Architecture

 

Surly came down the other afternoon and gave me the highlights of his recent motorcycle trip - 1800+ miles into Canada and around the Great Lakes. The photo above is St. Andrew's church in Kingston, Ontario, rebuilt after a fire in 1889. The photo is one I glommed off the internet. The couple Surly showed me were taken at night and were much nicer. Anyway, as per usual, our conversation veered off to an architectural conversation including Brutalism

I was in Lowell, Mass. years ago on a grant from Eli Lily and did a walking tour of the city. Along the way our guide pointed out a building as an example of Brutalism. I had never heard of that style of architecture before and thought at the time that was a pretty cold description of the building. Later I realized Brutalism was a real thing, not just the guide taking a cheap shot at the building's style. Surly sent some links so I could be better informed on Brutalism. The only forms of architecture I'm familiar with are Gothic and the industrial buildings made of red brick, steam power, line shafts and big glass windows and skylights. 

The county courthouse where I went to make arrangements for mail-in ballots for the Missus and I in the upcoming election. This building was made in 1898 - beautiful inside and out. The church, the courthouse, the industrial buildings I'm familiar with, and the old farmhouse I live in were all constructed during the American Industrial Revolution. My house was built along with several others in my little village as a result of the railroad coming through. Would have been a great time to be alive for a guy like me. 

I need to fill in the void in my education on building styles - maybe find myself a book or two to study this winter.

Sad Day

 

Rest in Peace Dolly!

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I made a lay-out of the tank on the 16 ga. sheet I'll be using. I wanted cold rolled but got hot rolled instead, so I'll have to grind off all the surfaces where I'll be welding, especially if I TIG weld the seams and all of the bungs. The layout doesn't have the top as part of it because he had the steel supplier cut that out to size. I don't have a finger brake, so I think I'll bend up the long sides and cut the ends out and weld them individually. 

Assembly procedure as follows:

Cut out all parts and drill holes

Bend sides

Tack weld end pieces and top together

Finish weld sheet metal pieces

Install all bungs and filler pipe. 

I haven't decided if I'm going to TIG weld the sheets or gas weld them. Likewise, I might TIG weld the bungs or braze them in place. Lower heat input with braze welding and I should be able to get a nice, smooth, leakproof fillet all around them.

I might try a couple of practice pieces before committing to either method.

Filler Neck

 

I did a little homeowner work yesterday and then made my first move on the oil tank for TVI. The weld-in bung is pretty short. It was designed to be poked down into the tank until it bottomed out on the flange so it would be only about 1/8" proud of the sheet. However, TVI wants it to be parallel with the bottom of the tank, rather than at the 8-degree angle of the top sheet. I'm going to weld the bung into a tube that I'll cut at the proper angle and then weld the tube to the top sheet.

So how did I arrive at the 8-degree angle, you ask? Let me count the ways. First, I checked the angle with a protractor. Second, I used the trig formula tan A= a/b and looked up the number in the Trig Tables in Machinery's Handbook. Third, just to get a little better with the calculator on my phone, I ran the numbers and figured out how to enter the second function on the tangent. The protractor gave an approximate 8-degree answer, the trig tables gave me the answer in degrees and minutes, and the calculator gave me the answer in a decimal format. Sounds like a lot of work but it only took me about 5 minutes. 

I'm still contemplating my sequence of operations for putting this thing together. There are quite a few fittings that need to be welded into the tank and each one of them will potentially warp the edge of the sheet. I'll give it a little more thought before I jump in.

Oil Tank

 

I think the safety posters only work if people can figure out the message, even at that, no guarantee.

I went to check out the oil tank job yesterday. TVI had purchased all the fittings and the sheet metal a while back, he was just waiting to get his engine back to check the fit of his pattern. We talked over a few other bike things and shot the breeze a bit - nice chat. 

Beautiful day, so when I came home I swapped out the mower blades and then cut the front yard. Did a bit of tinkering as well. Looks like the next few days are going to be nice - be a real blessing for the storm victims. I'm going to try and get some more outside work done while it's dry, myself. Maybe get out on the bike as well.

Buckets O' Fun

 

Real deal Rock & Roll

We've been reorganizing and doing a serious clean around the house. I went to Menards yesterday, bought a set of shelves for the laundry room, some buckets with the Gamma lids and some other items. The shelves are for the cases of water, soda, laundry supplies, etc. The buckets are for pasta and cake mixes. The air-tight lids will keep the pantry moths out of the food stuffs for long term storage. The laundry room will be this week's job when the cleaning lady comes back.

Cut the back yard after getting home - managed to finish up right before it started raining again. I want to cut the front yard today, but it might be too wet. This is usually the time of year when the grass is all brown and dormant. I did sharpen the spare set of blades yesterday, so rain or shine, I'll swap out the blades to be ready when it's dry enough to mow. I also poked around on the Jitney a bit trying to remember where I left off. If it doesn't quit raining soon I'll have to start on an ark.

Going to look at TVI's Harley project today. He sent his engine out to get rebuilt and it finally came back. He wants me to make a new oil tank for sure and maybe more. I'll find out this morning.

My Opinion

I'm not so sure this in an unpopular opinion. I went walkies on Sunday with Coach Jen - 4 miles. Stopped on the way home at CVS to pick up a prescription for Larry Joe Cocker and they had a new sign-in screen gizmo at the counter. I typed in my name and birthdate as required and nothing showed even though they had called and said his script was ready. The screen said if nothing came up go to the drop-off window. So I did but that's like no man's land. One of the ladies finally had pity on me and got me hooked up. I just need to remember to type the dog's name in next time. However, I might just bypass the counter and use the drive-up instead. 

I got my blood draw yesterday that I wasn't able to get last week due to the storm damage. Had to check in at the kiosk there as well. That went pretty smooth because I had already checked in online prior to my first visit. But this is also the place that couldn't do any business because even though they had power, they were dependent on the internet for all transactions.

A couple of side notes: 

All the roundabouts that have been installed up there actually are a plus when the traffic lights are out. So that's a good thing. 

I picked up the spare tire kit for the wife's new car yesterday while I was out and topped off the tank. The station I stopped at usually has donuts, but the bakery is still out of power, which is not a good thing. Not that I need donuts, but since I had to fast for the blood draw a donut was sounding good.

The parts I ordered for the quick-change rear on the Jitney project showed up the other day - oil, gears, gasket and studs for mounting the brake backing plates. Need to get the trials bike buttoned up so I can get it out of the way and then get the car back in the queue. Hard to find the time right now with the mowing and weed control, cutting and splitting wood, doctor's appointments, and all the rest, but I'm doing a little something every day.

This & That

 

Here's the young man that was in the photo a few posts back that was sparring when I went to Indy with Coach Jen. He won a split decision in his bout in Texas and ended up with a title of some sor. Coach Jen didn't know exactly the belt they were fighting for, but he beat the hometown champ, so he must have fought well.

Speaking of Coach Jen, she's selling Earth Magic Body Potions now. All natural products for both men and women. I'm thinking about trying some of the beard oil. Check it out, or better yet, order a little something and help her out.

I went out to the shop Friday evening and found a bunch of torn up foam insulating board on the floor. Looking up there was no doubt where it came from - a new hole in the ceiling. It didn't take long for a raccoon to get in there after repairing it. I had set the live trap and sure enough, had a 'coon in the trap. I disposed of the varmint, so now I'll patch the hole and reset the trap after doing a little work to keep the trap anchored in place. I'll also once again walk around the building to see if I can figure out how they're getting in. 

A little more rain in the forecast for today and tomorrow. Looks to be dry and pleasant for at least seven days after that. Let's hope so. We don't need any more rain anywhere in the state now.