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Thanksgiving leftovers,

Mike

I finished reworking a stock for one of my dad's .22's. I should have taken some before and after pics. I got some walnut and sapele sets resawed.

Though not on my bench I am excited to now be the proud owner of my very first table saw, or at least most of it, the extensions and wheeled stand are coming later today.

The electrician that I used to hook-up my electrical to my fuse box and inspect my wiring during the building of my new shop let me know that he had this table saw, was getting divorced, needed to get rid of it, and I could have it for $200 delivered. So instead of spending a bunch when I am clueless about table saws I thought that it would be a great learning opportunity for me.





It seems to run great and is actually nearly as quiet as my band saw which was unexpected. Right now I am taking it all apart and cleaning every piece that I can get to..... I plan on installing a dust port in the bottom of the saw so I can hook it up to my dust extraction and I also have a smaller air cleaner to hang in the "saw room."

I suspect that I will be asking some table saw questions here so thanks in advance for your help folks.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Hesh,

That is exactly the same table saw that I have. I have a love-hate relationship with mine. In general, it has worked fine as far as spinning the blades goes. The arbor has been accurate enough (no runout) to do fret slot cutting with a crosscut sled with no problem. The fence seems to be stable enough, and the table surfaces flat enough.

On the down side, the splitter assembly was terrible, and I'm ashamed to say I almost never put it back on when I'm doing rip cuts (stupid, I know). The adjustment wheels are flimsy - my wheel for raising and lowering the blade actually broke off recently. Also, for no reason I can understand, the motor manages to throw off the pulley every once in a while - the Allen set screws just won't stay tight.

We cohabit just fine, but there are a lot of days where, if I had the money in hand for a cabinet saw, I'd be glad to move this one out the door for $200.

JIm

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Now THAT is dedication Filippo my friend - tooling down the freeways with a table saw hanging out of your convertible! And you are right - a great picture that would have made too.

Thanks for the advice on safety - I need this kind of thing very much since again I have never used a table saw before. I was flinching yesterday when I turned the sucker on......

Thanks for the encouragement too!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Well I am sorry to hear that Jim my friend. Yeah it does not look like the picture of quality but I think that I can learn some things with it. If nothing else, and after reading your post, I should be able to learn how to replace lots of parts...... Actually I am not sure why I am laughing.....

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Hesh, I've found my tablesaw to be very useful... I use an Incra miter gage on mine and use it to cut the neck angle into the heel before carving the neck. I also cut a matching angle in my neck blocks before installing them (makes neck fitting a snap!) I also use it for cutting truss rod slots.

That looks like a good deal, Hesh. I'd recommend getting a quality miter gauge too. If you hold out for a good sale, the Incras can be had for not too bad a price.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I spent three or four hours Sherlocking around yesterday because my schematic reading skills aren't to the point that I can wire relays (the little red rectangles between the dials and preamp board). In that time I was able to successfully layout nine wires. Three to four hours for nine wires. With four to go that left me clueless.

Hesh,

Some unsolicited advice:

Get yourself a book on tablesaws. A good one is The Accurate Table Saw, but there are others. I think Todd Stock had some suggestions. Info on alignment, jigs, safety, etc. This is one tool where alignment is not just a quality-of-work issue, it's also a matter of safety. OK, off my soapbox!

I'm doing the ebony binding around the cutaway on an L-00 in mahogany. Cobbled together a bending pipe with some plumbing pipe, an old variac and a charcoal lighter. Works real good - burned a hole the size of a silver dollar in my good jacket with it! Good thing it saved me a hundred dollars - now I'll have enough to buy myself a new jacket



Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

O.K. guys heres a word of advice from someone who has spent years and years behind a table saw . Always use a properly made push stick not just an old scrap thats lying around. Every time you turn your saw on think I could loose my fingers. Make sure the ares is clear of any obstructions. Even when all this is taken into consideration can still happen!!!!!!

I finished the bracing on my 3 SE117's and got the canoe that I'm working on finished painting.

I've also been rebuilding the stairs to my basement. It would be a whole lot simpler if the people who built the house had done things right in the first place, like left enough space for adequate headroom! It's not like a 1500 sq. ft. bungalow is too small to put in a good set of stairs.

I'm still trying to figure out how to put my "new" old table saw to a better use than a place to set all my drill bits out so that I can see them all at once. After all, the machine is 5/8's "table"/"saw". I've spent years working without one, its hard to work it into my habits.

I also picked up another RAS at the dump. This one is a Delta Super 900. Last one I got, also from the dump, is a DeWalt that works great, now. I'm not entirely sure what I will do with it, but the table at least looks great. I'm thinking of using the table, and maybe the lift column, for my thickness sander

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

It has been difficult to get into the shop lately between work and family, but I was able to complete the end wedge on my first guitar (OM). I will be off for the holidays, so I hope to close the box then.


Glenn

Hesh,
That's a great news. A table saw is so useful. I think I would be totally lost without mine.
There are so much things that can easily be done with it : truss-rod channels, curved braces, fret slots, etc ...
This is a real time-saver.

This week-end, I made the mortise / tenon on my next archtop. It almost looks like a guitar now !
( BTW, there is a bunch of pics of the construction here : http://www.grellier.fr/build.php?page=46&lang=en )

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Christophe Grellier

I'm just about ready to put the finish on my first. It's a kit from LMI - Red spruce and mahogany. John Arnold gave me bracing specs to a 1935 D-18 that I followed for the most part, cause there was no way I was going to use the Antes plans.

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Jeremy Douglas

I'm getting close to completing a commissioned guitar. BR 000, cutaway, armrest bevel (koa). Lots of work binding these, but I think it's my best bevel yet. Binding is all scraped down now. Then I took a break from the guitar to make Helen happy by putting a Bubinga threshold plate in a doorway. It was actually kinda tricky--I had to transition from irregular height saltillo tiles to a new wood floor.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I haven't had the pleasure to meet him in person, though last I heard he does live a few hours east of me in TN.

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Jeremy Douglas

Nice guitar Howard!

Howard that's a cool rosette, it looks more like a painting than wood in the pic. What type of wood is it?

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Jeremy Douglas

Buckeye burl rosette. Great stuff. Here's one more, and one of the threshold. The threshold is actually in three pieces: outer of gonçalo alves (which is what the floor is made of) and center of bubinga. I chipped out a short row of the tile, which varies a lot in height. The width of the plate also is varied--it tapers from one end to the other. In case you can't tell, I'm pretty proud of the job on this threshold. You can't see it in the photo, but the height transitions are nice and smooth. I beveled the bubinga board edge by different amounts, and beveled some of the cement grout, and shimmed the pieces to different heights to get it to work. But all of that is subtle and won't be noticed by any casual observer.





Filippo, I think this was my fifth bevel. My guess is that there is some change in sound, since the top is losing about 3/4" of width. I don't think the asymmetry is a problem, though.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

In addition to spending a ton of time trying to get a decent strip of Bloodwood for purfling lines, I have been experimenting with the central design motif for the rosettes of my two instruments in process. Here are the iterations of # 2.

I think I like the last one best for #2. I'll post again for #3.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Here is what #3 options were.j

Just for fun, here is the wheat I have been working on.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Cool design, Waddy! Has a kind of Native American feel; I can't quite place it more than that.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

[quote="Howard Klepper"]I'm getting close to completing a commissioned guitar. BR 000, cutaway, armrest bevel (koa). Lots of work binding these, but I think it's my best bevel yet. Binding is all scraped down now. Then I took a break from the guitar to make Helen happy by putting a Bubinga threshold plate in a doorway. It was actually kinda tricky--I had to transition from irregular height saltillo tiles to a new wood floor.

Howard, nice work. How do you glue in your abalone? I got my OM body all buttoned up over the weekend. I plan on using abalone perfling on the top like you have done. For my rosette and back strip, I glued the abalone in using 5 min epoxy with black dye. It worked okay as the abalone was a straight run. I still had to mix up two separate batches of epoxy as I couldn't get pieces inlaid quick enough. I will be breaking abalone and fitting it around the curves for the top and using even 30 minute epoxy will require a lot of mixing before I am done. You have a good approach?

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

CA glue. I may be a dinosaur in using solid shell, though, and not using a teflon strip. I install the inner purfling, then the abalone, then the outer purfling.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.