What did you do in the shop today?

[ThomasPowers]

Switched my old drill press from 110 VAC to 220 VAC; I expect to have a lot of fun with it once I clean and lube it---2 hp Dayton Motor!

[Dewnmoutain]

i made (dramatic pause!) a sprinkler can!

Finally got sick of using a plastic bottle and holding my arm over the flames

[ThomasPowers]

Scrapyard in the morning; then when I got home my wife told me the swamp cooler wasn't working. So after lunch I got to climb up on the roof and fix it (as well as doing the monthly maintenance.)   Clog at the spider from the new pads as I expected; but I also reamed the legs of the spider with a piece of wire rope, flushed the water tank to decrease lime content, oiled the squirrel cage fan, etc.  I'm hoping this counts for June!

Once I recover, I'll go out to the shop...I hear the wind picking up, (wind bells dinging).

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

7 hours ago, Dewnmoutain said:

made (dramatic pause!) a sprinkler can!

I like it! 
 

Not really blacksmithing related but today in between dealing with customers

I had a friend and his son come down with his portable welder generator and bigger tractor and fab up a 12’ tall 12’ wide with 8’ footer, crane I needed to help unload machines at the shop,

I helped when I could but they did all the major work, I swapped em an older Kawasaki four wheeler and lunch as payment

The gussets are 3x3 square pipe 3/16 walled,

The ibeam is 4x12” 1/4” wall on bottom and 4x10” 1/4” wall on top, the uprights are 3x3 1/4” walled,

I have a Dayton 1000 pound capacity ibeam trolley I’m thinking about using on it but I may order a ibeam clamp instead 

I have a one ton antique Yale hoist but I'm shopping around for a new chain hoist for it instead of using that janky old thing, 

I'm lookin at the CM 1 ton or half ton with a 10’ reach, does anyone have any experience with those? 

we used to have CM chain hoists on my ship an they seemed to hold up well, so I’m assuming they still make good rigging,

 

[George N. M.]

Whatever type of hoisting arrangement you decide on I suggest that you "proof" it by lifting a weight twice or 3 times as heavy as the maximum you would normally expect to lift on a regualr basis.  If something is going to fail you don't want it to be when you've got a customer's machine up in the air.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Frosty]

I'd sure like to see larger hips on that. Hips and gussets do the same sort of thing but are different things. When you proof it walk to one side and give it a hard push in line with the beam. It shouldn't move much at all. You do NOT want it folding up when you're loading something in a customer's rig or worse hurting someone.

It MAY be okay but I'd never build one that way. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I understand yalls concerns,

The machines I work on that this will be unloading are In the 200-600 pound range, any of the really heavy equipment I work on is unloaded off trailers,

if I was loading an unloading several tons overhead I’d have built it much heavier!

this one should be more than enough to unload welders, generators and air compressors, sprayers ect..

Don’t worry George, I will be testing it out to 3-4 times what I normally normally unload using my own equipment before it goes into regular use, 

Also I never allow customers to help unload even when they offer, so the only person that ever works under or around my lifts is me,

machines are replaceable, customers are not! its really hard to get paid when someone’s squished!

[ThomasPowers]

Got back out to the shop this evening and worked on cleaning up my drill press.  Removed any rust I could find and oiled *everything*!  Slipped the 3/4" chuck back in, tightened the motor mount screws and I'm getting a hankering for drilling some HOLES IN STEEL!   (Funny how this is just a couple of weeks since I got a new power cord for my Milwaukee Magnum...)

Next on the conversion to 220 VAC list is the jointer I picked up at the scrapyard.  With motor and stand it was 198 pounds; built in 1951 and I'm not mentioning owning it to my woodworking stepson!

I need to call LG and see how many replacement parts I can manage to buy for my 25# LG;  spending my bankroll on getting the shop electrified sure hurts when it comes time to restore a power hammer.

 

[JHCC]

A friend came over who had not been able to smith in quite some time came over to use my forge. I showed her a new-to-her method for making leaves, and we made her a pair of bottle opener tongs. 

I also started forging a ball stake from a jackhammer bit:

Cutting to length in two heats with a newly acquired hot set under the treadle hammer was very satisfying. 

[bluerooster]

No work in the shop, or the smithy.  I've been relegated to the "honey dew" list. First was replacing some siding on the flue chase, then overhaul of the back deck.  Flue chase is done save paint, Back deck is well under way with new decking, and demolition of the lower level on tap for tomorrow. All along with the usual stuff such as mowing grass, mending fences, etc.

[ThomasPowers]

I found a sheet metal shelf to go on the back of a workbench at the scrapyard and so today I cleaned off my workbench; I think it's been a decade since I saw the wood on it!  Did a lot of sorting and even threw some stuff away!---(Inform the MEDIA!) (BTW the stone slab is soapstone from an old laboratory benchtop, also the work bench in the "dirty shop" for comparison purposes and my drill press, a 40+ year old Jet, bought it during the oilfield crash in the early 1980's from a small machine shop going out of business.)

 

[natkova]

I made some devider , and impaled myself a little by it , it fell from vise and it hit top side of foot  

I have mixed feelings now , I made tool that is sharp pointy, Iam proud of it , but still Iam not lucky because I got little poke in leg 

Wound is looking funny squerish .

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

One reason that in knifemaking sharpening is usually the LAST thing we do; even after making the sheath for a blade!

[natkova]

Well I did stupid stuff cut out thread vile dividers were in vise, so thread stayed in vise divider ended in foot 

[JHCC]

This is why I prefer steel-toed boots. 
 

(Or composite-toed, which are much lighter.)

[natkova]

In this case that wont help, wound is not too serious. it fall on place where ankle is but just litle bit under.
At least steel was sterilised   becasue it was heated at high temperature and grinded

 

[Scott NC]

16 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Did a lot of sorting and even threw some stuff away!

  All paper and plastic based material, I presume....

[Will Brouwers]

3 hours of work. Pieces for a boot scraper, my first drive hook and candle snuffer, each from a split cross cutoff and then a garden shovel blank from black pipe, inspired by Jvos Ironworks on Instagram.

[JHCC]

These are the bottle opener tongs my student and I made yesterday. A little thin around the bosses, but should be okay. 

[ThomasPowers]

Stuff put in the trash was paper/cardboard, plastic, wood, dust.  Metallic stuff was sorted by type and put in the proper buckets to take to the scrapyard.

Today, hot and windy and smoky---eyes burning/itching so only a bit of time in the shop putting away stuff and breaking a few grinding belts working on tools---fit one to a hardy hole, ground chips out of a few hammer faces, removed some mushrooming from old handmade hammers, cleaned the rust off the rail piece to be used in the postvise for a jewelers anvil.  (I have old leftover grinding belts, they were brand new when I moved out her 18 years ago...they last a few minutes before self destructing; so I use them standing to the side and backing away at first signs of delaminating.)

[Frosty]

You had me going on  that one John, I was trying to figure out how you were supposed to open a bottle with those, right up till the last pic. DOH!

Looks like a good day in the shop Will. You want the bend for drive hooks to be a hard 90* or they bend and bounce when you drive them. I fold that corner then open it up for the hook, that way the spike is straight to the driven end. 

You're getting there Brother, keep at it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ArmySoldier72]

Will and JHCC those look pretty good.

 

 

SO today for me in the shop was Cleaning, sorting and organizing the storage room.

When we took possession of this property, it was severely over grown and neglected.

Cattle had roamed free in and out of buildings leaving waste behind.

Throughout the property, buried in the weeds was all sorts of material and items.

As we worked through 5-6' tall weeds and brush we would walk through before mowing with the tractor.

Anything that was metal or usable was put in the storage room.

This included 2 stoves, 3 dryers, 2 washers, 3 water heaters. (I took these to scrap already)

Also Rebar, implement parts, chains, implement teeth and such.

I have a few pieces of Succor Rod as well.

 

 

This is the West Side of the Building.

We think Cattle went in the Left Door into the milking area

When done, they came out the middle door.

Red door is for the farmer working the cattle.

Obviously the right side is the overhand area.

 

 

 

Overhang Area (13'6" Wide X 21' Long)

The over hand area took about 24 hours to clean out 1' or more of cattle waste, packed in layers over the years.

 

 

 

You can barely make it out.. But in the middle of the wood wall is a door to the room I am using for storage.

And where I took the pictures below from.

 

Storage Room (13' 6" Wide x 15' Long)

This is the before picture of the storage room, it had 6" of so of cattle waste and dirt.  It took about 18 hours to clean it all out down to bare floor.

 

I had started cleaning up the floor to the storage room so I could store found items in here.

There was piles of copper pipe and tubing, wiring, old fuse boxes, broken things that I had planned to break down and tons more. 

 

I spent 18 hours from Friday to today sorting and breaking down items throwing plastics into the trash.

That first orange bucket on the left is misc metal I want to keep (chains, gear chains, a disc, metal teeth to something)

The first blue bucket is all aluminum (One day I will have a furnace to melt it)

The next stack of three (2 blue and 1 Grey) is stuff I need to sort or break down.

The next stack of three is all copper pipe, tubing and electrical wire. (again to one day melt)

 

On the shelf (which I put casters on) is some motors that I need to test and a squirrel fan that would work when I hook up a motor to it.

The second shelf has these automatic feeder things, that fed the cows as they were being milked.

(it has an auger and a little motor in it) I thought the auger might be forgeable.

 

And finally the big drum is all metal to go to the scrap yard.

 

Storage Room After

The right side of the picture is stuff from the old house, which is waiting for a garage to be built or some other home for it.

 

Scrap Metal Bins

Here is some of the stuff we found.

I think those Farm implement teeth in the left bin might be good for tooling.

 

This big pipes on the right I plan to use for legs for a welding table.

 

 

ARMY

PS I am going to rest now!!!

[JHCC]

7 minutes ago, Frosty said:

You want the bend for drive hooks to be a hard 90* or they bend and bounce when you drive them. I fold that corner then open it up for the hook, that way the spike is straight to the driven end. 

This short video from Lee Sauder shows a good variation of that technique:

 

[ThomasPowers]

Note most alloys of AL are not so good for home melting and casting.  It really helps to re-use items that were cast to begin with and avoid extruded and other types.  May be a good idea to scrap any Al not identifiable as castings; *especially* if you are just getting started in casting.  (Start with the stuff that's easy to use and get good castings and progress to the more difficult alloys!)

[Will Brouwers]

25 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Looks like a good day in the shop Will. You want the bend for drive hooks to be a hard 90* or they bend and bounce when you drive them. I fold that corner then open it up for the hook, that way the spike is straight to the driven end. 

You're getting there Brother, keep at it.

Thanks Frosty! I felt pretty good about all of it, none of it is the best, I might hit a few pieces with the wire wheel, but my main win today was that I felt GOOD. As I swung the hammer I felt like I could hit powerfully and accurately, I experimented and it worked and I didn’t overthink. I wasn’t even that tired, even though I started my summer job of working concrete this past week. It was an easy week though, only 2 ten hour days, one 12 hour day, and Friday off!

However, after asking my wife what she would pay for the candle snuffer, she said if it was really good, she’d pay $5. You can’t please them all.