2012 Video of the Year

It's tough to top a kitten being a kitten.



Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Senator Daniel K Inouye

Today Hawaii and the entire United States lost a true American hero, Sen. Daniel K. Inoye.  In ways that will go far beyond politics, the State of Hawai‘i, including the military, airline, travel, agricultural, aviation, science and high technology industries all gained much from the senator's tenure in office and his senior ranking on several of the most powerful committees in government.

The senator was a true American hero. He was a World War II veteran, a soldier in the 442nd, "Go For Broke", Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit for its size and length of service, in the entire history of the U.S. Military.  He lost his right arm in combat near San Terenzo, Italy and earned the highest military honor the country awards, the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He served in the Hawaii Territorial legislature after the war, and went on to represent Hawaii in Washington, D.C. when statehood came in 1959.  He was the most senior member of the Senate and third in line to the US presidency. 

I was fortunate enough to meet Senator Inouye on several occasions in connection with Hawaii Airports Division projects, including the siting and construction of the new FAA air traffic control tower at Kona, during a dedication for new ARFF vehicles at Kona, and at a briefing I prepared and delivered to him and his staff once during a Hawaii visit. 

Sen. Inouye was often a man of few words, but when he spoke they all had meaning.  When he listened he did so quietly and respectfully and you always knew he missed nothing.  He however, will be missed by many.

"Aloha" to you and RIP, Senator.

TS Repair Pau

All together again!

Today was the day to finally complete the table saw repair.  The major part of the work was the removal of all the miscellaneous parts... things like the rails front and rear, the motor, and the base section.  That provided access to the arbor assembly where I could unbolt it from the table top and rethread the screw that rotates the blade for bevel cuts.

Table Saw Repairs

Table Saw Inverted

A week or so before leaving for AU this year (more on how that all went in a future post) my trusty Rigid TS3650 table saw broke down.  It has worked flawlessly since it was new 10 yrs ago, but time caught up and the doctor needed to make a call.  What actually happened was that the threaded rod that rotates the arbor for bevel cuts popped out of its "catch" in the arbor assembly.  What I hadn't really noticed over the years was that the sheet metal siding was slowly being pushed out of shape, and the additional length inside the assembly finally wasn't enough to keep the rod in place.

HDR Timelapse

I do love this sort of thing. Be sure to play it full screen.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

I've always liked cats more than dogs. And because they've traveled a longer evolutionary trail I just think they have to be smarter. Cats don't need anyone but themselves - and they certainly don't need a dog, or a pack of them, to get where they want.

Enjoy!

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Office Build Update

Table top edging installation

After a few weeks off the project to take care of other things like work, Ironman (more on that in an upcoming post), and a broken down table saw, I'm back on it again.  The two primary table surfaces were completed a few weeks ago and the edging pieces ripped and rough cut, but when it came time to cut the miters the bevel adjustment on my table saw broke down.  The saw is now in pieces in the shop waiting for me to get it fixed and put back together again.   In the meantime I decided to finish things up using the chop saw... which for what I have to do now works just as well.

So this past weekend I cut, mitered, and fit the edging for the smaller of the two tables, and tonight glued the long pieces on.  In any one-man shop work on large and heavy pieces is often tricky if not downright difficult.  These tops are now too large and heavy for me to lift onto sawhorses so I've laid 2x material with carpet scraps over them so work can be done on the floor.  What isn't shown in the images are temporary support pieces I clamped at each of the corners to support edging while they were being glued on and the clamps set.

Tomorrow night the end pieces will be glued on.  That clamping setup will also require a bit of trickery because the top is longer than any clamps I own... including my long pipe clamps.  But I've been faced with this before so I know the drill.

Slowly but surely this project moves forward.

Edging installation

Edging is deliberately over sized so that it can be trim routed flush later on.