As mentioned in the last blog entry, I have been very busy lately with things that are not woodworking related, not the least of which is getting work done around my house before I put it up for sale and looking for a new house to move to. As a result, some of the website projects that I wanted to do have been set aside, at least for the next few weeks. Even if I’m successful in my house hunt, there will still be some time before I can get any kind of a functional workshop set up. Unfortunately, this means that there will be very little new content for the site until I get that situation resolved. This had to happen sooner or later anyway, since my main objective over the past three years has been to get the renovations finished here so that I can sell this house.

The table saws that I bought are still not any more finished than they were, and that’s due to my lack of time to devote to them and how I still haven’t received the new arbor and bearings for the Busy Bee saw. In the meantime, the workshop is nearly unusable, with both saws in pieces and very little free space available. I did find time to test the old Delta motor under some heavy cutting conditions, and try out the motor I want to use to replace it:

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I used a relatively dull 60 tooth blade, cutting nearly 2″ into a piece of maple for the test, thinking this would give me an idea of how powerful the Delta motor actually is. The point of comparison was my old homemade table saw: it made the cut under the same conditions without stalling. I figure any new saw configuration would have to be at least as powerful as my old one. As shown in the video, the Delta motor could not keep up and stalled about 6″ into the cut. Moving the saw to tap better power for the motor made a slight improvement, but still not equal to my old saw.
Next, I tested the pump motor and
made a temporary plywood bracket to mount it on the saw for the test:

The test told me that the pump motor I want to use is much more suitable than the original, easily powering through the cut without stalling. One small issue with using this motor is that I may have to add a bearing to the output shaft to cope with the side load from the pulley and belt. The bearing in the pump motor may be undersize, since it wasn’t meant to be used for this kind of application. As seen in the picture above, the bearing seems to be a bit smaller than the one on the Delta motor. Adding a helper bearing should be an interesting little project on its own.
There is a lot more that I can do with the Delta saw for the new table saw build, but it’s best to put that on hold until after I move. Meanwhile, I have decided to remove the arbor and replace the bearings on that saw as well. It just makes good sense to do that before investing time in the rest of the build. This is something that I will do before I move.

Moving on to something I’ve been meaning to go over (in fact, I’ve moved the pictures for this part of the blog entry ahead, to the next entry, several times) regarding a pair of videos I did last fall on how to hang a door. In the first video, I showed how to size the door and bevel the edges. Immediately after posting that video, I started getting comments (on YouTube and through my email) about beveling the hinge side. Basically, most have not heard of doing this, and thought it was not necessary. One gentleman in particular became pretty upset in an email to me on it, getting fairly abusive and belligerent.
It never fails to surprise me what people will take issue with. Oddly enough, it’s usually the smallest thing, something that I take for granted and (wrongly) assume everyone else knows. This would be the situation here: I never thought I would have to explain something that is, for me, so fundamental.
So here’s some door geometry and why the hinge edge should be beveled:
In the next four illustrations, assume we are looking down from the top of the door and jamb. As shown in the first example, the door is square on the hinge edge and the hinges are mortised in flush with the edge of the door and the face of the jamb.
If everything is perfect, this leaves us with about a 1/16″ gap between the door and the jamb:

Now, say we bevel the hinge edge 2 degrees:

What this does is gives more clearance between the door and the jamb, plus it opens the gap slightly on the pull side, which will better match what should be at the latch edge of the door. This extra clearance is always a good thing, as it can prevent a whole list of problems.
For example, if the jamb has been installed slightly crooked, which is a very common occurrence, the door with the square edge will now be binding:

Whereas the one that has been beveled is still clearing the jamb:

In a perfect world all door frames would be set exactly straight, plumb and true. Of course, that’s all too often not the case, and we need to cope with these problems efficiently. Beveling the hinge edge of a door is easy to do and can save a lot of time and frustration when installing a new door in an old opening.
Another problem that can arise is if the jamb is bellied inwards near the middle, towards the door. If the door has a square edge on the hinge side, it will definitely bind. By beveling the hinge edge, enough clearance has been made for the door to operate freely.
The pictures below are of a door in my house. These show the hinge edge (click pictures to enlarge) and how the gap is very good at the top and bottom, but virtually closed in the middle. In spite of this, the door closes without binding, because it has been beveled:

These were new doors I installed shortly after buying the house and they replaced slab doors that were a bit too plain.

Beveling the hinge side is something I always do, whether the frame is one that’s been there for years, or one I’m putting in as I go. It just makes sense, and it’s traditional wisdom – old school, as they call it today.