Small Talk: The Welcome Mat

[Netfoot]

Unfortunately, the box is still warped. Not as bad as it was but still:

That is the end of my framing square under one corner of the box. The corner is about ⅛" high and the table rocks as a result. I can correct this by adding feet or shoes to the bottom of the box but right now, I will leave it and try to get back to towel racks.

The router is placed in the box and four screws are used to attach it to the underside of the top. This is fiddly.

Ideally the router would attach to a "router plate" which would in turn drop into a fitted pocket in the top of the table. But who has time to build all that?

Here it is lurking in the gloom under the surface.

I am much happier to see it in here where it is less scary! Yes, the part that bites the unwary is still outside but the entire unit is less likely to leap out of my hands and go for my throat!

Yes, I was smart enough to build this so the on/off switch is accessible via the front opening. No, I was not smart enough to consider that I'd need room to maneuver the spanner which tightens the collet nut to attach the bit! While pulling my hair out, I noticed the (smaller, more maneuverable) spanners that I use when changing table saw blades. One of these was a perfect fit. 

And so I did a test on a piece of scrap. You remember the little trial piece I made of the pocket with a tiny rail in it? A not-so-tiny rail made from a piece of scrap:

So the table works. Even without the shoes or footies to correct the warp. It still scares the crap out of me to bring my hands so close to that bit but it does work. 

It's far from perfect! It vibrates and wants to slide around on top of the saw all by itself. So I will have to pursue my ideas for clamping it down. It may not even need clamping. A couple of pieces attached to the bottom and spaced to fit into the mitre slots on the saw might be all that is required. It isn't going to jump up and out of those slots. And they are tee-slots, too. So a means of secure attachment is definitely possible. I just have to figure out what is easiest.

But either way, I'm not going to work on that router table any more for now. It already offers a huge improvement over clamping the router upside down on the lathe. The 24"x24" top allows far more controlled use than relying on the 7" base that comes with the router. So I am already ahead by a country mile. 

Now to stadium those towel rails. Oh, and by the way, I located some wood that was just right for making two more rails so I now have enough to complete all six towel racks! So long as I don't screw up somehow...

Oh, BTW, Mo was super affectionate this morning when I first woke. He did not want me to get out of bed. It was all cuddles and love and any attempt to get up was met with him jumping into my lap, onto my tummy or just rolling on his back between me and the edge of the bed.

I wonder what brought that on?

[Netfoot]

OK, I've done the 24 rails. Here are a few, sitting on top the router table.

Unfortunately, three did not come out right. One was not too bad and I might be able to use it. But two were badly injured. These chips are repairable. I could cut a slot and glue in a filler-piece. But not to my liking.

So I'm back to five units. ☹️

When I was doing one of these, I was feeding the board across the router when there was a loud crunch! and chips of wood went flying everywhere. Right as my hand was passing within 1" of the bit! I was completely unharmed but I think I peed in my pants a little bit...

[Netfoot]

Right! Let's set up to drill stadium pockets in our legs!

We need a long, scrap board for our leg to lie on and another for it to press sideways against. The two of these will function as a guide to locate the legs for drilling. We will clamp these down on the drill press. We will also need a couple of blocks of wood to act as stops. 

Here you can see the two long boards running diagonally bottom/left to top/right. There is a 4" spacer block which was less useful than I hoped. (The top of the pocket is 4" from the top of the leg.) There is a red pencil which was not needed after setup was complete and a piece of pink card-stock used during setup as a shim.

The guide is carefully located so the hole that is drilled is centrally located in the leg that is being drilled. The drill press is adjusted so the quill will not decent far enough to bore all the way through the leg. A small (approx. ⅛") thickness of the leg will remain beneath the Forstner bit so the stadium shape in the leg ends up a pocket and not a through-hole.

One of the stops is visible clamped at the near (right hand) end of the guide. The other stop is clamped to the far end of the guide:

The whole thing has to be set up carefully and adjusted by trial & error using small scraps of wood to test progress. The positioning of the near and far stops is critical, as is their distance from the Forstner bit. The pink shim was used to adjust these by a distance equal to the thickness of the card-stock each time until satisfied. 

The whole thing took over an hour to set up and the whole time the only thing that kept racing around in my mind is, "What have you forgotten? What have you not taken into account?"

Edited February 24 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

We place a leg on our guide and press it firmly up against the back. This guarantees our pocket will be centrally located. Note that the lap-joint is facing upward. The stretchers and the rails are located on the same side of the leg - the inside! Get this wrong and you have changed a leg I to firewood. Also note that the slightly curved top of the leg is not pressed against the near stop. In fact, the other end of the leg is firmly up against the far stop (out of frame). And we drill:

Now, making sure there is no sawdust or shavings in the way, we slide the leg to the right l, firmly against the near stop.vand drill:

With two holes establishing the two ends of the pocket, we can drill freehand in between to give a complete pocket:

Keep drilling until the little points between holes get smaller and smaller and eventually.....

You can see why the positioning of the stops is critical. The length of the pocket is determined by the spacing of the stops.

If you're lucky, one of the rails will slot right in here. And with a dab of TiteBond III you will have a very strong joint. I set this up to give tight pockets. The rails can be sanded a hair until they fit. Loose pockets would be much more difficult to compensate for!

Voila!

[Netfoot]

So, twenty legs now have rail pockets bored.

I have twenty-four legs, but I don't have the rails for the last rack. I could still bore the pockets now, but when I finally get my hands on some rails, who is to say they will be exactly the same width? Better wait until I have the rails before I bore the pockets to suit.

Please note that the work is not done. tomorrow I have to readjust the guides & stops to bore pockets for the lower rails. The top of the top rails are 4" below the top of the legs. The top of the bottom rails is 15" below the top of the top rails. 

But that's for tomorrow. Because what time is it? It's 17:37 tea-time!

ETA: I timed how long it took to bore one pocket. From holding the leg in my hand to removing it from the drill press it took 1:37 total. Add some seconds to pick up the leg and some more for stacking it with the rest after, let's say 2 minutes. 20 legs by 2 minutes is 40 minutes. Adding in 90 minutes to set up, it took 130 minutes divide by five racks, it took 26 minutes per rack! Now, if I was making a batch of 12 instead, it would have taken me just under 11 minutes per rack. That's why a larger batch is better for me. It takes less time and is less work!

Edited February 24 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Just watched the pilot of a British TV series called Virdee. "DCI Harry Virdee must hunt down a killer targeting the Asian community in Bradford, while dealing with his chaotic personal life." So says IMDb. He appears to be a part of the Indian community and the complications of his life with his family are quite unlike anything I've seen before. But when I watch a cop show, I am not usually that involved in the personal side of the characters. I will have to watch another episode or two before I can tell if it is a good cop show or not.

Burnt the field peas when trying to rehydrate them. The saucepan boiled dry and the peas just got roasted. They were like buckshot. Didn't notice until I smelt them. Boiled for another 30 minutes and they softened up quite a bit. Then and additional 20 minutes in the pot cooking with the rice and the meal came out fine. Mo was a little concerned because the delay meant he got his dinner late. But he got a good meal and he ate it all 

There is about ⅓rd of a bag of rice, ⅙th of a tin of corned beef and 4 tiny  onions remaining. The corned beef will be gone by the end of lunchtime tomorrow. After that, there will be some rice but nothing to put in it other than the field peas and very little onion. I think I will have to go to the grocery. 

I am $92.27 in the hole for rent and I must sell some towel racks before month end (Friday). Fortunately the racks appear to be progressing well. Fingers crossed some disaster does not occur! If it does, I'm scuppered.

So since I am short by $100 already, I might as well be $200 in the hole. Right? Only, I hate to not have the rent covered. Yet, if the sale of the racks does not come through and I get thrown out of the house, it might be better if I wasn't hungry as well!

I expect to finish the pockets tomorrow morning and then put together a jig to speed assembly of the side frames. While the glue in the jig is setting up I will go to the supermarket. Glued up side frames should start coming off the jig tomorrow afternoon and get rounded over on the router table. Might even get to start assembling racks late tomorrow!

That is what I hope will happen. What will actually happen tomorrow remains to be seen!

Now, I will go and read my book. Had my shower early and will lock up later, when Mo is ready to turn in. It's already lateish so I won't read much, but I do enjoy it. 

[Netfoot]

The second set of pockets are now all bored. It took much longer than I expected to get the guide set up again for the different location, but once it was done, the pocketing was fairly quick.

These pockets are all deliberately tight. The rails will need a tiny bit of sanding at the ends to ensure they fit snug in the pocket without trying to split the leg in half down the middle. 

Was very nervous before I bored the first of these lower pockets. Got a lot invested in this at this point and the last thing I need is to make a silly mistake now!

Once that was done I started work on a gluing jig for turning two legs and two stretchers into a side-frame. We don't want our frames looking like this // or like this \\ or like this /\ or this \/ so the pieces will be glued and placed into the jig and clamped against blocks that are built into the jig and triple checked for square. If the side-frames are glued up while clamped square, when the glue dries and they are removed from the jig they will be square themselves. Certain jig parts are now glued and checked straight and true and the glue is being allowed to set up. More parts will be added until the jig is finished. Not possible to build the whole thing at once, unfortunately because the first set of parts will be referenced to locate the next set of parts. Therefore the first set must be firmly in place before proceeding. 

Still trying to convince myself that inflation hunger is actually a good thing. If I can't by time the next set of bits get added to the jig (in about an hour), I will take Mo for a drive down to Popular.

Finished my book last night. Finally. Under normal circumstances I'd be hunting for my next choice of reading matter. But given how often I'm just too tired to read these days, I don't think selecting my next book is of critical importance right now.

Edited February 25 by Netfoot

[andidante]

3 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

Still trying to convince myself that inflation hunger is actually a good thing. If I can't by time the next set of bits get added to the jig (in about an hour), I will take Mo for a drive down to Popular.

Finished my book last night. Finally. Under normal circumstances I'd be hunting for my next choice of reading matter. But given how often I'm just too tired to read these days, I don't think selecting my next book is of critical importance right now.

Did you ever find out what happened with your welfare checks? Did they just stop them? If so they should have given you some warning!

[Netfoot]

3 hours ago, andidante said:

Did you ever find out what happened with your welfare checks? Did they just stop them? If so they should have given you some warning!

Funny you asked because I was coming to give the news.

I called the Welfare department yesterday maybe 100 times (Ok, maybe 12) and it just rang and rang all day. And this is their PBX! I called this morning and the first two calls the PBX was busy. But the third time the call went through.

I gave my details and was told that everything was normal and that two cheques for the 21st and 7th had been generated and dispatched. These are the very cheques I was expecting since last week. They told me that all they can do is tell me they were sent and they have no control of delivery thereafter.

So I went to bundle Mo in the car for a quick trip to Popular for a $100 spend and as I went out to the car I noticed Postie riding away. Checking the box I found both cheques! (And a bill from the government for $30 for my R/C transmitter license fee.)

So our quick trip to Popular became a trip to the post office, then to Popular and on the way home, the bank. And I reduced the $100 spend to a $60 spend. Now I am much closer to being able to pay the rent. Only $36.12 short!

 

[Netfoot]

OK, the gluing jig is finished. I glued down each block and carefully checked alignment with a good straight-edge and two squares. When the glue was set up and starting to cure I went back and reinforced each glue joint from underneath with two screws. 

The two legs and two stretchers of one side-frame have glue applied in the appropriate places and they are placed in the jig. The leg closest to the bottom is clamped down to the alignment blocks and with the bottom of the leg flush against the alignment blocks on the right hand end. The second leg is placed roughly in place and the two stretchers fitted. Then more clamps are fitted to pull the four pieces of the side-frame down tight against the bottom blocks and also tight against the blocks on the right which represent the floor. Finally the four lap-joints are clamped so as to press the pieces into contact. 

The parts of the jig that are immediately under the glue joints had been previously treated with renaissance wax. This to reduce the chance that the side-frame glues itself into the jig!

This glue has a longish working time, so I will have to leave them in clamps for at least an hour before removing the side-frame from the jig. Even then the joints will be quite weak for several hours until the glue has a chance to cure fully, so careful handling is the order of the day. 

I will leave this first frame for two hours because when I take it out I won't justvputvitvcarefullybto one side. I want to check all the joints are square and true before using the jig to assemble more side-frames. Assuming no problems arise, I will glue up one side-frame after another, giving each side-frame an hour to set up before carefully removing it from the jig and setting it aside to cure on its own. 

So it will take roughly an hour to assemble each side-frame. I considered building two jigs to double the rate of assembly, but that won't work. The limiting factor isn't the number of jigs. It is the number of clamps. 

I could build some clamping into the jig using cams and/or wedges to minimize the number of actual F-clamps needed. But all of that would take time to do. If the first side-frame comes off the jig around six and is found to be good, I could pull five more off by 11 PM. That's enough for three complete towel racks. And while sanding, rounding over, sanding again, and doing final assembly on those, more side-frames could be coming off that jig every hour tomorrow!

Final assembly involves gluing everything together. I will want to do that with the rack standing on the table saw. That way all four feet will be on a flat surface and if the rack wobbles, it will be the floor's fault! There may be room for two racks on the saw at one time. We will see.

[Netfoot]

Time's up! Let's see.....

Square!

Square!

Stands vertical and square to the table!

One.

[andidante]

6 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Funny you asked because I was coming to give the news.

I called the Welfare department yesterday maybe 100 times (Ok, maybe 12) and it just rang and rang all day. And this is their PBX! I called this morning and the first two calls the PBX was busy. But the third time the call went through.

I gave my details and was told that everything was normal and that two cheques for the 21st and 7th had been generated and dispatched. These are the very cheques I was expecting since last week. They told me that all they can do is tell me they were sent and they have no control of delivery thereafter.

So I went to bundle Mo in the car for a quick trip to Popular for a $100 spend and as I went out to the car I noticed Postie riding away. Checking the box I found both cheques! (And a bill from the government for $30 for my R/C transmitter license fee.)

So our quick trip to Popular became a trip to the post office, then to Popular and on the way home, the bank. And I reduced the $100 spend to a $60 spend. Now I am much closer to being able to pay the rent. Only $36.12 short!

 

Very glad that you received  your checks!! 

[Netfoot]

Six!

Yes, you can only see five because #6 is in the jig and set to come out in half an hour. I may be awake then....  but I doubt it. Not that it matters. The five shown here will cure there during the night and the one in the jig will cure there. Six is enough for three racks and I have four more to assemble first thing tomorrow, for a total of five racks. 

Then sanding, fitting and gluing, as final assembly gets underway. 

You know, those clamping squares I deferred construction of would be very helpful during final assembly.

Mo and I had $1.59 Turkish penne with corned beef & onion sauce with ketchup. I usually buy Eve ketchup in a refill pouch; $3.69 for 750 ml. You have to cut the corner off to get the stuff out of the pouch. But I saw new Eve pouches with a moulded in neck & screw-on cap so they are resealable. But the price was $1.99 which is much cheaper. I assume this is an introductory price and won't last so I bought two. 

I also got potatoes, corned beef, onions, rice, tea, milk & sugar, mayo, salt, lentils and the aforementioned penne pasta. Having reduced the spend from $100 to only $63.85 there wasn't anything for carrots, pumpkin, cucumbers, pak choy, or any expensive, fresh veggies. Still, it's good to know we have food for a while. If needful, I can skip meals (even though I don't like to) but I can't explain to Mo why he has to skip meals. All he knows is that he's hungry.

Speaking of Mo, he is still outside despite midnight having come and gone. He pops in for a minute and then goes out again. Dunno why. It is nowhere as cold as some nights we've had recently but it certainly isn't hot! 

Anyway, I will call it quits now. Got a lot to do tomorrow so I will get some sleep and hope to get up early. 

Edited February 26 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

#6 is in the jig and set to come out in half an hour. I may be awake then....  but I doubt it.

Wrong! #6 out and #7 drying in the jig overnight. 

[Netfoot]

All ten done.

Mo woke me several times in the middle of the night so I went out and took one out of the jig and glued up another. So I did one at 1 AM and Another at 4 AM and the next at 7 AM.

I really don't like to do work after the sun goes down. I'm like a cricketer.  As far as I'm concerned, "light stops play!" As I needed to get these done, there was no cutting involved and I was using a jig to make errors unlikely, I continued late and returned to it periodically during the night. 

For some reason, I am feeling tired AF today..... 😐

On the left, the most recently completed; to the right the ones that have been curing longest. I will work on the ones that have been curing longest so the others get more time to cure before being subjected to stress.

Next, I will sand these, especially on the flats and the joints in particular.

Once that is done, comes the step that I hate: back to the router to round over the edges. The rails need to be rounded because we drape towels over them. Rounding the frames offers no improvement in functionality.

I personally don't think rounding the frames improves the aesthetic appearance (quite the opposite). All it does is add more work for me to do and run the risk of damaging these frames which I have spent quite a bit of time & effort on. But that's what they want, do so that's what they will get. I just wonder how many, out of these ten, will still be functional when I'm done!

Edited February 26 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

You can see why the rounded frame has appeal. But I prefer the squared look in contrast to the rounded rails. Perhaps a tiny chamfer or even a very small round-over? That's just me. 

I have rounded all ten side-frames on the router table. It is a joyful job in comparison to doing this without a router table. I have never been too keen on routers but this is the first router table I have ever used and it makes a huge difference. I am even considering a properly built router table with a split fence, a decent router plate, a good router lift and a nice selection of bits to go with it! Done right, this is something I could get used to!

I was worried about chunks chipping out and ruining the frames. To reduce the chance of this I routed each pass twice; once slowly to removed the bulk of the wood and then again, faster, to clean up the surface. There are five passes. The left side, the right side, the lowered top, the raised bottom and the rectangle in the middle. Times two because each is cut twice. Times two again, because you have to turn the frame over and do it all again on the other side.

So twenty passes by ten frames is 200 passes. Guess how many passes resulted in damage occurring.

One. And (thankfully) the damage is very minor and the chip didn't go flying off never to be seen again! So I was able to glue it back in place and wrap it in masking tape to hold it until the glue sets up. But notice there is a little gap in the nearby lap-joint. This will have to be filled and sanded but all the freshly rounded edges need a quick sanding anyway, so it won't be an issue.

The router table moves around due to vibration. It walks towards me which is the opposite of what I expected. This must be fixed. Also, bits of wood chips end up on the table top and I have to keep brushing them away. If I sealed the box, I could bore a hole for  connection to my ShopVac.  Vacuuming air out of the box will mean air is sucked in around the round-over bit. That should help eliminate - or at least reduce - the accumulation of chips on the top because they will be sucked down into the box and from there into the ShopVac. 

But enough! I'm  done with wood chips for the day. 

I think I will have a shower and a mug and contemplate giving Mo a cuddle. Where is my little ninja, anyway?

Wait. Did I just  here a snotter from under the bed?

Edited February 26 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Dead tired. Had a broken night's sleep last night and rose early this morning.  And I will want to rise early tomorrow. Got plenty to do.

Mo and I had rice again. We are both full and I at least am ready to sleep. My little ninja is outside keeping the world safe from the dark. 

Tomorrow, I have to fill the gap in that side-frame and a couple other similar gaps as well. 60-90 minutes for the filler to firm up and I will sand the filled areas as well as the rounded over parts of the side-frames. Once that is done, I can trim the rails to equal length and lightly sand to ensure a good fit in the pockets. I will do one rack at a time, hand sanding and fitting the rails, then gluing and clamping it all to give a finished towel rail.

I can actually trim the rails to length while the filler is drying in the gaps and then sand the round-overs and start trying to assemble complete units using side-frames that did not need any filler.

Mo is curled up behind me and I had my shower earlier so there is nothing stopping me from crashing out now.

Snuggle down your sleepy head.
It's gettin' late the Sandman said.
Your dreams are waiting.
It's daybreak in the land of nod.
So get to sleep you little sod.
Your dreams are waiting!

Edited February 27 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

You've probably heard me talking about my ⅜" blade for the tablesaw. It is not designed for cutting wood. It is designed for cutting slots in wood. You could cut wood with it.... But don't.

The blade is actually two blades; a pair designed to work together. 

Note the teeth which are made of carbide and bonded to the disks of the blades. They extend our sideways in opposite directions.

With the blades clamped together on the saw's arbor, the teeth (which are precision ground) make a ⅜" kerf when cutting, so your slot will be ⅜" wide. 

But what if you swap the blades around? The teeth no longer extend outwards but extend inwards, into the gaps in the teeth of the other blade.

The teeth are now shielded by the thickness of the disk of the other blade. Instead, the back of the teeth , also precision ground, now extend outwards. But not ⅜".

With the blades in this orientation we get a slot that is only ¼" wide.

This blade can cut two different size slot, depending how you put the two blades together. Clever, eh?

Was out at six, to fill gaps and generally prepare the side-frames for final sanding. I actually found two frames that had not been rounded over on one side of the interior rectangle! Not sure how that happened....

Only a minute on the router took care of that, but mindful of my neighbors, I waited until 8 AM before I started up Mr. Noisy Jr. In the mean time I made up two batches of wood filler (glue and fine sawdust) and did all the filling on the frames. By time I was done it was time to grab a mug of tea and right after that I did that small routing job. 

Of course, the day started in a familiar fashion. I woke and reached for my shorts....

[Netfoot]

Aaaaand....

This is a dry-fit. No glue. And yet, you could put this in your house and use it and it prolly wouldn't fall apart for months!

But to get this straight when gluing up, I realized I want at least two clamping squares. I could manage without, but each glue-up would take longer and the risk of a crooked towel rack increases. So I'm putting two of them together. I'm about to cook lunch for Mo and I and by time we've eaten the clamping squares will be done. Then I can start assembling the racks with glue.

After an hour and a half I can take them off the tablesaw and leave them to continue curing on their own while I glue up the next one.

Only question: how do I stop Mo from peeing on them? He pees on anything that he decides does not belong where it is. So a towel rack that he's never seen before will definitely get a squirt.

In other news:

😐

[Netfoot]

You've heard me moaning on about inserts for the table saw. How easy they are to make, how difficult they are to adjust unless you have the right grub screws. 

With the first towel rack glued up and waiting to set up, I took up alone of the red inserts and decided to check exact what size grub screws was required. I pulled out one of the grub screws:

This looks like an M5 thread. How to confirm? Take it out and see if an M5 screw will fit in the hole!

Looks about 10mm long. I get my box of M5 fasteners to see what screws I have in there:

And what do you think I found?

The label reads "M5 Grub Screw 10mm G0690 Tablesaw Inserts". Yes, my saw is a G0690 from Grizzly.

Not only are these the perfect size for the job, they are stainless steel so they won't rust!

So all this time I was moaning and bitching about not having the right grub screws for the job, I have actually had 50 of them sitting on my shelf in the passage all along!

It takes a minimum of six to set up an insert. So enough for eight inserts. If you want to get fancy, you can add two more to adjust the sideways slop, for a total of eight per insert or six inserts. But I've never needed to do this before. And in a couple of years if your homemade insert gets chewed up and needs to be replaced, you can take the screws out and reuse them in the next insert you make!

Now,what is the tap-drill size for M5? Is it 4.3mm?

36 minutes until the first finished rack comes out of the clamps and is set aside to cure overnight and the second rack gets glued up!

ETA: Just learned a useful tip for working out the tap-drill size for any machine screw - subtract the thread pitch from the diameter. So M5-0.8 (5mm diameter, 0.8mm per thread) is 5mm minus 0.8mm = 4.2mm tap-drill size. Works for Imperial units too. My lathe headstock spindle thread is 1" 8 threads per inch. Pitch is ⅛" so tap-drill size is 1 minus 1/8" =  ⅞". This confirmed that when making wooden faceplates, etc, I drill the hole with a ⅞" Forstner bit and tap with a 1" 8 TPI tap from Beale Mfg!

Edited February 27 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Tired. Dirty. Back hurts.

Just had dinner (penne) and went on Garden Patrol. Water on the stove boiling soon, I hope.

So the process is as follows:

1. Glue up a towel rack, getting all eight joints into their pockets with sufficient glue. Wipe away the squeeze-out and clamp onto the table saw using clamping squares to hold everything vertical and a framing square to make sure the two frames are also square & true.

2. After 90 minutes remove the rack from the table and glue up another one.

3. When the new one is clamped on the table, return to the previous one and examine all eight joints. Fill any gaps, clean up any squeeze-out and put the rack in the van where it can't get peed upon, to cure overnight

As you can see, three completed and curing and one glued up on the table. In 1:11 the one on the table gets taken down, checked and put in the van and the fifth and last one gets glued up. 90 minutes after that and they will all be in the van. 

In the morning I will lightly sand all the joints and then they will be ready for delivery. 

But my water is probably boiling so I'm gonna do that thing now!

Edited February 28 by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

1:10 AM and all five are curing in the back of the van. By nine tomorrow morning they will all have had eight or more hours for the joints to get nice and strong. I will take them out and lightly sand the areas around those pocketed joints. After that they can go. 

My back was troubling me very badly so I took two Panadol. Now it only hurts when I move. Or keep still. 

Drinking lots of iced water. Put too much salt in my potatoes at lunch! I had a shower and now will wind down and drift off to sleep. Shouldn't take long; I was snoozing two towel racks ago, waiting for the alarm to signal the next glue-up.

I hope this means I can pay rent, now...

[Netfoot]

All done!

Only minimal sanding was necessary, mostly where a drop of glue ended up on the unit, probably picked up off the table top. Less than 10 minutes each, mostly spent taking them out of the van and (after sanding) putting them back in a pee-free zone after.

Sent photos and now waiting to hear from my guy. I hope he isn't taking a vacation day down in Conset Bay with his phone switched off!

[Netfoot]

I've just been paid $575 for the five racks. I was previously paid $800 as a deposit on ten racks. So, 5 x $275 - $800 = $575.  Two of the racks were taken away. The other three will be collected over the course of the weekend. His car will only carry two. My van would carry them all but I don't have any old carpet, quilting or anything to stop the individual units banging together as I drive along the potholes road.

I went and deposited the money in the bank and on the way back, treated myself to a roti and a coke from IV Play Deli. Mo loved my roti!

Rent is now covered and just in time - I have to pay it tomorrow. I will actually put the cheque in his box tonight.

I told my friend to discard the first one with the doweled rails but he said no, it would be included and would eventually be paid for.

Now got to compute how much lumber to buy to make another 5 (minimum) units and get going. Will take a couple days (weekend) to get my jigs, etc, sorted out. Already modified my frame gluing jig to use less clamps and may make another one so frames can be completed at twice the rate.

Also plan to turn that cobbled-together pocket-drilling collection of boards and clamps into a proper jig. And will make several clamping squares because they are so useful, especially if made specific to task and not just to a general design.

But first, I will take an afternoon nap. Wait, what?  It's after 5:00 PM already! I guess that means no nap, then.

This spatula has had a hard life...

 

Edited Saturday at 12:45 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I made three pairs of clamping-squares long ago. Different sizes & shapes. I have not seen them in years and assumed they had been thrown out by accident. 

I felt the need for a couple of tall ones to help clamp up the racks straight so I built two. And while slotting stock for those two I slotted a bunch more to make extra pairs of squares in different sizes & shapes. 

So this morning I poked my head into a cupboard and guess what I found? 

The orange ones are the old ones. The orange paint is to make them hi-viz and less likely to get lost. (That didn't work, obviously.) The two unpainted ones at the back are the ones I just built.

Right at the front is a single, small square. It's matching companion is still missing, but it will probably show up some time in the next 7-8 years.

And now I have pre-slotted stock waiting for me to make even more! I will go from no clamping squares to dozens in the space of a week!

I've been working on improving my jigs. Adjusted the frame-gluing jig to use five fewer clamps. Improved the pocketing guide but not done with that yet. Got ideas for a couple other labour/effort reducing doohickeys but it's been raining off and on and I am more in the lie-in-bed-with-a-puppy mood than the fiddle-with-scraps-of-lumber-while-the-rain-blows-in-on-you mood.

Also spending a lot of time working out how many of what sized boards to buy to complete the remaining pieces. Don't want to get that wrong or I will be in trouble before I'm done! Need to get done some groceries but would prefer to make a single outing. Kooyman is close to Popular so I could get lumber and then groceries, all on the same trip. 

Edited Saturday at 10:41 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Why am I so tired? It's not like I've been doing much today. Not like the last few days I was working to get those things finished by yesterday.

I did spend a little time working on various bits & bobs but nothing too arduous! Started to build a set of four squares for a particular task and with the first glue joint setting up I popped Mo in the car and we went off to buy some veggies. I figured I'd get back in time to set the second major glue joint before dark. Twenty minutes driving around in the parking lot at Popular then another 10 minutes trying to get a shopping basket plus 10 minutes to pick up some items and a wait in the Express line for the 19 shoppers before me to get rung up. Got some carrots, some broccoli and two very nice plantains. Would have loved to get some more but $7.99/Kg.....

Got home and it was definitely too late to be doing woodwork. Guess I'll have to finish tomorrow. 

Had my shower when we got back from Popular and been feeling cold ever since. Want to wrap up and go to sleep. Mo is looking out the window. While I was eating dinner he jumped up behind me and shook himself. Flap-a-tap-a-tap! went his ears and I was drenched! That's how I discovered it was raining outside....

Gotta sleep. Going to make sure the door is locked and the lights are off.

[Netfoot]

Did a few bits and bobs today but not much. Mostly because I was tired and just spent the day resting. If working on my spreadsheet is resting. But also because my left hand has been (and still is) tormenting me with cramps. 

The four special squares I made yesterday? I discovered one was not square. That was a dumb thing for it to do. Big Red quickly taught it who was boss and it is now freshly glued, squared and drying.

To my knowledge Big Red has never failed to do the job. When asked to bring tools to help at a friend's house or up at the club, etc, I am frequently reminded explicitly not to forget to bring Big Red!

Also made this:

It is a scrap board with a row of equally spaced holes. The two dowels can be moved from hole to hole as needed. They can also be pushed in deeper to make them shorter or pulled out to make them longer. They are just ¼" dowel so they can easily be replaced with any length you desire.

The shiny thing in the middle is a dowel-pin. It is just a sharp point centered on the hole in which it is fitted. The holes go right through to assist in removal if needed.

In use, it is positioned over a board and turned so that the two dowels are touching the two sides of the board. Then the dowel-pin is pressed down against the surface of the board.

With both dowels held against the two sides, the dohicky is slid from side to side. The dowel pin makes a scratch-mark on the board.

The scratch is exactly on the midpoint between the two sides of the board. Moving the dowels accommodates boards of different widths. 

Now here is an interesting thing. If the two dowels are not the same distance from the dowel pin, the scratch-mark will not be the same distance from the two sides of the board (centered). If one dowel is one hole away and the other is 4 holes away from the first, the scratch-mark will be ¼ of the way across the board.

The number of holes from the dowel-pin to the nearest dowel over the number of holes of separation between the dowels gives the fraction. So if the pin is  one hole from the nearest dowel and the other dowel is three holes from the first, the fraction will be one over three or 1/3 and the scratch-mark will be ⅓ of the way across the board. If the pin is 2 holes from the dowel and the second dowel is 5 holes from the first, the fraction will be 2/5 or 40%.

Anyway, I'm sure you all were just dying to know that, but now I will go and boil some rice for Mo and I to eat. It will have diced sausage, onion, broccoli and carrot. And I will cook a plantain for myself to eat with mine. Mo would probably eat the plantain but I don't intend to try him with it. 

Oh, BTW, do you see the cut in my thumb-nail?

Mandolin, baby! A true close call!

Edited Monday at 04:54 AM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

<Groan!>

Nearly one in the morning and I'm only just done fine tuning my spreadsheet. For a given number of towel racks it computes how many legs, rails and stretchers I will be needed. It then considers 16 different board-sizes, from 1"x6"x10' through 1'x12"x16', computing how many boards will be required to produce the required number or parts and what those boards will cost. It highlights the cheapest option. This helps me to avoid buying insufficient lumber to complete the job, or wasting too much money buying more lumber than needed. 

Dinner was good! Rice with broccoli, carrots, onions and chopped sausage. No bully beef! It taste good and I had my plantain as well.

I took our two bowls out from the kitchen. Mo's bowl was extra full. Maybe 50% more than usual because he was hungry. He was having a prowl outside so I began to eat without him. When he came in I only had a few spoonsfull left in my bowl. Mo got stuck straight into his. I quickly finished mine and turned to him to ask if I could have some of his but he had already finished the lot!

Tomorrow we will maybe have chips and something. Prolly bully beef gravy again. I like bully beef but no matter how much you like something, if you eat it twice a day for Months on end, you will crave something called AnythingBut. 

Well, the door is locked, there is a cool breeze in the window, Mo is polishing his toenails on the foot of the bed and I am turning off the lights and going to sleep.

Edited Monday at 10:49 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

I had to remove the end of the nail which had been bitten by the mandolin. See?

Notice that little nick in the skin? The damned mandolin bit me again!

In other news, I got up this morning and went to make a mug of tea. Most conveniently, the stove was already on! It had been going all night!

😕 I suspect that cylinder will not last as long as usual....

[Netfoot]

 I'm tired again.

We had chips for lunch. And a lot of them.  I took my shower hours ago. We had penne for dinner. (I was going to put sausage in it but only realized at the last minute that I'd forgotten to take the sausage out of the freezer! So it was bully beef again.) I'm yawning and can't keep my eyes open. Will.berd Will have to lock the door and check that the stove is off. 😐

I'd hoped to go and buy lumber today. I want to make a start on the next batch of racks. The remaining three from the first batch are still here. They are locked in the van. I don't want them kicking around and getting beat up. And I don't want to go anywhere in the van with them in the back.

I need them to go so I can get room to make more. If I had the lumber I might at least cut legs, rails, stretchers, cut the lap joints and rail pockets, assemble the side-frames and route all the round-overs. These things don't consume much space until you start to assemble them. So I would like to get started. But I really wished I could get the first batch out and gone. 

So I will have to take them out of the van and put them somewhere temporarily, go get the lumber and then put them back in the van. Then I could cut all the pieces and assemble all the side-frames. I could complete two more and then as fast as they go I could finish additional units up to how much room was available.

Have not watched a movie in ages. nor listened to music, for that matter. Must choose a book. I can leave it in on the dude if side of the bed and pretend I will get around to reading it.

Suffering from cramps again today. Right hand and both legs. Very unpleasant. 

Spent some time fiddling around in the garage. Working on squares, etc. Returned to those MDF proto-inserts I made a few days ago. I trimmed them all to width for a snug fit in the throat and started rounding the ends on the disk sander. This is not one of those cases where too loose is a fit. So I was walking back & forth from sander to saw. Sand a bit, test fit. Sand some more, test fit again. Over and over again. You don't want to sand too much in case when you test fit, it's too small. You can't sand it bigger again, unfortunately. Got five to fit snugly with 10 more to do. Stopped after five because the MDF produces loads of dust. Will do the rest tomorrow.

I had to take the blade out to test the fit of the inserts. The inserts are ½" thick and sit flush with the top of the table, so the underside of an insert is ½" lower than the surface of the table. The standard blade is 10" diameter. When lowered all the way down the top of the blade is only ¼" or less beneath the table top. So with no slot yet cut in the insert, they can't go into the throat if the blade is in there.

Now, to cut the slot, you lower the blade, place the insert in position, start the saw and raise the blade. But you can't fit the insert if there is a blade in there, not even if it is fully lowered! So what do you do?

You use a smaller blade than the standard 10" one.  I could use the 7¼" blade from the circular saw, only that blade is so dull it wouldn't cut cheese.

Or I could use one of the outer blades from my dado stack which is ⅛" wide but only 8" in diameter. 

Or the ⅜" slotting blade. It is only 8" in diameter so it will allow an un-slotted  insert into the throat. You then start the saw and raise the blade, but not all the way. You raise it just enough to cut a shallow ⅜" slot in the underside of the new insert. You don't cut all the way through. The slot will leave enough room for the 10" blade to fit under the insert. It can then be raised to cut a ⅛" slot through to the top. 

I will cut the slot in the underside of the inserts but not finish with the ⅛" blade. Well, I'll finish one like that because my old ⅛" insert is beat up and a replacement would be welcome. 

The balance will be kept until needed. Say I need a ZCI for the ¼" slotting blade set at a 40° angle. I will install the blade, set the tilt to 40°, drop in a new insert, start the saw and raise the blade, instantly cutting the ideal Zero Clearance slot to match the blade kerf and angle.

So when they are all sanded to a snug fit in the throat, I will cut a ⅜" clearance slot in the underside of each one. The. There are a few other steps that are required. I will drill holes for the grub screws. I will drill a finger hole to facilitate removing an insert from the throat. And there is a clearance issue with the mechanism that holds the riving knife. This requires that a shallow pocket be hollowed out in the underside. This can be done by drilling partway through from the underside with a Forstner bit. 

Speaking of the riving knife, the slot for the ⅛" blade must be extended to accommodate the riving knife. Not difficult to do. Thankfully, only the ⅛" blade uses the riving knife. 

But all that excitement for tomorrow. Now I am going to shut off the lights and go to sleep.

Edited Tuesday at 01:59 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The remaining racks are gone. Mo & I went out and bought the lumber for the next batch. 

Got them home and checking the boards I found this:

It's a piece of metal sticking out of a board. I carefully worked it out. A bit of staple. 

I will have to go over all the boards and check for staples, etc. They are usually found in the edges or ends of the boards. This bit of metal could have scratched the buggery out of any of the other boards it was stacked against. It could have cut my hand. And the blade of the saw would not have been happy to come across it suddenly, in the middle of a cut!

I got the other inserts sanded to fit. I sanded 15 and one fit. I re-sanded the 14 and 10 fit. I re-sanded the 4 and 3 fit. I re-sanded the last one twice and finally it fit. I then raised the ⅜" blade up under each one in turn. These can now accommodate the 10" blade if needed. I still have to drill holes for the grub screws, a finger hole for lifting them out and a pocket to clear the riving knife mechanism, but that is all done on the drill press. So not today, because "I en' able."

Here are 16 pieces at 37" long (at the bottom) and on top of those at an angle, 8 pieces 45¾" long. These longer pieces are simply 37" pieces with the scrap at the end of the board left in place. The longer pieces can be used to make legs with feet if required. Otherwise the unwanted 8⅝" of scrap can be cut away and discarded.

24 pieces can be cut lengthways into three pieces each, so 72 pieces in all. Each rack will require four as legs and four more as rails. 72 ÷ 8 = 9 racks. But some of that 72 will have to be cut down further into 11" stretchers, of which I need 4 per rack.

When these get cut lengthways, I will get to see how many banana, how many crack down the middle, and how many have unsightly knots, chips or wain that make them unfit for use.

Bear in mind, I have four legs, one rail and 17 stretchers left back from the first batch of racks. More stretchers because the legs and rails that were too flawed to use could often be cut down into two or at least one extra stretchers, avoiding the knot, chip or wain that made it unfit for it's original purpose.

Right at the top, the partially completed inserts.

Anyway I am now going to have a shower. Because MDF dust from the sanding does not mix well with sweat and body-hair!

Edited Yest. at 01:44 AM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Bathed earlier and now lying in bed watching The Adjustment Bureau. Matt Damon & Emily Blunt. A slightly disgraced politician discovers that a secret group of "agents" with supernatural abilities adjusts minor occurrences in the lives of normal people to alter outcomes and bring about the future they want.

The photo I posted earlier of all the lumber stacked on the saw? I said there were 16 boards at 37" but the eagle-eyed may have noticed only 12 boards were in the photo. On the way back from Garden Patrol I noticed four boards remaining in the van. I moved them to join the other 12 and will start cutting down into narrower boards tomorrow.

I also want to put those inserts on the drill press and complete the drilling operations needed to finish them. Almost finished them. They will be finished in every way other than slotted. When one is needed it can have grub-screws inserted to allow for quick adjustment and the necessary opening cut to suit the use to which it will be put.

I have been making those pockets for the rails with a ¾" Forstner bit. I drill a series of holes very close together. This makes a slot but the side is not perfectly clean and smooth. A better way would be to use a ¾" end-mill or router bit. With one of these I would push the bit down, move it along sideways to cut a clean slot and pull it up again. A suitable bit is available but it's $79.99 from Kooyman.

We had rice with sausage, carrots, broccoli and onion for lunch. Dinner was potatoes with sausage, carrots and broccoli. We have no more broccoli or sausage. Only four small potatoes remain, with 2-3 carrots, a handful of small onions, and half a bag of rice. There is one tin of corned beef, one tin of milk, half a box of teabags (maybe a bit more than half) and a big bag of sugar. 

I spent most of the money I got for the first set of racks (for lumber to build the second set) but I computed that my pension should drop on Friday and that the second of the welfare cheques is also dated on Friday. I have to go back to Kooyman to buy 8 washers, 6 nuts, 4 bolts and 2 wing-nuts. Since Kooyman is just the other side of the roundabout from Popular, I think I will have to go and buy some basic groceries. Potatoes, onions, bully beef, whatever veggies I can afford, milk, tea, etc. 

I'm not as tired as the last few days. But it's still not far from midnight. Last night, Mo was curled up right behind me when I went out to lock up. He animated, shot past me and rushed out of the house. This happened three times. The third time, I let him go and locked the door. He slept outside until I let him in around 6:30 this morning. He's curled up right behind me again.....

Edited Yest. at 04:00 AM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

The first of the inserts is complete. It's for the ⅜" slotting blade.

You can see the 1⅛" finger hole. AKA the "fingernail" hole. Put your finger in here when the blade is spinning and you never have to worry about trimming your fingernail on that finger ever again!

You can also make out six small holes, three grouped at each end, that carry grub screws. With the insert in place you can insert the tool  (2.5mm hex T-driver, in this case) down from the top and adjust the grub screws up and down until the plate is flush with the top of the saw.

The difficult part of making this is the clearance pocket for the riving knife mount. 

Drilled in from underneath, it has to be deep enough to clear the mechanism when the blade is fully raised so the insert isn't displaced upwards by pressure from below. (You can also see two of the grub screws poking out/down. These allow the insert to be raised and lowered in the throat from above.)

The exact depth of the pocket can be adjusted to suit. You could actually drill all the way through and the insert would still be useable - the red, factory ones have a through-hole, but I would prefer if the top of the insert were maintained as much as possible.

The hard part of making this pocket is figuring out exactly where to put it. You can see I tried more than once to on this one. I think a single, circular pocket 1⅜" diameter would be fine, but you got to get it in just the right spot....

In other news, a call from QEH tells me that if I go this week and get a blood test at Enmore, I can have the biopsy next week Monday. I've been waiting for this for a long time. But I have to admit I feel some apprehension. I got a feeling it's going to hurt! Will I be able to drive home afterwards? I doubt it, somehow. But maybe I'm worried for no reason. 

[b4pjoe]

30 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

In other news, a call from QEH tells me that if I go this week and get a blood test at Enmore, I can have the biopsy next week Monday. I've been waiting for this for a long time. But I have to admit I feel some apprehension. I got a feeling it's going to hurt! Will I be able to drive home afterwards? I doubt it, somehow. But maybe I'm worried for no reason. 

What exactly is being biopsied?

[Netfoot]

44 minutes ago, b4pjoe said:

What exactly is being biopsied?

Left kidney.

[Netfoot]

Putting in a red insert, you can see the shiny rectangle of the riving knife mount, by looking through the clearance hole in the insert.

I take some stiff card and tape it down to the table top with the edge aligned to the edge of the mount. 

With more tape I align two more bits of card with the top and bottom of the mount.

A fourth piece of card aligns with the fourth edge of the mount.

Now the whole construction can be hinged out of the way on the original tape. 

We drop in a scrap that is shaped like an insert, hinge our cardboard contraption back again

and with a pencil.....

 

Edited Yest. at 04:02 PM by Netfoot

[Netfoot]

Crossing the corners on my pencil rectangle, I find it's center. The diagonals are 1¼" long. By drilling through the center point I make a pattern that I can use to transfer that center point to an actual insert. Drilling a pocket at that point gives me a clearance hole.

I used a 1⅜" Forstner bit to give me some wiggle room to be sure the mount had clearance. The hole is just deep enough to leave a thin layer of wood undisturbed on the top face. I used two US 25¢ coins to set the thickness that will be left.

So in theory, the insert should fit and raising the blade to the top will not cause the riving knife mount to lift the insert from underneath. 

The old and the new. I extended the slot at the rear of the new insert to allow the riving knife itself to protrude. 

The old one served me well. It was a devil to adjust, gluing on slivers of wood and sanding them down. Took for ever! The new one was adjusted in 2-3 minutes with the grub-screws. There are six of them and when you adjust one it affects the others. But even so, you can quickly tweak them until you are happy with the height of the insert compared to the table. 

Now I have 14 more to drill for finger holes, clearance pockets and grub screws. But I'm feeling rotten all of a sudden and just want to lie down. Not that I can, mind you! Mo still needs his lunch. And I still need to go to Kooyman and Popular this afternoon. 

[b4pjoe]

1 hour ago, Netfoot said:

Left kidney.

They usually put you under with a local anesthesia so most likely they will tell you not to drive after that but I understand you can be awake though it may be more painful. At least that is what they told me recently when I might have needed a biopsy of the same left kidney. Instead they did an MRI and decided the mass was benign so no biopsy is needed.

Edited 23 hours ago by b4pjoe

[Notabug]

For a kidney biopsy, it is usually a punch biopsy done with a needle rather than making an incision.  They often give you some sedation, either a pill or through an IV, of something like Valium, to help you relax and take the edge off.  Sometimes, it's enough that you fall asleep and don't remember much. They also use local anesthetic like lidocaine and inject it into the skin and deeper tissues over the biopsy site.  You feel a needle stick and some burning/stinging from the anesthesia which lasts a minute or so.  

The biopsy is usually done with an ultrasound to guide them to make sure they are getting a sample of the tumor.  Sometimes, a CT scan is used, but usually, it is the ultrasound.  Presuming the local works, you will feel deep pressure over the back when they do the biopsy which is usually pretty quick, a few seconds.

Afterwards, you'll feel bruising/soreness in your back for a few days.

If you get any sort of sedation for the procedure, I would not recommend driving anywhere afterwards to give it time to wear off.  Bringing along a friend for moral support is a good idea anyway.

ETA: Make sure to ask about your blood thinners.  They are probably going to want you to stop taking them at some point prior to the procedure.  Because of your medical history, they may recommend spending the night at the hospital after the biopsy which solves the needing a ride issue.

Edited 20 hours ago by Notabug

[Netfoot]

Thank you, @Notabug, for the info. I expect it will be a needle because they have said for 23 months that they couldn't do the biopsy because they didn't have any needles, so guess they finally found one. Also, CT seems to ring a bell so perhaps they will use that rather than ultrasound.

If I can't drive home afterwards, I can't drive down there in the first place. So I will have to seek two lifts, not just one.

[Netfoot]

I have two completed inserts, one for the standard ⅛" blade and another for the ⅜" slotting blade. I fouled up two of the remaining inserts by drilling the pocket for the riving knife mechanism on the top instead of the bottom. 😕 

Some of the finger holes came out a bit ugly. MDF is nasty stuff and I had to stop the drill after every hole and clean the crud out of the Forstner bit. Ugly does not mean it won't work fine, so that isn't an issue. I quickly realized that if I turned the insert over and drilled from the other side, the ugly not would be underneath the insert and not generally visible. 

I now have eleven remaining after the two I have finished. These still need to be drilled for grub screws but that is straight forward; quick and easy. I will drill the holes tomorrow but I won't put grub screws in place. I don't have enough grub-screws to do them all and I think it makes more sense to wait until I put a blank into service and add the grub-screws then. That way, if I am making a replacement for an existing plate, I can take the screws out of the old one and put them directly into the new. So my supply won't be diminished.

Mo had chow for dinner today. It is a new type for him. One of the types I've given him in the past was Purina One on a green bag. It is chicken based. Today I bought Purina in a brown bag, which is lamb based. I think it must be new because I don't remember seeing it before and the price is $10 cheaper than the chicken for a 2 Kg. bag. An introductory price, I suspect. 

Was muttering to myself in the grocery about there still being no evap. A woman overheard me and said, "End if the month!" I interrogated her and she indicated that PHD had said that evap. production would restart at the end of March. I couldn't get her to tell me if this is rumour, confirmed need or what.  But if would be nice to get some evap. on the shelves again.

So blood test tomorrow and biopsy on Monday. Here's hoping nobody throws a spanner in the works.

Was feeling really crap after lunch today but feeling much better again now. Didn't get around to cutting the lumber to width today. Will do it tomorrow when I get back from QEH/Enmore. It shouldn't take long and it's only a phlebotomy so it won't be a big deal.

Will get my head down early tonight. Had my shower before dark and Mo is here now so any time now would be fine. Just trying to find out the status of Starship 8 which (I believe) is scheduled for launch tomorrow evening. 

[Netfoot]

After a brief delay....

... Mo and I set off for Enmore. Arrived at 8:28 and went to where I would normally go for the MG relayed appointments. Last time I was there (26th November) 8 was told that I should get a 4-month appointment for my next visit. The clerk told me she couldn't give me an appointment but she would call me with a date/time. That was over 3 months ago so I thought I'd get that date/time today, since I was already in site. I explained why I was there.

"De clerk in' our yet." (Bajan: In' equals ain't.)

I waited until 8:58 then I told them I was going over the road to QEH bout that I'd be back. 

Walked over to QEH Outpatients and asked for the required paper to get the required blood test to get the required biopsy on Monday. By 9:10 I was back at Enmore.

"De computer is dung!" Your mistake for using software by MicroSoft. Computers were rarely "dung" in the pre-Gates era. Why do we listen to Anything he has to say? (Well, not we because not me therefore: you.)

Phlebotomy Department, 9:20. "Pick a number!" I get #66. Now serving... Machine is broken. So how do I know when... ?!??

"Nex'!"

Oh, so the number is irrelevant. Just go right after everyone who was here when you got here and before anyone who comes after you arrived.

9:55 and a pleasant woman drew the blood fairly painlessly. Mo and I left, and made our way through traffic and home. 10:45 and I feel I could have a mug of tea but I had one before I left home earlier. I also feel hungry and could eat something but I will wait an hour or so and call it lunch. 

So now, I have to figure out what to do with myself today. I wanted to start on the next batch of racks but when I said that to my guy, he said "We will talk later in the week." I don't know what he wants to talk about, but I hope it isn't to cancel the remaining racks! I have already spent the money to buy the lumber. 

A towel rack is a bulky thing. These are 36"x36"x11" or almost 9 cu. ft. If I make the frames and the rails but don't actually do the final assembly, the components occupy only ⅕ if a cu. ft. I could make the frames and rails and store them until they are needed. Then, when they need them, I can assemble them in about 1½ to 2 hours each, and 8 hours later, when the glue has had a chance to cure,  they can be collected taken away. But I don't want to start making the sub-components only to discover that they have found a source in China and they won't be buying any more from me! (He told me that they were getting them from China originally but they kept falling apart.)

So what do I do today?