so waht ya doin today?
- Thread starter fiver
- Start date
Just made my bi-annual attempts to join the Doubleguns BBS and the Shiloh Rifle Forums. It's a hobby, kinda like buying lottery tickets. I don't expect to "win" but it is nice to think about. Seriously considered buying a Shiloh, but I fear their CS might parallel their forum management.
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Yep, wouldn't have one, neither . . . but . . . my wife insists, and I carry. I don't mind the first reason, and hope the second reason will never cause it to be used.
I use the cell-phone for anything having to do with anything, including doctors. I've made sure their incompetent front desk ladies will, and do, call me on the landline. Phone calls to and from my local friend and occasional shooting pard are on my cell-phone, because I can hear better on it.
Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
While Ian is dazzling everyone as he creates a lathe out a bunch of oddly shaped parts made by prisoners in China, I have been busy with more technically challenging machining projects.
First, the wife has this metal drawer/stand for the Keurig coffee machine that holds the pods. The feet are rubber and slide like a concrete block on a lawn. The coffee maker resides under the kitchen cabinets, but must come out to open it, allowing the insertion of a pod to make coffee. Pushing it back under the counter requires I put my shoulder into it. So, after trying moleskin, which kept coming off, I decided to machine 4 little slider feet from HDPE. The challenging part was the piece of HDPE I had was a rough, rectangular shape (sawn on a bandsaw during a trimming process) piece about 3 inches long that came from the HDPE pads I made for the bunks on my boat lift. I needed to get 4 little feet, a half inch in diameter and maybe a half in total in length out of that piece. HDPE is fun to machine but easy to screw up. I was successful and with the coffee maker on top of the drawer/stand now slides nicely under the cabinet when not in use. Ian, eat your heart out.
Next hi-tech project was a crock pot revival. This is the first Rival Crock pot that hit the market back in the late 70's. It was in the kitchen cabinet when we bought our camp back in 1992 so has some nostalgic value... not much, but some. It looks like new, only one of the 3 plastic feet were missing. The first thing I notice (and almost expected) was that it was never made to be disassembled or repaired. But that's never stopped me before. There was one stamped sheet metal nut on the bottom. I loosened it and the bottom went POP! and I immediately knew that reassembly was going to be a mutha. It did come apart and although the wires were very short, I managed to get the controller loose and the ceramic pot out of the sheet metal base.
This was the point where I realized that looks could be deceiving. You see, there were no seals of any kind between the sheet metal housing and the nichrome wire-wrapped ceramic cooking pot. So, during its period of regular use. Anytime something spilled over the edge, a portion of that made its way between the pot and the housing, where it solidified, petrified, you pick the term and remained until I uncovered it yesterday. There was enough greasy residue inside that housing to lube a Peterbilt. It took copious amounts of Spray 9 and acetone to degrease the inside of the sheet metal housing. But I was now more determined than ever to not let this cheap POS beat me.
As I mentioned, a broken foot was the original impetus for the repair. I save silly stuff for projects, and it always pays off. The wood handle from a former windshield ice scraper (remember when the handles were wood?) was my feedstock for 3 new feet. I cut them with a hacksaw and then faced them all to 0.900" long to match the originals on the little Atlas lathe I have in the barn at camp. I hit them with a black magic marker to make them black and then screwed them thru the original rivet holes with sheet metal screws to fasten them to the base of the housing. Original mission accomplished. Now I have to get this fargin' thing back together.
The way it was held together was truly elegance in simplicity of design. A spring steel bale engaged two holes in the bottom sides of the pot. A threaded screw eye was slipped onto the bale before it was installed. The screw eye went thru a hole in the center of the sheet metal bottom and that aforementioned stamped sheet metal nut pulled the pot into the housing and held it tightly in place. Genius!!! But.... it would appear that the screw eye was much longer during the assembly process and once the pot was assembled, the additional length was cut off making it impossible to reassemble with that screw eye. But being somewhat slow-witted, I tried anyway.
I tried wrapping it with wire and pulling it thru the hole. FAIL! Actually, tried that at least 3 times, so FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!!!. Hmmm.... had various designs brewing in my thick skull. One was to thread a cotter pin to accept a nut and slip that over the bail. But I'm at the lake and only have 1/4-20 and 5/16-18 dies in my toolchest. Then I had an extra synapse fire and figured I could drill the shank of a 5/16" bolt, slip on the bale and use a 5/16" nut to hold it all together. Drilled a bolt just below the head and then once on the bale wrapped the threads with the same mechanics wire to guide it thru the hole in the bottom of the housing. Took 3 more tries to get it done. And each time I failed, I had to remove the controller again because the wires were too short to allow me to rethread the wire thru the hole. So, lots of deep introspective talking to myself and providing even more reasons for the neighbors to avoid me. But 3rd try was successful and the pot is now back together, has 3 solid legs and more importantly, IS FRIGGIN' CLEAN!!!
I did plug it in before I brought it back into the house to confirm that I had not screwed up the wiring. No breakers popped so I think I'm good. Now, I just have to wait for the wife to come up with another crock pot concoction. Last one was beef tikka masala, an Indian shredded beef meal that I'm eating tonight as leftovers. It's pretty good. Should go well with the bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape that I opened up a half hour ago. It is the last bottle of wine I have from my 70th birthday party presents back in March. Always save the best for last. right.
Okay, I now return you to Ian's project as he chips away at Chinese bits of metal in his quest for a cheap lathe.
First, the wife has this metal drawer/stand for the Keurig coffee machine that holds the pods. The feet are rubber and slide like a concrete block on a lawn. The coffee maker resides under the kitchen cabinets, but must come out to open it, allowing the insertion of a pod to make coffee. Pushing it back under the counter requires I put my shoulder into it. So, after trying moleskin, which kept coming off, I decided to machine 4 little slider feet from HDPE. The challenging part was the piece of HDPE I had was a rough, rectangular shape (sawn on a bandsaw during a trimming process) piece about 3 inches long that came from the HDPE pads I made for the bunks on my boat lift. I needed to get 4 little feet, a half inch in diameter and maybe a half in total in length out of that piece. HDPE is fun to machine but easy to screw up. I was successful and with the coffee maker on top of the drawer/stand now slides nicely under the cabinet when not in use. Ian, eat your heart out.
Next hi-tech project was a crock pot revival. This is the first Rival Crock pot that hit the market back in the late 70's. It was in the kitchen cabinet when we bought our camp back in 1992 so has some nostalgic value... not much, but some. It looks like new, only one of the 3 plastic feet were missing. The first thing I notice (and almost expected) was that it was never made to be disassembled or repaired. But that's never stopped me before. There was one stamped sheet metal nut on the bottom. I loosened it and the bottom went POP! and I immediately knew that reassembly was going to be a mutha. It did come apart and although the wires were very short, I managed to get the controller loose and the ceramic pot out of the sheet metal base.
This was the point where I realized that looks could be deceiving. You see, there were no seals of any kind between the sheet metal housing and the nichrome wire-wrapped ceramic cooking pot. So, during its period of regular use. Anytime something spilled over the edge, a portion of that made its way between the pot and the housing, where it solidified, petrified, you pick the term and remained until I uncovered it yesterday. There was enough greasy residue inside that housing to lube a Peterbilt. It took copious amounts of Spray 9 and acetone to degrease the inside of the sheet metal housing. But I was now more determined than ever to not let this cheap POS beat me.
As I mentioned, a broken foot was the original impetus for the repair. I save silly stuff for projects, and it always pays off. The wood handle from a former windshield ice scraper (remember when the handles were wood?) was my feedstock for 3 new feet. I cut them with a hacksaw and then faced them all to 0.900" long to match the originals on the little Atlas lathe I have in the barn at camp. I hit them with a black magic marker to make them black and then screwed them thru the original rivet holes with sheet metal screws to fasten them to the base of the housing. Original mission accomplished. Now I have to get this fargin' thing back together.
The way it was held together was truly elegance in simplicity of design. A spring steel bale engaged two holes in the bottom sides of the pot. A threaded screw eye was slipped onto the bale before it was installed. The screw eye went thru a hole in the center of the sheet metal bottom and that aforementioned stamped sheet metal nut pulled the pot into the housing and held it tightly in place. Genius!!! But.... it would appear that the screw eye was much longer during the assembly process and once the pot was assembled, the additional length was cut off making it impossible to reassemble with that screw eye. But being somewhat slow-witted, I tried anyway.
I tried wrapping it with wire and pulling it thru the hole. FAIL! Actually, tried that at least 3 times, so FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!!!. Hmmm.... had various designs brewing in my thick skull. One was to thread a cotter pin to accept a nut and slip that over the bail. But I'm at the lake and only have 1/4-20 and 5/16-18 dies in my toolchest. Then I had an extra synapse fire and figured I could drill the shank of a 5/16" bolt, slip on the bale and use a 5/16" nut to hold it all together. Drilled a bolt just below the head and then once on the bale wrapped the threads with the same mechanics wire to guide it thru the hole in the bottom of the housing. Took 3 more tries to get it done. And each time I failed, I had to remove the controller again because the wires were too short to allow me to rethread the wire thru the hole. So, lots of deep introspective talking to myself and providing even more reasons for the neighbors to avoid me. But 3rd try was successful and the pot is now back together, has 3 solid legs and more importantly, IS FRIGGIN' CLEAN!!!
I did plug it in before I brought it back into the house to confirm that I had not screwed up the wiring. No breakers popped so I think I'm good. Now, I just have to wait for the wife to come up with another crock pot concoction. Last one was beef tikka masala, an Indian shredded beef meal that I'm eating tonight as leftovers. It's pretty good. Should go well with the bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape that I opened up a half hour ago. It is the last bottle of wine I have from my 70th birthday party presents back in March. Always save the best for last. right.
Okay, I now return you to Ian's project as he chips away at Chinese bits of metal in his quest for a cheap lathe.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Just ran into this kind of thing at the new Harbor Freight store near me. As a farmer, I get some stuff sales tax free if it's for the farm, ie- tools I use to maintain stuff for the farm...pretty much ALL tools! So in the past there was a simple State supplied form I could fill out once a year, 45 seconds maybe. Not anymore! No sir! Now I had to pay the tax, take a little handout card home with me, get my daughter to find a dookicky that reads those goofy tv static looking code things, and then I could get to the program (app) that would allow me to spend 15 more minutes filling out forms on line and trying to get them to upload. And then when I happened to go back to the store it took almost 15 more minutes to get my $5.83 of sales tax back! Two thoughts- first, what do my Amish neighbors do? There is no way they are going to be able to get their sales tax exemption! #2- how many people like me are going to say, "Screw it." and get cheated because everything just HAS to be electronic now?!!
I'm pretty sure I born to be a cranky old man.....
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I tried to join 'The Society of the Military Horse" forum for several years. Never could get my registration to work.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
This post is sheer genius! A 10.0 for creative storytelling, 10.0 for vivid scene setting but only a 9.0 for language because you didn't hint at what you were really saying that scared the neighbors away!!!!While Ian is dazzling everyone as he creates a lathe out a bunch of oddly shaped parts made by prisoners in China, I have been busy with more technically challenging machining projects.
First, the wife has this metal drawer/stand for the Keurig coffee machine that holds the pods. The feet are rubber and slide like a concrete block on a lawn. The coffee maker resides under the kitchen cabinets, but must come out to open it, allowing the insertion of a pod to make coffee. Pushing it back under the counter requires I put my shoulder into it. So, after trying moleskin, which kept coming off, I decided to machine 4 little slider feet from HDPE. The challenging part was the piece of HDPE I had was a rough, rectangular shape (sawn on a bandsaw during a trimming process) piece about 3 inches long that came from the HDPE pads I made for the bunks on my boat lift. I needed to get 4 little feet, a half inch in diameter and maybe a half in total in length out of that piece. HDPE is fun to machine but easy to screw up. I was successful and with the coffee maker on top of the drawer/stand now slides nicely under the cabinet when not in use. Ian, eat your heart out.
Next hi-tech project was a crock pot revival. This is the first Rival Crock pot that hit the market back in the late 70's. It was in the kitchen cabinet when we bought our camp back in 1992 so has some nostalgic value... not much, but some. It looks like new, only one of the 3 plastic feet were missing. The first thing I notice (and almost expected) was that it was never made to be disassembled or repaired. But that's never stopped me before. There was one stamped sheet metal nut on the bottom. I loosened it and the bottom went POP! and I immediately knew that reassembly was going to be a mutha. It did come apart and although the wires were very short, I managed to get the controller loose and the ceramic pot out of the sheet metal base.
This was the point where I realized that looks could be deceiving. You see, there were no seals of any kind between the sheet metal housing and the nichrome wire-wrapped ceramic cooking pot. So, during its period of regular use. Anytime something spilled over the edge, a portion of that made its way between the pot and the housing, where it solidified, petrified, you pick the term and remained until I uncovered it yesterday. There was enough greasy residue inside that housing to lube a Peterbilt. It took copious amounts of Spray 9 and acetone to degrease the inside of the sheet metal housing. But I was now more determined than ever to not let this cheap POS beat me.
As I mentioned, a broken foot was the original impetus for the repair. I save silly stuff for projects, and it always pays off. The wood handle from a former windshield ice scraper (remember when the handles were wood?) was my feedstock for 3 new feet. I cut them with a hacksaw and then faced them all to 0.900" long to match the originals on the little Atlas lathe I have in the barn at camp. I hit them with a black magic marker to make them black and then screwed them thru the original rivet holes with sheet metal screws to fasten them to the base of the housing. Original mission accomplished. Now I have to get this fargin' thing back together.
The way it was held together was truly elegance in simplicity of design. A spring steel bale engaged two holes in the bottom sides of the pot. A threaded screw eye was slipped onto the bale before it was installed. The screw eye went thru a hole in the center of the sheet metal bottom and that aforementioned stamped sheet metal nut pulled the pot into the housing and held it tightly in place. Genius!!! But.... it would appear that the screw eye was much longer during the assembly process and once the pot was assembled, the additional length was cut off making it impossible to reassemble with that screw eye. But being somewhat slow-witted, I tried anyway.
I tried wrapping it with wire and pulling it thru the hole. FAIL! Actually, tried that at least 3 times, so FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!!!. Hmmm.... had various designs brewing in my thick skull. One was to thread a cotter pin to accept a nut and slip that over the bail. But I'm at the lake and only have 1/4-20 and 5/16-18 dies in my toolchest. Then I had an extra synapse fire and figured I could drill the shank of a 5/16" bolt, slip on the bale and use a 5/16" nut to hold it all together. Drilled a bolt just below the head and then once on the bale wrapped the threads with the same mechanics wire to guide it thru the hole in the bottom of the housing. Took 3 more tries to get it done. And each time I failed, I had to remove the controller again because the wires were too short to allow me to rethread the wire thru the hole. So, lots of deep introspective talking to myself and providing even more reasons for the neighbors to avoid me. But 3rd try was successful and the pot is now back together, has 3 solid legs and more importantly, IS FRIGGIN' CLEAN!!!
I did plug it in before I brought it back into the house to confirm that I had not screwed up the wiring. No breakers popped so I think I'm good. Now, I just have to wait for the wife to come up with another crock pot concoction. Last one was beef tikka masala, an Indian shredded beef meal that I'm eating tonight as leftovers. It's pretty good. Should go well with the bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape that I opened up a half hour ago. It is the last bottle of wine I have from my 70th birthday party presents back in March. Always save the best for last. right.
Okay, I now return you to Ian's project as he chips away at Chinese bits of metal in his quest for a cheap lathe.
"A Rival Revival", what a title! I look forward to the book!
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Oh what a day. Got a crap load of stuff done, but none of it shows, so to speak. I KNOW I got it done, but somehow I dont' feel like I got anything done. Odd.
Good Ol' Wayner from the garage surprised me and showed up a day early with my set of ramps! He warned me they were "soggy" and when I hooked onto them to drag them off his roll back I could see what he meant. I shall have no fear of these things being able to bear the weight of anything I might drive onto them- up to and including any stray tanks that I happen to acquire! SWMBO considered my site selections for the ramps, made her choice of the lesser of 2 evils, and that's all set. I did some rough measuring and the whole setup should work fine in front of the garage. I have to get some farmer engineering advice when it comes to the height of the piers I'll mount these on, but I think I should be able to sit/kneel without a lot of problems. I'm sure there will be some downsides, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye!
Good Ol' Wayner from the garage surprised me and showed up a day early with my set of ramps! He warned me they were "soggy" and when I hooked onto them to drag them off his roll back I could see what he meant. I shall have no fear of these things being able to bear the weight of anything I might drive onto them- up to and including any stray tanks that I happen to acquire! SWMBO considered my site selections for the ramps, made her choice of the lesser of 2 evils, and that's all set. I did some rough measuring and the whole setup should work fine in front of the garage. I have to get some farmer engineering advice when it comes to the height of the piers I'll mount these on, but I think I should be able to sit/kneel without a lot of problems. I'm sure there will be some downsides, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye!
Last edited:
Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
My humble thanks for your kind comments. I have to admit, I enjoy writing things for the entertainment of others. There is something about sitting at a keyboard that allows my brain a bit more time to compose a sentence that does more than just impart info. I've always enjoyed telling GOOD jokes because the key is not the punchline, but the delivery. One of these days, I'll fire up a bike and take a ride up north to bother you. We can sit down and chew the fat about useless subjects. Those are my favorites.This post is sheer genius! A 10.0 for creative storytelling, 10.0 for vivid scene setting but only a 9.0 for language because you didn't hint at what you were really saying that scared the neighbors away!!!!
"A Rival Revival", what a title! I look forward to the book!
As for not elucidating on the actual conversation I had with myself, leaving things out allows the reader to imagine on his own and become part of the story.
And yes, A Rival Revival is a perfect title for the story. I'll log that away should I share the story in the future. Thanks.
Last edited:
L Ross
Well-Known Member
Pulled nails all morning, mowed after lunch. We just got started and I saw Sue's mower parked and her not around. I went and checked for a blood trail and was relieved to find none. Went in the house and found her stretched out on the floor in the bedroom feelin' puny. Gave her two baby aspirin and a glass of water before I gave her the third degree trying to decide if this was a 911 call, a trip to Urgent Care, or if she'd recover on her own. She convinced me she was just overcome by the heat and humidity.
I ended up mowing everything took me about 4 hours to do it all. The .22 range was badly over grown, I had to mow the moister half with the deck up because it was so long. The lawn gets mowed weekly and the .22 range bi-weekly.
Baked walleye in the oven right now, Supper soon.
I ended up mowing everything took me about 4 hours to do it all. The .22 range was badly over grown, I had to mow the moister half with the deck up because it was so long. The lawn gets mowed weekly and the .22 range bi-weekly.
Baked walleye in the oven right now, Supper soon.
Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
You guys with your talk of walleyes is giving me the incentive to go get my $5, 70 and over, fishing license courtesy of the Peoples' Republik of New Yawk, and go drown some worms in search of walleyes.
I fished so much for so many years in a row, that I actually burned out on fishing. Always loved it whether I caught anything or not. Just being out on the lake was pure therapy. Of course, being retired, therapy is not as necessary as it was during my working years.
I fished so much for so many years in a row, that I actually burned out on fishing. Always loved it whether I caught anything or not. Just being out on the lake was pure therapy. Of course, being retired, therapy is not as necessary as it was during my working years.
Last edited:
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
When we had a woodstove I never pulled nails from the wood. I periodically used a magnet when the stove was cold to retreive the nails. Not questioning why someone would take out the nails, it's probably safer and would help it stack better, I'm just lazy. And I was always fascinated by stories of how the pioneers would burn down their own homes to save the nails.
Ian
Notorious member
That and hunting for food with a flintlock rifle AND making sure your shot lines up with a log or tree so you can retrieve and re-cast the ball. Have you ever forged a bucket of nails from scratch? The utoober who made a finished broadsword of good actual steel by starting with a pile of red rocks REALLY makes one appreciate the value of the modern blast furnace and relative affordability of graded bar stock.
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
If born in the correct century, I wouldn't be cranky.
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
Some things just have to be done at a certain scale. When Mao tried to make the production of steel in everyone's back yard a State goal the end result was mostly slag and very low grade iron/steel of questionable quality. Being able to get material of known composition and quality is one of the requirements for mass production.
JonB
Halcyon member
It looks exactly liked I hope it would.
Powder looked good.
the Lube felt very good.
Smelling inside the case, gave me a slight hint of the same vintage
foreign Mil Surp smell...maybe it's just something that is fooling my nose?
It was loaded Jan. 2015.
BTW, the Red Dot used, was from a lot of shotgun reloading stuff I bought from a Widow.
The Daughter was my co-worker, she said her dad (who passed in early 1990s)
hadn't shot trap since the 1970s.
.
oscarflytyer
Well-Known Member
rattled around in the garage/reloading area. doing some organizing and (hopefully) prep'ing to cast since it looks like August temps here (N AL) are predicted to be more like mid-Sept temps! Wish me luck!
I was born when I was born. No point in thinking how different it would be if I was born in a different point in history.
I make the best of what is in front of me each day and move forward. As for change, it isn’t all good or all bad- it just is. Adapt or die, no different from a Galapagos finch with the wrong beak.
I make the best of what is in front of me each day and move forward. As for change, it isn’t all good or all bad- it just is. Adapt or die, no different from a Galapagos finch with the wrong beak.