A Three Hour Tour...

[D_B]

/\ And some do all three

 

[boulderjohn]

The fun thing about a forum is that you get to share your passion with others. Some will be able to relate, some will admire while others will shake their heads and wonder why we bother.

I admire anyone so thoroughly engrossed in something I have no capacity to understand. As in the case of my son, I marvel at his abilities and wonder where the heck they came from, since he didn't get any of it from me.

 

[The Chairman]

/\ And some do all three

Yes, some do all three... I am heading out back to install the pump onto the engine. Here is how it looks all dressed out on the bench...

 

[D_B]

A very nice job done on the whole shebang


of course we all have experanced the .. "it looks/mesures out perfect, so why doesnt it fit exactly" syndrom after fabricating something ;-) ... hope it goes as well as it looks

 

[The Chairman]

hope it goes as well as it looks

I will be installing it with GREAT trepidation.

 

[irishsquid]

...
I love to create. Some people think we are nuts putting in the time and energy into things like this, but I enjoy it. Yeah, there are some people out there creating junk, but for those of us who aspire to be artisans, the results are often better than what the professionals can do. It's far beyond "make do".

...Some will be able to relate, some will admire while others will shake their heads and wonder why we bother.

I hear ya Pete! I like stuff like this. Unrelated to the mechanical endeavor you have undertaken, here's an example of something I did and I could've probably just purchased something better and for half the cost and sweat equity, but; it wouldn't have been near as satisfying. All hand made on a grinder, with a ton of elbow grease applied with files and sandpaper all the way to 2000 grit. The blade was purchased as a rough blank.

 

[The Chairman]

Simply gorgeous. The original Randall knives were made from files and the leaf springs of automobiles. Here's how they do it: Knife Construction

 

[irishsquid]

Thanks! Yeah, I've been a fan of Randall knives for a while. I made my first knife from a bastard file. It was a simple Tanto style with a 20mm shell from an F-16 for the handle. It was rather crude, but, it is real hefty.

 

[Peter_C]

Your project is far ahead of mine. I went to my local gas supplier and jump out of my car and he promptly asks if I need a couple bottles of oxygen. Nope not this time, I need argon, and some welding supplies. He checks my tank and since it is out of hydro and from another shop...well he goes take it back to them and swap it out. They were closed so I said screw them do what you can for me and get me a tank so I can weld my trailer back together this weekend. I also had a small shopping list of supplies for my Lincoln TIG machine. $113 later I am headed back home with a full bottle of argon, and a handful of parts. I plug everything in, turn on the gas (Upping the flow rate too), make a few adjustments to the amperage and switch it back to A/C then uneventfully switch the machine on. After prepping the aluminum I run a test pass on some scrap that goes well enough for me. Clamp my actual work piece into my vice and begin to weld. Something isn't going right. I re-clean everything, grind the electrode again, and hit the go pedal. Not getting enough heat I floor it. The noise goes silent. Great I blew the circuit breaker. Walk over flip the circuit breaker, and after waiting a few minutes, I again try to weld. Right about the time I floor it...everything goes silent again. At this point there is only one option. Rewire the house. Turns out all the clocks in the house had reset themselves, and within 15 minutes out local electric company was parked outside the house checking things out. Coincidence? I think not, but I am not sure what I could have done to the electric companies grid? He left before I got to talk to him.

With a quick trip to Home Depot (Having one less than a 1/4 mile away sure is handy) I am now holding a bunch of 50 amp equipment, and a box. The box got installed on the wall, and I used a 50 amp breaker this time with known 8 gauge wire. Fire the welder back up and it sings again.

Plus in order to rip the aluminum into smaller pieces than my cold cut saw can do I read to use a table saw. Since I have a little 10" portable one, I read to swap to a 7.25" blade which turns slower and use a non ferrous blade. Just happens our local hardware store is having a customer crazy day and Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Bosch, and a host of other vendors are set up out front. I explain to the Bosch guy what I am about to do with "his" saw at home. He didn't find it humorous and highly recommended I didn't use my table saw. Anyhow another $39 later I have another Freud blade, and the Bosch rep hooked me up with a laser measuring device to try until we meet again. Cool tool, although it does more than I need, since I only measure distances not volume etc. Well it turns out the experts on the internet forums were right and the table saw did a magnificent job. A couple seconds on the belt sander and the metal was cleaned right up.

So the point of all of it...it might be much cheaper to have someone else fix your trailer, as this part of the project has cost me hundreds of dollars so far, and all I am doing is replacing what was 3/16" angle aluminum bunk mounts that had failed.

The good: I get to play with shop toys. Learning to weld aluminum better. Overbuilt, since all four pieces were failing. Most of the stuff I bought can be used on future projects. I didn't pay someone else to do a crappy job again, and I know in the end it will be fixed right.

Called off diving tomorrow to stay and work on the boat and trailer.

 

[The Chairman]

I have to readjust some of my bracket. The belt is interfering with the front engine mount and the engine cover is touching the pump. Cutting off an inch and giving a 3 degree downward angle will make it perfect. Now I wish I had only tack welded the assembly together. It won't be too hard though. The trick was in making the adjustment bracket.