+- Woodnet Forums (https://forums.woodnet.net)
+-- Thread: Dealing with decimals (/showthread.php?tid=7327034)
RE: Dealing with decimals - Marc - 01-18-2017
Those last two are great!
RE: Dealing with decimals - JGrout - 01-18-2017
(01-18-2017, 07:48 PM)daddo Wrote: There's something to be said when going from machining a part to within a .001" tolerance, then moving on to woodworking where that tolerance is not necessary, then for example, framing.
I was helping someone frame in an add on bedroom. I arrived to get started when he needed to leave for a while. While he was gone, I got about 1/4th of it done before he returned. I was quite proud of my cuts and fits as a woodworker and awaited his response upon his inspection. I could tell he was surprised more wasn't done but he was polite and didn't mention it. My cuts fits snug and straight as they would be if I were making a dresser- I took the time to admire my work as he picked up a 2x4, made a rough cut and pounded it into place in a "close enough" effort.
Oh well.
I remember the first HfH home I worked on. We were laying out the perimeter walls and snapping lines for the wall plates and for a final check I was given the "smart end" of a tape We pulled the first diagonal I noted it in my head and called it out to the supervisor who wrote it down. We swapped corners and I said we needed to make a 13/16" adjustment to bring it square.. the supervisor then asked me the second measurement I told him and he said How did you do that in your head
...........Well yes sir I did. After that if it mattered I was the "computer"
RE: Dealing with decimals - tablesawtom - 01-19-2017
These are some good reads here but lets be honest.
I did enjoy JGrout's comment about not worrying about what you can or can not see or the other one about that is good enough. but we are not talking about building houses or using tape measures but converting fractions to decimals and hopefully making it easier for the person in his workshop..
In some of my other posts about measuring in the thousandths, if you go back and really read the subject I was referring to ease of machine set ups and how I make adjustment, not about the wood itself, cause and effect. but whether one likes it of not here is the truth.
If a joint is real close but to tight, it is to tight probably by a very few thousands. Lets use a tongue and groove joint as an example. Science says that no to matters can occupy the same space at the same time so if the tongue is even the same size it is to large. and if the joint is to loose it is probable to loose by a few thousands. Now being smaller for a proper fit is not the same thing as being to loose but a proper fit is maybe .002 or .003 so wood workers do work closer than they think.
So, as I am learning to write, learning to say things in a better and a more clear way. I would ask readers to read the whole thing before misunderstanding and offering a misrepresentation ( reply ) to that which the text was really about. The old saying holds true that a text taken out of context is a misrepresentation of what was really said.
Tom
RE: Dealing with decimals - ez-duzit - 01-19-2017
Before getting into boat building, in the mid-'70's, my first career was in engineering design. So I became adept at converting back and forth between decimals and fractions. Mixed fractions are easier to work with if converted to decimals. Working with wood, my most used linear measuring tools are a skinny 10' Lufkin pocket tape, in fractions, and a plastic dial caliper, in decimals.
RE: Dealing with decimals - Steve N - 01-20-2017
(01-18-2017, 08:07 PM)Downwindtracker2 Wrote: Early on I worked with an old German carpenter on a house. He came up to me and said "Can you see those little lines on the tape measure between the big ones? Well I can't so I don't use them."
Now at least I have a description of the guy who made all those terribly out of square houses I used to get to work in. Any chance you have a picture, so I can be on the lookout?
RE: Dealing with decimals - Marc - 01-22-2017
So my planer table is low on one side and i will attempt to fix this. The manuals for 15" planers online all show using a wooden block and feeler gauges. I think getting my hands in there and sliding feeler gauges will be tedious, plus i can usually confuse myself by making more than one size feeler gauge fit.
So im considering using a dial indicator (after i try the block) because i can see what it says.
The instructions show .002,,up to .040. Trying to learn, i found a math page and those are thousandths...correct?
My question is....what dial indicator "range" measurement do i look for? Do i just go to harbor freight and pick up any one or do i look for one closer to what i need?
RE: Dealing with decimals - JGrout - 01-22-2017
I would just buy a caliper and use it if you are concerned about keeping it perpendicular to the table make a tightly kerfed block to set the caliper in
then set the base on the table raise the movable arm up to the planer frame in each corner and you should have the information required to make the adjustments necessary to adjust the table
A regular dial indicator would require some sort of holding mechanism on top of the indicator itself calipers will do the job just fine
Joe
RE: Dealing with decimals - Marc - 01-22-2017
Ok,,i think i get that. I do have a caliper. But i also need to get in there to set the chip breaker and pressure wheels (infeed roller etc.)
Ill probably start a new topic so i dont wreck this decimal one