cowtown

Sometimes the claims of liability getting to court are so frivolous and bizarre that the perspective of the insurance co is that "this will never clear stage one" and they ignore it....

Somewhere in the back of my mind, that once this suit gets settled (hey why did they just not settle the claim in the early stages...too late now it's gone viral!)

I'm thinkin that when it is settled, there will be a larger countersuit against the plaintiffs, I'm thinkin that there are way more people more culpable at earlier stages than the saw manufacturer! And some of the stuff I've read implies negligence by the saw manufacturer to be the main cause of the accident, but what of supervisory culpability, employers responsibility, workers comp and OHSA inspections or lack of So I'm not sure that what I read is anywhere near the truth, and the truth will out.


Yep some folks were seemingly asleep at the wheel to let this bizarre claim get to this stage....

It ain't gonna be over til the fat lady sings...

Eric

there are a bunch of toolbox warning stickers on ebay..

Stuff like "don't mess with my tools and I won't mess with yer wife"

Or "there are tools in this toolbox that you don't understand"

When the bylaw officer came around and told me I couldn't work out of the garage any longer, I had more complaints from my neihbours afterwards....the tools they wanted to borrow just weren't here anymore..

Eric in Calgary

apparently some jurisdictions have a bylaw which indicates that someone must be present for at least a half hour after any grinding/welding and presumabley spark producing activities.

Not a bad idea...

many is the time I have stayed longer to empty out the ts and dust collector when I thought that there was a chance of a spark or even shavings from an overheated ripping blade.

Got too much to lose.

Eric in Calgary

I keep an el-cheapo in the truck for the odd ripping that needs doing on site. It's precision is really bad, so it's typically rip at an angle and scribe to requirement. It's been run over by a client at least once, so I have no expectations of precision from it.

There's a fold-down ryobi for the larger site projects, with a tad more accuracy, but neither of them will take dado blades. It's too big to run over.

They ain't anything but upside down skillsaws, and blade side slop is inevitable. They is wickedly coarse.

But what really really puzzles me is that for at least 15 years now, the Great Yellow Father has marketed a "flip-over" saw in Europe.

A flip over saw is a chop saw and a table saw in one tool

examples seen at

http://www.knighton-tools.co.uk/acatalog/dewalt_flip_saw.html.

So why in the heck ain't this available in N.America eh?

Eric in Calgary

That's my comment.

well, fix it or junk it...it all depends. There's an 80/20 rule that 80% of the problems are caused by 20% of the problem causers....with power tools it's generally the cord.

OK, simple to test. Brushes are next, easy to replace. Bearings etc, well things get a bit more complex, so my addage is to try and fix it before it gets junked. And if you have to get a few new tools along the way so much the better. And if it's really toasted, well I've got a box of tool parts that might help me when the replacement fails or I need to make a jig for the replacement.

Along the way you find out why tools fail, just how cheaply and poorly some are constructed. In short, if you don't try to fix it, you not only loose the pleasure of ressurecting it, but you also forgo the learning experience of why cheap tools are cheap. It's kinda basic green.

Besides, if you have time and money invested in jigs, accesories,tooling, and appurtenances for a tool, discarding it means you may have have to re-configure them.

Many times the cost of reconfiguration to accommodate another mfgrs tool may well excede the cost of repair.

For example, get another router and you have to relearn where locks and switch are.

How many sanding belt configurations are there? I have at least 7 different sizes of belts, multiply that by the number of grits, and supplies become a cost issue.

Cordless (Battery operated) tools are a whole other issue.
Original (non-battery operated) tools seem to have lasted through many generations without a problem other than the user.

To summarize, I'd generally fix rather than junk.

Just my thoughts...

Eric in Calgary

With the exception of the main table saw and a 3x4 assembly table, almost everything else is on wheels.

Actually, the outfeed table of the table saw is essentially 8'long, and will let me x-cut at 48", so it takes up a masive amount of real-estate. I had a bracket fabricated so that my scm chop-saw is suspended about 8" above the table,

Makita 2040 (16") planer is also on wheels, and had another bracket fabricated so that the 16-32 performax thickness sander is above it.

Again, real-estate savings was the motivation.

The second shop ts, the one that's used for rabbets, well that's on wheels and rolls under the outfeed table.

But two machines on one platform wasn't enuf for me, so I used some 3/4" pipe flanges to go up "another story" and made a shelf to hold a box or two for shims etc. That's three levels of unility, all on wheels.

After moving shop several times, and after many years of work, There is to my mind no "perfect" solution to shop layout. Whatever equipment layout might work with the average workflow might be really kludgy on the next job. "things" may have to be moved.


For example, many shop layout utilities assume that maximum sheet stock size is 8', but when you have to rip 5x12 shhet stock, well you might have to move something- and it's so much easier when it's on wheels.

Eric

With the exception of the main table saw and a 3x4 assembly table, almost everything else is on wheels.

Actually, the outfeed table of the table saw is essentially 8'long, and will let me x-cut at 48", so it takes up a masive amount of real-estate. I had a bracket fabricated so that my scm chop-saw is suspended about 8" above the table,

Makita 2040 (16") planer is also on wheels, and had another bracket fabricated so that the 16-32 performax thickness sander is above it.

Again, real-estate savings was the motivation.

But two machines on one platform wasn't enuf for me, so I used some 3/4" pipe flanges to go up "another story"

The second shop ts, the one that's used for rabbets, well that's on wheels and rolls under the outfeed table.

an amazing contraption! cutting the gears on the bandsaw as recommended was kludgy when I tried it, so I made router jigs which still required filing, but I was happier with the fit (still sloppy, but a 2 degree backlast on 20tpi threaded rod (I used 1/4 20 rod)is probably insignifcant in the grand scheme of things.