It's time to go Vertical

[jcg31]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

YAY!!! you won't regret it.

I am on the road and haven't had a chance to get to the drawings but attached are quick drawings for the first step, which illustrates (with bird's eye view of platform} how one can cut a full size brick in two pieces with a 5-degree angle, or any other angle, on both sides using the minimal number of cuts (3). Again I am away from the saw so the drawing is from memory and not to scale. I will repost with proper measures tomorrow.

You first set up the left guide with two c-clamps (I use 3" clamps - stole the c-clamp idea from Hendo). The top c-clamp is for the full brick cut with left side resting on the foot of the c-clamp, right side resting on the stop (which is also c-clamped to the stage). Make the cut.

Take the left portion of the cut from the full size brick and flip horizontally. Place against the bottom c-clamp on left and the bottom stop on saw on the right, make second cut.

Take the right portion of the original cut and flip vertically. Place against the bottom c-clamp on left and the bottom stop on saw on the right, make final cut.

As I suggested I should be home tomorrow in time to post dimensions for these cuts and the jigs and measures for the bevels. In the meantime enjoy your new saw.

By the way there are those who have had the pump clog with brick dust and have opted to keep the pump in a seperate bucket. I have cleaned out more than 50 pounds of sediment from the tray and caked around the pump during the building of my dome and never had a single problem with keeping the pump in its defined location. Obviously you do need to keep the water level high enough to keep it pumping through and onto the saw blade.

Jim

[Les]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

By the way they have a $200 and a $300 unit and I can't see much difference.

It looks like the $300 model has a longer cutting reach, doesn't apply to what we are doing. The more important difference is that it has a dual start capacitor, that's probably a nice feature since I blew mine up.
I don't think it's worth the extra $100 though, I replaced it for $5.

Les...

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Went to Dallas yesterday and did my shopping. My ceramic insulation was in for the dome I got 50 sf of 2" and of 1", a HF 10" saw, another bag of mortar(HS 50) and stopped at Acemart - a restaurant supplier and picked up a few things I'll use.

Once again I'll say beware of the masonry places, they again wanted to sell a domestic mortar that 'would do the job'. When I wanted to cancel my order they looked around and found it.

Just finished assembling the HF saw and I have 3 questions, 1- I have an extra knob, 3 were used for the guides, and 2- a small allen wrench that I didn't seem to need and 3- does the saw guard float on it's shaft? If 3 is yes does it ever vibrate over to the blade?

Oh when I got the saw I got a 2 year warranty for $34, and basically they said bring it in when it is worn out and they replace it. Weird.

[Acoma]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

I got the warranty too. I plan to get it replaced upon my two year mark so that I may have a new one again They said no questions, sounds like a great $34 warranty to me.

My wife just got on my case, saying it is dishonest. Jeesh, the store said it was ok. Now I am pulled in two ways, maybe a poll to see

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

I think that many problems arise, ie: pump failure etc. with the HF saw. I bought the warrantee too. No problems yet, but I'm not done being mean to it yet.

RC, I suffered the same as you putting the thing together. Not really a quality tool, but it does a nice job nonetheless. The instructions included are small, inadequate, and hard to read. I can't remember the knob setup without looking at it (it's in the garage). I do know that there are two different holes for placing the motor on the mount bar. I used the the one closest to the motor as the vibration was less.

The blade hit the table when I put it together. I had to reset the table, I think using the allen wrench, to make the table slide straight through straight. Also, the allen wrench is used to tighten down the the motor mount bar, if memory serves.

Shoot me questions tomorrow if needed. I'll head out to the garage and look at it again.

George

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Straight through straight......Hmmmm, must be time for bed.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

George,

I had a negative review from an inlaw about HF (also I've have had experiences with Hormier- something similar, oh by the way IMHO I think the chinese are so much much like Japan 30 years ago, they are going to be a force to reckon with) so I got the warranty.

I've never been a good at ready instructions to assemble anything. My wife says that is a man thing.

I also used the closest mount setting because it balances on my old saw stand better.

I'm thinking that when I'm done, this saw is for the new dallas builders, let's wear it out!

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

My wife caught me in a compromising position, so she had to take a picture She was surprised that I could get my arse inside the dome. That's not going to last much longer - I'll figure something out for support soon.
Almost got row 6 done, still need to tie into the arch. I think the next row may be a complete circle.
I precut the whole row in the garage due to the cold and wet weather. I'm better at having the saw at the dome and doing a brick at a time. Symetric No but I've gotten better fits in my opinion.
I'll need to do some major cleanup, again, before I go unto the next row. Normally I won't clean up until a project is done, but it's getting harder to get inside the dome.

[asudavew]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Looking good!

I bet you will fit in there for a while longer.
You'll be surprised what you will do to avoid reaching over on the last few rows.
It gets... a bit... painful~!

I say we have the first Texas regional party at your place.
You have such a beautiful setting.

Keep up the good work!


Dave

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Cool pic RC. It made me smile. I was already bending over from the outside at that point, I think.

The oven's looking great! Kiss your wife for the pic!

[Frances]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

If there's one thing I regret about building my dome, one thing I'd do differently if I could do it all over again... its not getting a picture of me inside the dome like that!

Do you know, that lake even looks good in bad weather! I'll bet the sky was the same iron gray colour as the water when that picture was taken, right?

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Looking good!

I bet you will fit in there for a while longer.
You'll be surprised what you will do to avoid reaching over on the last few rows.
It gets... a bit... painful~!

I say we have the first Texas regional party at your place.
You have such a beautiful setting.

Keep up the good work!


Dave

It can't be anything like pouring that hearth, I thought my arms were going to fall off lifting all that material.

Looks like this time next month I may even be at the point to start cooking. So give me some time to figure out how to cook and a get together this summer may be doable. You're probably a little over 300 miles away. I visit there once for a wedding.

Don't know if you're into bass fishing, but this lake can be great for that

[Acoma]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC, for lakes the bass fishing is awesome! Nothing like big mouth bass fighting a line with low tension.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

If there's one thing I regret about building my dome, one thing I'd do differently if I could do it all over again... its not getting a picture of me inside the dome like that!

Do you know, that lake even looks good in bad weather! I'll bet the sky was the same iron gray colour as the water when that picture was taken, right?

You're right we haven't seen the sun for weeks. It's gray overcast and very windy, 40 mph, see the whitecaps coming in. Temp is strange also, 70 degrees now but will freeze tonight.
I started on the 7th course - did one batch of mortar, but decided to do errands this afternoon.

[Les]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

If there's one thing I regret about building my dome, one thing I'd do differently if I could do it all over again... its not getting a picture of me inside the dome like that!

I thought we all had a picture like that; Photoshop should be able to recreate it.

Les...