Need some help from you Advanced wood men/women please

[Patriarch]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:owyZe.25$ [e-mail]:

My work improved signficantly when I rolled the Shopsmith into the corner, and brought in a Unisaw. Fences stayed square. Blades ran true. Arbors tilted properly. I could cut heavier, longer & wider stock.

I also took a few classes, read a lot of posts here, hung out with some remarkable folks in the woodworking club, and stopped working 90 hour weeks in a mind- and body-killing job.

The tool was no longer the limiting factor, and I am fortunate that affording the tool was/is not a problem. Now, when I screw up, I know _exactly_ whose fault it is.

Patriarch

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I just renewed my license for another 6 years. They really should have a test to get some of the really bad old people off the road. Some are down right scary.

Careful, you may get to be one of us some day.

[Bob G.]

===================== Gosh I am waiting for my 1st social Secuirty check to hit the mailbox in a few weeks... (qualifies me as old I guess)...and I still use a Crapsman Bandsaw I bought new in the late 60's..(So I am not hung up on high priced tools..).

BUT I have owned a Cabinet saw (Bies equipted) for about 15 years now....great saw and fence... I love it....!

BUT

A year or so ago I ran into a Delta/Rockwell Contractors saw (with a masonary blade mounted in it...???) at an estate auction... everyone was bidding like crazy on household stuff and I was the only bidder on the tablesaw so I walked out with it for 10 bucks....

After cleaning up the cast iron top and tossing the worn masonary blade int he trash and buying a 100 dollar Forrest blade for it and constructing a sled for it it is now my dead on accurate cross cutting machine.... yea 10 buck saw and a 100 dollar blade...but what the heck...

Honestly if the Rockwell/Delta or Delta/Rockwell had a Bies like fence I honestly would not hesitate to use it for any cut I needed done...its only disadvantage is in dust collection and a little less power (both not that important to me)..

Bob G.

[john]

Definitely, if you have 220 power/socket available and the price difference is indeed 0, get the 3hp.

John

[Patriarch]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:sRJZe.137$ [e-mail]:

Certainly not ALL bad drivers are old folks. But I don't seem to drive as well as I used to. Or maybe I simply pay better attention to my lack of paying attention these days. ;-)

Only if he's lucky.

Patriarch

[David]

anyone on a cell phone is a bad driver. most of them are young women, in my experience. I'd love to see laws passed in every state in the union that would make it a crime to use a cell phone in a vehicle with the engine running. Even if it's a hands-free model. I use a cell phone while driving and find it a distraction. I'd be more than happy to give up the privilege if it meant getting 100 million other distracted drivers off of theirs.

Dave

[Patriarch]

David wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The only one I can control is me. If you find the cell phone distracting, let the call roll to voicemail, have a passenger take the call, or pull over safely. I think that what I do behind the wheel is the major factor in the safety of my trip, regardless of the driving habits of the others around me.

As to influencing the behavior of young women, that's an area in which I have very little track record of success...

Patriarch

[Upscale]

Why can't you add an aftermarket fence (like a Bies) to the Rockwell? I've got a 30 year old Rockwell/Beaver that I added an Excalibur fence to. Lots of iron on the side of the table top to drill mounting holes if necessary. The existing holes on my Rockwell/Beaver were fine for mounting without my having to drill.

[gfretwell]

We may be putting to much on cell phone use. Is that really any more distractiong than one of those "100 button" CD player/radios or a satellite navigation system? The heater A/C has become a mind boggling thing to run. New car dash boards look like the bridge of the star ship enterprise these days. Add a cup of hot coffee, a cigarette, an Egg McMuffin and two screaming kids in the back seat ... it's no wonder we need air bags.

[David]

changing songs on my iPod as it sits on the floor is a bit of distraction also. I have to lean quite a way over to reach it, taking my eyes off the road. :)

While no law will achieve 100% compliance, a no-phone-while-driving law would certainly curtail much of the gabbing, just like mandatory seat belt and helmet laws have increased the usage of both. I realize that phones are more difficult for law enforcement officials to spot, as compared to seat belts and helmets so I suppose there will be plenty of scofflaws.

Dave

[Dave Hinz]

I'm guessing that you only notice the cellphone users who are driving badly; the ones who aren't, you don't see, because they're _not_. So, maybe it's a case of "bad drivers are bad drivers" rather than "a cellphone makes a good driver become a bad driver".

As with so many other things, it's the person, not the tool, that determines good or bad.

[Upscale]

Maybe so, but I have to believe that cellphones are an undesirable distraction to anyone while driving. I remember once when I was standing in line in the little corner grocery store in my building. Some guy came in while talking to his girlfriend on his cellphone. By the way he looked around, I knew right away that he was looking for the cash machine. I watched him walk around the store looking for it while still talking on the phone. He passed by it three times before I pointed it out to him. If he'd have been driving a car at the time, I'd have run for cover.

[B a r r y]

What I find interesting is the range of ability to divide attention.

On one hand, there are the people who can be in the here and now first, while talking on the phone second. On the other, are the folks who simply cannot do ANYTHING ELSE while they talk.

The type and content of the conversation itself can move most people up or down the scale. Having enough self awareness to know when we've gotten into the latter category is key.

If more folks could recognize, and/or accept where they fall on the scale, I'll bet we wouldn't need more laws.

People who lean towards the scary category can get in trouble simply conversing with a passenger or listening to talk radio. They don't even need a phone.

[David]

Actually, I see drivers on cell phones while I'm sitting at an intersection. they aren't all driving badly, but nearly every young female driver is on a phone. I'm in CA. maybe it's not as bad elsewhere in the country??

Dave

[David]

If it's "not the tool", how come we aren't allowed to carry loaded firearms in public? :) See what happens if you have a loaded gun in sight when stopped by a police officer... Some conveniences like phones cause much frustration and harm. ever tried to enjoy a quiet dinner with the wife in an otherwise cozy restaurant, only to have the mood broken by some loud mouthed bozo yakking away on his phone in the next booth?

Dave

[David]

or how about when the light turns green and the clueless driver ahead of you sits stock still, engaged in conversation?

Dave

[David]

when I get in heavy traffic, I've often asked my wife to be quiet, so I can concentrate. She's learned I'm not being rude; just prudent.

Dave

[Dave Hinz]

In most civilized states, that specific thing _is_ allowed, and it has reduced violent crime in every one of them.

Depends on if you're in an open-carry state, I guess? (shrug)

There's another example. That guy is a rude loudmouth, regardless of the fact that he's on a cellphone. The phone didn't turn him _into_ a rude loudmouth.

[Amused]

While there are certainly bad drivers that don't use phones, ANY telephone usage, including ear phones and speaker phones, dramatically reduces ANY driver's attention, and ultimately, ability. It's not the instrument, itself, it's the nature of the activity. Listening to the radio is essentially a passive activity. By it's very nature, talking on a phone is an active distraction and ironically, the more important the phone call, the greater the distraction.

It's not gender-specific or age-specific, either. Anyone talking on a phone and driving a car is not devoting the appropriate amount attention to either activity.

[M&S]

Personally I notice a lot more than just bad drivers talking on the cell while driving. What I think of most often is when you see a mother/father or even worse both in a car with a kid, two or three going down the road and the parent(s) is babbling away when they could, or in my opinion should, be interacting with their children. Playing word games, alphabet on the signs, "how was your day johnny?", and so on. Of course no one knows if they already had these conversations, the call is a brief one and interupting the word games, and so on. That said it seems more an more with in car TV, DVDs, cell, etc. parent/child interaction is taking a back seat to a peaceful car ride or a call from the office.

I have always thought they should offer a cheaper option than the in car DVD player. An IV bag could simply hang on the dry cleaning hook in the car/SUV and just jack your kids into a slow drip of morphine. Tie a diaper around their chin to catch the droole from landing on the leather seats and just drive til' your hearts content. It would surely be cheaper than a in car DVD and lets face it, it would serve the same exact purpose.

;) Mark