Weldernator Mk. II, portable version

[freebullet]

That should work after adjusting out the initial first run stretch. Made several chain drive gizmos that way, run once or twice adjust, g2g as long as chain lasts.

Tall skinny wheels roll easier.

 

[Ian]

Yep, gonna go to Dad's place this weekend and dig through his junk pile, I know for sure there were several 20" BMX wheels in there 30 or more years ago and they ought to work a lot betterbthan wheelbarrow wheels.

 

[Pistolero]

Yeah, wheel diam is related to what you can easily roll over....rock crawlers know this.
Greater diam obstacle than about 25-30% of wheel diam gets near impossible to get over.

Bike wheels are NOT rated for any sideload at all. A few old aircraft replica guys have discovered
this to their great chagrin. Motorcycle wheels which were plenty strong for the weight were wiped
out with the first crosswind landing. Not much side load on your application, but good to keep
in mind. VERTICAL loads only, although genuine BMX wheels are way tougher than normal, and
probably are designed to get SOME small amount of offset loads, but still relatively little.

Only 30 year old, heck should be in mint condition. Of course, at this point spending any money
on it would kinda 'break the spell'. You have really been getting this done for almost nothing, an
impressive feat in itself.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

Another option would be garden cart wheels. I think they go up to 26" in inflatable models.

What you really need is a 2 wheeled Gravely tractor with a bad engine and the gear reduction wheel set up. 6.50/12- 23 ag lug tires! You could drive it with an electric motor instead of the gas engine. Those things will climb a 45* hill! 2 speeds with reverse. Be perfect.

 

[Missionary]

Good morning
I like this ! A light weight "portable" welder that actually will weld steel.

Gravely Tractors... Have not thought about those since the Army moved my hide out of SW Michigan. They made a neat little seat atachement called a Sulky I think so you could ride the beast.

The mule with a cart would fill many needs as we get "more mature". And riding a mule to get to the project is far better than dragging that cart yourself.
With your welder you could make your own plow, garden needs and your trusty mule will happily eat whatever is growing about...

 

[Ian]

It's a hand cart, not an airplane coming in at 40 mph crabbing into a crosswind, I'm sure the bicycle wheels will be fine if I can find them. The bigger problem is a small spindle size only supported on one side. I may look for a ready-made garden cart like Bret suggested, I know I've seen them on the H&G channel.

Last night I got the rectifier bridges mounted to the heat sink and the new rectifier/regulator mounted on the engine.

 

[Ian]

In the continuing spirit of cheap to free and easy as possible, my old freebee wheelbarrow got stripped down and decked with a scrap of 3/4" cdx to make a cart. Actually it was two freebee wheelbarrows, this one had the best wood and the ither had the new foam-filled tire and better wheel hardware. At least it sits level.

I salvaged some super-light rectangular tubing and hacked together a control panel frame. Not having any 5/16" bolts on hand that were long enough, fixing it in place will have to wait. Anyway, it's starting to shape up.

 

[Intheshop]

Speaking of mules...... to folks that own them,"on the farm".

A "fresh" pce of 3/4" plywood with slots cut in the right places allows you to ratchet strap it to the factory rollbar. A buddy has one,we made two "decks" for it. Small unreinforced 3/4..... and then a huge,whole sheet with under bracing. It's a traveling scaffold..... we also put mason's scaffolding in backs of pickups..... "here,hold my beer" looking but,if they're properly strapped down and you're polite working on it.... they do well.

Edit to ad,we ride around in it with the big deck on..... in the rain. All your tools are covered. We ride down to a river and blast handguns under it..... very fun.

 

[Bret4207]

ITS, they were talking about a 4 legged mule, not a Kawasaki Mule! But you reminded me I HAVE to built a ROPS type frame for my David Brown 990 so I can put a roof on it. I've put several shifting lever seals on the tractor and none of them last more than one winter. With a roof over it I will cut down on the occurance of "milky" trans/hyd fluid at $70 a change- plus $20+ for the filter. An added bonus is shade for the old man when haying and plowing. Never owned or even been on a farm tractor with a roof I don't think.

Missionary- (sorry forget your name) At one time I had 13 Gravelys and 55 gallon drums and boxes of parts and implements. Then I moved and rented my plae to a scum sucking low life. He took most of it to the dump. That hurt. I still have 3 or 4 and enough implements to do most of what I need. Good machines, but I can't run one all day like I used to.

 

[Intheshop]

OK,that's funny. I was thinking how the heck is Ian gonna get a mule(kwacker) up those slopes..... they're nice N all but they're not that good. But the scaffold roof REALLY transforms them. Guess I won't mention cantilevered 40' ladders out of pickup beds for tricky spots,Haha. Carry on.

 

[Pistolero]

Ian, that looks pretty darned good - but only someone operating it can judge the tendency
to want to be on it's side more than over the wheel. Should be pretty good to move around,
depending on the exact terrain. You might need a 18" wide strip of 3/4 plywood to negotiate
certain terrain, but not knowing your place, no idea. You have said it is quite rough in spots.

Very neat project.

And I agree on the "not an aircraft at 40 mph", but the point of bicycle/motorcycle wheels taking
little or no side load is still a valid one. The question is whether the application will cause side loads.
Perhaps not, especially with a single wheel.

Bill

 

[Ian]

It isn't as top-heavy as it looks, actually. I experimented with the engine location on the deck and found a good balance point. There's a lawnmower-sized 12V battery also to consider, I put it on the charger before the photo but it goes between the legs of the frame. The wheelbarrow will go anywhere I need it to here, most importantly it will go where I can't get a full-sized pickup truck and it can live in just outside the shop door ready for use and not take up too much space.

 

[Bret4207]

Just a quick note on gens in general. I bought a 3500watt Honda gen at auction for $50 or 75 dollars. Looked like it'd been though WW2. Took a long time to get the crud out of the carb. Took longer the second time when I ran it with ethanol bearing gas and Sta-bil. Now I run exclusively non-ethanol and a touch of Seafoam. Gen started on 2nd pull after not running since last June 2 days ago.

 

[RBHarter]

I have resolved the the only way to keep the carbs clean and ready to run regardless of fuel quality is to shut off the fuel and let it run dry . Yes I know about the dangers of dry paper gaskets but I don't think I've seen one on anything with a removable float bowl since 86' . I have an HF generator that generally starts in 4-5 pulls for the last 6 years it's been run in -5° to 90°+F from 800-8,000 ft MSL and I ran it just last week after a top off from a 6 month old 5 gallon can of Chevron's bext ...... I ran a Honda XR 650 R the same way for winter storage for 10 yr only once did it give me any trouble and that was after the deep wash crash and it sat several months with the fuel on ...... It did clean up but it black smoked a little throughout the first 3 tanks of fuel .

 

[Pistolero]

I agree with RBH. Have to run it dry. I try to add a fuel line valve when possible (almost always)
and otherwise, just run it out. I also no longer will buy ethanol gas for small engines, just won't
do it.

And Bret....Go Honda. Their small engines and their cars are amazing.

Bill

 

[freebullet]

Nice work, Ian!

I run eth in small engines. Key is shut gas off & run out. Mess up those lil carb o rings if not.

 

[Bret4207]

Running them dry helps. But the remains of the ethanol can cause issues too. IMO, the more crap you add to poor fuel to take care of it's issues, the greater the mix of stuff you have and the more chance for bulletproof varnish and whatnot. I have a Coleman 5K genset I bought at auction for $5.00. It runs, barely, and it makes power. But I have to hold the choke and constantly move it to get just enough air/fuel mix to keep it running at half speed. When I get time, (if?), I'll have to tear the carb apart, and that's not a bad job. Getting the darn thing off, that's the job! Getting replacement parts for some of those engines is like finding a particular straw in a haystack.

 

[freebullet]

Bret
ain't tryin to tell ya your business but, that screams "sucking air or starved for fuel" to me.

Don't take much crud to block those tiny passages. Also common to find swollen or dried out o rings in them little carbs. Find the valves needing reseated sometimes too. Pretty easy to hand lap them & a new head gasket almost never hurts these little motors.

 

[Bret4207]

Freebullet, you are 100% correct. Gunk in the carb from running crap fuel and leaving it in there. I've made some fair money fixing the exact same problem on a lot of other small engines. Anything older than the mid 90's tends to be worse in this regard. get back into early 80's or 1970's and earlier stuff and ethanol is just about a 100% guarantee for problems.

 

[Ian]

IT VERKS!!!



After spending all day finishing the alternator mounting brackets, converting another alternator to three-phase welding unit, fixing up some temporary wiring, and half a dozen other small mountainous obstacles I got to give it a try. Works wonderfully, hallelujah.

This thing can put out more voltage than the prototype in my truck and due to the double diode and heat sink, it doesn't get so roasting hot. Since this one turns opposite the other one, I had to find a universal alternator fan and I do believe it works better the normal one. Not getting secondary hot air feom the engine fan fighting the back to front suction of the alternator fan helps too I'm sure. Anyway, the proof run was a magnificent success and now I can finish out the details and out it to work!