The Importance of Reading the Owner’s Manual

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The following is a true story. If you take two ideas away from this post, they should be this: read the owner’s manual AND DO NOT DO WHAT I EXPLAIN BELOW.

I have a 10” wet tile saw. So, of course, it would need a 10” profile blade, right? WRONG!

I am learning so much from this blog (hopefully you are, too). By day I am a software engineer, but I don’t know squat about SEO, affiliate marketing, meta tags to get Facebook to show a nice picture from the article and all this web design stuff. I am learning as fast and as much as I can. My writing is markedly improving. Apparently my reading is improving too. Here is why…

A quick safety lesson

In writing the post on how an engineer decides on a wet tile saw , I revisited the owner’s manual for my DEWALT D24000.  Lo and behold, it says it is rated to handle a profile wheel…  If it is 6 inches.

No wonder it was almost impossible to find a 10” profile blade. BECAUSE NO ONE SHOULD USE THEM ON THEIR NORMAL WET TILE SAW.

In all honesty, every time the wheel came up to speed on the saw my gut told me it was dangerous*:

I had to take the safety hood off.* DO NOT DO THIS!

Then I manufactured my own safety hood with cardboard, plastic and duct tape.* My makeshift hood was called a Darth Vader helmet.*/** DO NOT DO THIS.

There is no way any manufacturer would ever sign off on this. Liability would put them out of business. JUST TO BE CLEAR: DO NOT DO THIS!!! IT WAS STUPID AND I WILL NOT BE USING THIS PROFILE WHEEL AGAIN.

This is one post I debated on writing at all. There are so many things wrong. I feel embarrassed. While I read the manual and recall it said it could handle a profile wheel, I did not commit the size limitation to memory. Like I said, I had a 10″ saw and in my mind all blades needed to be 10″. My intense focus on learning how to bullnose tile led to carelessness. I spent $200 on a profile wheel I should never have used. It was a safety risk on every jobsite where I used it. Now I have to get a 6” profile wheel.

However, once I move past my embarrassment, I think it is a great learning experience for all of us.

READ THE OWNER’S MANUAL.

Put your safety first and read the owner’s manual to learn how to safely operate your tools.

This post also gave me the opportunity to use more capital letters then I have since I was learning to write in first grade!

At this point I can admit why I need another additional follow on post in this “how to bullnose profile your own tile trim series.” You may have noticed I have not included a link to a profile wheel because I currently do not have one (that I can legitimately use). I will document my search for a correct profile blade for the DeWALT D24000.

Is anyone in need of a 10” bullnose profile tile trim wheel? Show me where it is mentioned in your owner’s manual, I have one for sale.

Any offers on this beautiful 10″ x 1/2″ bullnose profile wheel? All proceeds will go to a 6″ profile wheel.

*DO NOT DO THIS!

**OK, Darth Vader is kinda cool. Make a Darth Vader Helmet for your head or someone else’s costume, NOT YOUR WET TILE SAW!