The Choppy Right Ended His Night!

 

I got a message from Bazooka Joe a couple of nights ago thanking me for working on a choppy right hand with him. Because Joe's tall, it's a good punch for him for when a shorter fighter tries to close the gap, especially since Joe has a lot of power in the right hand. That was the punch that did it for him.

A couple of shots of the finished steering wheel to quick disconnect adaptor. I'm not really a machinist but I've done enough on the lathe and mill to know my way around as long as you're not in a hurry. Pretty happy with how this one turned out.

I did run into a couple of snags. I couldn't get the center drill or the countersink close enough to the piece without running into interference with the chuck and the tapered part of the piece. I made an extension with the center drill on one end and the countersink on the other. It's made from 1/2" cold rolled that I put in a collet on the lathe to drill and ream the end for the countersink and then flipped it around and drilled to depth with a slightly smaller drill bit and then used the actual center drill to finish drilling it out to size. I drilled and tapped both ends for 8-32 set screws and I was in business. I should have made something like this years ago - not the first time I've run into this problem.

When getting the spacer head set up I zeroed the center and then moved it over 7/8" to get it on the proper bolt circle diameter. Since there's some slack in the table and I don't have readouts on the mill, I was going to mount a dial indicator to measure the movement so I'd be sure to get back to my zero after milling the clearance slots but the plunger on my dial indicator wouldn't move freely. I took it apart and gave it a little lube, which helped a little but I think it might have gotten dropped and the plunger got bent a wee bit. It's not a real expensive one, so I think it's time to get a new one and see what else I need and place an order.

Now that the quick disconnect is finished, time to move on. Not sure what's next but no shortage of things to do.

Praying Mantis & Steering Wheel Progress

 

I was leaving yesterday to go walk and I saw this Praying Mantis on the door. This is a photo taken from the inside of the house looking out - belly-eye view as it were.

I wasn't sure if it would still be on the door after I opened it but it was, so I got a photo of it from the top side as well. Crazy looking things.

The item on the left in the photo is the adaptor to mount the quick disconnect to the steering wheel. It looks fairly simple but there are three different diameters, three different lengths and the one diameter is tapered which makes figuring the length a bit tricky. I still need to cut a keyway in it and drill it for the mounting bolts on the quick disconnect. I've got an old steering wheel with a three hole mounting but I don't think that's going to be the diameter of the bolt circle on the quick disconnect. The wheel has a bolt circle of about 2-1/16" but Grant steering wheels which are probably the most common are 1-3/4" I think. The quick disconnect should be here today, so I'm hoping to get it finished today once I know for sure the bolt circle.

The item on the right is a piece that goes into the middle of the steering wheel where a horn button would normally go. The hole in the middle will accommodate a stainless button head screw. That will pull the adaptor up into the taper on the hub. 

Looks pretty good dropped into the hub. About the only thing left on the steering is to actually figure out how to get from the steering wheel to the steering box. That'll keep me thinking for a while. I'm also thinking I should have a spinner/brody knob on the steering wheel. The width of the rim and spokes might mean I'll have to make my own but that should be easy enough. I've got one on the old Allis I can use for a model.

Lots left to do but if I continue to keep pecking away at it, the jitney should be a runner next summer.

Bazooka Time & More

 

Dashboard on a '27 Caddy - gorgeous no doubt - but check out the shifter knob. Just like the one I got for the jitney.

The grill insert on this old Maserati is what I'm looking for on the jitney - be nice if I could find a similar item in brass. Both photos from here.

I mowed the front yard on Thursday evening and the mower worked just fine. I went out to mow the back yard on Friday and nothing, not so much as a click. I put the jumper cables from the battery directly to the starter to by pass all the electrical stuff but nothing. Since the battery appeared completely dead, I put the charger on it but it wouldn't take a charge. I put a new battery in it Saturday morning and it's all good once again. I found it strange that it died without any warning. It's not unusual for those small lawn and garden batteries to quit taking a charge but rare that they just die.

While mowing the back I noticed the seed pods on the Big Leaf Magnolia were ripe and opening up. I'd like to get a couple of the seeds to sprout and then get them planted. They're a cool looking tree.

The hub on the jitney steering wheel had a chunk of something inside it when I got it. I knocked it out of there and saw that the hole in the hub is tapered. I measured the two diameters and the length, did a little trig and came up with a number and double checked the angle with a protractor. It worked out to 2 degrees so I made a practice piece to check the angle and the fit. The angle was correct right off the bat but I had to take a few tickle cuts to come up with the correct length. I've  got a piece of stock that's about the right size to make the adaptor. I gave it some thought yesterday on how to chuck it and figure out my sequence of operations. I think I've got it figured out - I'll know soon enough. 

The quick disconnect hub should be here on Wednesday. I also ordered my rear tires - they're on back order until the end of November. They require tubes, so I'm going to check with the tire shop about the availability of those. I don't want to wait until November to find out I'll have to wait on tubes. I'll get a pair of those and have them on hand for when the tires show up, hopefully.

It was a big week for boxing. PBS had a documentary about Mohammed Ali that was nicely done. The man was no saint but he was one helluva boxer. He fought some of the best and the three bouts with Frazier were some of the best fights of all time. 

The movie Raging Bull was on the television this past week as well. I'd never seen the movie even though it's been around for a long time. I was thinking it was more a boxing movie rather than the bio of the psychotic LaMotta. Glad I watched it but I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

And finally, Bazooka Joe fought and won last night out in Iowa. 2nd round KO. I'm real happy for him. Wish I could have been there to see it. 

Pinholes, Trans Mounts and Steering Disconnects

 

While cleaning and sorting I came across one of the pinhole cameras I've made over the years. This one was made from a 10# welding rod can that I cut off and then ran through the beading and crimping roll so the lid would fit again. The inside is painted flat black, the outside I sprayed with some metallic silver I had laying around. The pinhole is under the sticker I put on to keep paint out of the pinhole. I usually just use a bit of black electrical tape for a shutter. My "film" is a piece of printing paper cut to fit in the can. I don't remember the size of the hole I drilled in the can which will cause a bit of a problem determining the exposure time. I've got a chart of exposure times for various pinhole diameters. I'll see if I can come up with the diameter and then cut some paper up and try taking a couple of pics.

The shifter mount came in yesterday - about a week earlier than expected. Looks like it'll work out just dandy except the hole in the arm on the side of the shifter is too small for the bolt that fastens the linkage to it. Drilling the hole out is no biggie, I was just surprised that it would be necessary.

I took a longer look at the new steering wheel yesterday. I'm going to get a quick release hub to make getting in and out of the car easier. 

It's going to take a bit of machine work to get it to fit the wheel since the wheel wasn't made to bolt on with the standard three hole mounting. I made a quick sketch with some rough dimensions and I think I've got it figured out.

I picked up a job for the side hustle yesterday morning and started on it. I did a similar job a couple of years ago. It took me a bit to figure the first one out but since I've already made one, this should go quick. 

I put the second coat of stain on the picture frame - looks pretty good. The wood was chosen strictly by price. Rather than cutting down a piece of construction lumber, I bought two pieces of aspen. I've never used aspen for anything before. It's extremely white without any finish on it but it looks nice with the two coats of maple combined stain & varnish. The stain brought out the grain in the wood and it was quite a bit cheaper than one of the hardwoods. I still need to get a piece of glass and either buy or make a hanger for the back.  

New Wheel

 

I'm making a picture frame to display some of my photos out in the woodshop. Nothing fancy but one of the little things on the long list of things on the want rather than need list. I'd like to do some more black & white photo work one of these days. It's been a while. Need to get out and shoot some film and see what I can do in the darkroom this winter.

I picked up a steering wheel for the jitney yesterday from my buddy Don who's building his own hot rod at the present time. He's got every thing trial fit and now he's finish welding the frame and getting ready to get it sandblasted and powder coated. It's going to be a nice ride. 

The wheel is large in diameter, so I need to figure out where I need to mount it in the cab. I held it in place after bringing it home and I may need to move the back of the cab back a couple of inches. I'll figure out where I want the wheel and start positioning everything else where they should be. The wheel's going to look good on this rig.

What Is Truth?

 

From Here

I ran across this the other day - it's been a while since I've seen it. And of course, it reminded me of this:

Which brings me to the fact that there's a whole lot of people in important positions that are "flukes of the universe". A bunch of chuckleheads who don't know if their ass is punched or bored feeding us all a load of crap about a pandemic. If it truly was a pandemic, they would close the border to prevent any infected people bringing more disease in with them. And as if that's not bad enough, they load them up on busses and send them all over the country. And if it truly was a pandemic, they would use any treatment available to knock this thing down. Instead they're going to force everyone to get shots from now until forever apparently.  

What is truth? Who the hell knows anymore. It's hard to believe that Biden not only is going to force people to decide between their lively hood or their health, further destroying the economy, but he's going to withhold a proven treatment from a few of the southern states on the pretext that it needs to be allocated to more of the states. From my point of view it looks like he just wants to punish DeSantis. 

Again, if it truly was a pandemic, they would be doing everything possible to get this cleared up instead of playing politics. The truth will come out some day but it will be too late for a lot of people unfortunately. I personally am tired of the whole affair. This is not how I planned on spending my golden years.

It's officially the start of Autumn, (old people try to avoid the word fall). Even though I didn't go much of anyplace this summer, the time flew by just the same. We've got about two months before it gets really cold but it won't take long to get things ready for winter. I'll get started on that in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, just keep on keepin' on.

 

Birthday, Bicycles and More

It's Sophia's birthday today. One of the classic beauties of my age - or any age I'd wager.

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I've rung up another couple hundred miles on the bike since I accidently reset the odometer. I've got another three weeks to ride until the 50 miler. I'm plenty ready - just don't want to lose my fitness level at this point. I rode an easy seven yesterday morning and walked three later in the day. 

I was watching Jeopardy the other day and like always I wondered how my education had so many gaps in it that I can't answer many of the questions but then two of the categories that came up were boxing and motorcycles. All three of the smarty-pants contestants couldn't answer some of the questions but I could have run the table on those two categories. I guess that explains what I was doing when I could have been reading Shakespeare.

I spent a little time in the shop yesterday but mostly doing cleaning and organizing. I need things straightened up so I've got room to work around the bead roller to get started on the sheet metal on the cab. I've been thinking about hooking up the steering on the jitney. I need to consider a couple more things first but there may be some bevel gears in my future. 

Speedway Motors sells a thing called Steer Clear that would make hooking up the steering relatively easy. It comes in several lengths but it's also over $600.00. I'm going to see if I can devise something on my own that will accomplish the same thing but at a much lower cost. 

Meanwhile, I've got a couple more things to finish on the clean-up detail and then back on the jitney or Rickati.