How'd it go today?

[Burnham]

Nice, on both counts. That trick you used on the small dead DF has the potential to bite you...you obviously were aware of the possibility of getting the bar pinched, but I'd suggest that as the tree size goes up, so does the chance that the tree will sag a bit to the new kerf side and sit on the bar. Worth a try, but be careful. Better solution is to make it a solid rule to get a wedge in there early, on every fell. But you know that .

Often, it's with the "little" ones that we slack off on our technique, and get our butts kicked as a consequence...ask me how I know .

 

[NeTree]

Sean, on tree #2 you "feathered" the wedges.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Oh yeah, I forgot, a hand plane will also rework the wedge edges, give that double taper as sharp as you like. Plastic shavings!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Often, it's with the "little" ones that we slack off on our technique, and get our butts kicked as a consequence...ask me how I know .

Ain't That the Truth!

 

[flushcut]

I third that statement.

 

[NeTree]

Word.

 

[Burnham]

I had a fun little climbing job today...and a frustrating as heck one it was as well .

Task was to install a tree-mounted solar panel to power a monitoring station for radio-tagged bull trout, part of a re-introduction program on a river system they were exterpated from 50 or so years ago.

I've done several similar intalls over the years, but always associated with temporary radio repeater units.

The hardware package provided for the panel was stupid lightweight and un-stayed...I told the project people it would be unlikely to survive a single winter, maybe even a summer, unless it was seriously upgraded. Told them how to do so, too. Was ignored.

So I put this pos thing up. I left a chicken strap on it, binered around the top of the tree to keep it from falling all the way to the ground when it fails. I hate putting the time and effort into something like that when I know it is likely doomed.

But I had the fun of tossing the top of the young Doug, was nice to be up a tree and solving problems, and got lots of praise for cobbling the thing together...these fishheads had insufficient hardware and tools on hand, just a cluster. I sorta dislike being congratulated for what I know to be a crappy final product.

I'm not really sure I am willing to bail their azzes out when it needs to be remounted, or if they decide to take my warnings to heart and modify it before it does fail.

Getting cranky in my old age .

They took a few pics, and they are no better at photography than they are project planning .

 

[MasterBlaster]

Hahahaha, excellent!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Well it it is hard to soar like an eagle when you are swimming with the fishes. Well, at least you were up where eagles roost

 

[Dave Shepard]

Here's one for Al and Erik. Our Wood-Mizer has an Omnex wireless remote control system on it, and a couple of weeks ago the speed pot crapped out. Omnex said nobody can go in their controller, and the part was back ordered for three weeks. The service rep and one of the engineers and I decided that the controller was out of warranty, so we got together on a conference call and I dissected it on a pile of lumber in the shop. I gave them the part number, and they located one at their electrical supplier in about a minute. I think it was $9, or maybe it was $5. They had their supplier overnight the part to us and we had it by 10 the next morning. 10 minutes to solder the new pot in and reassemble the controller and we were back in business. WM will now be stocking the pots. Oh, Omnex wanted $320 for the part, and it was unavailable.

 

[Burnham]

 

[NeTree]

For THAT?? It's like $1.99 at any Radio Shack!

OEM's suck miserably sometimes.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Our only theory is that they are trying to sell you the whole board, which doesn't make any sense as the wires are just a pig tail with a plug on the end. Radio shack around here didn't have a pot that would work in this application. This one is 19 mm to fit the controller and 2.5k. The Shack only had larger diameter ones in 5k. I think Wood-Mizer was embarrassed that Omnex was not supporting their product. Anything in house at WM, and they take care of you pronto. Like I said, they will be stocking that pot now. If it was in warranty, I'd just have to send Omnex the box, but I wonder what the turnaround would have been. A week at best with good shipping?

 

[Burnham]

More likely a month at best with good shipping.

 

[NeTree]

Pitiful.

But I deal with it all the time; Schmidt Maschinenbau (I'm their US service engineer) will sell you a replacement S7-200 PLC for their machines for about $1800 (plus my time and travel expenses), and it takes 4-6 weeks to get from Germany. You can buy one for $400 domestically in a couple days and it takes about 5 minutes to load the program in yourself.

 

[Al Smith]

That is typical of many . Because of warrenty issues we run into that same thing at work .The electronic components are in reality nothing more than could be purchased at Radio Shack, Newark Electronics or some street vender in Hong Kong .

 

[stig]

Had a nice 5 mile hike along the beach today, spraying weeds under a cattlefence. Would have been nicer if I didn't have to carry a backpack sprayer, but still.
The dogs had a good time, too.

And in the woods, the bear garlic is blooming.

 

[Burnham]

Nice!

 

[woodworkingboy]

"Bear garlic"...looks like something that we have growing here that is made into a health giving tea, supposed to rid the poisons from your body. Stinky stuff, but fairly tasty to drink.

 

[brendonv]

Knocked out a smallish job myself this morning. Two Cottonwoods and some misc. under growth. Boy does Cottonwood smell like rotton eggs, nasty stuff! Finished early and started gathering stuff for the weekend. Camping at the track Friday night, racing Saturday, home Saturday night.

Also put the new seals in the valve for the log splitter, washed all the oil off and threw some wax on it.

 

[SkwerI]

Did a little trimming job this morning and then spent all day tooling around in my new car. I put about 200 miles on it since I bought it yesterday afternoon. I also:
bought some Ford Mustang rubber floor mats from the dealer
went to an upholstery shop and had them wrap a piece of 1x6 with foam and vinyl, which I bolted to the wall in my carport so I wouldn't bang the car door into the block wall
looked at and scheduled 2 more jobs
visited three friends to show off the car, one I let drive it
purchased a big truck tarp which I'm going to nail to a frame beside my carport so I can park my truck in the shade

 

[NeTree]

Did I miss where the pictures of this new beast were posted Skwerl?


Worked at a customers' plant today removing this Vaughn 5/6HR "MotoBloc" wire drawing machine, originally installed in 1952. This machine was being removed, so we can install a new one later this year.

This sucker weighed in at 27,585 pounds. 89" wide, and had to travel down 180 feet of aisle that was 89 3/4" wide. Made for a loooooong day.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Getting dinner all ready as I am reading you guys. Looks like a nice day Stig.

Three day brush mitigation and weed eat day one today. Did a 1/2 mile of driveway and some out buildings. On to more out buildings and a three acre pond tomorrow. The HO has been having clearing crews work the place over the winter and it is looking nice. Just wish they would make better cuts on the trees some of them. Oh well. I'll probably be in on some more myself over there in the fall. We usually get called in when it gets closer to the house or if the crews catch too much PO .
Found some Stihl carbs on FleaBay the other night and ordered 3. Got three for the price of what the dealer charges for one plus shipping. Now I can fix one of the FrankenStein 250s and build another back up Well when I have the time anyway...

 

[PCTREE]

hard to believe folks are investing money for upgrades right now....

 

[woodworkingboy]

Today is yesterday, really, but a guy i sometimes do tree work with dropped by the shop to pick up some photos of tree smashed houses and cars that I made up to give to the crane guy to show to perspective clients to bring in jobs. My friend told me that the crane guy was at some yard lifting up heavy used equipment that gets shipped to Sri Lanka, and ran into a problem. The crane guy often talks about working for the Sri Lanka exporter from time to time and having to push his 25 ton for some of the picks. Anyway, he apparently had a long reach on and whatever he was lifting, came back and smashed full on into the operators cab breaking the glass and munching the frame. Guess he was ok, though. The operator is a real pro, wonder what was up? $20,000 to replace the cab, so apparently he is looking for a used one to stick on there. I wondered why I hadn't heard from him lately.