Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Band Saw or Table Saw

I hate making a mistake that completely ruins a project. What is even worse is when I knew better and thought I could do it anyway. I was working on the helicopter (I know not a winner on the poll) and was cutting the groove for the stabilizer wing. It should have been done on a band saw but I figured I could fake it and cut it on the table saw with the blade all the way up. I figured I would not have a huge arch on the groove and I could cover it up. No only was I wrong, I cut the groove 1/4" too deep and I failed to double check my set up and failed to center my groove. Lessons I learned before but thought I could get around them.

I am going to try and savage them but I don't think I can. The lessons learned:
Always check your measurements.
Table saws are great and can be versatile but don't try to cut a straight groove with a curved blade.

A note on the poll:
I really didn't want to make the fire truck. The more and more I looked into it the more and more complicated it seemed. There were board thicknesses that were dimensioned to a 1/16". I think they were dimensions down to 1/32". Lets just say my tolerance is about +/-1/8". The ladder is made out of 1/16" dowel. I have broken 6 rungs already and that is just a dry fit! Yes I am making it because my wife wants it.

The trolley car is something that my mother wants. I have to review the plans on it. It seems pretty straight forward. I have the wood for it.

I just received the plans on the backhoe and Katie has all ready cut most of the parts. I have to shape a lot of the small ones.

The helicopter I just screwed up and will have to try and fix.

The vintage truck is the only won that I haven't started and that one is for me. I wanted the challenge and most of the parts are 1/4" thick.

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