Threaded Things

 

Another piece for the lab tech's positioner. I ran a tap through the nuts and a hone through the bore. Whenever you weld a nut on, the weld causes the threads to tighten up. Chasing the threads with a tap takes care of that. Likewise, welding the nuts and the plates will cause some distortion on the pipe, the hone took care of that.

After cleaning up the piece for the positioner yesterday, I started making two more brackets for mounting the quick-change under the jitney. I got about halfway through the piece with the hole saw and then the arbor for the drill chuck broke. As you can see from the photo, the broken end is down in the chuck about 1/4" - deep enough I didn't want to risk screwing up the threads welding something on to the stub stuck down in there. I drilled a hole in it with a left-hand bit as the first step, hoping it would catch and back the stub out. Tried an Eazy-Out next. No luck there either. I finally put it back on the mill and very carefully opened up the hole with a milling cutter until there was just a paper-thin wall on the stub left in the hole and then ran a tap down in there and cleaned up the threads. So the chuck is OK, but I need to make another arbor. Not much to that, just another minor setback on the project list. 

Happy Easter!

Captain Hornblower

 

Surly found a horn for the jitney project. It would look pretty cool with the parts in the back painted up nicely and the trumpets brass or chrome. Still a long way to go before I need a horn but that thing is definitely unique.

I think my idea for the ladder rack on the trailer will work out just ducky. I can utilize the existing screws that fasten the sides to the radius piece that joins the sides to the roof, and then I can fasten the other part of the bracket to the top of the radius piece. I'm going to drill a hole through one of the holes in that part and see what's under there. There's a row of screws in line with the holes I drilled in the plate, so I'm hoping there's something solid there. If not, I can use some closed end blind rivets to fasten it down. I can then bolt the cross piece onto the plate. Not sure yet what I'm going to use for the cross piece - I need to see what the local steel supply has in stock. There won't be much weight up there - maybe four aluminum antennas. I'll run over there Monday morning and see what he's got and pick up some more of the 1/8" sheet to finish making the brackets.

My chest has been sore again. I ran a 7" hand grinder at work prepping a test plate and I've been sore for a couple of days. I thought I was over all of that but apparently that's not the case. I'm going to have to take it easy for a few days and hope I heal up. Time to get my girdle out again.

Trailer & Training Plans

 

Proof of concept for the trailer antenna rack. Making it one piece at a time until I know it's going to work, then seven more and the four cross pieces. Pain in the ass - not only trying to figure it all out but having to work on it outside while dealing with the April weather.

Things are starting to pile up now. Finish the trailer and trials bike, yardwork, household chores, school, gym, and start training for a bike ride coming up in about a month. The ride isn't too far off, and they have a 16, 32, and 63-mile ride. I'd like to be able to do the 32 miler. It wouldn't make much sense to drive there to just do the 16 mile ride. I'm going to start hitting the trainer down the basement and see just how out of shape I am and then decide if the 32 miler is feasible. If it doesn't work out, at least I'll be getting my legs and my cardio tuned up.

Getting Close

 

I got the rear wheel under the trials bike yesterday after polishing up the rear fender. The skid plate came in handy to keep the bike stabilized while working on it. When I finish up with the fork legs I can put the front end back on and I'll be ready to drop the engine in, hook up the shift linkage, install the wiring, and put some fuel in the tank. Should run after that.

I went to the ham radio club meeting last night and talked to the big boss man about the trailer project he wants done. I looked at the trailer the other day and I think I've got it figured out what I need to do. He's looking for a "ladder rack" on top to haul antennas when they're operating remotely. The tricky part will be mounting it securely. We'll see. I've got a month to figure it out before he's taking it on the road.

Bike & Hike

 

I went "walkies" with Coach Jen and a couple others yesterday. We put in almost 5 miles - Jen and I are planning on getting out on Sundays on a regular basis, as well as putting in some miles on the bicycles. I came home and worked on the bike a bit. I found some Ceriani stickers for the fork legs on Ebay so those are on order. 

I'll do a little more work on the fork legs today, maybe put the back wheel under it.

Good Day for Working

 

I was behind this old rust bucket GMC the other day with a cute little blond behind the wheel and had to smile. With the Hoosier Tire sticker in the back window, the truck could be hers, but she's probably some lucky young man's sweetie. Lawn mower and more in the back, gettin' it done on a nice spring day. My kind of woman.

Beautiful day yesterday. Worked in the shop for a bit and had the big door open. Hopefully I won't be running the heater again until late fall. I knocked out a couple things on the mill. The plate on the left will be two pieces used to mount the quick-change in the jitney. The one on the right is another piece for the lab tech at the college. This should be the last piece needing any machine work. Assembly should be straight forward welding. I'll give him a hand with whatever help he needs with that as well.

I started putting the trials bike back together and didn't get very far before running into a snag. When I finish welded the frame the side plates with the bosses for the swing arm pivots warped quite a bit. The alignment for the pivot bolt was off a little, but the real problem was the distance between them closed up to the point the swingarm no longer fit in the opening. After a little head scratching I decided the easiest fix was to knock the bushings out of the swing arm and face them off in the lathe. Worked,

but it took a little more persuasion to drive the pivot bolt in than I would have liked.

Mowed the front yard after that. The yard's a mess. Between the bare spots that were under the trees I had taken down last year and the mole infestation I'm going to have some work to do. 

Dogs, Welding and Arithmetic

National Pet Day today. I celebrated by taking Larry to the groomer - he showed his appreciation by shaking all the way there and then refusing to look at me on the ride home.

It's National Welding Month - I celebrated by getting a flash burn on my eyes at work the other night. One of the occupational hazards of working with a bunch of rookies. 

And speaking of rookies, many of the students I encounter at the college are stone cold rookies when it comes to being able to do math and/or read at anything close to grade level. I'm placing much of the blame for this on the schools. I taught 36 years at the high school level, 8 years at the community college level and I haven't seen any improvement in the student's abilities to read or do math problems typical of what is required for the trades since I started way back in 1976, but still they graduate from high school.

In Indiana, in order to graduate with the Core 40 diploma, you must take Algebra I & II and Geometry. Integrative Math I, II, and III can be substituted. I'm not familiar with Integrative Math, so I can't speak to that, but requiring two years of Algebra is pointless for the majority of people entering into the trades. It's bad enough they can't do simple math problems associated with a trade, but they don't seem to think it's an issue. And unfortunately, their reading skills aren't any better. However, there is hope for a solution, and it comes from Mississippi of all places. The Magnolia State has shown tremendous growth in their reading and math scores. Let's hope other states do something similar.

It's not just me