My Lucky Day - Friday, 6/13/18

Today seems to be my lucky day (knock on wood, for the day is not over, yet).

The air-conditioner at my office has been on the fritz.  It was 80 degrees at my desk (and rising) when the repairman arrived at 10 a.m.  Fortunately, I did not have to stay while he fixed it.  I high-tailed it out of there around noon.

I'd been pondering a little painting project for a couple of weeks, but hadn't had the time or the materials on hand to work on it.  After leaving the office today, I stopped at the lumber store and bought myself a 1" x 8" x 8' board and some paint, and came home and got to work. 

Now, my project was never intended to be 8 feet long - it's only about 4 feet - but I thought it would be good to have extra wood, to prepare for the inevitable screw-up of the first draft.  Of course, that meant having to saw the board in half.  This prospect did not daunt me.  I have a chop saw.  I probably blogged about the little table saw that The Husband gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago.  Since then, I have also acquired a jigsaw AND a fold-up work table, complete with clamps and such.  Sawing the board in half was not supposed to be an issue.

Well, it turned out to be an issue. 

When I set up the table saw, it would not turn on.  The little red safety switch felt floppy and had no effect when moved.  I thought, Oh, no...the switch is broken.  I decided to flip it over and have a look.  The switch was housed in a plastic box that was attached with screws.  I couldn't see anything of the switch.  Found a screwdriver, unscrewed the box, but could not get access to the red part of the switch.  Put the box back on.  Flipped it back over.  Switched extension cords.  Nothing.

I had a mind to pry off the switch from the front (heck, it wasn't working, anyway, was it? and I still had a chop saw and a jigsaw, didn't I?), but then it occurred to me that maybe this was a common issue that I could read about online, some simple little fix.  So I searched for one.  Nothing.

But here's where my luck started to change:

I had registered the saw when I got it and, wonder of wonders, I still had the confirmation email.  It had a phone number on it.  I called it, and got a nice man on the phone fairly quickly.  I explained the problem:  "This little red safety switch is floppy, and the saw won't turn on." 

He said, "Is the yellow tab securely snapped in?" 
I said, "What yellow tab?"
"There's supposed to be a yellow tab."

Well, I started yammering about a yellow tab, and how I had no idea where - and this is where the REAL luck kicked in - ....

Laying on the floor under the edge of the cabinet where the saw had been stored was a yellow plastic thing, something I probably would have thrown away as extraneous junk the next time I swept the porch.  I don't know how long it had been there - could've been minutes or months.

I picked it up, and it snapped right in place.  I said, "Holy Moly!  Hold on while I see if this works."  I plugged in the saw, hit the switch, and IT WORKED.

I sawed my board in half.  :)

The first coat of paint is drying now.