the world will keep on turning.  I will build up enough energy to get off my rear end in a while, as with everything, this too shall pass.

I have a few projects that I am wanting to do.  I have some footage to edit of things done, so fear not, I have not abandoned anything just yet.  Just taking a break.  I looked at my You Tube account and there are about 54 videos in less than a year, so that is a bit more than one a week.  A fair amount of work and content I would say, so I think I am going to enjoy doing nothing for a little while yet.

Thanks for dropping by!