"Whatever Can Go Wrong . . . "

Well this veneering thing just is not working out. It's not the veneering itself, it's the compressor used to create the vacuum for the veneer press.  I should have expected problems when I bought the thing off a local teenager who had fixed it up himself.

Get ready for a small rant:

First I discovered that the compressor's pressure switch was the wrong size. I ordered a replacement on eBay that took forever to arrive. When it did it wouldn't fit exactly on the compressor, and it also had three extra air connections that needed to be sealed off. Well the plugs I got to seal them were the wrong type, they wouldn't seal. So I had to buy new plugs. Then the motor wouldn't turn on properly when the compressor pressure dropped down below about 95 psi. After a ton of head scratching I decided to replace the 1/3 HP motor with a 1/2 HP motor I had lying around. Well of course it was a tad bigger and I couldn't use the same belt. And the pulley on it was bigger. So off to my local hardware store, no belts the right size. A couple phone calls later I am over at a local garage. Their belts are all metric, the one I have is imperial. I eyeballed it, took two that looked right, got home and of course they are both the wrong size. Back again for another one, finally got it right.

Latest problem is that the pulleys on the motor and the compressor don't exactly line up. No way to adjust the motor laterally, will need to move the pulley on the motor shaft. It seems like the problems just never end!

Plus I pulled my back this morning and it is getting worse not better so my plan to do some more chainsaw slabbing tomorrow is toast.  I did slab up some spalted horse chestnut, alder, and cypress last week. No pictures though, you'll just have to believe me!

Got the drive sprockets in all three big chainsaws replaced, dressed the bars, got new chains, so I am rarin' to go. Only problem is that there is not too much exciting wood to be had right now at the cutting area!

Hopefully hopefully once I get the pulleys lined up that'll be the end of the compressor woes (ha! not likely!) and I can actually get these shelves finished.