How'd it go today?

The hydrant in the picture is not used anymore.

The water comes into that first tank from a black plastic pipe.

A steel hydrant is easy to thaw out using a propane weed burner and a 15 gallon steel drum.

Can't put that kind of heat on black plastic so we built a hot house and used the torpedo heater.

Only took thirty minuets.
 
I love you farmers and ranchers... “just throw that damn heater down over there in all that straw and fire it up, she’ll be thawed out in no time”. :D
 
Took a leaf out of you guy's fix-it-yourself book, starter solenoid/key wire plays up on the chipper, especially when its hot. Chipper starts and runs then when we've shut down and go to restart, nothing. Have to jump it with a screwdriver at the solenoid. I disconnected the key wire and found the spade fitting was broken in half. I raided the Hubby's electrical fitting box and clipped and soldered a new fitting...might help, if not then prob need solenoid fixed or new. (Bob was offering to help but I said.',I can do it myself!'...
 
Go, Fiona!


Looks like a super-glitchy post there, with the large number of spaces registering as periods, in Bermy's post.
 
Got a tech type topic and I'll post here cuz there are so many tech type things in this thread (the most recent being Jim's thaw-out posts), but it just seems too bad there isn't a separate thread on tech stuff (non tree related) because the various topics would be easier to find later.

Awhile back, Kyle posted some stuff (probably earlier somewhere in this thread ;) ) which included a vid link called 'rebuilding older machines by hand scraping' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REeGn4hN1Bg&feature=youtu.be The concept piqued my interest cuz it struck me as something I know absolutely nothing about. Well, the only thing I know about machines (the milling type and other kinds which are used to build things and other machines most of us use every day) is that modern life couldnt exist without these machines. So about 2 months went by before I finally watched the vid, and afterwards I was more in the dark than before :|: so I PM'd Kyle some questions and he very kindly answered all the questions and more. He has a knack for explaining things imo.

So on the chance that others might find the Qs and As interesting or informative:

Q: Hey how you doing?

Random note here- you posted a vid awhile back about scraping machines to get them flat and square again. I finally watched it tonite. Waaaa, I don't get it!

Ok, thru wear, a machine's flat surface could become unflat. So you want to make it straight again. Well my 2 main questions are: How the f can you expect to get metal perfectly square by hand-scraping high spots, that would seem to create the furthest thing from uniform, straight, and square?? And, how the heck can hand-power cut down high spots in hard metal? I must be missing something huge here

Thanks much if you care to answer here. You have offered many good technical answers on stuff at The House, maybe you can edify me on this topic too.

Btw, I PM'd you just cuz I didn't want to bore the masses by posting these questions.

A: I'm doing well, thank you :) and I agree this would bore the shit out of most people lol. The way it works is you aren't going for surface finish, you are shaving off the high spots to make it a flat surface. They use a razor sharp carbide edge, and plane off the cast iron (or whatever it's made of). When you are sanding wood, you stop, run your hand over it to feel for roughness, then sand that spot. It's basically the same process. They use blue dye to mark the surface, then use what's called a surface plate (very very flat surface) to rub against it. The spots where the dye is rubbed off are high, so they scrape them down. This is repeated over and over again, till they reach a predetermined spots per square inch. They do the marking process with the dye and surface plate, and then count how many high spots there are. When using even a surface grinder, there are waves made from the wear and warpage of the machine, so that will be transferred to the surface. By hand scraping, they don't have that, because the only tool is the scraper.

For some reason it won't let me post a picture, but if you google hand scraped machine ways you will see the surface looks almost mottled, like there are little divots all over. That's because there are lol. But these are beneath the surface, and by scraping till the required spots per inch are met, the higher surface is perfectly flat. These divots are actually beneficial in most surfaces, especially machine ways and mating surfaces. If they were completely smooth, the oil wouldn't have anywhere to hide, and the surfaces actually stick together. This is actually how gage blocks work, they lap the surfaces so smooth that when you stack them they stick together like they were magnetized. Gaskets also need some surface irregularities, so they grip. Otherwise they have a tendency to be pushed out. Pipe flanges actually have deep grooves machined in a circular pattern so the gasket is locked in place. The surfaces are perfectly flat, but the grooves bite the gasket. In machine ways, after they are done scraping it smooth, they often do a process called flaking, which adds random cuts all over the surface so it holds more oil.

If this stuff interests you, you might want to check out a book series by David Gingery called build your own metal working shop from scrap. He actually traces the history of the industrial revolution and makes an aluminum foundry, then builds a lathe, then a scraper, mill, drill press, brake, and then accessories for everything. While it's way easier and better to just buy machine tools, how he goes about solving problems while building stuff is the true lesson. These same problems were encountered during the invention of these tools, and it's really a chicken or egg story. He doesn't have anything machined by someone else, so he uses hand scraping to machine all of his castings. He does use some bolts, plate, and threaded rod, but he literally makes everything else himself lol.

:drink:
 
Just a lil more from Kyle:

The books are very well written, and give a step by step in how to build the machines. I... have read them many times since because they are that entertaining to me (disclaimer I'm a huge nerd lol). ... I see it as a way of using old school techniques for hand machining surfaces, so you can do things like rebuild motors on the cheap. When I was reading about scraping, they mentioned on more than one occasion how mechanics used to just use a chunk of plate glass and a sharpened file to rebuild motors, and to me that's just too cool lol. I was taught by a family friend how to polish crank journals using a drill press, 2x4s, and scotchbrite, and so hand finishing and machining stuff interests me, because you can fix stuff for cheap.
 
Thanks for the share. I must not be one of the hoi polloi
I agree this would bore the shit out of most people lol.

It IS interesting how our society does the things we do...mad/crazy awesome skills out there.

And, yes, Kyle does have a gift for explaining. I totally agree.
 
You can grind a file sharp to scrape an engine block, because it's harder. The plate glass is used for marking because most glass is float glass, so it's very flat.
 
Cool info.

Some walnut milling in Waterford. I need to write up a contract or list of possibilities when milling, went 15 minutes over my quote...

I have more milling added on, and this fellow belongs to a wood work and turning club.

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