It's a start - a couple of pieces for the sheet metal roller I'm going to make. I've got a couple of other pieces gathered up also. I need to make a trip to Tractor Supply and see if they have the hubs, bushings and sprockets I need. If not, I should be able to order those items from MSC. I'm planning on building it over vacation between spring and summer sessions at the college. I should be able to complete it then as long as I have most of the parts in house. With a roller I should have most all the equipment I need to do motorcycle and automobile sheet metal work. I'm thinking about buying a plasma cutter but I've got ways to shear sheet metal and saw or flame cut heavier material.
I got my peppers and my tomatoes planted the other day along with some glad bulbs and a couple more lilies behind the house. The pepper plants in the photo are a couple extras I planted on the south side of the shop. I need to trim back a tree so they'll get more sun yet and I still need to get a few other things planted but things like radishes and carrots I stagger the plantings anyway. Not sure what else I'm going to try and get in - cucumbers for sure. I'll decide when I go to TSC for the roller parts and peruse the seed rack.
I got the shop racoon proofed. At least I think I did. Doesn't look like there's been any more activity in there. I've still got a lot of cleaning up to do. I'll probably have to take some of the ceiling sheets down and replace them. I'll also have to decide what I'm going to do with some of the things the raccoon pooped on. Probably end up just tossing most everything. Time to start down-sizing anyway.
And one last item that points to how far we've fallen when it comes to using our prehensile thumbs: I was working in the lab and I observed a couple of the machining students using a hack saw. The project requires a stud to be threaded into a block of steel and then trimmed off to a specific length. The instructor has them thread a bolt into the block, cut the head off with the hacksaw and then mill the stud to the proper length. Simple enough but it was quite obvious that several of them had never used a hacksaw before. The saw was going every which way - one guy was even sawing using only one hand. There was nothing wrong with his other hand. I guess he figured it just wasn't worth the effort to use both of his hands. If what separates us from the apes is the ability to use tools, we might want to bring back shop class to get these boys an opportunity to learn how to use basic hand tools.
Those boys could learn a few things from Primitive Pete like I did back in the day.
2 comments:
60-80 strokes per minute. That's what I learned in High School.
Everyone should learn that in high school.
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