What did you do today?

[highup]

On the wool carpet job I just mentioned.
The customer wanted the same patterned wool carpet that was in the room at the golf resort rooms that we installed 3 years ago.
He and his wife stayed in one of these suites at some point. He fell in love with the carpet.
He's from CA, and building a second home here, maybe 3rd 4th or 5th... how would we know?
Tho you can't see it, nor the ocean, the practice green of this world renowned golf course,
(actually 7 golf courses now)
is probably 100 feet away through impenetrable trees and brush. While measuring the home, I could faintly hear an occasional golf cart whizzing by off in the distance.
Anyway, the home..... a vacation home, is probably just over 5000 square feet of comfortable gloriousness. Now there are fancy, expensive, "Hollywood" style homes ....all white marble and high gloss everything with gold leaf on everything.
Then, there are large, well constructed, COMFORTABLE and easy on the eye, expensive homes. This is one of those. The builder is local. He is probably early 40's. He's dad was a local builder who recently passed. This young man started focusing on these expensive homes about 4 years ago. His workmanship is impeccable. Very, very nice gicing 2500 feet of finish on site engineered plank, 2000 feet of wool carpet in the 5 bedrooms and another 800 feet of tile, not including the 5 shower walls and ceilings. Each bedroom has a nice, large bathroom.
Here's the big one.
The man wanted the exact same patterned wool carpet that was in the room at the golf course suite. The shop checked for pricing. I know it was inches away from $100 per. We needed 240 yards .....for those 5 bedrooms.
We discovered a couple of roadblocks.
#1
There is a 350 yard minimum order.
(We need 240)

#2
They don't make that pattern anymore.

#3.
.............But they can make that carpet because they still have the pattern on file.

The customer was informed that he would have to purchase an additional $14,000 worth of carpet, beyond what he needed.
........no big deal.
Is capitalism great, or what?

.....later, thinking rationally.
Is that really a big deal?
People, ordinary people buy used cars day in, day out for $14,000.
I gave the shop a price of $25 per yard. I won't get rich by any means, but I know I'll have a couple weeks of good paying work in a couple of months.
The carpet isn't scheduled to made for a couple of months, so I will have questions later...... For SMLI, Dairis........and Ramey.
Dumb questions, but I will be asking them anyway. I'm not proud.
The new shop owner knows I don't want this job that I measured.
He told me today...
"I have some bad news for you"
The homeowner gave a green light to the carpet price.
$14,000 for buying additional carpet and that was not a big deal?
There is really knowbody within 120 miles that will, or more realistically 'can' install this carpet. Nobody will install woven here. Give em $50 a yard and I'd guarantee there would be no takers.
...they want slapperdown LVP on the menu and no carpet.
It's hard to coax installers to do carpet at $9 per yard with rental carpet.

 

[C.J.]

I be impressed. (Practicing equity and inclusion)
....and parentheses
Even if I knew what I was doing, the first sheet of that pretty wood, would become a template for another project. . It's very nice.

You wouldn’t believe how many times I rely on using templates and jigs to make things. If I have one good version of something, I’ll use that as a template to make a template of the thing I need a template for. Now I have a template that I can use to make a test piece. If I like the test piece I’ll move on to making the real piece. If not I’ll adjust the template or make a new one. Material is expensive. Test pieces are cheap.

This material is a 1/4” sheet of MDF with laminate on both sides. Just like cheap laminate floor planks but it comes in 5 x 9 sheets. Modern day paneling?? I adhered the panel to my cabinet frame, which if you think about it, is itself a template. Now you have a template to route your cabinet face to. How nice is that. I’m using a bearing bit and it’s following a template, the cabinet frame. I have to go and inspect my template to make sure it’s acceptable since the router will produce an exact copy of the template. Where is the bearing riding? Do you have screw heads or nail holes in its path? Nail pops? Knot holes? Anything really. It’s gotta be dealt with or else. Now all you’re doing is guiding a router along a template and as long as there’s no interference with the bearing following the template perfectly, you’re good. I chuckle only because I’ve had routers jump on me before and it’s always scary when it happens. Routing an under mount sink in butcher block makes me pucker every damn time.

 

[highup]

You wouldn’t believe how many times I rely on using templates and jigs to make things. If I have one good version of something, I’ll use that as a template to make a template of the thing I need a template for. Now I have a template that I can use to make a test piece. If I like the test piece I’ll move on to making the real piece. If not I’ll adjust the template or make a new one. Material is expensive. Test pieces are cheap.

This material is a 1/4” sheet of MDF with laminate on both sides. Just like cheap laminate floor planks but it comes in 5 x 9 sheets. Modern day paneling?? I adhered the panel to my cabinet frame, which if you think about it, is itself a template. Now you have a template to route your cabinet face to. How nice is that. I’m using a bearing bit and it’s following a template, the cabinet frame. I have to go and inspect my template to make sure it’s acceptable since the router will produce an exact copy of the template. Where is the bearing riding? Do you have screw heads or nail holes in its path? Nail pops? Knot holes? Anything really. It’s gotta be dealt with or else. Now all you’re doing is guiding a router along a template and as long as there’s no interference with the bearing following the template perfectly, you’re good. I chuckle only because I’ve had routers jump on me before and it’s always scary when it happens. Routing an under mount sink in butcher block makes me pucker every damn time.

In your writings and descriptions of the processes, I'm right there with you.
In reality.... I'm 2000 miles away, wishing you luck.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Can I borrow a clamp or 3. You never have enough clamps.

 

[havasu]

I wish I had that many clamps!

 

[zannej]

I was just coming here to say I have clamp envy. LOL. CJ, the work you're doing looks amazing! I wish I was that skilled.

Highup, $14k for extra carpet they don't need? Yeesh. Maybe they think they can sell some to the golf courses for repairs or something? I dunno. Either the customer has $$$$$$$ or they plan to stiff someone if they pay afterward.

Can't remember if I had posted updates here or not. Internet cord outside got cut. Proprietary cable from Starlink. $130 before tax. Tax was 10.45%. Free shipping at least. Stepped in a cow turd when I went out to find that the cable had been cut in half. Still got an ear infection and am feeling cruddy. It spread to my left ear and developed a lump behind the ear. Taking antibiotics and using ear drops 4x a day. Right ear cleared up mostly at least.

Brother set his phone up as a mobile hotspot but at some point it slipped out of his hand, fell and broke. Mobile data got used up so we had no internet. Landline is on the fritz. Can't make outgoing calls. Incoming calls disconnect in less than a minute. I fell into a trashcan while cleaning up in the kitchen and hallway. Brother had kicked almost 20 empty bottles out of his room into the hallway and Mom was complaining about them.

Yesterday my brother's new phone and the internet cable arrived. I was so excited when I saw the UPS truck roll up (saw it through window after I'd just finished putting a new cartridge on Mom's insulin pump) I forgot to put pants on before I went outside to greet the driver and get the package. At least my cardigan was long enough to cover somewhat. LOL.

Bribed my friend with food and booze to get him to come out and climb the tower to put the new cable on. He also fixed the pole the dish is on to make it upright again. Saw that the old cable beat the hell out of the side of the house and put holes in the siding. It must have come loose in high winds after catching on stupid tree branches. New cable is secured better but is still caught up in a tree that needs to be cut down.

Mom has turned the living room into a bottle pit. Its like a ball pit but with plastic bottles. I had to navigate through it to pull the cable through the wall from outside. Then had to body surf over the bottles to get to the other side of the room and route it over the hutch on Mom's desk to attach it. I fell a couple of times and had to grab furniture ot pull myself up. Friend tested that internet was working and I took him home. He got his food from Mexican restaurant and some kind of booze to share with his wife.

Today has been a day of rest. Coordination is still ass so if I do any cleaning it will be while sitting down. I'm waiting for Mom to ask for dinner and playing around with my sketches in MSPaint.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Stepped in a cow turd

When I was a kid on the farm in Minnesota we called them cow pies. And yes I stepped in many of them barefoot, I think I can still imagine the crap squeezing up between my toes.

 

[highup]

When I was a kid on the farm in Minnesota we called them cow pies. And yes I stepped in many of them barefoot, I think I can still imagine the crap squeezing up between my toes.

.....that's making my morning yogurt taste even better.

 

[C.J.]

.....that's making my morning yogurt taste even better.

You eat pieces of shit for breakfast???

 

[highup]

Zan, I got rethinking that in some peoples reality, how $14,000 isn't really a big deal. To you and me it is. It's like buying a decent used car. So that's $120,000 for carpet and wood flooring. Plus 450 sq feet of tile for the 6 bathrooms and a laundry tile, not to mention 5 fully tiled showers.
Looking close if I guessed, to $20,000 for all this.....there's still doors, cabinets, countertops and wood trim to be done.
..........oh, I forgot. The man had to clear the property and build the house. The area where he's at is wooded, with trees, huckleberries and brush so thick deer have a hard time walking through it.
That's one fun aspect of my work. Tho I don't get to see a lot of homes like this, very few locals have the slightest clue places like this are in our area.
This is the front door. it doesn't have hinges, it pivots. It's teak and 2 1/2" thick, not sure how tall or wide, probably 4 feet.
Pretty cool

 

[highup]

You eat pieces of shit for breakfast???

So now cow shit comes in pieces? I'm eating yogurt..... It's soft and wet.

 

[highup]

....and cold, not steaming.

 

[C.J.]

So now cow shit comes in pieces

Where do you think the term piece of shit came from. lol.

 

[C.J.]

Cheap Chinese bearings. Guess you get what you pay for. On the plus side I’m getting pretty good at catching these things before they completely give out.

 

[highup]

Cheap Chinese bearings. Guess you get what you pay for. On the plus side I’m getting pretty good at catching these things before they completely give out.

View attachment 19777

I just bought a 10 pack of bearings for my new to me bandsaw. $9 and free shipping.
I didn't look to see if they're Chinese.


...I mean, why look?

 

[highup]

Where do you think the term piece of shit came from. lol.

Do some places refer to cooking firewood as shitettes?
(Pay on briquettes)

 

[highup]

Cheap Chinese bearings. Guess you get what you pay for. On the plus side I’m getting pretty good at catching these things before they completely give out.

View attachment 19777

My bandsaw bearings aren't all in good shape. Since the bearings don't spin often and don't take much load, everywhere I read, guys say use the cheapest ones you can find and they'll last a couple years.
Maybe better is better in a full production business.
Routers are probably a reason to buy better ones.

 

[highup]

One of my bandsaws side load bearings went out. Probably original equipment.
One of the side load b eating screws was. Stripped out. It's oddball because the thread diameter and the boss for the bearing are different. 5mm and 6mm.
I decided the factory upper bearing design was too complex.

I'm building a
"simpler, less complicated and better designed"
upper bearing shelf says the flooring installer with and endless money supply."

I just learned how much I hate metric nuts and screws.
A LOT.
Fire the purchase manager and engineering department heads!
.....hell, off with their heads!
Between drills, taps, buying the wrong screws, screw types, screw lengths etc and $15 in gas for multiple trips to town.... I know I'm into this 60+ buckaroo ies. Angle aluminum, $2.50 10 bearings, $8.95.
Labor (slave) free.
Anodized T-track? .....already had it.
...it's those tiny little screws. Screwing is a good business unless you're the recipient.
This lil' piece, with one stripped out screw is was was started all this.
The two side by side bearings are supposed to allow .006" in blade movement. The blades are .025 thick.
Why can't the factory drill the aluminum block to allow a simple .031" gap between the two bearings? If they did that, there would be just one lateral movement right or left required to center the blade between the bearings. This is way to complex.
The single thrust bearing is sorta ok, but the adjustments you make are hard to see and just when you snug up the Allen screw, the bearing moves a bit....... So you try again, and again.

 

[highup]

Here's the new parts, the lateral bearings and the single thrust bearing. There's a tiny bit of adjustability in the two side bearings. If I squeeze them together, then snug them up, it almost pinches the blade. If I force them apart, then snug them up, I get .010" clearance, or .005" on each side of the blade.
.003", or about the thickness of a dollar bill. That's ideal from what I've read.
I'm mounting these two pieces on some angle aluminum, then this single piece fastens to the saw.
I still have to cut my bearings holder thingys to length, then mount them in a way that's adjustable.
I'm removing the old guide, then installing the new one. Not chopping up or hurting the saw.

 

[highup]

That bearing clearance is FREEKING difficult without a milling machine and it's super fine adjustments and repeatability.

Proper math helps in accuracy also.
It's still difficult on a drill press, and it took 6 attempts. On gap was about .050 too wide.
That's a spark plug gap thickness, not a piece of paper thickness. Not sure what happened there, bad math for sure. One was too tight. One was perfect but with no gap.
Has this perfected on my last attempt this morning.
I do have a very heavy cross slide for the drill press, and combined with a dial indicator, I eventually hit paydirt.
It ain't there, but the expenses are pretty much done with and I just need to finish mounting the parts I made.
I'll need a new blade too. The old one is obviously dull and doesn't cut straight. It's a 1/2" blade, the max size the saw. No need for a 1/2 inch blade. I'm thinking 3/8"
Oh, you can see all the drilled tapped holes, my attempts at spacing accuracy.
Quite an enlightening experience using the dial indicator in conjunction with the cross slide.
Never done this before. Machining 101.