The first project today had nothing to do with the shop but decided to feature it since I am proud of getting this large garden weather vane back in operation. Last year during one of our all night high wind storms one bolt on a vane came loose and when this occured it broke the second bolt dropping the vane off the axle. When this happened the off center weather vane must have wobbled enough during the night to break the axle where it was attached to the vanes with a cotter pin. I repaired it by using a carriage bolt through the front of the vane and several nuts and lock washers to make it less likely to occur again. I replaced the missing vane and also drilled a tapped a hole for a grease fitting. I realized that a threaded bolt will wear the bearing surface over time but since both are steel I decided the wear would not pose any safety risk at this point.
I made quick work of installing the remaining sheet rock in the office area and was able to get the first coat of tape and joint cement on it as well. This room will get wainscoting all around from the floor to 60", so the joint work will go quickly on this project.
I finished up the day by pulling the conductors from the main panel to the small sub-feed panel that will supply power to the compressor and the dust control system. I also pulled the conductors from the main panel to the table saw area. This required the installation of a junction box where the wire turned to go under the floor. I will have access to this junction box by way of a crawl onle under the step that will be built here. It will be a small access hole so my hope is not to need to get back at this later. The last picture below is just for fun. The Nanking Cherry shrubs are in full bloom and I wanted to capture them before they quickly drop off. I will be devising some sort of frame and netting enclosure to keep the birds off them this year.
