Wednesday, July 22, 2009

New Balls, Please....


Hi Folks
Thought I'd tell you about an "incident" that happened in the workshop today. I was cutting a wedge on the bandsaw in some 15mm thick beech - got halfway through the cut when there was an almighty bang!!
After the initial shock I managed to turn off the power and count my fingers - still all there, I'm pleased to say. And once I'd changed my underpants I was able to investigate further - the blade had snapped.
It's been a while since I've had a blade snap on the bandsaw (three years, in fact) and thinking back I've noticed this blade starting to misbehave. And this was a 25mm wide blade, so a big one - hence the boom when it let go!
But on the up side, it made me realise how safe a machine the bandsaw is. If the blade disintegrated on the table saw it would of been a much nastier outcome, I'm sure.

So with clean underwear fitted I'm ready to venture back into the workshop. I'm working on a new plane at the moment and I'm very, very excited about it. More details in the coming weeks - but its going to be cool!

Cheers

Philly

8 comments:

DaveL said...

Well I think this is a gloat, I broke a 3/8 blade and needed to sit down quietly for a few minutes. :D
But you are right, band saws are much safer than table saws.
Just hint on the new plane?

R Francis said...

Do you need to slim down your site? It takes an inordinately long time to load (mainly from google feeds). And can you stick to a simple design - I'm war and confused.

Charles said...

I find myself with such workshop surprises all to often... I'm considering developing underwear with a "dust" port and repurposing an old dust collector. I think it will make life much easier in the shop (that is until it's time to change out DC bags)

By the way, your site loads as quick as other sites do for me... both in google reader and via your url.

-Charles

Anonymous said...

I guess after 3 years, it was time to change the underwear ;)

Anonymous said...

Glad you're safe and still fully limbed. Local luthier guitar maker lost several fingertips on the bandsaw. He still plays the guitar though a bit awkwardly. Keep safe.

Swanz

Konrad said...

Hey Philly - funny timing - I just broke one yesterday. Only a little guy - 1/2"... but still frightening. And like you - I am so thankful it happened on the bandsaw and not the tablesaw.

Cheers,
Konrad

Philly said...

Dave
New plane hints are in the pipeline. Strong hints :)

R - the site is hosted by blogger. I don't notice any problems at my end - do you have a broadband connection?

Charles - love the "underwear-with-dustport" idea. Let me know when you perfect the design ;)

Swanz - Safe is a relative word, eh? My saw had a 12 inch depth of cut - thats a scary sight! But the nice thing with the bandsaw is the saw energy is directed straight down at the table - no kick-back.
All the user has to do is not push his soft bits through the blade.

Konrad - you too? Wow, must be a summer thing ;)

Cheers
Philly

Woodbloke said...

Hi Philly - never had an Ax blade break yet on my current machine, but it's happened to me several times years ago at school...scares the crap out of you, an underpants moment indeed!