Mose & Me

 

I'm a big fan of Mose. Surly and I saw him at a club in Chicago a few years back - great show, we both got autographs. I had this CD but it got away along with several others of my favorites in a carrier I had in my car. I think it somehow got traded in when I got my Veloster. I bought a new MP3 player last week. I'm hoping I've got this one on the old computer. I'm going to start loading up the player in the next few days. I'm tired of having to stop what I'm doing to buzz through the ads on my phone when I'm listening to You Tube when I'm working.

Work progress has been slow, but I had an appointment with the money guy yesterday and a heart scan today, both of which were in the middle of the day, so not much time left for working and getting dirty. The money guy said I don't have to reserve a spot under the bridge for my cardboard box, so that's good news. Hopefully I get equally good results on the scan when I see the heart doc next week.

I was looking at the screen while the tech was administering the test but I have no idea what I was looking at. I just know it's cool how they can see inside your body and watch your heart beat and see the valves opening and closing.

I did manage to get the hoses connected to the pump and valve on the trailer job. I need to cut a pass-through hole in the back of the toolbox for the hose to the cylinder, then I can get the last hose I need. After that, get a battery and a switch for the solenoid and things should be operational. 

Lots of things still on the list, but it'll all fit on one sheet of paper now. I just wish the weather would stay like it has been for a while longer - maybe until April and then warm up a bit. I love autumn weather, just don't care for what follows. 

Lathe Progress

 I went out for breakfast with a former student yesterday - one from way in the past when I was at the Career Center. We had a really nice visit talking about the old days as well as what we're up to these days.

After I came home I made the piece for the basement lathe. There can't be more than a couple of thousands slack in it now, versus a 1/16" when I started. Next up will be the screw on the cross slide. It's a left-hand Acme thread which will be a real stretch of my machinist skills if I try to make one. However, Surly found a source for a piece of it and matching brass nuts. The end where the knob and dial fasten on would have to be modified, though. I'm going to take it all apart and come up with a plan. I've got a couple ideas already.

I'm going to a boxing match today, so no shop work. Pretty happy with the progress as of late, however. Definitely need to get the tractor running again - frost warnings last night. 

Happy birthday to Surly today!

Cheap Shot @ USPS

 

The boss from my old gig shot me a text about some more scrap he had, so I went over yesterday morning and picked it up. Cuzzin Ricky bought me lunch the other day for the last loads I brought him. I might be able to talk a breakfast out of him with this load. 

I worked on the trailer a bit yesterday. The floor of the toolbox is made from 1/8" sheet, so I made some backing plates to stiffen the pump and valve area. I got the holes drilled in the floor, but I want to paint the plates before I bolt everything down. I'll get that done today. After that, I need to crawl under the trailer and decide what I need to do to be able to hook up the hose to the cylinder. My neighbor said he'd come over and lift the bed up for me if I needed. In fact, while I was out, I stopped there to take a look at a welding job he needs done. A new aluminum radiator has a leak around the filler neck where it joins the tank. Should be easy enough.

I'm planning on unboxing the radiator for the Allis today and decide my plan of attack on that job. I definitely need to get that done before the snow flies. I got a nasty-gram from the mailman last winter when I didn't have the snow plowed in front of the mailboxes. Normally I'm all over that but it happened when the Allis was down for repairs and I had the heart attack. I figured the mailman could've just driven right by. After all, that's what he did Monday and Tuesday when the sun was shining and it was 88 degrees. After all: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" My ass.

Steady by Jerks

 

'68 Sportster - the one I always wanted. I saw this one on a Facebook group I belong to. The owner must be about the same age as I am - bought one similar in'68, got called up in '69, so sold the bike. Decided he needed one like he had but most of them were chopped or beat to death, finally ended up with this one. You can go home again.

Got a decent start on rigging up the hydraulics on the dump trailer yesterday. I rode my bicycle to the auto parts store for a couple of fittings, then rode over to the plumbing supply and got a couple of pipe fittings and put another mile or so in on my way home. I worked up a pretty good sweat and was thinking I need to get more cardio. Come to find out it was close to 90 degrees and sunny which explained the sweat - still could use some more cardio just the same.

The yellow plug on the valve is the outlet to the cylinder. I've got the fittings for that already. Next up I'll bolt the pump unit and valve in place and then work on getting a hose to that. It's a single acting cylinder, so only one hose required.

I got a coat of varnish on the picture frame yesterday, I'll get a second coat on it Thursday. In the meantime, I'll get the glass for it. 

The radiator for old Allis showed up yesterday. It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow on and off, so I'll work on the trailer and tractor in the big barn. I've also got another load of scrap to pick up at my old gig. I'll get that today, rain permitting. 

Tractor, Trailer & More

 

Checked all the fluids in the Allis the other day and I was surprised the radiator was low. It was topped off after the mechanic finished the cylinder head repair. I had patched the radiator while it was apart, pressure tested it, and the mechanic had run it a bit with no evidence of a leak. But after running it down the lane, it was leaking again. I decided to give up on repairing it, bit the bullet and ordered a new one. The tractor's 74 years old, after all. I ordered online from Steiner yesterday morning and it should be here today. That's what I call service. 

 Making a frame for my vision board. I'd never even heard of such a thing until recently. Coach Jen steered me in that direction after one of our conversations about what I should be doing to get a few more good years. I set my target at 90 - might be a little optimistic, but that's the whole point. In the photo, the frame hadn't been glued together yet, by the way.

I've been doing a little work on my dump trailer also. I built it at the high school, but I didn't get the hydraulics hooked up due to having the heart attack. I need to get some hose fittings and then I can figure out the best placement for the pump and valve. I also need to do something with the cylinder, which has been the hold-up on the operation. I can't get a hose to the inlet, so I need to take the cylinder apart and rotate it 90 degrees or cut away a bit of the frame. I'll crawl underneath there one of these days and take a good look at things and decide what I need to do. 

 

Sunday Recap

 

The weather has been great lately - so nice in fact it's confused the crabapple tree. There are quite a few blossoms on the tree even though most of the leaves have already fallen. It didn't produce any fruit this year, likewise neither did the other apples, and only a few peaches also. The persimmons have some fruit. Hopefully, I'll have enough fruit to make a couple of loaves of persimmon bread.

The shiny gas cap showed up late Friday evening along with the piece of brass for the basement lathe project. I've still got some paint left from painting the gas tank, so I think I'll paint the top of the intake snout. 

The brass rod is about .004" oversize, so I'll have to turn the OD a skootch when I've got it in the lathe. When I get that done, I'm going to try and tackle making a new screw for the cross slide. It's a left-hand Acme thread, something that's going to be a stretch for my ability as a lathe operator. I've cut many a thread before - metric, standard, right-hand, left-hand, and Whitworth, but never an Acme. First time for everything, though.

 And from the what in the hell was I thinking files, I went to the storage space the other day to drop something off, and when I came around the corner to leave, this chair was sitting out in the gravel. I liked the look of it but kept going. Later, when I took the cleaning lady home, we stopped to take a good look at it. All oak, no loose joints and it was originally finished with shellac, which comes right off just by rubbing a piece of sandpaper across it. The cleaning lady said I should take it home, so we loaded it up. I've got no idea what I'm going to do with it, but the cleaning lady and I will get it restored and she can put it in her hope chest if nothing else.

I did a little plumbing job for my sister-in-law yesterday morning, sharpened the spare mower blades, installed them and then cut the front yard in the afternoon. I'm waiting to hear about walking this afternoon. Depending on how that goes, mowing, machining or both.

Odds & Sods

It doesn't look like much more than a small pile of gravel, but it's actually a small scale dry well. Since the reason I replaced the man door on the barn was due to the bottom rusting away, I didn't want the same thing to happen to the new one. Yesterday I dug a hole at the mid-point between the posts and planted a two-gallon bucket in the hole. I drilled some holes in the bottom of the bucket so the water could escape first. I also sloped the dirt so the water would head for the bucket, as well as skimming a couple of inches off the dirt outside the door to create a spot for the gravel. After it gets rained on a few times, I level it out a bit more if needed.

I also painted the gas tank on the Allis yesterday. I put another coat on after the photo so the "Zebra stripes" like you can see on the battery box are gone. And from the lipstick on a pig department, I ordered a shiny new gas cap - should be here tomorrow. I still need to check the fluids and charge the battery, but I should be ready for the first snowfall whenever that comes.

The screw for the compound on the basement lathe. There was a lot of slack when moving the tool post in and out but a 1/4" SAE washer between the handle and the dial took care of most of that. The threads on the brass piece, however, are worn out. The thread size is 1/4-20, and the OD on the part is 1/2", so I ordered a piece of stock - won't take long to make the new piece. I want to get the lathe functional before the weather turns cold. I've got a couple of projects in the basement shop that have been languishing for too long. They're nothing important really, just another loose end I'm trying to tie up. Plus, it beats sitting in the recliner all evening.

Praying Mantis on the inside of the screen the other morning. Depending on how the storm and screen doors are situated, bugs can get between them. I opened the screen door a few inches and closed the storm door and it escaped. Very interesting looking creatures. I see one around here maybe once every couple of years. 

Long list of things to do today - pretty sure the highlight of the day is going to be a tenderloin for lunch.