What did you do today?

[Coop]

I’ve changed tires and patched tires and tubes on just about everything since I was a kid. From bicycle to tractors and today little 10” dolly tires stumped me. I had to go to you tube to figure out that you have to destroy the little one time keeper washer to get it off. And then getting the tubes out of those little motha tires is almost impossible. Thanks to Amazon, two new sets will be here tomorrow and the keeper washers will be replaced with cotter pins! 

[treeslayer]

Never thought much about YouTube @Coop until I had to change a headlight bulb in the daughters car, it would still be burnt out if I didn’t look it up, the people that designed some of this stuff never had to repair it 

[RichardA]

9 hours ago, treeslayer said:

Never thought much about YouTube @Coop until I had to change a headlight bulb in the daughters car, it would still be burnt out if I didn’t look it up, the people that designed some of this stuff never had to repair it 

I feel the same way about paint.  I just painted a couple rooms in my house with paint/primer. It was supposed to be a one time cover all the problems paint.  I assure you, the chemists that make paint, have never painted anything but their toenails.

[Askland09]

Finally got all of the base board and shoe put on through out the house this weekend.  It's starting to feel a little bit more like home with every small improvement. 

[Chet]

14 hours ago, treeslayer said:

the people that designed some of this stuff never had to repair it 

I have a niece that studied to be an architect in college.  She was required to do a semester internship on several job sites so that she could see for herself what the workers go through with the ideas that the architects and engineers come up with.  She said it really put things in perspective.

Maybe automotive engineers need to get greasy and bust a few knuckles during their education.

[Chestnut]

Knowing a lot of engineers, mechanical and otherwise, most if not all of these situations exist because the overall project manager isn't willing to increase the product cost enough to solve the solution. It's not really fair to pin this on the engineer when they ultimately don't get the say in a lot of these decisions.

I personally have had to make design exceptions multiple times because the owner isn't willing to pay for the proper design. This usually results in a waiver of liability or in extreme cases a mutual agreement to work with other people.

It's getting better in some ways but worse in others. Not many people fix their own cars so requiring specialized tools is getting more common place because dealerships and large shops have access to them. At the same time there is an effort from some manufactures to make components fixable as that increases value and longevity of the product with is becoming much more favorable.

The catch, no one is willing to pay more for their vehicles. The perfect vehicle your dreaming of is very easy to make but would likely cost $100,000.

[jussi]

I got this jointer at a estate sale years ago super cheap.  Being the procrastinator that I am it sat in storage till I could clean it up and replace the knives.  After finally getting fed up with the lack of depth in my 6” jointer I finally set my mind to switch over to the 8”.  Instead of just replacing the knives however I decided to switch over to a Byrd head since I liked them so much on my previous jointer.  The head ended bring 3x more than what I paid for the jointer but I figure it was worth the investment. And while I was at it I decided to get a Byrd head for my planer as well.  I started taking it apart and quickly realized my cheapo bearing puller wasn’t going to be up to the task. Luckily I remembered Marc’s video about renting one at an auto parts tool for free.  Everything was quite simple. I’m hoping the same can be said for the planer

[Tom King]

Worked on the cart for the new welder, this morning.  This old Enco metal bandsaw is cheap, and slow, but makes a pretty cut.  It can be converted from horizontal, to vertical, pretty easily.  I got it all welded up using my little flux cored welder.  I might have a chance to work on it tomorrow.

It's not a lot different than woodworking, just stuff gets hot enough to burn you.  I turned the Husky tool cabinet upside down, and cut the angle iron for the cart to fit.

The Magswitch do-dads make it all a lot simpler.

 

[wtnhighlander]

6 hours ago, Chestnut said:

The catch, no one is willing to pay more for their vehicles. The perfect vehicle your dreaming of is very easy to make but would likely cost $100,000.

I have respectfully disagree on two counts. The parking lot at work is full of redneck pickups that easily approach the $100k mark. But my 'dream vehicle' could like come in under $10k, if only the EPA would allow it...

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, wtnhighlander said:

The parking lot at work is full of redneck pickups that easily approach the $100k mark. 

Man isn't that the truth! I went to look at the new F150 recently and quickly got to $74K and while it was a really nice truck with the hybrid engine I decided my 2015 Canyon was going to be staying with me a while longer lol.

Spent some time working on a new shooting board today. 

[wtnhighlander]

Paul, is that a Vertas fence? I din't believe I've seen that before.

[Chestnut]

11 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

I have respectfully disagree on two counts. The parking lot at work is full of redneck pickups that easily approach the $100k mark. But my 'dream vehicle' could like come in under $10k, if only the EPA would allow it...

What i Intended to mean was a standard run of the mill seadn or basic suv would cost $100,000. Still my point wasn't that, it's that the engineers don't get to make those decisions because someone above them makes the decision based off cost. Increasing the cost to make something easier to fix isn't a high priority because most people don't' fix their own cars.

If your dream vehicle is only $10k why don't you have someone make it. Base it off an old chassis and use it's VIN number and the EPA can't say a dang thing about it.

[gee-dub]

Finally took a day off yesterday.  Today, more wiring.

[pkinneb]

5 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Paul, is that a Vertas fence? I din't believe I've seen that before.

Yes it is thought I would give it a try looking to improve the shooting of 45 angles.

[Tom King]

Worked on the welder cart a little more this morning.  I bought the best, made in the USA  5" lockable casters I could find for it.  Typically, they come with fixed wheels on the back, but I'd like to have one with four swivel wheels, for easier parking in the shop.  I was a little worried it would be a sideways trip hazard, and didn't want to slam a 3200 dollar welder on the floor.  It works like it will be okay.  It probably wouldn't be so good in a commercial setting, with anybody using it, but only I am going to use this one.

I painted it, mounted the casters, and tool cabinet, but that's as far as I got, this morning.  Helmets, and face shield fit in the bottom drawer, leather clothes in the next one up, magnets in the next one, etc.

Bars on the back are to set shielding gas tanks on.  I have nice brackets for them, so they won't just rattle around held in place by a chain, which is more typical.

 

[Tom King]

The metal for a topsoil leveling drag came today.  The driver was worried about coming down a dead end road for a mile, but he found the easiest unloading spot, and turnaround that he has been to.  He just circled around in the field, with smooth, hard ground under the grass. That's the entrance to our house, with the Azaleas, that you see in the background, a hundred yards behind the tractor.

FIrst time I've used the clamp-on forks.  I should have bought them 20 years ago.

It will be the first job for the new welder.  Plans, in my head, are for 6-1/2 feet wide, and 12 feet long.  Will post pictures, and how the first prototype works.

Four 20 foot pieces of 3x3x3/16 angle iron.  A local boatlift builder is a regular customer of this metal supplier, and I was not out of their way at all.  I now have a wholesale account with them, and no charge for shipping.

 

[pkinneb]

45 minutes ago, Tom King said:

FIrst time I've used the clamp-on forks.  I should have bought them 20 years ago.

They are awesome I use mine a lot as well.

[Tom King]

I think I bought them after seeing you use some.

[Tpt life]

19 years, and she still wears my ring. 

[wtnhighlander]

Congratulations, Carus! Sounds like you found the right one!

[wtnhighlander]

12 hours ago, Chestnut said:

If your dream vehicle is only $10k why don't you have someone make it. 

It would look something like this, with air conditioning...

[JohnG]

6 hours ago, Tom King said:

FIrst time I've used the clamp-on forks

Mine aren't clamp-on, but I've used the forks on my tractor a lot more than I've used the bucket. As we've been setting up our garden areas, I've been turning plastic 55 gallon drums in to remote watering barrels and the forks have gotten a lot of use toting those around, some strapped to pallets and some singles cradled between the forks.

[Askland09]

Another afternoon project to keep the fiancé happy completed. 
 

Next project actually contains woodworking. Planter box with a trellis. Should spruce up the back yard quite a bit. 

[legenddc]

Looks good. Any pics of the trim you did?

[Tom King]

Finished up the welder cart, this morning.  Ready to put it to work tomorrow.

I used two metal water hose holders, to coil separately the gun hose, and the grounding wire. There is even a little holder that keeps the gun out of harms way, and lets it fit under the cover.  Nothing sticks out past the sides of the rig.

I didn't keep up with total cost, but it can't be much more, and probably less than the simple, open cart Miller sells for this welder.  One of the tool cabinet drawers doesn't even have anything in it yet.