Too Many Indicators!

There is a thing called Segal's Law which states, "A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure." It's about the limits of certainty when measuring, and also a caution about trusting an instrument without verification. That Wikipedia link has some really daunting math to back it up.

Well, while quarantined by COVID-19, what better time to check various test indicators to see what I have? And I actually had a good reason: my Sherline lathe is not giving a great finish to the cuts, and I wanted to test it out. I gathered up four different indicators to get a consensus measurement.

Beck TD, Part 58: Those Suicidal Doors

Way back in December of 2017, Part 14 of this saga told of my efforts to repair several problems with Beck's "suicide" doors - so-called because they open swinging from the rear. If they open when  you're driving, they are ALL the way open in a heartbeat, and if you aren't belted in, out you go! That actually happened to my cousin Joyce when we were little kids. We were all riding in the back seat of her Mom's car, and Joyce leaned against the door handle and opened the door as we were going around a slow right-angle in a parking lot. She tumbled out, but fortunately wasn't even skinned up much.

In Part 14, I thought I had adjusted the door latches so that both the primary and secondary latches would catch, but I made a tactical error: I did the adjustment while the car was on the lift. When I put it on the ground, everything shifted and both doors would only engage the primary latch. I tempted fate and drove it that way for a couple of summers, but I needed to fix it.

A Beginner's Welding Table

Fair warning... if you are looking for expert advice on how a beginner can create a welding table, move along - nothing for you here. This is the chronicle of how a beginner created his first homemade welding table. That's a long tradition. Woodworkers make their own tool boxes and workbenches in the course of learning their craft, and welders weld up their own welding tables and welder carts as part of the initial practice.