rockstar.esq

In my working life, I frequently encounter some pretty significant generational differences in communication. They existed when I was younger as well, but back then, the only way to communicate via text was to write a letter. At the risk of stating the obvious here, I think it's important to point out that if you strike the wrong tone in a face to face conversation, you get immediate feedback. Generally speaking, people of my generation were used to that, so they tended to word their letters very carefully so as to avoid misunderstandings. If you got yourself into a mess via letter, you knew you had to make your response extra worthwhile to expect any reply. Social media, texting, and forums are typically arranged so that the whole exchange from beginning to end is constantly visible. The response to any given predecessor doesn't necessarily have to restate the context of what they're communicating. In settings with a large audience, the responses might be largely oriented towards playing to the crowd. The emphasis is on being quick, witty, and temporary. Nobody's tries to write a literary masterpiece, or for that matter, like they're writing to a friend. That crowd effect often leads to dog-piles on one party or the other. Justice, truth, and intentions are irrelevant to the mob. Everything hinges on defending a perceived victim. Paradoxically, the only time that social media get's "personal" for an individual, is when they're being attacked. There's quite a bit of evidence to suggest that the greatest "bullies" online, present themselves as the victim. They don't have to present concrete evidence of abuse, they simply equate a position they oppose with malicious intent. Typically, that's all the mob requires. Again, people of my generation witness all of this, and see how there's a very significant gap between stated intentions and actual outcomes. The writer's sincerity gets called into question. This is where the "pidgin English" of texting really bites everyone in the backside. Vital context for understanding is missing. Personal appeals in the form of polite language often don't exist until apologies, so the reader is free to interpret every statement before that as a "command narrative". Not for nothing, I hope that anybody reading this will go back to the beginning of this thread and read every exchange between JHCC and myself. It took us a while to get on the same page, but there wasn't an unkind word in the whole thing. Speaking for myself, JHCC challenged what I thought I knew, and introduced me to some new ideas. I'm grateful to JHCC for making that effort with me. It's my opinion that exchanges like that are the entire point of forums like IFI.

Chris, I agree entirely that it's better to learn good form at the beginning. However, I would encourage you to find ways to gauge the veracity of what you're being taught. I've been to hammer-ins where an old fella was obviously struggling with a fundamental or two. Yet he felt 20 years of doing things "his way" constituted mastery which left him duty-bound to share with any beginners within earshot. I've paid for semi-private lessons with reputable smiths who had their "instructor patter" so hard-wired that they ruined their own demonstrations. One spent nearly half an hour talking about which end of the hammer to hold. Another would talk so much between heats that students were burning their projects in half. It got so bad that some of the students quit paying attention to the teacher altogether so they could preserve their project. Later, when everyone was packing up to head home, that instructor was grousing about how students these days don't pay enough attention! Heck, ten minutes of searching on youtube will provide you with several years worth of "instructional footage" on blacksmithing that was created by people who do not know what they're talking about. Some are young kids who don't know any better, some are metal manglers with decades of experience misleading the public. Past forum discussions on how to sort the wheat from the chaff generally lead to two camps forming. One group focuses on the limitless number of possible solutions to any problem, the other focuses on pedantic/totalitarian controls over who gets access to an audience. It's my opinion that neither perspective has any proven practical application to the advancement of knowledge. I believe individuals must accept the responsibility to prove the things they believe to themselves. Too many people place their faith in institutions, instructors, and other meaningless indicators of quality, like cost or status. This forum is a beacon of wisdom in a veritable storm of misinformation, because the members take the time to actually prove (or disprove) the knowledge that's shared. Collectively, they reveal more truth than any place I've ever been.

JHCC, no problem at all. Thank you for the insights about peening Japanese plane irons. It's really interesting how nuanced and complex these tools are for something that looks like a wedge of steel stuck in a block of wood!

JHCC, Auto-correct got me on synopsis, but thank you for correcting the record. On a Western plane (or chisel) the entirety of the non-bevel side is laid completely flat on the stone, and the entire surface is ground. Everything from tip to tail on that side is ground in a single plane. In contrast, the Japanese plane iron has two ground faces, both of which are at different angles than the main body of the iron which is also a wedge in lengthwise cross section. The bevel is the more acute angle which you drew on the right. What I'm calling the taper, is the more obtuse angle ground on the opposing side which you drew on the left . Here's my own sketch including a cross section attempting to label what I'm talking about. Please note that the taper is not in the same plane as the rest of the iron on that side. One of the things this discussion has brought to light for me was that I was assuming that the hollow was perfectly formed. If that hollow was perfectly consistent, the progressive grinding on the bevel and taper would never lead to a situation where the edge wasn't perfectly straight. Now I see that the peening is necessary whenever the progressive grinding encounters a point where the hollow was cut deeper than the preceding area. I can also see that it's probably easier to hog that hollow past the edge, then peen the gap closed afterwards when the plane is first being made. That would dramatically reduce the rough grinding on the hardened steel which in turn, would make the plane iron cheaper to make.

JHCC, Thanks for the link, even the little bit that was in the synapses mentioned the peening. I did find this free article that seems to explain it a bit more. The same site has an article demonstrating what I was talking about with the tapered grind on the flat back.

Chris, I lean towards no. Long ago I taught guitar. It's difficult to adhere to proper form because everything feels awkward and uncomfortable when you're new to it. Even when the student tries their best, there are often times where they start slipping into poor form. Being there to catch that moment, helps to teach the student how to recognize when things are going wrong.

JHCC, In line with the stone would be how the blade moves while cutting wood. The entire bevel face is laid flat on the stone and it's worked along the stones length. The guy makes a comment about how it's so perfectly flat that surface tension wants to stick the blade and stone together. When he grinds the back of the plane blade, he turns it ninety degrees and presents it to the stone such that most of the plane blade is hanging in space. The only part of the blade that's getting ground, is the tapered side of the back towards the edge. That flat area at the tip of the blade you mentioned naturally forms from grinding the hollowed back at a taper. The long edge of the blade is moving sideways along the stone, which is why I referred to that as perpendicular. If he had done what you're suggesting, he'd have laid the "back" completely flat on the stone like a hockey puck on ice, and worked the whole surface at once. On Japanese plane in the video, the flat "back" of the blade is facing up when it's set in the wooden body. While he's assembling the plane the camera shows the top side of that iron is only polished for roughly 1/3 the length of the iron as measured from edge to tail. Do you have something showing the peening technique? I'd be interested to see it. J.Leon, That video you posted shows them using a sen to carve a hollow on the "flat" back", it also shows that the top half of the "flat" side of that plane iron isn't ground at all. In fact, if a user did grind the whole "flat" flat, they'd probably change the bedding angles and hence the blade protrusion because this form of plane doesn't have a secondary wedge to clamp it.

JHCC, Here's a link to the video I was referencing. Around 4:50 they discuss the Japanese plane blade. At 6:50 they show sharpening, notice how the "flat" of the blade is sharpened. It's held perpendicular to the stone such that only the taper is ground. In the context of maintaining an edge capable of cutting to such a fine degree, it seems like a far more precise approach than peening the hardened edge. Also, it seems like the all grinding approach would restore an edge much faster. Japanese Chisels are addressed at 18:46. The guest points out that the chisels are ground with a taper on the back. Here he makes a comment about how it enhances visibility while cutting. They didn't get into sharpening chisels, but the guest does make several comments about how the chisels are made the same way as plane irons. The link I provided on the sen showed examples of all the uses you mentioned.

Steve, I'm thinking it's a part to a larger assembly that could be used on a variety of breaker and switch sizes.

J.Leon Your last post mentioned "Handmade only factory standard" which is a little difficult to understand in the context of a holding tool used with power equipment. If you were looking the name of a hand tool that would be used in lieu of grinding equipment, I would suggest you look into a sen which is the metal working equivalent of a draw knife. I've been lead to believe they're a Chinese tool used to carve the recess or recesses commonly found on the back side of Asian style plane irons and chisels. It's my understanding that the hollow(s) are to speed the flattening by reducing the surface area that has to be ground. One interesting nugget tied to these, is that they're commonly used on laminated blades. Roy Underhill's "Woodwright Shop" had an episode on them where the guest explained something that always bugged me about them. See the grooves are cut really close to the edge, which always seemed like it would limit the lifespan of the cutting tool. Typically the "back" of the blade is the high carbon part. The groove(s) aren't cut deep enough to fully bisect the high carbon lamination. This means that the "flattening" grind is actually tapered. When the back is ground at a slight taper, the starting point of the groove(s) move backwards at the same pace as the edge. As I understand it, the high carbon layer of laminated blades are tempered much harder than a monosteel tool would be because the low carbon layer is there to provide shock resistance. This makes the high carbon blades difficult to sharpen, which is why they reduce surface area by carving the groove(s) on the back of the blade.

I agree with Steve, it looks burnt. When I first started out with a coal forge, I couldn't figure out why things took forever to get hot, then suddenly burned. It tended to happen at the end of a forging session. Turns out, I was letting hollows develop in my burning coal/coke. The air blast had less resistance going around the fire so the heart didn't really get hot. Here's the weird part. That air blast tended to form a little jet that acted in much the same way as a cutting torch. The little stream of oxygen among burning fuel was capable of burning through stock that was barely red anywhere else.

MPC, Woodworkers have their own solution to this problem. It's called a "dutchman". Imagine a bowtie shaped piece of wood with the grain of the wood running lengthwise across the bowtie. Once the dutchman is cut out, it's placed perpendicular to the split so it can be scribed. Chisel a precise recess so the dutchman fits perfectly. The wedging action of the dutchman's shape prevents the split from opening. In this case, I would start with an overly thick board to make the dutchmen so that they could be planed to follow the roundness of the stump. The dutchmen won't pull the crack closed, but it will prevent it from opening further. In a lot of settings, a contrasting wood is used for the dutchman to make them an aesthetic feature. Simple wood glue will keep them in place. Since this is unlikely to stop happening, I would suggest that you look into some kind of sealer for the wood which would at least slow the drying. Also, I think Glen and Thomas were suggesting that you could weld small pieces of angle iron to the strapping instead of bending ears like you were planning to do. Angle iron often has a radiused internal corner which makes it stronger than a simple bent plate. Another advantage of this approach is that you could use relatively thin banding stock which would bend cold, without sacrificing the structural necessity of a firm bolt interface. While I certainly appreciate the obvious utility of the bolted strap system, I just know that I'd whack my knee on the bolt eventually. If you have the skill, you could forge a round hoop that was either welded or riveted together. Provided the hoops inner diameter was smaller than the stump's outer diameter, you could remove the anvil, scribe the hoop's perimeter, and trim the excess away to make a rabbet to fit the hoop. If you left the stump slightly larger than you hoop, you could heat the hoop in your forge, then set it hot the way that carriage wheels are made.

AR, I bought some 3/4" round hollow (pipe?) stock many years ago. I grind a 1/4" long taper on the end, then cut it off at about half an inch long. It makes "round wedges" like you find on factory built hammers. I like them better because the round wedges force the wood out in all directions. As an added bonus, they're easier to remove because you can just drill the wood out of the center, then snag the wedge with a coarse lag bolt. I use wonderlockem on the wedged end grain of hammer handles. It's like crazy clue that's marketed for wooden chair repair. It swells the wood fibers, then hardens which has done a good job of preventing the handles from shrinking. I've also found that tight fitting handles seem to last a lot longer. One tip I picked up from Brent Bailey's youtube video, is to mark the offside end of the handle with an arrow to indicate the face side. While fitting up the handle eye, it's easy to accidentally reverse the "front and back" of the handle which inevitably leads to taking too much stock off. Since I've been marking them, I've been able to get consistently tight fitting handles. None of my hammers have perfectly symmetrical eyes.

JHCC, It's doubtful that the chop saw would have enough torque, plus the integral cooling fan on the saw's motor won't be spinning fast enough to do much good. Long story short, it will probably overheat the windings while delivering lackluster performance. The full horsepower rating at synchronous speed of an AC motor operating at a fixed frequency will depend on the number of poles. Everything that follows is based on 60 HZ 2 Poles is 3,600 RPM -This is the most common motor 4 Poles is 1,800 RPM - This is the second most common motor 8 Poles is 900 RPM 10 Poles is 720 RPM * Note, I've never actually encountered an AC motor with more poles than this in real life. 12 Poles is 600 RPM 14 Poles is 514 RPM 16 Poles is 450 RPM 18 Poles is 400 RPM Just for reference, a cold saw runs at roughly 88 RPM, which suggests to me that there is some reduction gearing involved.

JHCC Single phase VFD's do not work with motors that have a centrifugal switch. The centrifugal switches function is tied to RPM's so anything that slows the rotation significantly, will bring the start windings online. The start windings can't handle continuous operation without overheating. VFD's also don't work with "universal" AC/DC motors like you'd find in power tools. If it's got brushes, chances are good that VFD won't work with it. That's a major bummer for the folks trying to convert their abrasive disc chop saw into a cold saw with a VFD. There are single phase motors without centrifugal switches. Shaded pole motors are generally limited to 1/4 HP (think bathroom fan motor). Sub horsepower AC Synchronous motors often have "Squirrel cage" rotors which aren't visible unless you take the whole thing apart. On larger horsepower rated synchronous motors, there will often be an "excited core" which requires DC current to maintain a strong enough field to synchronize. Permanent Split Capacitor motors will work as well, but they're less common in high horsepower ratings. The main visible difference between a PSC and a "normal" capacitor start/run motor is that the PSC uses paper capacitors instead of electrolytic. Electrolytic capacitors are shaped like a round prism with two terminals on one end, with the polarity clearly identified. Paper capacitors are not polarized and their leads can be on opposite ends. HVAC and refrigeration equipment will sometimes use PSC motors, but it's a little tough to find anything above 1 Horsepower in a residential, single phase application. For grinding applications, I wouldn't recommend this approach because the compatible single phase motor probably wouldn't have enough torque at low speeds. I hope that helps.

Frosty, A 2HP motor from a residential installation like a hot tub is probably going to be a single phase AC capacitor start/ run motor. Since there's no reason for the hot tub to need multiple pump speeds, it's unlikely that they used anything more complex or costly. Sadly, that rules out the relatively few Variable Frequency Drives that exist for single phase motors. I'm not aware of any "good" electrical answers for speed controlling that motor. Were it me, I'd look into variable sheave systems like you might find on an old drill press or milling machine.

There are a lot of potential uses, however I suspect the IBEW logo suggests that it's part of a tool. Just guessing here, but I think it's part of a lock-out tag-out set. Many Electricians carry a personal padlock with them which they use to lock electrical equipment in the "off" position. Everyone who's working on the affected circuit puts their own padlock on the common hasp. Until and unless each individual removes their padlock, the equipment stays off.

JHCC Could you identify the wires coming out of the motor? It's a little hard to see in the pictures and your post doesn't explicitly say what each motor lead is connected to beyond that they're not connected to the incoming wires. Also, it's pretty important to know what the nameplate ratings are for voltage, current, frequency, and RPM's. The color code is manufacturer, and sometimes technician specific. Assuming that you're dealing with a single speed motor, chances are good that you've got a split phase motor with separate start and run windings. Since it doesn't have any capacitors, the start windings should have significantly higher resistance than the run windings. If you or someone you know has the ability to safely take resistance measurements, you might be able to determine which wires go to the start windings. Unless I misread your post, it sounds like you have six wires coming out of the motor. If so, it's possible that two are for start windings , two are for run windings, and two are for the centrifugal switch. Two of the pairs should have distinctly different resistance measurements, while the third pair should read zero, or near-zero resistance. If that's the case, you could swap the polarity of the start windings in the circuit, which will reverse the motor's direction of rotation. While all of that might have sounded like gibberish, it's actually easier than it sounds. If the ohm meter reads infinite resistance on two given leads, it's telling you that they are not a pair. If the ohm meter reads zero resistance on two given leads, it's telling you that the leads are connected, which suggests they're tied to the switch which is normally closed. If the meter reads some distinct resistance, on a pair, it's telling you that those leads connect to a winding. Again, please be safe. Also, be advised that some of the cheaper multi-meters have ohm scales that only read in the kilohm (1,000 ohms) range. You'll need better granularity than that to get useful information. I hope that helps.

Robert, I agree with you, and certainly didn't mean to come across as though I was criticizing JHCC personally. My comments were directed to the Jack White quote which I took at face value. I might not have been too successful earlier, but my intent was to convey that people will always value the truth and emotion in a particular work, regardless of the technology used to manifest it. George, I think the semi-universal "human connection" to worthwhile things tends to force that balance better than anybody wants to admit. At any point in history, we've had geniuses who went undiscovered because the trendy scholars and experts were "protecting" the world from unworthy work. Eventually, the genius of the work was discovered by people unfettered by pretense and anachronistic prejudice. That balance often takes several lifetimes to resolve itself. My point, is that none of us will be around to "settle the score". If we focus on making things worthy of appreciation 100 years from now, we'll be pointed in the right direction to do the most good.

This line of thinking is similar to the people who argue about how language is ruined wherever popular word use conflicts with tradition. The "truth" they seek to preserve is their vision of some arbitrary moment in time. Definitions and usage change to reflect the popular usage. Otherwise, dictionaries wouldn't actually help to define the language in contemporary use. Relating back to Jack White's comment, there was probably someone who complained that "emotion and truth" of a harp was stripped away by the invention of the clavichord. This is provably incorrect for anyone with even a passing familiarity of Beethoven, Bach, or Mozart. While I think Auto-tune sounds robotic, I think it's hardly reasonable to pretend that this musical technology is actually stripping "emotion and truth" when there are entire musical genre's where small recordings of other people's work (samples) are repeatedly played. In the beginning, there were lots of traditionalists "tut-tutting" about the death of music, yet millions upon millions of people relate to the emotion and truth in this music. Were Stephen Hawkings words less emotional and truthful because they were synthesized and pitch-corrected? Would it have been more truthful and emotional if he were left mute? Would it change your mind if you knew that he refused to switch to a more natural sounding system when technology reached that point? In my experience, technology is absolutely irrelevant to the presence of truth and emotion. However, I have encountered quite a few pretentious pretenders who assume the mantle of "traditional" to draw attention from the banality of their work. For what it's worth, I've also seen examples of where people who were famous for their vapid and seemingly limited talent utterly blew the audience away with a humble demonstration. Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith once did a GAP commercial where he was sitting at a snare drum. He had a drum stick in one hand, and a harmonica in the other. Joe Perry was on guitar behind him. Even with the backing of a guitar legend, it's obvious that Steven was the star performer. What's more, the combined effect was easily identifiable as Aerosmith. The first time I saw that, I had no idea that Steven was that talented.

Latticino, Thank you for all of that information!

Wasted motion is a bigger deal than it might seem. One day a few years ago, I went out to a site where we needed to finish terminating all the electrical panels so the HVAC system could be energized. This job had four identical panels mounted side by each. An apprentice had been working on terminating the first panel for a day and a half by the time I got there. I started on the furthest panel from him and worked my way through them. Halfway through my first panel, I made him stop and watch me demonstrate how to strip, tag, and terminate a conductor. I pointed out that he was switching tools more often than he needed to. This caused him to let go of the conductor during his tool shuffle. He was constantly chasing the wire he needed in the tangle of loose wiring. To a bystander watching, the apprentice looked like he was hustling. I probably looked like I was mostly standing still. Being made of impenetrable teenager, the apprentice was adamant that he always had a good reason for the wasted motions. Since I was sent out to get the job done, not teach the apprentice, I held my tongue. By day's end, I had terminated three panels before he'd completed his first. I apprenticed under some seriously overweight guys who were keen to protect their investment in fast foods. They had to make the same production as everybody else or they'd face layoffs. Eliminating wasted motion was invariably crucial to their success.

I've got a two story Victorian home that was built in 1906. It's got a forced air furnace in the basement that only has ducts to two out of four rooms on the second floor. I'm interested in knowing more about split systems because it seems like I could add a "head" unit in the attic which would provide heating and cooling to all of the 2nd floor rooms, and I could replace the natural gas fired, forced-air furnace with another "head" unit to handle the 1st floor. The house is just under 2,000 sf, the second floor is probably 850sf of that total. We're in Northern Colorado so I realize that we will probably need heating coils to supplement the few days a year when it drops below 32 degrees outside. That being said, we currently have to use electric room heaters in the winter, and window air conditioners all summer, to maintain comfortable temperatures. A couple of years ago we solicited quotes to replace our aged forced air furnace in the basement, add A/C, and also add a complete forced-air system in our spacious attic. When the costs for electrical, gas, exhaust, and drain necessary for adding the attic furnace, totaled up, the cost was pretty significant. I don't know anyone who has a residential split-system in my area. I see them all the time in commercial applications, but all of those are engineered. Thanks in advance.

When I moved to Colorado, it seemed like everyone I met would claim they didn't need air conditioning. After 17 years here, I can tell you that it gets above 95 degrees F every day for about two months solid. Inside my 1904 home, temperatures regularly went above 110 degree F on those days, and the heat remained well past midnight despite all efforts to ventilate. While I understand the concept of adapting to the heat, I can tell you that I see a lot of evidence of heat stroke, especially in traffic. The drivers that take longer to react to everything invariably have their windows down in 100 degree weather. Whenever I hear about studies concerning sleep deprivation and car crashes, I wonder how much of that is due to heat. Those heat-stroked drivers are in poor condition to get a good nights sleep when their bedroom is hotter than the day's high temperature. For what it's worth, I think a lot of people overlook some "old school" solutions to hot weather. Trees that provide shade to the Southern exposures are tremendously helpful. Fewer and smaller windows on the Southern exposures are a big help as well. Very few homes today have canopies to shade windows, trellises, or solidly light-blocking curtains to close during the harshest times of day. Even simple stuff like effective exhaust fans for kitchens have been downgraded to where they don't address the heat generated by appliances. My neighbor seriously over- insulated the roof of his garage. I believe he got it upwards of 5' deep at the peak because he salvaged insulation that was being thrown out of a construction site. It seriously felt like he had air-conditioning in there on hot days. During the dead of winter, he could use a tiny space heater to make the whole three car garage comfortable. I've been meaning to seek out an HVAC firm that's got experience with residential split systems. From what I've read, they're pretty good solutions for old home owners looking for a way to add zoned whole house A/C and heat without having to add another combustion based system.

Because all precision work requires a depth setting?