My mother
was a firm believer in the power of positive thinking. She taught me that the
mind is a potent instrument, and if focused properly can perform near
miracles.
When my
mother would find herself faced with a seemingly insurmountable problem, she
would concentrate on the issue at hand as she fell asleep at night. Upon waking, the answer would be there. This
was not hocus pocus – it was the power of the subconscious put to work. While
she was asleep, the inner workings of her mind was not – it was busy running through
scenarios looking for the answer.
I have often
used my Mother’s method to solve both design and construction problems in the
shop. It’s like having a secret weapon at my disposal. It is truly amazing. I am unaware of the in-between mental process
that solves the problem – I wake up and it’s all laid out. This get me
incredibly excited every time it happens.
I am currently
in the process of installing a custom made CNC router ( made by Carl Bruce). Years ago, I worked at Harry Lunstead Design
and ran a CNC machine – so I thought I had a leg up on the learning curve and would
build on that knowledge. I did however see a small problem looming on the horizon
that would require a bit of head scratching. At Lunstead’s, I cut out conference table tops
- all the machining was done from one registration on one face.
I wanted to take this a step further – route the
shape then turn the part over for machining on the backside, then clamp it to the end of the table (my machine over-travels
the end) for joinery routing ( box joints – etc.). This presented registration issues - after
the first routing the shape of the piece has changed and the point of
registration needs to reflect that – but how?
But then I
got hit with a double–whammy! There is no registration grid on my new machine.
The Lunstead machine existed in a different world – a high end industrial world
that can afford luxuries that are out of my reach.
So what was
I to do????? Even the initial
registration seemed convoluted and time consuming. I went to sleep with this
problem on my mind last night. I woke up
at 3AM this morning (actually that’s my usual wake up time) and IN A FLASH – it
was all there!! It was embarrassingly simple – put down a sacrificial spoiler board
then route the initial registration in the spoiler board. When the subsequent
registrations are needed - simply re-route that registration in the spoiler
board as well.
I am certain my answer is not unique. If I had
read the CNC discussion boards, I am sure the solution would have been there. But
who needs message boards when you have a secret weapon.
Thank you
Mom, for this, and all the other things you taught me.
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