My Kind of Job, My Kind of Day
May. 11th, 2021 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdaySo today I finished up my taxes, which always stresses me to the max--and not just financially, although that too--and then said "Screw it" and, instead of working out or doing my indoor bike ride, I worked in my shop.
Actually, I spent SOME time there, but most of it was spent running around looking for pieces that could be adapted for a project I've been working on.
Which is, in turn, the adaptation of my cheapo Harbor Freight compound miter saw to use a chop saw blade. Without destroying the saw, the metal pieces I intend to cut, or my face.
(Some would say the latter wouldn't make much difference, in the wide world out there but, you know, I've grown accustomed to it, the way it's looked back at me, from the mirror, all these years.)
Anyway, productivity is seldom the measure of a project like this because you don't just walk into the hardware store and pick something off the shelf that works. Because, well, what's the fun in that?
So, as I said, a good deal of my time today has been spent looking for pieces and the tools to modify them with. Which would likely puzzle my son-in-law who's been known to allege that I own every tool in the world.
Which, no, I don't. That's my goal, my ambition, maybe, but not something that I've yet accomplished in this life.
Because, having at last found the pieces which I think can be made to work, I now need a drill bit large enough and rugged enough, to drill the hole I need in stainless steel, and small enough to fit either the 50-year-old Craftsman drill that's under my work bench or the cheapo HF drill press that's next to it.
Which will probably mean a ridiculously-priced titanium bit with a reduced shank. If I can find one locally.
But now it's late, and that's a mission for another day. And, given that tomorrow I'll be cooking for my son, etc, it'll just have to wait.
And hopefully, in a day or so, I'll still be around to do it. Along with my workout and bike ride...
LPK
Dreamwidth
5.11.2021
Actually, I spent SOME time there, but most of it was spent running around looking for pieces that could be adapted for a project I've been working on.
Which is, in turn, the adaptation of my cheapo Harbor Freight compound miter saw to use a chop saw blade. Without destroying the saw, the metal pieces I intend to cut, or my face.
(Some would say the latter wouldn't make much difference, in the wide world out there but, you know, I've grown accustomed to it, the way it's looked back at me, from the mirror, all these years.)
Anyway, productivity is seldom the measure of a project like this because you don't just walk into the hardware store and pick something off the shelf that works. Because, well, what's the fun in that?
So, as I said, a good deal of my time today has been spent looking for pieces and the tools to modify them with. Which would likely puzzle my son-in-law who's been known to allege that I own every tool in the world.
Which, no, I don't. That's my goal, my ambition, maybe, but not something that I've yet accomplished in this life.
Because, having at last found the pieces which I think can be made to work, I now need a drill bit large enough and rugged enough, to drill the hole I need in stainless steel, and small enough to fit either the 50-year-old Craftsman drill that's under my work bench or the cheapo HF drill press that's next to it.
Which will probably mean a ridiculously-priced titanium bit with a reduced shank. If I can find one locally.
But now it's late, and that's a mission for another day. And, given that tomorrow I'll be cooking for my son, etc, it'll just have to wait.
And hopefully, in a day or so, I'll still be around to do it. Along with my workout and bike ride...
LPK
Dreamwidth
5.11.2021
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Date: 2021-05-12 02:44 pm (UTC)The jigs are basically rectangles of 1/4" plywood with d-handles mounted on one side for ease of, well, handle-ing, and they're sized so that the cardboard cut with them fits the target box I built years ago for indoor practice with my airguns and paintball markers. The metal edging, the framing around the outside of them will keep the plywood from being nicked by the box cutter I use.
It's a very simple, very utilitarian project, but one that's gotten me up off my backside and down to my too-long neglected workshop. At this point, it doesn't even matter whether I ever cut the cardboard or shoot the airguns.
It's the getting up and doing--the choosing to do THIS kind of work in THIS space that my grandson and I have made--that matters now...