Stupid Band Saw . . . .

Got up thinkin today would be a good day to make some progress on Jackson's train.  If my stupid band saw would have cooperated I would have made a lot of progress . . . Oh, well . . . Jackson is goin to be a 'grand-nephew" when he gets around to bein born.  I think he is scheduled for sometime in November, but sometimes, I understand, these little guys decide different.  

My first problem to solve was to enlarge the letters to approximately 2-5/8" in height.  When you enlarge something on your scanner, unless you do it a lot, you don't know where the enlargement is going to be on your paper . . .  Sometimes it isn't even on the paper . . .   which was the case today. . .   I finally got smart and drew a grid on a sheet of paper and through a lot of trial and error, I discovered that by taping a copy of each letter (original ht. was 72 points) to the correct square and enlarging it by 400%, I would have the pattern size I needed.  Took me most of the morning working off and on  to achieve something that would have taken 20-25 minutes if I knew what I was doin . . .  

By the time I was ready to work in the garage, it was heated up pretty good . . .   There was a heat advisory today.  I decided I better drill axle holes before I forget.  Everything works better if I drill them before I do much of anything else to that particular part.  While I was at it I decided to cut the curved parts too.  Didn't do any sanding.  I think a less humid day would be more comfortable for sanding, especially walnut, which makes me sneeze.  

After all that I 'rubber cemented" the paper letter pattern to a piece of walnut and cut them apart with the band saw.  Where there were curves, I drilled holes.  Lot easier than trying to cut a smooth curve with the band saw or scroll saw.  I started cutting parts of the letters with my band saw.  Everything was goin extremely well till I pulled the band saw blade off the wheels.  I spent a significant part  of the afternoon tryin to get that blade back on the wheels.  One thing I've found out is that band saw blades go one easily and the adjustments are no problem or . . .   just the opposite.  Today was just the opposite.  

This is the stupid band saw before I finally got the blade back on an adjusted. At that point I decided that my work on the train was done for the day.

Here is what Jackson's train looks like so far.  It is gonna be a long one.  Jackson's Mom & Dad may have to install RR warning gates across the doorways.  Probably a good thing I live several hours away . . .