Thursday - January 2, 2020
After I had gotten the Jointer Knives set up I learned that I positioned them a little low. The easiest way to resolve this was to...
...lower the Outfeed Table a few thousands. On Sunday I zeroed my Dial Indicator or the Outfeed Table, moved the Cutterhead to top-dead-center and sat the Dial Indicator on the Knife's edge. The next steps were to release the Outfeed Table's Locking Knob and then lower the Outfeed Table until I had the Knife's edge 3 thousands above the Outfeed Table.
A test cut seemed to work better on the 2x8 test piece I had. The cherry 4x4 was happier with a lower knife setting. So tweaking this setting depending on the material seems to be an appropriate technique.
New Year's Day I was doing the usual 1st of the month fluid level & tire pressure checks on my fleet of vehicles ...including the tractors. The tractors also get their batteries charged.
Later that same day I was brainstorming on what to do with my collection of Pipe Clamps. I need to get them organized in some fashion. Some time ago I wrote about coming up with a plan for storage in the Woodshop and then realizing that my planned dust collection ductwork would interfere with my imaginary pipe clamp storage.
I think the place to install my Pipe Clamp storage racks is just outside the Woodshop above my Cubicle Cabinets.
Today the Stomp Shear saga came to an end.
An ad on Craigslist – with no pictures – for a “4-foot metal shear in Newnan” at an attractive price showed up about 11 days ago. I sent an email that I was interested and that I lived pretty close to Newnan (about 15 miles away).
I got a call back from a gentleman who indicated that it was his brother’s machine but the brother was not a computer guy. So the guy (M) who called me was helping his brother (R) out by posting the ad. M sent me a picture of a Tennsmith T52 metal shear.
However his brother was going through chemotherapy and could I wait until Friday to come look at it. I told M I was in no hurry.
Friday morning came and I was expecting a call from R but I got a call from M, the same guy I’d talked to a few days earlier. M told me R wasn’t doing well and was making a trip to the Emergency Room. I told M I would stand by for updates as he could give them to me and I was OK with that.
Monday morning I got a call from M again. R was not expected to leave the hospital for a while. In order to move this forward M said R’s son, B, would now be the guy I needed to work with. M said he would try to set up a visit for me to see the machine with B sometime that same day.
About 4:30 pm I got a text from M with B's contact information. I called B and he asked if I could meet him at the house at 5:30 pm. I said I thought so but I needed the address. B said he would text it to me. A few minutes later I got a text from B that indicated he wouldn’t be able to meet me this evening and would Thursday morning be OK.
I let him know that Thursday morning would work.
This morning I went to meet B at his father's house. B led me downstairs to where the machine was sitting. It appeared to be in good condition and we cut a test piece of metal with it.
...then I started looking at the logistics of moving the thing outside. I am fairly sure that the Shear had been placed on the basement floor and the house had been built around it. The room it was in had no door to the outside and the only way to walk in was through the door I had just came through.
In order to get it outside the Shear was going to have to be moved through that interior door, rotated 90 degrees horizontally in a somewhat constricted space, pushed through another interior door into a second room and then through an exterior door outside. This would not be the end of the fun...
Once outside the machine would basically go out into the back yard. There was no driveway or solid surface to work on once away from the house. Did I mention that it started raining this morning and it’s forecast to rain over 2-inches? ...did I mention that the Shear weighs about half a ton?
We went back inside and returned to the Shear. I asked about how long I would have to get it out of the house. B indicated that there was no deadline but other people were interested in the Shear. I had been mentally hesitating due to the effort it was going to take to extract it but if there wasn’t a time limit well...
I indicated I had the agreed-to-price money with me and I started to head for the truck to get it. That’s when B mentioned there were several interested parties and there was some guy who was offering 50% more than the price in the ad for the Shear. He paused for a moment and then said he could let me have it for $100 less than that price – about a 40% increase in the listed price.
I turned away from him and started walking up the stairs. I said something the effect that he could have at least not wasted so much of my time. I heard “I’m Sorry”, as I got to the top of the stairs.
So no Shear today. I do think the guys that are so excited about this tool are going to be in for a surprise when the see what is going to be required to get the thing on a truck or a trailer. My guess is that they are going to be in a hurry and there may be no substitute for several guys wrestling with this thing for quite a while until it is outside. Even then the fights not over. Getting it onto something to transport it home is going to be very interesting after about 2 inches of rain on that soft ground.
I should have told B that I would forgive him for jerking me around if he would let come over and watch “buyers” trying to extract the Shear from the house and load it. Either it would be very entertaining and/or I would learn quite a lot about moving a half-ton of top-heavy machinery.
I know, sounds like sour grapes doesn’t it. Ha!
I do think if there was no deadline I could have gotten it out of there eventually but the stars were going to have to align with the weather and probably the Shear would have had to be partially disassembled.
B probably did me a favor by raising the price. Ha!
Scott
