[Shop-talk] Stubbornness and the impediments to troubleshooting

[David Hillman]

    Thought you guys might get a kick out of this... related to this recent 
subject.

    So my cabinet saw fence has been off.  For a while, despite my 
adjusting it repeatedly.  If I adjusted it bang-on to a small number, say 
8 inches from the blade, it'd be off out at 40 inches.  And vice versa, in 
the opposite direction.  I sort of learned to adjust, but it made no 
sense.  I double and triple checked that everything was straight and 
square, and still, there was a variance over the length of the table.

    Finally I got fed up with it today.  Adjusted it, re-adjusted it.  No 
improvement.  It was almost as the though the tape on the fence rail 
wasn't accurate.  Hmmmm....

    Actually measured the tape, just now.  It's off by 1/8" over four feet. 
Made with pride in China.

<http://planet-torque.com/garage/tools/IMAG0417.jpg>
<http://planet-torque.com/garage/tools/IMAG0418.jpg>
<http://planet-torque.com/garage/tools/IMAG0419.jpg>
<http://planet-torque.com/garage/tools/IMAG0420.jpg>

    And, for added fun, if you look closely, you can see that the error 
varies IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.  The first inch of tape is short by 1/32", but 
overall, the tape is +1/8".

    It simply did not occur to me that a simple measuring device might be 
that far off.  Lesson learned.

--
  David Hillman