What did you do today?

[Coop]

Looks like a great resolve to me! 

[RichardA]

1 hour ago, Mark J said:

You're probably not supposed to do this.  There's probably a good reason you're not supposed to.  It's probably written down somewhere I was supposed to read.  But I needed a 5/64" hole and the big chuck only goes down to 1/8".

 

There's a politically incorrect term for that operation, and I won't repeat it here.  But you should know what it is anyhow.

[pkinneb]

2 hours ago, JohnG said:

Probably better than wrapping it in tape until the chuck can hold it, like I have done.  

Been there done that

[Tom King]

I always used those little chucks like that too.  Works for me.  I probably do a lot of things that aren't the way they're supposed to be done, but I don't care a bit, as long as it works.

[wtnhighlander]

I was browsing my stack of old American Woodworker magazines last week, and saw an article that suggested doing exactly that. From about 15 years ago.

[Mark J]

It worked well enough.  There was a good bit of run out, but I didn't need precision placement.

[JohnG]

I started working on a moxon vise today. It will be based on the Katz-Moses plans and incorporating some of @derekcohen’s improvements. 

Also worked on cleaning up some Jorgensen handscrew clamps I bought off craigslist recently. 

[Mick S]

One more of the 4014 Big Boy.

[Coop]

He didn’t look near that aggravated when he left Houston! Maybe because he had Bush 4141 behind him to sooth him a tad. Great pic, thanks. I bet Cody will love it! 

[Chet]

1 hour ago, Mick S said:

One more of the 4014 Big Boy.

That is an awesome picture.

There is a steam locomotive in the train museum in Sacramento Ca.  it's 123 feet long and is a cab forward model that was designed specifically for hauling freight over the Sierra Nevada mountains in California.  It was designed with the cab forward so the the crew wouldn't get asphyxiated from the engine smoke when it went through some of the real long tunnels along the mountain route.

[Chip Sawdust]

There’s an old steam locomotive train ride in WA state that I’d love to take sometime. My wife and I love the old trains  

[Mark J]

@Mick S that's a photo worthy of Life Magazine.

[Tpt life]

If you are ever in northern IN in the summer, check out the Hesston Steam Museum. On the same property items range from pit saw mills to engines of various sizes. Around holidays they operate the machines. 

[Chip Sawdust]

Cut some cherry from a tree that fell in our yard three years ago. Not the best drying job, but I ca bookmatch some smaller pieces. 

[treeslayer]

That’s got some good figure, what’s the plan, sticker, dry , drum sander?

[Chip Sawdust]

I have so far just stacked em flat with weight on top. No drum sander, so I’ll have to figure out the next step when I get there. It’s all quite experimental you see  

[wtnhighlander]

Apparently, there IS something more fun than driving @Spanky's log loader:

Photos can't do this machine justice.

Cody was like this all day!

And to put a cherry on top, he got the engineer's autograph.

Was it worth 8 hours on the road, and 5 hours of standing around the rail yard?

Yes. Yes it was.

[treeslayer]

Lifetime of memories Ross and what a thrill to see that up close! and the autograph tops off the day for sure. Priceless

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks, Dave! 

I saw this earlier, made me think of your avatar pic:

Might want to think hard about growing that back!

[treeslayer]

Growing it back now, minus 6 degrees a couple of days ago sure helps keep the face warm when snow blowing and hunting 

[Coop]

Ross, I too thought the engine was amazing but to see Cody’s reaction to it is incredible. I’m sure glad you two were able to make the trip together! 

[treeslayer]

Went to the Madison Wisconsin Zoo today to see some of my youngest daughters artwork that’s for sale to benefit the zoo and saw this big fellow relaxing on top of pride rock

[Coop]

Dave, which of the two daughters pictured did the fantastic art work? 

[treeslayer]

18 minutes ago, K Cooper said:

Dave, which of the two daughters pictured did the fantastic art work? 

You made Jan’s day Coop

[Tom King]

Mechanic-ing today.  Water pump on dually leaking.  Called my good mechanic, and their price was $650 labor to change water pump. I already had a spare water pump.  It's a much more involved job than a gas burner, on the Duramax.

Fan and clutch comes off.  Belt tensioner off.  Harmonic balancer off.  Left front tire, inner fender liner, intercooler pipe on that side off to get to the back two bolts.

Long story shortened, Mike and I had the new water pump back in before lunch (had watched a condensed youtube video, took order of procedure notes, with socket sizes needed for each step, so it went pretty fluidly, with Mike handing me tools as we went down the list), but after having the front of the engine taken apart, the front main seal was leaking a little.  Seal will be here tomorrow.  Watched a youtube video of some clown prying it out with a hammer, and screwdriver, then sanding the $1800 crankshaft with 220 sandpaper to get the new seal on.  Called around, and no one but the dealer had a puller.   They wanted $350 to send a mechanic out to change the seal. 

Ordered a special puller, and with next day shipping came to about 2 dollars less than getting the stealer to do it, but I'll have the puller.   I'll rent it for 50 bucks in the future, and people will be glad to have it available for that.  It doesn't fit anything else. https://www.freedomracing.com/6-6l-duramax-j-44644-front-crankshaft-seal-remover-puller-alt-stallion-st-196.html

I didn't buy an installer.  I found a 3" PVC fitting that looks like it will work perfectly, but if it doesn't, I'll make one on the wood lathe, rather than paying another couple of hundred dollars for a dedicated one.

Still cheaper than half of one payment on a new truck.  It shouldn't take us much over an hour to get it all back together, once everything is here, and I didn't have to get anyone to come get me at a mechanic's.  I just walked back to the house, and the truck should be back on the road tomorrow.

The coolant leak turned out to just be an O-ring at the top of the bypass pipe, under the thermostats, but going back with everything new anyway.  This month, it's 19 years old, and has 333,000 miles on it-been a good one. 

Putting a new alternator on it too while everything is out of the way.  The first one lasted only 115,000 miles, which is fairly typical, so this one is on borrowed time anyway.

On a 1 Ton truck, everything is big, and requires big tools, but it's all not too bad to get to, like on a small car.