Knee Playing Up

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Parm
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Knee Playing Up

Post by Parm »

Hello All. Just wondering if anyone else gets this problem - I been making frames for a few years now, my right knee is getting quite painful. I use right leg to cut on my morso, and pin on my cassese.
Ive tried switching to left leg - but thats playing up too now! Q: put up with it - age related? Can the machines be adjusted to ease the stress on the joint?
any advice gratefully received. Stay safe, Thanks, Parm
Not your average framer
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by Not your average framer »

My knees are seriously shot too! There's not much you can do about it. If you are doing enough volume of work, then maybe it is worth switching to a pneumatic underpinner and a Morso EX to avoid using leg power to operate these machines. Equipment like this does turn up from time to time as secondhand.

I now 68 years old and I won't be likely to continue at the same workload into the future. Considering all the things that are wrong with me, it beats me how I got this far in the first place. I will probably switch to an electric mitre saw some day and perhaps a pneumatic underpinner as well, but right now there not as much going on, while I'm still recovering from my stroke and getting my new shop pemises sorted.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Parm
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by Parm »

Hi Mark,
Thank you so much for your message. Im not too far behind you at 60! I will look at upgrading to pneumatic machines. but I not sure I want to invest any more into the workshop at my age. I didn't know you had a stroke - wish you a speedy recovery, take it easy , stay safe. Kind regards
Parm
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by Not your average framer »

Thanks Pam,

I'm still planning to keep going for a while. After a stroke, I need something to keep aiming for. If I don't keep going for it, my mobility goes backwards. Also with all the Covid business, sitting around doing nothing is the last thing I want to do. I am a fighter and need to keep pushing myself.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
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prospero
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by prospero »

Good for you Mark. :clap: :ninja: :ninja: :ninja:
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by Not your average framer »

I've got a new band saw arriving tomorrow, with roller bearing blade guides and I am thinking about making a really acurrate mitre sled for it, so maybe my poor old knees won't need to operate the Morso much longer and I can start thinking about giving my knees and well deserved rest. If this works, I may be thinking about a pneumatic underpinner next.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
grahamdown
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by grahamdown »

I'm 70 now but purchased a Morso H ( a lot cheaper than the EH) a couple of years ago due to knee problems and haven't looked back. I have had partial replacement of both knee joints so when it started to hurt again it was a no-brainer decision.
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by Not your average framer »

For those who can't afford a Morso H, or EH at the moment, there is another possible option. It is a Precision band saw with roller bearing blade guides. The roller bearings keep the blade running very straight and it is fairly easy to make a mitre sled to enable accurate cutting of Mitres. When using such roller bearing guides on a band saw, if you align the fence with the direction of cut, the accuracy is such that you can cut uniform thickness veneers of almost whatever thickness you like from a piece of wood.

It is relatively straight forward to produce an accurate mitre sled using the accuracy of the mitre saw to get everything spot on. There are many videos of how to do this on Youtube. There is nothing new about this, people have been cutting super accurate veneers and mitre using band saws for many years. There's nothing very demanding about it, all you need is an accurate band saw and you can't go wrong. Mine should be arriving today!

There is so little kerf, or thickness to a band saw blade, so there is very little cutting thickness and therefore hardly any saw dust produced. My main reason for wanting to get such an accurate band saw is for cutting down the existing width of picture frame mouldings to an exact and uniform width. Because the set on the band saw blade is so very little a very light sanding will achieve a perfectly smooth finish to the cut surface in most cases in a few seconds.

There is no need to cut down complete lengths of moulding, when you only need to cut each length a little longer than the length you need, then cut each length to the required thickness, lightly sand the edge cut to width on the band saw and then mitre the lengths to size on the Morso, or on the band saw using a mitre sled. Small enough mouldings probably won't be a problem to cut on the Morso, but larger mouldings, or hardwood mouldings may be less easy, if you have developed knee trouble.

Also any mouldings, which are too wide to easily cut on a Morso might be much more straight forward to cut in one go, using a band saw and a mitre sled. I hope this explains what I am doing!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
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GeoSpectrum
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by GeoSpectrum »

I swapped from a Morso to a mitre saw about three years ago. I couldn't afford the more expensive ones so settled for a secondhand inmes IM30. For the money, even new, I think it would be hard to beat but the dust may be a problem for some. It doesn't worry me as I'm definitely at the 'woodworking' end of the scale when it comes to framing. The integrated extraction system is ok but there is still some dust to contend with.
Alan Huntley
Ashcraft Framing
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Not your average framer
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Re: Knee Playing Up

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Alan,

Yes, it is a problem if you don't do something about it. Being such fine dust it makes sense to do add a suction nozzle above the table and close to where the dust is being generated. I'm guessing that a cheap vacuum cleaner would do it. I have tried brushing the dust away, but it too easily gets the dust airbourne and then it gets everywhere. I have not yet got around to making a mitre sled for the new band saw, but all the evidence is that it cuts a very clean mitre cut. Although the new band saw has the same throat size as my previous band saw it is a much larger machine and weighs quite a bit more. It also does not produce much noise, or vibration at all, compared to my earlier machine. I think I'm going to be very happy with this new one.

It is definitely ideal for someone like me, who likes making stacked mouldings and some mouldings which don't quite perfectly fit together can have less convenient edges trimmed to make them fit together really well. I also have several boxes of wood pasta ornamentation that used to be available from Lion and these general are much thicker than looks right. These can be run along the fence and some of the thickness quickly and easily sliced down. Unfortunately the demand for producing ornate frames has greatly diminished in recent years, but I find having a small band saw in my workshop perhaps more useful, than all my other power tools.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
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