What did you do today?

[Bob Engelhardt]

I got a nice snowblower from my step son. Lots of power & features*. One thing that I did not like was that you had to hold the impeller clutch handle down. It had a interlock with the drive clutch, but it was still a major PITA. So I installed a keeper for it:


* - (features) One is heated hand grips. Except now only the left side is heated - the right side heating wire got drilled through.

[Dan Dubeau]

Picked these up tonight. Big oxy bottle is full (120cf). Little bit of acetylene (b tank) left, and other oxy bottle (80cf) is empty. All praxair, so I can exchange them at TSC, except the big one (they don't deal in bottles that big without a lease). That might be a one and done, unless I can get it exchanged somehow (I'd love to trade it for a mig bottle that size if I could....). Hoses are old and crusty, and will be replaced, but the torch (tough to read tag) and regs (union carbide/linde) are in good shape, no leaks. Also came with another 50ft of hose, but it's so stiff I'll probably cut the ends off for a brass melt and toss it. I've got by for years without them. Not because I didn't want them, but I'm cheap and have missed some deals, and refuse to pay full price for stuff lol. A couple times over the past few weeks I've wished I had a torch better than my handheld propane one at home, as well as a cutting torch so I started renewing the search. Found these today for $300 and I'm pretty happy with that price. Pretty much half the price of just the bottles at tsc, and I only had to drive 10 minutes to get them too .



I'll exchange the small bottles for full this week, but will want to try oxy propane for cutting and heating and maybe switch altogether (sell the b tank). Although I do a fair bit of torch hardening O1 at work (and occasional flame straightening), I haven't used a cutting torch in over a decade, and only then a little bit once in a while. I'm certainly no expert with a torch, a rank beginner in fact, and I've got a lot to learn. I've also got a nice smaller victor torch, and a harris rosebud I've picked up over the years. I've got to pick up some propane hose for the forge, so I'll get a long chunk for a torch too.

Garage is a mess again as you can see, and I gotta move stuff to fit them in somewhere lol. Oh well, not a bad problem to have I guess. Also picked up a full 40cf Co2 bottle last week for $20 too.

[Fasturn]

Needed some power in the shop. Had some square tubeing and a bottle jack. Not the nicest, but only cost about $ 50.00 to build. Was fun doing some welding . TRW was my old company. Thought it looked cute.

[Tim The Grim]

Took some 3/8 rebar and 3/4 angle iron and mig welded up some framework for protective AC covers. Made the connection hardware from some SS M6 all thread and nuts. polycarbonate panels look a little “ghetto” but I’m hoping they’re temporary.
Pigeon poop falling off the roof from under the solar panels. We just went through a 5 month circus with a pest control guy who finally refunded our money.
I’ve also figured out what I need to do up top with PVC tube to deny them access under the panels.

[reggie_obe]

Picked these up tonight. Big oxy bottle is full (120cf). Little bit of acetylene (b tank) left, and other oxy bottle (80cf) is empty. All praxair, so I can exchange them at TSC, except the big one (they don't deal in bottles that big without a lease). That might be a one and done, unless I can get it exchanged somehow (I'd love to trade it for a mig bottle that size if I could....).

Maybe different in your neck of the woods, but hereabouts bottles with a name on the neckband are owned by the gas company, leased, sometimes stolen, but not sold.

[RB211]

I received my DMM 750 watt Servo spindle motor for the Taig CNC mill(weighs a lot less than the 3 phase inductance motor) and DYN4 AC servo drive. Realized I didn't order the required cables and the proper connectors are out of stock at DigiKey, so I ordered them from DMM. Also worked on my 3018 CNC toy router. I also switched my phone service to Google Fi, and got my new Pixel 5a cell phone setup.

[Dan Dubeau]

Maybe different in your neck of the woods, but hereabouts bottles with a name on the neckband are owned by the gas company, leased, sometimes stolen, but not sold.

Hmm, never heard that. Up here (Ontario Canada) from recent talking to our gas guy at work 80cf and under can be owed by the customer. Anything bigger is leased. I'll find out when I try and exchange them, but I'm about 95% sure the smaller bottles will be no problem. The big one probably will be, so I might just use till empty and make a gong out of it or some other yard art if I can't swap it.

I could be wrong, as it's really tough to find written info online about this (I'd love a link if someone could find one).

[danlb]

I completed a 450 mile trip, and took the time to fill the tank and set the trip meter so that I could verify the miles per gallon. Rumor has it that the Toyota dashboard sometimes reports optimistic results for mileage so I wanted to see if I was really getting the phenomenal mileage shown on my dashboard.

I confirmed that I actually got 69.5 MPG on the last 175 miles of the trip. That's what the dashboard said and it's what I calculated when I divided the miles by the gallons used.

I was reading over 70 MPG when I parked for the night, but lost a little when I drove to the gas station in the icy cold morning.

Dan

[ChazzC]

Hmm, never heard that. Up here (Ontario Canada) from recent talking to our gas guy at work 80cf and under can be owed by the customer. Anything bigger is leased. I'll find out when I try and exchange them, but I'm about 95% sure the smaller bottles will be no problem. The big one probably will be, so I might just use till empty and make a gong out of it or some other yard art if I can't swap it.

I could be wrong, as it's really tough to find written info online about this (I'd love a link if someone could find one).

I have a small O2 tank that I “own:” I exchange when it’s empty, but the paperwork says it’s mine. To make it easier on myself, I always get refills from the same welding supply chain (AirGas) I purchased the tank from. I use the O2 with MAP(P) gas for a Smith Little Torch I got years ago from J.C. Whitney for a song.

I also owned a small Acetylene tank that I originally used with a Prest-O-Lite gas/air torch.

[reggie_obe]

Hmm, never heard that. Up here (Ontario Canada) from recent talking to our gas guy at work 80cf and under can be owed by the customer. Anything bigger is leased. I'll find out when I try and exchange them, but I'm about 95% sure the smaller bottles will be no problem. The big one probably will be, so I might just use till empty and make a gong out of it or some other yard art if I can't swap it.

I could be wrong, as it's really tough to find written info online about this (I'd love a link if someone could find one).

Can be owned or not owned and leased by the industrial gas dealer are different things. None of my privately owned bottles have anything stamped into the cylinder neckband.
Here a link from a welding board to add further confusion.: https://app.aws.org/forum/topic_show.pl?tid=29758

[The Metal Butcher]

Pulled the final drives out of my clark.

Brakes are stuck on the right.

Bearing's are f'd on the left. Almost looks like they used a water absorbent grease. Can't figure the disparity.

[ChazzC]

Since is is warm today (65°F so far) and I could do outside work, I finished an 18" long, 2040 Tee Rail Anvil (20 lbs./yd., so I guess that makes it a 10 lbs. Tee Rail?):



Picked up an 18" long piece of small gauge rail at Cabin Fever for (I think) $4. My local machinist buddy (thanks, Rick @ American Machine Co.!), who has a real shop, lopped off one end at 45° and after we cleaned off a lot of surface rust and several layers of paint, I used an Arm-Strong Saw (hacksaw to you younger folks) to trim the top of the rail and finished the profile of the horn (pointy end) with a 24 grit wheel & 60 grit flap wheel on my 4-1/2" angle grinder. I also kissed the top of the rail to clean it up, but didn't want it perfect.

I have a very nice 4" 7040 (70 lbs./yd.) Tee Rail Anvil that I bought as such, plus a 13" length of 9040 (90 lbs./yd.) Tee Rail I collected after a rail siding repair about 25 years ago that still needs the surface rust removed. I also have several smaller anvils for little stuff.


It's almost 70: I'm going for a walk,


Charlie


ADDENDUM:

Stopped by American Machine this morning to show Rick the finished product and even though he liked the anvil, insisted on taking a light cut on the top to take off the slight crown. Other than a coat or two of Krylon on the sides, the anvil is now done.

[Tim The Grim]

Making another scope rail with dual radii and needed to swing a 2” radius.
I remembered I bought this 90 deg. quill attachment a few years back and had never used it.
I dragged it out of its hiding place, cleaned it up, lengthened a spare draw bar I had and set a fly cutter to the correct radius.
This thing is “The Bomb” . It’s getting it’s own spot on a shelf now.

[RB211]

Revisited my 3018 router, designing the new carriage for linear ways. Used 3D printer to create test part. Nailed the dimensions on the second try. Another use for the 3D printer in the shop.

[Ridgerunner]

I bought a back up alarm kit for this utility vehicle. Instead of connecting the alarm; I ran the wires to a couple of back up lights I installed so they come on when the machine is put in reverse.