Could chassis be moved better from front; a heavy [2 5/16"] trailer ball on forklift or frontloader, lifting front end so wheels aren't contacting ground? Maybe pull tires and weld up a landing gear?
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Could chassis be moved better from front; a heavy [2 5/16"] trailer ball on forklift or frontloader, lifting front end so wheels aren't contacting ground? Maybe pull tires and weld up a landing gear?
it could providing there was room between where the shop is and where I have my vehicle detention center that I call the dog pound because there are more Mack bull dogs than other critters Also that pencil sharpener is sitting smack in the way of things
Right now it would be difficult to use the receiver on the fork carriage of the front end loader due to having the gin pole and hoist on it. My duel wheeled fork lift spends more time buried in the ground than rolling it is barely maneuverable around as long as I can remain on the area where I have hardened it up with the select fill clay drive of the edge of where that is and it sinks to the frame. hence the pushing and pulling from the rear
one helper who could either drive the pickup or could steer the bus while it was moving would have been a big help.
Jane won't drive the pickup because the size of it and having to push or pull the bus chassis scares her and she surely is not strong enough to steer the bus.
Even after having to take time to change a tire then go to town get fuel have the tire fixed and a few other go to town things that had to be done.
I managed to get 4 purlin installed today these area at the highest part of the trusses so my scaffold was more of a its there as a fall stop than anything else since the center of the trusses are over 6 feet from the bottom of them it meant climbing on them and working while standing on the braces or sitting on top of the truss to weld them in place.
Attachment 32783
This puts the to the point of either doing the back half of the same side or moving a lot of stuff to do the other side. Or going ahead and sheeting what I have to give me a 30 ft by 36 ft roof over head. On the one hand having a partial roof would be better than no roof but that means having to change up what I am doing. IT would mean I would have a completed area to put the project that is currently under the tent though and the tent has to come down soon anyway. Heck I have almost knocked it down already.
But I think I will carry on and install the other 10 purlin on the second half of the side I am working on then sheet the whole half then move everything from the other side and not have to take a step forward while taking 2 backwards.
The stuff that needs moved is the 3 axle set currently under the tent and the 50 ft trailer that I have on dollies and can only be moved sideways
Attachment 32784
Attachment 32785
Once I finish with the roof these bar joists will be used to make a 30 by 40 lean to on the south side of the building
Attachment 32786
these white standing seam panels will be the roof of the lean to.
originally the bar joists and the panels were used as a cover for a large RV
I have almost enough panels to make a 30 ft wide lean to the full length of the building
Attachment 32787
Attachment 32788
This pile of pipes is what I will be using to run my air system throughout the shop I have close to 2000 feet of 1 " 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" pipe in that pile with a smattering of a couple hundred feet of 2 " & 2 1/2" pipe more than enough to plumb an air system with.
Attachment 32789
A lot of pipe! Run a branch to St. Joseph? I'm not a big consumer of compressed air . . .
Maybe I can find an unfracked reservoir in OK or southwest KS. Never mind, you are busy enough.
Actually, I have a 3ph dual voltage 80 gallon upright and 60 gallon reservoir, in opposite corners. One for quiet, one where the action is. PLENTY!
I knew those clouds in the sky yesterday were not going to be friendly to my quest. Sure enough woke up this morning to the sound of moisture trying to fall from the sky. A Foggy drizzle just enough to make it less than appetizing to weld with an AC stick machine
When it comes to pneumatic tools, I am a firm believer that they are like having fire arms behind every door stashed in every corner hanging on every wall under every place one can be hidden because the walk in closet gun safe will no longer hold any more,you will only have too many air tools when there is not a square foot of work area left unoccupied with one. I plan to have drops water traps and filters with the possibility of also regulators through out the shop many areas will have manifolds of quick disconnects and shut off valves before every manifold. Many of the locations will have the 3/8" and 3/4' inch quick connects
This will hold true for electrical outlets as well. I haven't decided what to do about center bay work stations should the need arise, I might decide to embed recessed conduits for future use. I hate having cords or hoses strung out all over the floor that have to be moved to roll a tool box or drive a forklift or vehicle through an area.
I have been needing to remove a power line that used to go to my well from the poles but getting up there was becoming a vertical challenge. My 30 ft ladder was several feet too short and too wobbly to suit me at that kind of height anyway I no longer own a pair of climbing gaffs and haven't climbed a pole in 30 or 40 years or longer anyway. It seemed silly to even think about trying to erect a scaffold that high and next to impossible by myself.
So what I did this morning was to put on my safety harness with a fall arresting loop on the back and my safety belt with tie off lanyard then hooked myself to the hook on the hoist and raised myself up, hooked my lanyard around the pole and released the clips that held the line to the insulators and tie off on the pole, lowered myself back to the ground and job done no more overhead obstruction. total time from ground level back to ground level less than a couple minutes
Attachment 32821
So you're saying you were just hanging around.
My mother used to threaten to hang me up on a hook by the suspenders on my overalls for some of the things I did I finally made good on her threat and hung myself on a hook.
I had thought about making a Bosons chair then I thought why make something that I already had better. It worked so well that I was able to remove the line without damaging the loop clamps that held it in place because I had the lanyard around the pole and my legs wrapped around it to stabilize myself freeing both hands to work on the line
In full agreement.
My case;
Pneumatics get 3/4" perimeter line and QD's, keeps 3/8" hoses off lanes of rolling stock.
A pair of lines overhead with reels either side of centerline.
Electrics;
120v perimeter with outlets spaced same as air QD's. Aside vacuuming, 120v doesn't figure big with me. Power feeds and work-lights; small buck transformers already hung on most respective machine tools.
Machine tools [98% are 3ph 60hz 440v] all get drops from the 8" square wireway main or branches(*1), more volume [20% area is 931 12ga THHN conductors and grounds!(2*)] never require fully. Have 360' worth, bought surplus $10 each, to run main plus 3 branches, and elevator style [rectangular 2x4] for 2 or 3 ganged light switch stations at doors.
Have three VFD's for 380v 50hz machines, greatly simplifies wiring scheme.
Still don't have a big amp receptacle/ plug or dedicated disconnect for the Lincoln 250A stick welder, real long pigtail.
Have surplus [excess] lighting fixtures. But they'll work out; 120v LEDs pendants into conduit receptacles, flush + 1/2" for drywall, to enable work at night. After wireway is up I have many 12' fluorescent T8 277v fixtures. Via 3-way switches, allow whatever lighting for work at hand, including night lights for egress.
Now equipped with shear/ punch/ beader/ brake/ bender, I'll fabricate separators for each branch of wireway, to further enhance cooling, tracing, adding circuits.
Yes, there will be a build thread, once family things are done in CA, around 1st of February. A brick structure, 6500 sq ft, 16' ceiling free span, loading dock high, 1 ramp, needs one more though. Machinery [except grinding and sawing] all in place and leveled.
Yes. IT HAS TAKEN FOREVER GETTING THIS FAR!
*1 https://www.google.com/search?client...w=1600&bih=736
*2 https://www.hoffmanonline.com/stream...6140&pRID=2123
yesterday and today the wind was almost dead calm Lost yesterday due to having to do the wife wants to go to get groceries thing which could have waited another month or 2 by my estimation of the pantry, freezer and fridge but the boss is the boss.
so this morning started trying to get the back hoe started at around 9 am in 20's something temps. it wasn't having it. the old battery just didn't have enough reserve to get a good crank over speed. Out comes the 30/60/300 Schumacher. Charge a while then spin over a few seconds then charge a while again. repeat and repeat get frustrated go round up a couple electric heaters place one at injector pump the other on the opposite side of the block. Sun's out nice and bright the hours tick by the temps climbing but back hoe parked north side of building shaded from the sun. I refuse to use a starting aid on the old engine last thing I need is to turn it into a drug Addick. It either starts or it don't and I go do something else. So one final attempt flip charger up on the 300 amp setting give it a spin it starts and blows black smoke for several minutes while warming up. By now it is noon half the day gone wasted the rare calm wind.
Fly 4 purlin up weld them in place fly the remaining 6 up weld 2 more in place by now it is getting on past 4 PM all and all a productive day best so far on the roof project but now need to move the mobile scaffold. get everything moved out of the way and say the heck with it I'm supposed to have a new battery come tomorrow or Thursday and Bob may be able to stick around for a couple hours to help steer and move the scaffold Going to be too windy to risk welding tomorrow sparks started a couple of small grass fires today even in the almost calm wind but the Fire marshal wife took care of them with her shovel
4 more purlin, 4 more purlin I keep saying then I can sheet the whole north roof.
Attachment 32890
Did I say I only have 4 more purlin to put up on that side?
Oh yeah part of yesterday was used in welding in the last crapy brace between the trusses.
This officially uses up every last piece of the old trusses from the building I took down
Attachment 32891
Hope your New Years dinner has something special from the trip to town.
I bet there were a few expletives used to get the diesel running. But you beat the beast into coming alive. And you got a good day in. Can't wait to see the insulation and roof sheeting installed.
I learned with my first car (62 Pontiac Safari Station Wagon ~71) that oil viscosity was everything to getting it started when winter temps in North Dakota were -40F. As well a huge Cadillac battery. Mobil One just started being sold, and it was the missing ingredient to cold weather engine starts (5W-30 it was $2.90/qt, when regular oil was $0.65). Every auto also had engine block heaters, either one that installed in a freeze plug, or separate tank in the heater hose line, and there were dip stick heaters as well. I don't see that anymore, as synthetic oils seem to be the norm in all autos.
A new battery, darn things have gotten expensive. That should fix your tropical temp. engine start problem. :)
I once talked with an old trucker who ran the Montana outback regularly during the worst of winter when it gets really cold. He told me that one of his secrets was to carry a heavy canvas tarp and a bag of charcoal. When it got so cold that his diesel gelled he spread the tarp over the left side tank and engine and then built a charcoal fire under the tarp off to the side to heat and reliquify his diesel and warm the oil in the pan so that he could get his truck to bust off. He also had electric as well as coolant recirc heaters installed on his truck to keep it liquid once it was running. It sounded really dangerous to me but he'd been doing it for years with no unplanned fires.
I recall truckers using acetylene as an engine start helper. But that can end up bending a connecting rod, that is what I was told when watching this. So I have no idea how they metered that. Preheat igniters must not have been a standard diesel component back then.
If I would take the time to pull the injector pump and re build it, that would go a long way to curing the starting and low power problems with the old gal. The problem with these old minimatic pumps is with an off the shelf rebuild you might as well be shooting craps in Vegas trying to locate one that is a quality reman. To do it my self would mean the backhoe would be down for the length of time to order in replacements for any worn parts, the price of new NOS is not in budget. I know a pump guy in Florida who used to be good if he still does that sort of thing who used to be fairly reasonable. Maybe this coming summer when the need for the backhoe will be lessened hopefully I will be able to do the pump and injectors
Nope they weren't. Before electronics you just had mechanical pumps which squirted fuel into the cylinders at the right time and the heat of compression caused it flash. If your fuel was already jello however it would never even get through the fuel filter ahead of the pump so you had to take measures to keep your fuel flowing. At the truck stops where it gets really cold there are #1 diesel (kerosene) pumps along side the #2 diesel pumps and truckers there mix their own magic proportions of #1 and #2 diesel in their tanks to hopefully keep it liquid.
Talking about using acetylene as start aid for a diesel can be a very bad thing but it can be done the problem is the acetylene's explosive reaction to high pressures. Just a whiff OK but flood the breather and watch the head bolts stretch or a con rod pretzel like too much nitrous in a street racer.
Propane is not as bad but still dicey same with starting fluid the only engines that were actually designed to be started with ether was the old 2 stroke Detroit's they even had a port or a chamber where you could place ether balls an puncture them to get the engine to start ether balls looked a little like paint balls only larger. Drop one in slam the lid and spin the engine over if you didn't get white smoke , do it again soon it would start and eventually it would become so addicted to the stuff you advanced to using cans of starting fluid.
Once while I had my old Dodge welding rig I ran out of gas way down around Langtree, South of Ozona Tx. my welder was diesel and the truck was gas I laid the tip of my torch in the throat of the carb used a wire to spin the engine over then turned on the act. until it started I adjusted the flow until the engine was running around 2000 RPM closed the hood to the safety catch then drove the 45 miles to the nearest gas station, dodgy at best but better than walking in the middle of the night.
My dad was working on an old Autocar that had an air starter we had several inches of snow on the ground went out to start it up whirrll went the starter but no start rolled the air compressor out filled the start tank gave it another go still no go dad came out with a shop rag soaked in gasoline, shoved it in the breather and said start it boy. I gave it a whirll this time it caught and ran. My dad said a little bit of ethel will do it every time always remember that son.
Todays water gas doesn't work quite as well but I've found that the premix chain saw fuel you spent 20.00 a qt for works great pour a little on a rag and shove it in the breather tube the vapors will be enough to kick off an older engine that doesn't have an intake warmer if you have those it must be disconnected or risk exploding the intake don't ask me how I learned this.
My friend just returned from a Canada run his fuel turned to jello on him over night. poured some of that liquid heat in his tanks to get his fuel liquid again but the only way he could get the engine to start was to wave a propane torch on each of the unit pumps and the fuel line to them finally after a couple tanks or propane he and the call out mechanic got it started. Said he learned as valuable lesson either leave the engine running so the return fuel will help keep the diesel in the tanks warm or be low on fuel when you cross over into an area where they offer winter fuel at the pumps This ultra low Sulphur stuff they call diesel today is not supposed to be as bad as the older diesel but it will still thicken up when it gets cold enough.
I'm familiar with that problem. I once had 275 gallons of jello to deal with in Denver when it dropped to -18ºF overnight and my truck stopped running at 5 am, despite fueling with "winter blend" diesel in Amarillo plus adding a jug of Power Service (the accepted standard fuel treatment) to it and a piece of cardboard on the front of my radiator to keep the engine hot while I was stopped. The fuel outside of the engine block still got so cold that it jelled anyway. I had to shut down for 3 days and get a motel room until it warmed up and I could get that Cummins busted off again. If I'd had recirc coolant fuel heaters it likely would have stayed liquid but they're expensive and there's hardly ever a need for them in the Lone Star. I don't think that fuel in Amarillo was 100% winter blend.
Another thing I learned - those plastic air lines that you see on trucks these days get fragile like glass at -18ºF and touching one is enough to make it snap off.
Oh its winter blend alright just that it is winter blend for the Armadillo area may be good enough to get you over Veil if you don't stop and are not driving through the slushy stuff.
Stopped in Green River one time back in the 90's, in the wife's little Ford Ranger to gas up just as they were putting the stickers on their pumps stating their fuel had winterizing agents in it. I'm thinking OK diesel sure but gasoline? went in to the fuel desk to ask what's up. Oh its a new mandate by the state to winterize all fuels.
So what does that do to the newer vehicles with electronic fuel injection systems?
Well it shouldn't hurt them the state says it is safe.
OH sure and Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, do you have the MSDS on the stuff in your pumps if so where is it posted for all to read?
No I've never seen it.
Then contact your fuel supplier and have them fax it over to you I want a copy and am not leaving until I read it for myself.
45 minutes later I finally get a call back to the fuel desk and am handed 20 pages of fax to read 15 pages of WARNINGS for various vehicle models DO NOT EXCEED bla, bla, bla percentage or risk damage. The wife's Ranger was not on the list.
I asked the manager don't you think that you might want to post a warning on your pumps telling customers there cold be a potential risk factor when using your fuel unless certain precautionary measures are not taken?
After reading the MSDS he called their supplier and had them come out to test the blend. When we stopped by there on our way back form Seattle the manager spied me coming into the store ran over and said you can never know how much money you might have saved this fuel center the supplier had just dumped the additive in the tanks and hadn't bothered to run a blender down in them some of the tanks tested 60% above the maximum allowed. we got our tank filled for free our breakfast and a host of travel goodies that I would have never spent the amount of money they would have cost to by, as a thank you.
I was thinking that maybe their latest fuel delivery was winter blend but there was still a significant amount of summer blend in their tanks when they were topped off. I fueled at a Pilot and I suspect that their deliveries are on a regular schedule whether they need refilling or not. But yeah - Amarillo cold and Great Falls cold are two quite different conditions.
Funny you mentioned Vail. I once camped out 2 days at the top of Vail Pass because it was too icy to come down the backside.
Wind has been howling at times today not all that cold but if you are in the wind a good pair of Carhart's are in order. way too much wind to be 25 feet off the ground trying to weld though
I'm just hanging out today too. I finished my last project and haven't decided what to start on next. It's almost cold here and overcast like it's going to rain but it still hasn't.
FWIW - I bought a Lincoln welding shirt/jacket that's made of heavy khaki and I like it a lot. It's comfortable to wear while I'm working in a variety of weather and the snaps on it make it easy on/off, plus there's snaps on the sleeves so I can close them up and not get them caught in the lathe or mill. The only pocket is on the inside so it doesn't get snagged on stuff - in fact I've yet to snag it anywhere on anything plus I haven't burnt a hole in yet. It's as good as Carhartt.
Yeppers nothing like snaps.
it didn't quite get down to freezing here this morning kind of a change from the previous couple mornings whre I saw 18 on the digital even though the weather guessers say things like 25 or 28 I go by how thick the ice forms on the pet bowls when it is thick enough thatI have to use a hammer to break it then I know it was colder than any 25° for 2 or 3 hours. Yesterday and the day before even though it froze hard enough to freeze the hose bib on the pump house even though covered with the useless foam cover it tells me it was on the chilly side becaue the inside of the pump house has a thermostat that switches on the heaters when below 45 so the freeze has to happen between the insulated wall and the valve on the bib. My solution for this is I bought a 8" frost free hose bib so no water will be inside the pipe outside of the wall just haven't gotten it installed yet Probably should ahve done that today LOL
You were just waiting for the right motivation (like a busted hose bib) to install that freeze resistant one. :cool:
For the last couple of days it had been windy so nothing much done to the building I did manage to get 2 more purlin welded in place but I have a truck and trailer in for servicing and to do some other repairs. The sort of thing that gets in the way of progress but at the same time helps to pay for future materials to be used on the building plus he came hauling a Dodge pickup he had only recently had a transmission replaced in but the shop where it was done had not bothered to pull the torque converter off and place it on the front of the transmission before mounting the transmission. When trying to stab an automatic in this fashion you may think you are saving yourself some time but the couple minutes to pull the converter and guide it onto the input shaft and insure that everything aligns up correctly almost always results in damaging the pump seal or cracks the housing. the ruck runs and moves just fine but it pours ATF out of the front seal.
They shop had kept his truck for months and months continuing to shove it aside until finally he had, had enough of their excuses, loaded it up and brought it to me.
If I had a lift or a pit this would only be an hour's job
Some reasons why I need to get finished with the shop
Attachment 32951
some of these are for restore and some to repair for sale
Attachment 32952
This hanger queen needs to go I need to get it sand blasted painted and put back together
He and I have a lot of money tied up in it and still need to dump a few thou more so we can either put it to work or rent it out
Attachment 32953
Yep it has been sitting there going on 8 months now I have about $3,500.00 worth of air springs air lines air valves brakes bearings seals slack adjusters and misc. parts for it waiting on more parts, sand blasting painting and rebuilding the hyd cylinders but I may have to had the cylinder shafts ground and re chromed
I have trailer sitting on a pair of tandems pulled from a couple dry vans that way instead of having to drag the tri axle group out from under it I simply rolled it to the side
I now officially have half of the purlin installed so I can begin sheeting the roof on half of the building then I will roll the Kaylin Siebert trailer up next to the container out of my way so I can continue with the other half of the roof.
Well there is now 1 sheet of metal on the roof giving me 108 sq feet of covered area not that a 3 ft wide strip 36 feet long 20 plus feet up in the air would do much to protect from the elements
Attachment 33067
Attachment 33068
It's progress forward tho!
You must have nicer weather than we have right now... it was a balmy -15F this morning, with a breeze... It has warmed up to 1F so far.
Hopefully the next sheets go on smoothly, and you'll soon have some roof coverage that helps.
Was planning on getting more sheets up today but as soon as I started to move the backhoe crane to grab some more the wind got up. it was supposed to blow all day after switching from the South to the North West I caught it during the lull during the change of direction. 5 to 10 MPH breezes don't seem like much until you think about wrestling a sheet of metal that is half as large as a the canopy of a parachute in area and you currently only have a single sheet to stand on things can go south in a hurry. once I have 3 or 4 sheets down the risk management factor drops by a huge factor For 2 or 3 guys it would be a moot deal just fly them up and shift them one at a time in place with a guy on either end and a guy starting somewhere near the middle to get the first couple of screws in. In the past I've been on roofs with a stack of sheets in winds so bad the crane operator refused to bring us another bundle.
After several days of wind and being tied up on another project I finally got back to the work on the shop
26 this morning but the wind was blowing out of the North around 15 MPH. went out at 7 to feed the animals and break ice on their water bowls.
Figured the day might be another wash out but around 10 the wind began changing direction and dying down the temp was in the upper 30's so hooked up an electric heater on the backhoe by 11 I tried to start it the wind had calmed I hoisted 7 sheets up then started screwing them down managed to get 4 before the wind decided to make a brief blow not real bad but enough to make it hard to drag the 36 foot long sheets around so took a brief break then got back up there and screwed down the remaining 3 then went and loaded 6 more hoisted them up by now it was around 3 in the afternoon had the last one screwed down by 5 then Jane told me we needed to go cut some more fire wood incase rainy weather comes in Tuesday like they think
Any way I now have 40 feet of the 61 feet of the north roof completed
Attachment 33196
Attachment 33220
The North Slope is done.
the photo taken around 3:30 this afternoon while leaning against the South East corner column.
Now I have a lot of stuff to move before I can begin installing the purlin on the South Slope
thins like this
Attachment 33221
Making good progress Frank! Can't wait to see it finished. :thumbsup:
I do have some concerns enough so that I have some more bracing made up to weld in place and some cables installed for wind stabilization currently my biggest concern is the fact that the ends do not have any columns just the corner columns the North West and South West columns are hero columns the one on the south has the structure for the brick crane tied to it half way up so very little concern there. On the North side the Container stabilizes those but I can still detect more than movement than I felt there should have been when I was dragging the sheets across Probably just imagination and a combination of natural flex due to there being no walls in place. If the building were only 10 or 12 feet to the eves and it had that much movement I would have been really worried.
Today the winds are gusting close to 30 MPH and from the ground feeling the columns I don't detect any movement at all, That's not to say there is not any I just don't detect any.