Air Compressors  -  I got reminded how much I depend on my air compressor this past week when mine failed to start and to further get my attention it tripped the breaker thus disabling my table saw and several extension cords. My first thought was that a bearing in the motor or compressor had seized but in my case it was difficult to assess the problem since my compressor sits on a shelf  high enough for my table saw to roll under it. It saves on floor space and for five years - no problem! It’s amazing how much older I got in five years and how many grand kids are required to get that sucker down off  the shelf. I guess I got complacent since I purchased this Sears compressor in 1984 and have used it hard all these years with nary a problem and virtually no maintenance. As it turned out the motor had a bug problem, namely mud daubers. They built a nest inside the motor and caused the switch that connects the start winding  to fail open therefore the motor was trying to start on the run winding only. I took the motor to Fox Brothers since the motor has a special base and Sears no longer carries a replacement motor. I could weld up a new platform for a generic replacement motor but I preferred not to go to that trouble so I was relieved when Fox said it was reparable and they had debugged my motor. I was surprised how dirty the motor and compressor was once the cover was removed and plan to leave the cover off to make it easier to clean while up on the shelf. I needed to get it running just so I could blow all the dust off of it. Another thing that made me determined to repair my compressor if possible is that it is the old style with the motor driving the compressor via a belt. The majority of the compressors in the marketplace today are of the oil-less variety that use a diaphragm rather than a piston and seem to me to be twice as noisy as the piston  variety. I had the opportunity to trade mine for an almost new oil-less type and passed on the trade because of the excess noise.

Edward Davenpeck let the club know that the city of Symrna had cut down a nice sugar Maple tree in his front yard and to come and get what we wanted so Doug and I loaded up Doug’s pickup. I immediately started cutting the pieces in half and removing the pith at the same time. Then by cutting the pith out of the center of the slab I have two small boards of quarter sawn wood. Murphy’s law dictated that my chain saw would quit half way through so I learned more about chain saw carburetors and fuel lines and fuel supply than I ever wanted to know. Wouldn’t you know - another Sears product! The good thing is that Ace Hardware stores carry the tiny fuel line tubing needed to replace all the lines. The saw would start but would not continue running choke on or off. I think the way the fuel line enters the gas tank is a very poor design  but on the end of the line is a ceramic type filter whose weight allows it to fall to the lowest point of the tank regardless of the position of the saw. My fuel line failed and the filter came off and was loose in the tank. I have a small electric chain saw but it can’t handle the big stuff in the time frame required before my patience wears out. Anyway I’d like to thank Edward for some very nice maple that is cut and Anchor Sealed and ready for bowl turning.

Here’s  a strange thought - do we overclamp our projects. An old Wood magazine article brings this question to mind. Titebond glues recommends that you use 100 to 150 psi for soft woods and 175 to 250 psi for hard woods. I use a lot of the one handed pistol grip clamps which generate about 100 psi so I under clamp a lot of things but the sliding bar clamps can generater 400 psi, pipe clamps 1000 psi and C clamps up to 2000psi. If you’re like me you tighten your clamps as tight as you can get them and that is way too tight. I even put hex head lag bolts into the ends of my wooden sliding bar clamp handles so I can use a wrench to apply additional torque, talk about overkill. Epoxy is very easy to over tighten which causes glue squeeze-out producing a weak joint. The next time I glue up something I think I might try to pay some attention to these guidelines. Maybe I won’t have a stave bowl fly apart on the lathe  --  But then who knows how much pressure a radiator clamp applies to cylinder of glued staves?

Jay