New Woodshop Equipment Arrives

Over the past four years, we have been saving and planning for three new large tools for the woodshop: a wide belt sander, a 20" wide jointer and a combination saw/shaper. Recently the last of three tools arrived: the SCM Minimax ST 5SE Saw/Shaper. In this post, we show a few photos of the installation and of the blessing that was held to inaugurate the trio of tools.

Here is the combination saw\/shaper and planer-jointer that the new tools replaced after 20 years of excellent service. It\

s a Minimax 300 CU. Thank you, old friend!'

The beautiful new ST 5 with blue protective film on the 8-foot sliding table arrived and unboxed. The palleted box weighed in at 2,500 pounds.

Kumarnathaswami, Saravananathaswami and Sivanadiyar Akash are here preparing to lift the machine off its pallet and place it inside the woodshop front doorway. From there we moved it into its final home position with a pallet jack, after moving tables and tools out of the way.

Here we begin a happy process of cleaning off the rust preventative oil and assembling the many accessories. Many hours we also spent calibrating fences and learning about all the features.

The machine is coming together here, with the outrigger installed and the the crosscut fence. Those two parts are easily removed when not needed. Special storage spots were established for these and other removable parts.

Preparing to connect three-phase power to the machine. Here Kumarnathaswami stopped to consult with Easvan Param by phone on some details before proceeding.

The day of puja blessing arrives.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his blessing to the new tools while Tillainathaswami performs puja, first consecrating the saw\/shaper ST 5 SE.

Puja to bless the long-bed jointer. This tool is used for flattening boards, the first step in preparing wood, and squaring one edge. It\

s 20\" wide capacity matches our 20\" planer, giving the monks the ability to talk full advantage of wide planks milled on our Cook band saw mill. '

The third member of the new trio, the wide belt sander. a Grizzly G60819, with a 15\/30\" capacity, receives a blessing too. This machine make fast work of cleaning up boards after processing on the jointer and planer, including removing tear-out, which is particularly prevalent with monkeypod and other tropical species.

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