Easter

 

He is Risen!

Why Don't You Do Right

 

I've always liked Peggy Lee. She was a contemporary of my dad and was on the television and radio quite a bit when I was growing up. In addition to being an extremely popular singer, she was an actress and a prolific song writer. Her maiden name was Norma Egstrom but her father's family name was Ekstrom. Coincidentally, I've got an Ekstrom in my family history. 

Since I've again been working on the family history, I've been able to add several more generations across both my family tree and the wife's. I've got all of that entered into the computer program but I need to add it to my master genealogy chart and then type up an insert for my records and to have for anyone else that might be interested.

I received a call from the tax lady in need of a bit more information. The Missus and I were working on that when I got a call from Jimmy from the boxing gym's dad. He had a couple of truck wheels with some rust holes in them he wanted brazed up. Since it was a nice day and it didn't seem like it was going to hurt my chest, I told him to bring them over. The first thing I noticed when I went out to the shop was evidence of a raccoon having been present. After a bit of coon cleanup, I brazed up the wheels. 

Jimmy's dad is a few years older than I am but we both enjoy working and staying active. I always enjoy talking shop and comparing notes with him on our medical issues. 

I'm going to get the trap baited again for the raccoon. If I catch him, I'll have to have someone else bring the trap down from the attic. Bringing the trap down with a raccoon moving around in it is hard enough when I'm healthy. Not a good idea with my bad chest.

Is That All There Is?

 

I'm thinking right now that's about all I want. I went to the retina specialist yesterday morning to see what's going on with my eye. Seems I've got macular pucker - that's a new one on me. No definitive reason for it to happen, other than old age in my case. Regardless, it's here. He says we wait and see. If it gets worse, the only option is surgery.

Back to the family doctor in the afternoon. One more test to see if we can figure out the cause of the chest thing. I'm going to call this morning to make the appointment. Running out of diagnostic tools. 

The steel order came in yesterday. I might get started on making the tool to cut the splines today, but I've got to finish up the carts for the CSA as well. I should try and get those finished soon. I should be able to handle them without too much pain. I also need to quote another job for the CSA. I should get that taken care of soon, as well.

I've been doing some updating on the family history. Cuzzin Ricky and I might have to do a road trip in search of dead relatives. We walked a cemetery years ago looking for a couple of relatives without any success. However, I've now found out the one lady had remarried after her first husband had passed away, so we were looking for the wrong surname on the stone. I did a 5k not too far from there last summer and made a detour on the way home to stop at the town's other cemetery to photograph some markers. I tried loading them into the family tree on Ancestry but I couldn't get them to load. Have to work on that again. 

When Did I Get Old?

 

Don't know if I can pin down to an exact date, but it's definitely here now. Seems like having gotten older isn't as much of a problem as some of the dumb things I've done over the years.

I can relate to this one:

Yep, road hard and put away wet. Tuesday I've got appointments with the eye doctor and the family doctor. Regardless of the outcome from the eye doctor, definitely need to get to the bottom of the chest thing.

I did start on the shift lever Friday - got a piece clamped onto the rotary table and drilled the center hole. Looked for the tool to cut in the splines but couldn't find it. Not too surprising, since I only used it to make two parts and that was around 30 years ago. Plus, I've moved since then. The place I order my steel from had a special discount shipping price, so I ordered a piece of O1 tool steel and a couple of other pieces of lathe stock. When that comes in I'll make myself a new tool for cutting the splines and see if I can make a shift lever or two.

Still Stymied

 The results of the MRI on my chest came back - no help. Still hurts, though. The doctor's office said they were going to send me to "ortho" for a steroid shot. They couldn't tell me when or where when I talked to the nurse on the phone. Just that I'd be getting a phone call in a week or two. Not really what I wanted to hear. I'm not sure what my next step is going to be but I think I've pinpointed the problem. I just need to find a doctor/surgeon who can repair the torn muscle.

Meanwhile back at the shack, not much going on. The weather turned cold again so I didn't feel like warming up the shop for just a short session so I've been taking care of some small chores and errands and spending time in the recliner feeling sorry for myself. If I can't get the chest repaired, I'm going to have to think about selling the place and moving to town. Not a pleasant thought.

I'm going to make a couple of calls to see about finding a doctor who can affect a repair and work on a plan to start getting rid of some of my junk. One way or the other, it'll all work out.

Welding Razor Blades

 

The grandson came down yesterday to try something he had seen on a welding video: stick welding razor blades together. He bought some 1/16" E-6013 rods and some razor knife blades and gave it a try. This was his best effort. Ain't very pretty but it's stuck. This is something I've never tried but having done all kinds of welding on all kinds of things, I'm not sure I could do any better. 

He seems to be enjoying his time at the college - got good grades the first 8 week session and starts again tonight. One of the classes he's signed up for is the one I just finished teaching. He's planning on taking the online class but I don't know how that's going to work out. I'm going to talk to the boss and see if there has been any improvement. If not, I can help him with it. One of my objections to online classes is there is no way of telling who is actually taking the class. I used to have my wife type my papers for me. Now she could take the online class while I was at work. Yes, I wouldn't have learned anything but I would've gotten a decent grade and finished my degree objective just that much quicker.

While the grandson was welding, I cleaned up the mill and the lathe and then bolted down the rotary table. It's centered up within a half-thousandth. That should be close enough for the girls I run with. Maybe look for the cutting bit today and if I find it start making a shift lever.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

 

Wishing you all a happy St. Paddy's Day with a couple of Irish rockers. Unfortunately, Gallagher and Phil Lynott, the lead singer for Thin Lizzie, both died way too young. Gallagher at 47, Lynott at 36. I listen to quite a bit of Irish music on late night radio, but it's usually the more traditional folk tunes. I sure wouldn't mind going back to Ireland again but I think my days of international travel are behind me. 

I got the MRI done yesterday. It went well other than I had to lay on my stomach for the test. My chest was hurting by the time the test was done and I had a headache afterwards but it was worth it to, hopefully, identify the problem. The technician said I did a good job holding still and the "pictures" came out well. I should be hearing from the doctor Monday or Tuesday. Here's hoping.

Centering Gizmo

 

I got a chuckle out of that one. MRI today - hoping the results will give me something to, maybe not chuckle about, but lead to some relief.

For the few of you who follow along on the blog and the social media platform that starts with an F, I've given up on that one. I posted a photo of the Missus on our anniversary along with a little dialogue to go with the photo and a couple of days later, the picture was still there but the dialog had disappeared. I wrote another post when I discovered it was missing and when I hit the post button a message came up that my post had to run through a filter. So, on my timeline now it shows a post with nothing there. I don't know what would have prompted this treatment but it's their game, their rules. I lived without it for close to 70 years. I can run out the rest of the clock without it.

Surly sent me a couple of links for a piece like I was talking about making in the last post, however, I had mine done by the time I got the message. Since I had a short piece of aluminum just about perfect for the job, it only took me about an hour to make. My math was right on the money, but since I don't have a taper attachment on the lathe I had to set the compound. My initial angle was real close but off just enough I had to make a small adjustment. Fits nice and snug in the taper of the rotary table, I've got a center in the top of it, and I've got a surface that is concentric with the taper so I can indicate off of it.

Right now I can do little jobs like this and long as I don't spend too much time bent over. Next step is to get the rotary table bolted down and centered on the spindle.

Mechanical Design

 

We're liable to find out just how important it is to have builders and fixers in just a short time from now. There's buzz about nuclear attacks, I just read something about an EMP weapon circling the earth and, of course, the invasion of foreign military age "newcomers".  Me, I'm not going to be able to do much building of any kind until I get my chest fixed.

Because of that, no building yesterday but I did run some errands, dropped the taxes off and did a little shop math. The rotary table has a Morse taper #2 hole in the center of it. A #2 Morse taper is .04995 taper per inch. Knowing that I drew out a little triangle and used the tangent formula to solve for the angle. 

I want to make a little gizmo I can drop in the hole to allow me to center the rotary table under the mill spindle easily. I'm thinking a piece with the Morse taper on one end and a center hole on the other would work. Maybe drill and tap a small hole in the center to have something to grab after getting it centered on the mill. I've got an edge/center finder bit that would make it easy to get my set-up. Maybe make the end with the center fairly large in diameter so I could run an indicator around it and I'd have no need for the drilled and tapped hole. I'll see what I've got in the aluminum inventory and make something up. 

More Rotary Table

 

The Missus had an early morning doctor's appointment that was about an hour away yesterday. By the time we got home and I had my breakfast, the morning was pretty well shot. Like most days lately, however, I've been trying to get a little something done every afternoon. I machined up a little stop plate for the rotary table to insure the shift levers will be located over the center hole in the table. I can now unbolt the vise and bolt the rotary table to the mill table and get it centered up under the spindle.

I still need to look for the tool bit I need or make a new one as need be. 

I felt pretty good while I was out in the shop - no chest pain - but later on that evening it hit me. Only a couple more days until the MRI. I sure as hell hope they find something that's repairable. In the meantime, I'll continue working on making a couple of shift levers for old Ducati singles.

Fifty-Three and Counting

 

Song by one of my favorite artists for my favorite girl. Anniversary today - 53 years for the Missus and I. Hoping we can stay healthy enough to get quite a few more under our belts. Which brings us to the "Hag".

We're at the "looking back" stage now, and it was fun. Not always of course. Lots of ups and downs in 53 years of marriage but if it was easy, anybody could do it.

And since I've known the old girl since we were both 16, this one seems like it was made for us. 

Happy anniversary Baby!

Spending Money Like the Government

 

I came across Robert Kennedy Jr.'s answer to the State of the Union address. I don't usually get too involved with politics, mostly because at this point I think the country is beyond redemption. However, Kennedy's speech is a good one. It's nine minutes long and worth watching. Help you find out what condition our condition is in.

I've been a fan of Jaguars ever since I saw my first XKE. I had a chance to buy one I could afford once, but that was only because it was in really rough shape. Now if I could buy one, I'd want one already restored and ready to go. Which means I'll never be able to afford one now unless I hit the lottery. However, I splurged a little and bought myself a book, and it's a dandy. Lots of photos and well researched history about a company that got its start making motorcycle sidecars.

The power feed for the milling machine came Friday. It'll have to stay in the box for a while until I get the chest fixed or else get Surly and the boys here to do the install. I want to change out the lead screws on both the X and Y axis, so it'll take some muscle and some mechanical know-how. The mill has an oiling system on it but it's plugged up somewhere. Need to get that fixed at the same time. Clean it up and repaint it also. Now, though, I'm going to take the vise off and mount and center the rotary table. Time to make a shift lever or two.

Shimmy

 I listen to a jazz station from Waterford, Ireland on Radio Garden occasionally. It's almost always late at night when I can't sleep because I fell asleep earlier in the recliner. They play an excellent selection of jazz recordings - some of it's a bit too avant-garde for my taste, but overall, good stuff. This one was on the other night - at least I think this was the version. If not, close enough for the girls I run with.

I've been thinking about what the future will hold for me if I can't get the chest ailment figured out. I finished the box for the rotary table, did some household chores and threw a frozen pizza in the oven and was sore as hell later on that evening. Starting to wear on me.

Box is done, though. Nothing fancy but it should do the trick. The plastic box on the lid is an assortment of wood screws I bought. There aren't any short #8 screws in it, so I need to get a packet of those. No matter how much stuff you have, seems you're always short something when you're making or repairing a project. 

I've got a couple of woodshop projects I want to tackle while I'm on light duty in addition to the shift lever. Going to start on the shift lever and one of the wood projects this week. Just need to remember to take it easy.

Jobs

 

I picked up my veggies from the CSA yesterday and a bit of work as well. The three little single wheel carts need a 12" extension on the handles. Not much to that, however, he asked me about making a cart like in the top photo. It's all aluminum and it would need to be wider than the one in the photo. I've got a spool gun set up for welding aluminum. I haven't used it in years but that'd be the only way to weld it together. Way too much time if I had to TIG weld it. I'll get a price on the tube and see where we're at. That alone might scare him off. Depending on what the MRI on the chest shows, I may or may not be able to do anything on the aluminum cart anyway.

I got the first coat of varnish on the rotary table box. As long as it warms up a bit today, I'll get the second coat on it and then get the hardware on it tomorrow.

Yabba-Dabba-Do

 

I've been listening to the soundtrack of Ken Burns Country Music history and there's a George Jones track on it. It's not this one, but this one's one of my favorites. And the nice thing about having your music on a CD, it's always more reliable than Ol' George hisself was.

The tee slot nuts came Tuesday for the rotary table. I had one more piece I needed to glue up on the box, so I took care of that yesterday. I'll put the hardware on the box today, remove it and then put the first coat of spar varnish on. It'll take a couple of days for that but it's warm enough out in the wood shop at least.

I'm unemployed once again - finished my class up on Tuesday evening. I still need to post the grades but that won't take long. Not sure what the future holds for me there. The boss man said he'd be in touch. Won't be anything until the fall semester for sure. The extra money's nice and getting out of the house is good, as well. I like hanging out in the shop. Nice environment and my co-workers are all straight up folks.

The agenda currently is taxes, shift levers and some reading. Nothing that will cause me any pain. Except the taxes, that always causes me great pain. 

Magnolia, Jersey & a Box

The unseasonably warm weather has the plants and trees popping out rather early. The magnolia in the front yard has a blossom on it already. I just hope we don't get a freeze that upsets the budding process on the ornamental and fruit trees.

My new bike jersey arrived from New Zealand yesterday. They make these up on a custom basis, so it takes a while to get it made and a while to get it shipped and through customs. I ordered it prior to the chest injury. If I knew I was going to encounter that problem, I wouldn't have ordered it. As it is, I need to quit eating so the thing will still fit me if I ever get back on the bike. 

I went to the hardware store yesterday to get a pair of hinges and a hasp. The battery on the cordless drill ran out of charge or I would have had the hardware installed. The paper pattern on the lid is to make up some corner brackets for the bottom four corners. I'll make those out of some thin sheet and TIG the seam together. I need to get a couple of handles yet for the side of the box, but I can get those on any time after I sand the box and apply the finish.

The tee slot nuts for the rotary table should be arriving today. When those come in I can actually start on making parts and have the box finished by the time the levers are finished, if all goes according to plan that is. 

 

Rotary Table Box

I cut out the pieces for the rotary table box yesterday. I'll get the bottom and sides nailed together today and see about cutting and installing the filler pieces I need to raise the table up to clear the hand wheel. I'm taking it easy and just doing a little bit at a time. No need to get in a hurry on anything until I find out what's ailing me. It'll definitely be time to crank it up later on. 

I ordered some tee slot nuts to fit the slots on the table. I'll need them to hold the shift lever down and for most every other job I might use the table for.

Nothing much else on the agenda today. The March and April calendars are starting to fill up fast - doctor's visits, Golden Gloves and the Shell high mileage contest for sure. Don't know about the chest. I'll have to wait on the MRI for that.

 

Helicopter Spotting

 

When I was coming home from the dentist the other day, the highway was down to one lane. I've got no idea what exactly they were doing but I was surprised to see a small helicopter out there. It appeared they were fastening an aluminum platform of some sort to the bottom of it. Interesting, to be sure.

A couple of warm days again following the warmest February on record. It's supposed to be in the seventies again today but windy. I went out.to the woodshop to get an idea about making a case for the rotary table - looks like I've got some scrap wood suitable for the purpose. I might put my "girdle" on and cut some pieces. I need to see if I can find a couple of small tee slot nuts to fit the slots on the table. I think I've got a couple but couldn't find them yesterday but I didn't look real hard. I'll search a little deeper and if I can't find them, get a few ordered in. I'm going to need them to hold the shift lever to the table.

While I'm waiting to get the MRI and finding out what I can do to get the chest fixed, I'm going to start a serious campaign to get rid of things. If you're looking for a Rickman 125 Zundapp gas tank or 25 years of Wooden Boat magazines, I'm your man. I've got a pretty good technical library as well, even after giving a bunch of welding books away a few years back. 2024 needs to be the year of downsizing. 

Minutes, Seconds & Music

 

I came home from getting my toofus worked on, got my Machinery's Handbook out of the shop, ate some brunch and then took a little nap - not used to getting up at 5:30 these days. About the time I was going to start looking for some info on converting decimal degrees into minutes and seconds, Surly contacted me with the breakdown I was looking for. He said he was listening to Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan while figuring things out and suggested I do the same.

Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan originally was Ask Rufus. Chaka Khan joined the band and TVI and I saw her at Indiana Beach in Monticello, Indiana about 1972, probably one of her first performances with the band. Anyway, I've taken Surly's suggestion and now we all can listen to some funky soul music.

Even though Surly was kind enough to find my numbers for me, I decided to satisfy my curiosity and check the handbooks for the info. The 23rd edition had the formula to convert decimal degrees to Minutes and seconds, the older 14th edition has a table with portions of degrees to minutes. The minute listings did not show seconds, but did have the minute listing subdivided into quarter, half and three-quarter. 

The Machinery's Handbook is still available in hard copy and digital. The hardcopy retails for $169.99. Surprisingly enough, I saw a reprint of the 14th edition available from Wal-Mart for $80.00. Can't imagine that being a big seller, but there is wealth of information in the book.

The middle book in the photo is a Smoley's book. One of the tables is for finding angles used in structural steel layout and other construction methods. On structural blueprints, angles are often given as a slope to facilitate layout using a framing square. I've done plenty of layout work over the years but never did much of the figuring required to come up with the necessary slope. With most of what I do I can use a protractor to layout my parts - makes it easy to set the saw to the proper angle and hold the parts at the proper angle when tack welding them together.