Busted: and after only 2 days on the job.

My lovely daughter (henceforth known as "LD") has busted me out and called my first post from the D-Files "gross"...so ok, maybe it wasn't the best D-File to open right off the bat, but it was true. Trust me, everything I ever write in here will be factual. There were far too many customers that I dealt with to have to make stuff up. :-)

So, let's see if we can find one that wasn't so...uh...gross... Ah, here we are....

One day I got a call from a lady somewhere up in the northeast and she had an unusual problem. She started asking about our dust collectors. (Now, you may not know this but Delta used to have some real nice 2-stage dust collectors that were made by Cincinnati Fan Co. 2-stage simply means that the incoming dust (woodchips, frogs, kids shoes or whatever) gets sucked up into a drum (either a 35 gallon or 55 gallon size), gets slammed around and separates into heavy stuff and light stuff. The heavy stuff falls into the drum and the light stuff blows on into a dust bag that hangs on the side of the unit.)

Her problem was this: she worked at a place that made billiard balls. Yes, those billiard balls- as in 1 thru 15. Anyway, the balls are actually made of a composite that is like a powder and they were thinking of using our dust collectors to collect the dust from a container and then take it to another location nearby and dump it into another container. It didn't sound that complicated, but we started thinking about it... I got her number and told her to let me ponder it for a bit and I'd call her back.

Well, I had a co-worker named Steve (aka 'Spanky'- we've been friends since 1972- best men at each other's weddings: [my 2, his 1] etc.) and I started consulting with him on this deal... eventually we came up with an idea and I called the lady back.

Here's what we came up with: Buy our biggest 2-stage dust collector: cut the drum size down to the shortest that it could be without the insides hitting bottom: run the intake hose into the first container, remove the dust bag and attach an exhaust hose and have it dump into the other container. Basically turn the dust collector into a transfer machine, blowing their composite from one container to the other. With the drum cut down, their material wouldn't have any place to settle. We even drew her a blueprint and sent it to her (I saw the original drawing in my shop a few weeks ago...yea, I'm a packrat when it comes to that sort of stuff).

Boy, she loved it! A few weeks after this, we got a package delivered to Spanky and I at the office. Inside was a very nice letter from the lady thanking us for helping her solve her problem by using our creativity and ability to think outside the box...er...drum. Also in the box were two black 7 balls. She said, "These are for 2 of the oddest balls that I've ever met". One for me and one for Spanky.

Yes, I said BLACK 7 balls. If you know pool balls, the black ball is an 8, not a 7.

I think Spanky has lost his, but I have him keeping an eye out for it... as for mine? I drilled a socket in it, used some JB Weld and inserted a nut in the socket and it is now the shift knob in my 1934 Ford hot rod. Yep, I do get some looks and comments..." Wha tha???... that ain't supposed to be a 7- where'd you get that..?"

Gives me another chance to open a D-File.