I was blessed yesterday (Saturday, Jan 5, 2008 ) to have two extremely talented and wise fellow NCWoodworkers hang up my Clearvue. I've had the cyclone since April, and have spent the last 8 months in intense cogitation of how to properly implement the system. In spite of the amount of cranial exertion employed in the planning, the old aphorism about the best laid plans of mice and men won out, at least temporarily.
I had mounted the Clearvue bracket where I thought it would be most properly positioned. On New Year's Eve, I was fortunate enough to have two brawny friends over to visit, and I persuaded them to help me with the ungainly and somewhat heavy Leeson motor and impeller assembly. Since I was begrudging them time to enjoy some fine Canadian ale, I rapidly screwed the blower housing to the cyclone body with complete disregard to the orientation of those two critical components. Still in a rush, we (well, they) hoisted the monster assembly overhead onto the shelf. And we headed back to the cache of Canada's finest.
When they left, I went out to relish in the joy of knowing that the beast had been placed. Of course, in the fullness of time, I noticed that the alignment of the blower housing and cyclone intake chute was way wrong, and the unit wasn't high enough to allow the dust barrel underneath, and the intake chute would need a hole cut in the door. Holes in doors for dust pipes don't usually work out well. Oh woe. The weight of the unit was such that no ordinary mortal could possibly dismount and remount. What to do?
Well of course, the answer was send out the cry for help. Professional help this time, not rank amateurs who are experienced at uncapping bottles but novices and neophytes at hanging a Clearvue cyclone. Of course, the only responsible action was to post the request for aid on The Friendliest Woodworking Site on the Internet.
And look what showed up Saturday morning, on time, bright eyed and somewhat bushy tailed, although it's definitely difficult to maintain a bushy tail in freezing weather.
For those of you who don't know these talented professionals, that's TravisPorter on the left and FredP on the right. They're standing in front of the door that needed a hole for the dust pipe. Fred and Travis agreed that cutting a hole in the door wasn't the best design, and agreed to help remedy the problem. So, down came the unit, the motor and impeller were separated from the cyclone and blower housing and placed outside.
The brain trust I had encouraged to assist kicked into high gear, and we adjusted the alignment, carefully designed the new shelf location, and hoisted the behemoth back into place. Done? Oh no. The plans of mice and men once again had gone astray. I shall not bore you with the details (and shame myself in the process), but suffice it to say with judicious use of a sawzall and a couple of hammers and some grunting and heaving, we achieved a victory.
This shows the Clearvue (yes, that is Powermatic Gold paint) hanging up, perfectly aligned to bring the dust piping through the sidewall rather than the door.
And here you see how nicely the dust barrel fits under the cyclone.
Total time involved in the operation was approximately an hour and a half. The next two and half hours were spent in the warmth of the shop, slurping coffee, eating cheese and crackers, looking at my limited supply of wood-butchering toys and swapping tall tales of amazing woodworking prowess.
All in all an excellent use of a chilly January Saturday morning.
And my special thanks to the two skilled craftsmen who did all the work. I spent most of my time running into the shop getting tools we hadn't anticipated. At least I didn't have to head out to a BORG to acquire anything.
I had mounted the Clearvue bracket where I thought it would be most properly positioned. On New Year's Eve, I was fortunate enough to have two brawny friends over to visit, and I persuaded them to help me with the ungainly and somewhat heavy Leeson motor and impeller assembly. Since I was begrudging them time to enjoy some fine Canadian ale, I rapidly screwed the blower housing to the cyclone body with complete disregard to the orientation of those two critical components. Still in a rush, we (well, they) hoisted the monster assembly overhead onto the shelf. And we headed back to the cache of Canada's finest.
When they left, I went out to relish in the joy of knowing that the beast had been placed. Of course, in the fullness of time, I noticed that the alignment of the blower housing and cyclone intake chute was way wrong, and the unit wasn't high enough to allow the dust barrel underneath, and the intake chute would need a hole cut in the door. Holes in doors for dust pipes don't usually work out well. Oh woe. The weight of the unit was such that no ordinary mortal could possibly dismount and remount. What to do?
Well of course, the answer was send out the cry for help. Professional help this time, not rank amateurs who are experienced at uncapping bottles but novices and neophytes at hanging a Clearvue cyclone. Of course, the only responsible action was to post the request for aid on The Friendliest Woodworking Site on the Internet.
And look what showed up Saturday morning, on time, bright eyed and somewhat bushy tailed, although it's definitely difficult to maintain a bushy tail in freezing weather.
For those of you who don't know these talented professionals, that's TravisPorter on the left and FredP on the right. They're standing in front of the door that needed a hole for the dust pipe. Fred and Travis agreed that cutting a hole in the door wasn't the best design, and agreed to help remedy the problem. So, down came the unit, the motor and impeller were separated from the cyclone and blower housing and placed outside.
The brain trust I had encouraged to assist kicked into high gear, and we adjusted the alignment, carefully designed the new shelf location, and hoisted the behemoth back into place. Done? Oh no. The plans of mice and men once again had gone astray. I shall not bore you with the details (and shame myself in the process), but suffice it to say with judicious use of a sawzall and a couple of hammers and some grunting and heaving, we achieved a victory.
This shows the Clearvue (yes, that is Powermatic Gold paint) hanging up, perfectly aligned to bring the dust piping through the sidewall rather than the door.
And here you see how nicely the dust barrel fits under the cyclone.
Total time involved in the operation was approximately an hour and a half. The next two and half hours were spent in the warmth of the shop, slurping coffee, eating cheese and crackers, looking at my limited supply of wood-butchering toys and swapping tall tales of amazing woodworking prowess.
All in all an excellent use of a chilly January Saturday morning.
And my special thanks to the two skilled craftsmen who did all the work. I spent most of my time running into the shop getting tools we hadn't anticipated. At least I didn't have to head out to a BORG to acquire anything.
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