Rebuilding the Hopper
Rebuilding the hopper was my first step in the restoration. Seeming fairly simple,
I jumped right in. It didn't take long for me to realize that for somebody who had
never done it before, cutting compound miters was not that simple. I decided up front
to use a standard 1" by 12" piece of lumber to build the hopper. Before I committed
to cutting it up though, I thought I better experiment a little. Good thing I did.
I used my radial arm saw to cut the miters. I tried to figure out a mathematical
relationship between the bevel and the miter to no avail. Nothing I cut came out right.
I decided to take another approach. The hopper has to fit into a cast iron receiver.
So, I took a piece of cardboard and cut it to fit into one side of the receiver. I then
cut three more exact pieces and taped them together. They fit perfect. I then took one
of the pieces and laid it on the table of my radial saw. I adjusted the bevel angle on
the saw to match the piece. It occurred to me that the bevel angle plus twice the miter
angle had to equal 90 degrees, so I set the miter at approximately 20 degrees. I made
a number of cuts on small scrap pieces and fitted them together. Adjusting the miter
angle a little between cuts, I finally got two pieces to fit together at 90 degrees. In
fact, I made several small hoppers until I got one to fit correctly into the receiver.
Not until then did I commit to cutting the 1 x 12.
Finally, I cut the 1 x 12 and fitted it together with glue and 1/4 inch staples. The first
three pieces went together well, but fitting the final piece was the clincher. It was
maybe 1/16 inch off. A little wood putty would take care of that. So the hopper was complete.
Some of you may be grinning as you read this, but for a neophyte wood worker, this was
quite an accomplishment.
Back to restoration page.