What did you do today?

[danlb]

I used my new 1000watt induction heater as a rudimentary forge to fashion a small knife blade from a 6 inch nail today. My doctor is also a gadget freak, and he wanted to see the heater in action the next time I come in for an appointment. I wanted to be able to show him the results, so I pounded it out on my small 50 pound anvil. When the shape looked good I put a bevel on the edge and I then case hardened it with Cherry Red. A bit of grinding with a small 3 wheel grinder and it looked fairly decent for a first attempt. I re-purposed a block of wood that was meant for a fountain pen to be a handle.

Next project will include reshaping the coil of the heater to better match the profile of a 3/16 x 1 inch steel bar to see if I can make a blade worth using.

Dan

[Mike Burch]

Mike

5/32 = .15625 A #8 machine screw should be .164 and #8-32NC screws are quite common.

Thank you. That could well be the answer.

[Dan Dubeau]

Thanks Dan,been running that Shovel Setup since 2012,the Core Group of guys I ride with are into Tree Riding in the BC Interior Mountains hence the 175” x 3” 🤓 it gets DEEP.

Those plates look good,you don’t have to own a BRP unit,just buy the tunnel mounts providing they don’t interfere with heat exchangers,what Yamaha do you ride?

I was only just poking fun at the BRP comment . I'm not all that brand loyal, but have gravitated towards Yamaha a bit more the last few purchases. I have an old 99 vmax 600 for cheap trail riding and ice fishing, nothing fancy. We have a pretty good trail system here that runs right by my driveway. I wouldn't know what to do up in the mountains, you have some big beautiful spaces out there to explore. I'd feel so out of place. Looks like fun though and I'd love to try it someday. I watch some of those videos of guys running up into the trees and it's pretty mind blowing the power those turbo sleds have, and what kind of terrain you can get into. Always makes me chuckle when someone jumps off and is instantly up to their neck in snow lol. Have fun out there.

[C_M_H]

Hey danlb, would you mind posting a picture of your induction heater project and setup ( or maybe even starting a new thread )?

I've been waiting for the right project to trigger getting one and would love to see how others are using and setting them up.

[danlb]

Hey danlb, would you mind posting a picture of your induction heater project and setup ( or maybe even starting a new thread )?

I've been waiting for the right project to trigger getting one and would love to see how others are using and setting them up.

There's really nothing much to show. The tool has a limited duty cycle, and I did not try to make the induction coil match the metal that I was heating. When I get something worth posting, I'll go ahead and do that.

Dan

[danlb]

This has been an electricity week. I went to run my backup generators only to find that the batteries in both of them were dead. I suspect it might have had something to do with the sub freezing temperatures we had last week. When I last replaced them I followed the recommendation from a post on the Harbor freight site and ended up with gel cells.

Here's the bad part. I could not get either generator to fire up when the battery was reading less than 4 volts. No matter which charger I used, I could not get a charge on either battery. Crap! Now I have to worry about what would happen if the power company does one of it's proactive outages while I'm waiting for a battery replacement. That would not put me in good standing with SWMBO.

Anyway... I ordered a pair of 12v 6ah batteries and they arrived today. The good news is that it took 15 minutes to swap out the batteries. The generators ran without problems for the monthly test run.

But in the mean time, 2 days ago my desktop computer started arcing inside and tripped the UPS, leaving it in a fault state. Most of my computer is less than 15 years old, and I was hoping it would last another decade or two. I realized that the computer has run flawlessly for the last 12 years or so when I could not remember the CPU model, the motherboard or the Power supply rating. When I bought the parts I usually bought close to the best that was available at the time. I ordered a name brand PS from amazon and it got here today, a full day early.

There was a bit of trepidation as I installed the new PS and wired everything back up. I had no idea whether some high voltage spike made it into the computer, where some fairly expensive disk drives and memory were just waiting to be burned out. I tested the UPS while I was at it. I had no idea that the "modified sine" wave on my UPS was actually a square wave with a pause between each positive or negative pulse. I compared it with 3 other UPSes to ensure that it was normal before putting it back in service.

And last but not least... I found a 12V 6ah LiFePO4 lithium battery online for only $29 or so. It has a built in BMS so it can be used for a motorcycle, as long as 100cca is enough for your bike. I put that battery in a UPS that I use in the garage to keep the cable+network+telephone distribution panel powered during a power glitch. There is a fairly low load on that UPS, so I am doing an experiment to see if I really get more than 5 - 10 years out of it.

Dan

[Cenedd]

danlb As long as you're using a decent power supply in the PC, they don't mind the slightly mangled AC input apparently. I prefer to use a better output closer to a sine wave but that's maybe just paranoia.

Spent this morning breaking through 4" of concrete that some numpty had poured over the manhole cover that serves my house and next door's. Geeeenius!
SDS drill to chain drilled it and then chisel it and angle grinder to tidy up. 12AH batteries hardly broke a sweat....which was more than can be said for me! Rode 'em hard and put 'em away....clean - I'm not a savage!

[Dan Dubeau]

After spending yesterday holding the couch down not feeling up to much of anything (3rd jab friday night and it knocked me down), I felt like making something today. Taking a lunch break from this. Doing some chicken scratch drawings and some math to figure out some important stuff, and then back at it.

20lb Propane tank ribbon burner forge. Will be made entirely from the scrap pile/salvaged junk I've been hording for years except for the refractory (2" ridgidised kaowool, kastolite 30 hotface/floor, with itc 100 wash , and mizzou forced air ribbon burner.)

I bought enough refractory and wool for a couple other projects too. One at a time though.

[Dan Dubeau]

I got roped into doing other chores around the house after lunch, but managed to get this far before dinner. Needs some cleanup with the grinder still, but I got a good start on it today. Should be able to chip away at it over the next couple nights and hopefully pour some refractory by the weekend.

I'm taking a bunch of pics along the way, and might post a build thread when it's all done.

[Tungsten dipper]

Delivered my Xmas tree stand to the church this morning. Made from an end of a 20 gal. air compressor tank. Attached is a pic of the old one (made out of sheet metal) and mine that weighs 30 pounds.

[The Metal Butcher]

Bought a forklift. Bringing it home in 2 weeks hopefully. Runs, lifts, doesn't drive. Gotta figure that one out.

[Dan Dubeau]

Finished the ribbon burner body today. Still need to cast the refractory block, but I might be able to do it tonight.



Still lots to do before I'm smashing orange steel. I don't know what made me believe I was going to have it all done by this weekend lol. I should know better by know .

[I make chips]

Made a new shaft yesterday to replace the one I screwed up in the what did you screw up thread.

[challenger]

I took a deadbolt lock and tried to make a cut away just to see how it picks and get a visual of the pins. Milled it too deep and the pins just poured out as I installed them.
I can't do much right in the first attempt 😬

[Edwin Dirnbeck]

I hunted for the dead mouse in my downstairs that's been stinking up my home, no thanks to my cat. He caught it, but likes to play with his food , and it escaped into my log walls. You did ask.

MMMMM