Vertigo Cycles
Well-known member
I'll bring the clippers!
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover
- Thread starter sakurama
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
I'll bring the clippers!
The past few weeks have been pretty hectic. I've been working on about three projects simultaneously and in the middle of all this I was sort of blindsided by the landlord of my studio in NYC. When Corona hit they agreed to a reduced rent and to go month by month but in July decided to raise it back to full and then raise it again.
I've shot the last couple months of Oprah in my dining room so there really wasn't much point in paying for a studio I can't use so we opted to close the space. End of an era.
I don't really feel much either way. In 2008 I survived by cutting my expenses and giving up my mid-town studio so it seems history repeats itself.
So back to distractions.
The kids desk has been a hot mess so I had promised to make a shelf for them.
I decided to do it with rabbets as I find them to be the cutest and most cuddly of all joints and the test piece I'd made 8 years ago has held up great as my coffee knock box. I did a second rabbet for an inset back.
I pulled down my MFT table and set the router up to cut dado's across both top and bottom at the same time. My first cut I placed a short scrap in against the two boards and clamped it down. This would serve as my way to measure exactly where the router was going to cut so I'd hit my line exactly.
Since all my dado's had to be exactly the same I put another scrap in my first cut to lock the boards together and then then I just had to cut at my lines.
Unfortunately in my efforts to be millimeter perfect I sometimes will measure from the 100mm mark so as to avoid any error that might happen from the end of the tape. And I forgot that I did that and made my second cut 100mm too short. After about two hours of contemplation of should I scrap it or can I save it I decided to match the mistake on the other side and just have a small cubby and pretend I meant to do that.
My dado's were a perfect match to the 18mm baltic birch I had on hand and could be tapped to a tight fit. I have to say that I love the look of dado's in baltic birch. It it a really pretty joint.
My original intention was to make six boxes to fit the wide spaces on the outside (3 per side) and then the inside would be for books and toys and such. After the mistake I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fix it and it turned out that if I used 18mm dividers I could fit five boxes in the middle - provided I was accurate to less than 1mm across about 1000mm. Sure, I'll take that bet.
I used stops and scraps instead of a tape measure to cut the parts for the boxes from 6mm baltic birch.
And to keep it simple I just cut 35mm holes in opposing sides...
... five boards at a time.
I have always wanted to make boxes from 6mm (1/4") baltic birch with finger joints but I sold my dovetail jig last year after never using it. For these I just butted the ends together and glued and pin nailed them together. Simple and pretty quick. Any errors or misalignments were sanded smooth.
While the 18mm was prefinished by Lara a year ago (it was so nice to have "prefinished" baltic birch!) I still needed to hit the boxes and the edges so everything got knocked down and coated again.
I think I was playing with fire to try to build this with such incredibly tight tolerances. The boxes are 190mm square and the openings are 192mm and I think because I treated this whole little project like a metal project where I tried to be sure my cuts were exactly on the edge of the pencil marks, that I used stops for all cuts and was just pretty careful - aside from my glaring 100mm mistake - it worked out.
I didn't do anything fancy for hanging it. I just drilled through the back and into the studs with cabinet screws. Within an hour of hanging it the kids had filled it and stacked all their stuff on it. They are now asking for a desk to replace the plastic folding tables.
So it was a small project that took me a week of partial days and reminded me of why the house and all it's projects take forever. Nothing is simple or easy but if done well it can look like it.
Okay, that's one down and two more projects to finish.
Gregor
I've shot the last couple months of Oprah in my dining room so there really wasn't much point in paying for a studio I can't use so we opted to close the space. End of an era.
I don't really feel much either way. In 2008 I survived by cutting my expenses and giving up my mid-town studio so it seems history repeats itself.
So back to distractions.
The kids desk has been a hot mess so I had promised to make a shelf for them.
I decided to do it with rabbets as I find them to be the cutest and most cuddly of all joints and the test piece I'd made 8 years ago has held up great as my coffee knock box. I did a second rabbet for an inset back.
I pulled down my MFT table and set the router up to cut dado's across both top and bottom at the same time. My first cut I placed a short scrap in against the two boards and clamped it down. This would serve as my way to measure exactly where the router was going to cut so I'd hit my line exactly.
Since all my dado's had to be exactly the same I put another scrap in my first cut to lock the boards together and then then I just had to cut at my lines.
Unfortunately in my efforts to be millimeter perfect I sometimes will measure from the 100mm mark so as to avoid any error that might happen from the end of the tape. And I forgot that I did that and made my second cut 100mm too short. After about two hours of contemplation of should I scrap it or can I save it I decided to match the mistake on the other side and just have a small cubby and pretend I meant to do that.
My dado's were a perfect match to the 18mm baltic birch I had on hand and could be tapped to a tight fit. I have to say that I love the look of dado's in baltic birch. It it a really pretty joint.
My original intention was to make six boxes to fit the wide spaces on the outside (3 per side) and then the inside would be for books and toys and such. After the mistake I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fix it and it turned out that if I used 18mm dividers I could fit five boxes in the middle - provided I was accurate to less than 1mm across about 1000mm. Sure, I'll take that bet.
I used stops and scraps instead of a tape measure to cut the parts for the boxes from 6mm baltic birch.
And to keep it simple I just cut 35mm holes in opposing sides...
... five boards at a time.
I have always wanted to make boxes from 6mm (1/4") baltic birch with finger joints but I sold my dovetail jig last year after never using it. For these I just butted the ends together and glued and pin nailed them together. Simple and pretty quick. Any errors or misalignments were sanded smooth.
While the 18mm was prefinished by Lara a year ago (it was so nice to have "prefinished" baltic birch!) I still needed to hit the boxes and the edges so everything got knocked down and coated again.
I think I was playing with fire to try to build this with such incredibly tight tolerances. The boxes are 190mm square and the openings are 192mm and I think because I treated this whole little project like a metal project where I tried to be sure my cuts were exactly on the edge of the pencil marks, that I used stops for all cuts and was just pretty careful - aside from my glaring 100mm mistake - it worked out.
I didn't do anything fancy for hanging it. I just drilled through the back and into the studs with cabinet screws. Within an hour of hanging it the kids had filled it and stacked all their stuff on it. They are now asking for a desk to replace the plastic folding tables.
So it was a small project that took me a week of partial days and reminded me of why the house and all it's projects take forever. Nothing is simple or easy but if done well it can look like it.
Okay, that's one down and two more projects to finish.
Gregor
Nicely done Gregor.
I spent the bulk of the evening cutting Baltic birch as well, but certainly not to 1mm tolerances. Kudos.
https://camodernhome.com/products/e...MIlr2-w76D6wIVIB6tBh3bmwInEAQYBCABEgLa3_D_BwE
If you want some inspiration for a Baltic birch desk for the kids, courtesy of Charles and ray eames.
I spent the bulk of the evening cutting Baltic birch as well, but certainly not to 1mm tolerances. Kudos.
https://camodernhome.com/products/e...MIlr2-w76D6wIVIB6tBh3bmwInEAQYBCABEgLa3_D_BwE
If you want some inspiration for a Baltic birch desk for the kids, courtesy of Charles and ray eames.
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Nice work! Still amazed at your skills! Thanks for sharing!
dhubbard422
Well-known member
I love your matching small cubbies - they give it a quirky feel. I make mistakes like that all the dang time, but I'm not always as good as covering them up so that they look purposeful! I'm sure the desks you make will also be fun and that they will be wonderful space for your kids.
Best wishes for an interesting and profitable virtual studio experience! I suspect that a reduced dependence on physical office/studio space will become more normal...
Best wishes for an interesting and profitable virtual studio experience! I suspect that a reduced dependence on physical office/studio space will become more normal...
hewey
Well-known member
I really like that shelf with the inbuilt storage boxes, nice work. I've been working from home since the start of the year, and our management are keen to look at making it as permanent as we want it to be, so I've been considering an inbuilt study nook with a table and shelving.
Sham
Well-known member
Somehow, your 100mm mistake was pretty reassuring to me.
I did EXACTLY the same mistake myself last week, and hated myself for it. Knowing than even the best can make the same error helps alleviating the shame.
I did EXACTLY the same mistake myself last week, and hated myself for it. Knowing than even the best can make the same error helps alleviating the shame.
Kiwi Canuck
Well-known member
Wish we had a "Like" button.
A true craftsman makes a mistake and adjusts on the fly and looks like it was intentional to anyone who doesn't know any better.
Beautiful work, thanks for the inspiration.
David
A true craftsman makes a mistake and adjusts on the fly and looks like it was intentional to anyone who doesn't know any better.
Beautiful work, thanks for the inspiration.
David
Jyzze
Well-known member
I like that Skandinavian Look. ..and Tintin comick!
So the next project that I needed/wanted to tackle was the camper. Last year the vanity mirror over the sink shattered when the lock broke and the mirror, hung on a top mounted hinge, came loose on a rough road.
I don't actually have a photo of the broken mirror - probably because I was too disappointed in the fact to really want to document it. And because I just taped the broken glass and left it for... a year? Yeah.
Then after our first camping trip in May I could not get the water heater pilot to stay lit.
With Covid locking down many opportunities camping was one thing that was still on the table for summer so fixing the trailer was bumped up the priority list.
I could have tried to replace the control unit, the leaking pressure relief and then perhaps taken it out and stripped the rust and rebuilt it but that had as much appeal to me as crushing my fingers in a vise. The replacement furnace that I finally put in a few months ago is a real joy to use - turn on the thermostat and it automatically lights and gets warm. No more lighting a pilot light and hoping it doesn't backfire. The water heater was the last appliance to be replaced and it was time.
It was also the last of the copper plumbing in the trailer so I took this as an opportunity to clean up the compartment and the plumbing.
I found a good deal on a replacement water heater - functionally the same in that it operated on electric or gas and was identical dimensions. I think Atwood and Dometic merged at some point so it's basically the new version of the same 6.5 gallon water heater.
Because the water heater is the first stop for water coming into the trailer from "shore" or an outside hook up I had to plan the layout. The other part of that is that when you are boondocking (camping with no hook ups and utilizing only your on board power and water) you also have to plumb in the lines from the fresh water tank. This includes a one way valve to prevent your pump from pumping the contents of your tank out your hose hookup.
With a simplified hose layout I put the new heater in place and started plumbing it in with pex.
At this point I realized that because this was an auto lighting water heater with a piezo ignition it needed 12v power to run the control board and light the gas.
In case I needed another 12v supply and because I had to run power from the very front of the trailer all the way back to the heater I decided to install a fuse block...
... and because the walls of the trailer are pretty much impossible to get into I put the power switch for the heater just inside the bathroom door. It's close enough to make sense and saved me running 20' of control wires.
The new water heater is a bit cleaner and the red and blue pex is a nice touch.
We took a quick trip with Ben and his family to Paradise Springs in central Oregon and it was a welcome break from being stuck at home.
And our new kitten, Sir Francis Bacon, has quickly proven himself to be as great a traveler as Biscuit and they both love camping in the trailer.
So that is part one of the trailer repair - next up is replacing the mirror.
Gregor
I don't actually have a photo of the broken mirror - probably because I was too disappointed in the fact to really want to document it. And because I just taped the broken glass and left it for... a year? Yeah.
Then after our first camping trip in May I could not get the water heater pilot to stay lit.
With Covid locking down many opportunities camping was one thing that was still on the table for summer so fixing the trailer was bumped up the priority list.
I could have tried to replace the control unit, the leaking pressure relief and then perhaps taken it out and stripped the rust and rebuilt it but that had as much appeal to me as crushing my fingers in a vise. The replacement furnace that I finally put in a few months ago is a real joy to use - turn on the thermostat and it automatically lights and gets warm. No more lighting a pilot light and hoping it doesn't backfire. The water heater was the last appliance to be replaced and it was time.
It was also the last of the copper plumbing in the trailer so I took this as an opportunity to clean up the compartment and the plumbing.
I found a good deal on a replacement water heater - functionally the same in that it operated on electric or gas and was identical dimensions. I think Atwood and Dometic merged at some point so it's basically the new version of the same 6.5 gallon water heater.
Because the water heater is the first stop for water coming into the trailer from "shore" or an outside hook up I had to plan the layout. The other part of that is that when you are boondocking (camping with no hook ups and utilizing only your on board power and water) you also have to plumb in the lines from the fresh water tank. This includes a one way valve to prevent your pump from pumping the contents of your tank out your hose hookup.
With a simplified hose layout I put the new heater in place and started plumbing it in with pex.
At this point I realized that because this was an auto lighting water heater with a piezo ignition it needed 12v power to run the control board and light the gas.
In case I needed another 12v supply and because I had to run power from the very front of the trailer all the way back to the heater I decided to install a fuse block...
... and because the walls of the trailer are pretty much impossible to get into I put the power switch for the heater just inside the bathroom door. It's close enough to make sense and saved me running 20' of control wires.
The new water heater is a bit cleaner and the red and blue pex is a nice touch.
We took a quick trip with Ben and his family to Paradise Springs in central Oregon and it was a welcome break from being stuck at home.
And our new kitten, Sir Francis Bacon, has quickly proven himself to be as great a traveler as Biscuit and they both love camping in the trailer.
So that is part one of the trailer repair - next up is replacing the mirror.
Gregor
Let me guess... a sheet of mirror polished stainless steel?
Arclitgold
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2017
- Messages
- 317
Awesome! Nice work!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I’m guessing mirror polished swingarm.
Brian R
Well-known member
Gregor,
Do you keep a separate notebook for each project? Like one for the trailer, one for the house, one for the garage, one for motorcycles?
The way you first draw out projects never ceases to amaze me. I'm sure this makes actually doing the job easier but can't imagine how you keep it all organized.
Well done and glad you were able to enjoy the outdoors in these upside down times.
Do you keep a separate notebook for each project? Like one for the trailer, one for the house, one for the garage, one for motorcycles?
The way you first draw out projects never ceases to amaze me. I'm sure this makes actually doing the job easier but can't imagine how you keep it all organized.
Well done and glad you were able to enjoy the outdoors in these upside down times.
So that's an interesting question and convenient segueway.
No.
As you can see that's the Avion water heater bleeding through on the back. Honestly it was Ben and Nadia that got me sketching in my books. Ben had brought this amazing little water color kit with him on our camping trip and I always have my sketch book and he inspired me to just spend some time sketching for no other reason than because it was fun. Nadia has been filling up a similar sketchbook and her's is both a journal, scrap book and sketchbook and I love the mixed up collection. I don't want to compartmentalize my creativity too much. I know I'm a hot mess of distractions but to a degree my various pursuits inform each other and since I no longer keep a written journal (which I regret but can't seem to start again) I let my books be a journal of sorts.
I don't sketch over the bleed throughs like some people might but I don't mind them. I also just sketch what I enjoy. Too often I used to try to draw things that I couldn't and it made me unhappy that I wasn't as good as I wanted to be. Now I sketch for me - things that I like or find myself staring at. For no one but me (well, until this post I guess).
And that conveniently leads us to the end of the tree sketches and the next project that is the Avion mirror.
The mirror that broke swung on a hinge and the lock had rusted and become weak. It had two lights on either side powered by small 12v bulbs...
This is the prebroken mirror from when we'd just picked up the camper. Well, the second mirror is still broken but that one is stable and I'm leaving it.
I wanted to make the mirror about the same size and the same width. I thought about reusing the lights but they were pretty crappy and the shades had been broken and glued together several times so I figured I could come up with something a bit more streamlined if I used LED's. As the sketch shows I wanted to basically build a shallow torsion box and put LED's on either side like the original.
I had the table and router still set up from the shelf and decided to do dado's and rabbets again since that worked well last time.
This was the basic layout. I made the width the same and the depth just a tiny bit more.
I didn't use any nails or pins - just glue and clamps.
The original mirror had two power lines coming from the wall - one for the right side and one for the left. It seemed a bit silly to not just run the wire through the back of the mirror and my plan only needed one power lead since I'd run 12v from one side of the LED's to the other. Wondering how I could make use of the extra power I decided to take a page from the closet in the house and route a 10mm channel into the bottom of the mirror for a second LED strip that would face down onto the counter. I figured this would serve a useful light when you didn't need the vanity lights.
I had some frosted plexi from a photo set and I cut strips to fit the channel. I tried going very slow with a high blade speed but still got a lot of chip out on the back. The lower one was worse but fit better so I used it.
I wired in two switches so that the lights were separate but left the vanity lights paired. I also used hot glue to keep the wires in place on the edges.
I wasn't sure what glue to use on the poly'd frame and mirror so I went with E6000 which is a sort of flexible all purpose adhesive like GOOP. I figured it was strong but also had a bit of give so it could dampen vibration to help the mirror survive. I cut plexi to fit the LED sections on either side and clamped it all together. I opted to screw the back on rather than glue in case I ever need to open it up to get to the wiring. I made it so all the wires and lights were adhered to the back and the mirror was separate save for the switches. I hope I never have to open it again regardless.
To ensure that the mirror stayed in place I chose to use simple sliding bolt locks and since the back was 1/4" wanted a screw that would provide good hold without much depth. I had that Festool center drill for 5mm screws and had a surplus of those screws so I tested it out.
The bit allowed me to drill one hole, insert the screw, next hole, next screw, etc. so that I didn't risk getting any alignment issues.
Then I drilled holes into the fiberglass edges just past vertical so the mirror tipped slightly down for our generally shorter family.
That's just the bottom light which, for all intents and purposes, is the nicer light to use.
And we tested it out with a quick trip to watch the Persid meteor shower out near the Painted Hills where we got to try out a new toy I'd picked up for the kids.
Both Lucas and Nadia have been asking for new motorcycles. They never seemed crazy about the old electric ones but that might have been because the batteries never lasted as long as their interest. Also, they were pretty little when they had those. I've found that kids will do things when they're ready and it's not much point in trying to force things before that. Open the door and let them decide when to walk through.
I found this Honda CRF70F on CL and figured that I'd get it and if they liked it we could search for a second and if they didn't it would be easy to sell.
I chose this bike because it has an automatic transmission but still has three gears. I doesn't have electric start but it's pretty easy to kick over. All the controls are like a regular motorcycle save for the absence of the clutch lever. Not having a clutch just eliminates one thing to worry about as they get used to the brakes and shifting.
I taught Lucas how to kick it over and before the trip he probably kick started it about 100 times. I have to share this video of him from the first time he sat on the bike. I'd just rolled it out of the van and kicked it over and he just sat on it. He's never been on an internal combustion bike before in his life.
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-hHjXQ7D/0/0e81535b/1920/i-hHjXQ7D-1920.mp4
I think that moment when he blips the throttle for the first time is pretty priceless and the joy of revving the motor is something anyone who's ever ridden can relate to. It's a pretty unadulterated thrill that I still have to this day and it's also something you just don't get from an electric bike. There's still something about an ICE motorcycle.
I really wasn't sure what their reaction to the bike would be. I've never really pushed them into motorcycles although they know it's my passion. For some reason they both really wanted to have a new motorcycle and I was curious how they'd react. We could hardly peel them off the bike for the time we were there.
Evidently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They both loved it and so I'm now searching for a second one. I'm really looking forward to taking them on some longer trail rides but already Lucas has confirmed his enthusiasm, "Now I totally understand why you like motorcycles so much - this is the most fun ever!"
Gregor
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Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Priceless!
hewey
Well-known member
That video is awesome!
Motoman1100
Well-known member
Yes sir...as soon as he twisted that throttle he smiled because he finally understood. Thanks for sharing, that made my day.
Congrats Gregor on getting the kids on a bike.
For next time your scratching your chin on what glue to use, here is a long time favorite site dedicated to the very topic:
https://www.thistothat.com
For next time your scratching your chin on what glue to use, here is a long time favorite site dedicated to the very topic:
https://www.thistothat.com
Denwood
Well-known member
Great job on that mirror! It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on there due to the reflected image in the photos..ha.
Awesome work with the kids/bike..and cute cats too
We parked a 30ft trailer on a lake 90 minutes away so like you, I've been forced into trailer/maintenance and repair. They are all remarkably alike.
After reading your thread for a few years now I'm 100% sure you're blessed with a mix of OCD, ADHD and whatever else is fueling your creative/constructive energy. I've been needing a bit of an *** kicking lately and your thread is pure gold on that front.
Awesome work with the kids/bike..and cute cats too
We parked a 30ft trailer on a lake 90 minutes away so like you, I've been forced into trailer/maintenance and repair. They are all remarkably alike.After reading your thread for a few years now I'm 100% sure you're blessed with a mix of OCD, ADHD and whatever else is fueling your creative/constructive energy. I've been needing a bit of an *** kicking lately and your thread is pure gold on that front.
mr_magicfingers
Well-known member
Gregor that video is wonderful. I think we all remember that first moment in our lives and it never gets old and never goes away. Man are you going to have some (more) amazing adventures with your kids.
Thank you for sharing so much in this last post. I think I’ll speak for everyone here by saying that we never tire of your detailed accounts that showcase your creativity and execution. It’s a treat when I see a new post on this thread.
That throttle blip reaction is amazing.
Enjoy these moments as you and your kids become more engaged through “bigger” hobbies.
Thanks again!
That throttle blip reaction is amazing.
Enjoy these moments as you and your kids become more engaged through “bigger” hobbies.
Thanks again!
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Gregor,
The reaction of your son is definitely priceless, but I think your daughter is bitten by the bug also. I read in her reaction anticipation of doing the reving herself along with getting to ride it. I think she's going to be a better rider than your son....
The reaction of your son is definitely priceless, but I think your daughter is bitten by the bug also. I read in her reaction anticipation of doing the reving herself along with getting to ride it. I think she's going to be a better rider than your son....
Thanks guys.
Yes, Lucas' reaction is pretty sincere and sweet. And Mark, yes, Nadia is usually the one who's more bold but that day she didn't want to put shoes on and so I didn't let her on the bike. When we got to our camping spot they both were really eager to ride and it was amusing to watch them basically swap out every lap or two. After a while I showed them how to ride two up and then they spent the rest of the afternoon swapping who got to be the pilot.
So I'm looking for a second bike and looking forward to the coming months of cooler camping weather so we can do some actual trail riding.
Gregor
Yes, Lucas' reaction is pretty sincere and sweet. And Mark, yes, Nadia is usually the one who's more bold but that day she didn't want to put shoes on and so I didn't let her on the bike. When we got to our camping spot they both were really eager to ride and it was amusing to watch them basically swap out every lap or two. After a while I showed them how to ride two up and then they spent the rest of the afternoon swapping who got to be the pilot.
So I'm looking for a second bike and looking forward to the coming months of cooler camping weather so we can do some actual trail riding.
Gregor
Kiwi Canuck
Well-known member
Awesome post.
Those Honda CRF bikes are the best for young kids learning to ride.
I've bought few of them including a CRF80 and a CRF150 and sold them after 3-4 years and got our money back or maybe a few bucks more, they are hard to beat.
I started both my son's out on the 80 with a full clutch but the younger one would have done better on a semi auto like you have there, as he struggled with the clutch for the first year and it probably put him off it a bit, but once he was around 14 he mastered it where-as his older brother took to it right away at 10 years old.
You could get a CRF80F as a 2nd bike and see if either of them are ready to step up to using the clutch.
I've convinced a few Dads on our block to buying one for their kids, we have quite a few CRF's tearing around the streets here on the weekends now.
David.
Those Honda CRF bikes are the best for young kids learning to ride.
I've bought few of them including a CRF80 and a CRF150 and sold them after 3-4 years and got our money back or maybe a few bucks more, they are hard to beat.
I started both my son's out on the 80 with a full clutch but the younger one would have done better on a semi auto like you have there, as he struggled with the clutch for the first year and it probably put him off it a bit, but once he was around 14 he mastered it where-as his older brother took to it right away at 10 years old.
You could get a CRF80F as a 2nd bike and see if either of them are ready to step up to using the clutch.
I've convinced a few Dads on our block to buying one for their kids, we have quite a few CRF's tearing around the streets here on the weekends now.
David.
SW50th
Active member
Delightful
If you were to start a long list of things I don't need tractor would be pretty high up on that list. Like so high that you are predictably guessing that I probably just bought one.
And you would be correct.
We don't have a lot of land - half an acre maybe - but we have about three acres of blackberries. That might be hard to understand unless you lived here where blackberries are the Kudzu of the PNW.
But really that's an excuse.
I had planned on renting a brush hog after last years escapade wherein I paid two, unbeknownst to me, meth heads to clear a small patch of blackberries. They worked their asses off and then disappeared leaving a mess and two broken lawn mowers.
When a good deal came up on an old Gravely I snagged it. Or rather Lara did because I was out of town. Out here they're pretty scarce - back east they are pretty common and cheap. These were the main commercial lawn tractor of every institution from the 40's through the 70's and a testament to an unchanged design.
The reason for this particular tractor is purely sentimental. We had one when I was a kid and we lived on an over grown patch of land in Pennsylvania before moving to Colorado. The Gravely was my very first awareness of an internal combustion machine. Cars were conveyances. This was a loud, angry, simple machine that ate anything in it's path and all it's parts were on display - much like a motorcycle.
My clearest memories as a child are bringing my dad a glass of water as he cut the fields in a pair of shorts and no shirt. My fondest memory is that tractor and my father cutting a maze into head high grass and the meandering paths that he would cut every year around the 18 acres we lived on. Each year the paths went somewhere new, each year the maze was different. The smell of the cut grass, the excitement of the new paths are probably my best memories.
So for me to buy one of these things, for the tiny plot of land we have, is really pretty stupid and completely sentimental. If I add up the cost of renting a brush hog 3-4 times a year I can (weakly) justify the purchase.
The Gravely is an old design - like the first one was a plow with an Indian engine in 1916. The basic design you see here was arrived at in 1936 and didn't change much for the next 50 or so years. It's a 500cc side valve motor attached to a differential with a PTO on the front. It's extremely heavy, reliable and versatile with the concept being that you can get a huge variety of attachments for the PTO - everything from snow blowers to log splitters - and so it was the swiss army knife of small tractors. My father had a rotary plow attachment that he used to till the garden every year.
It's a pull start motor. Something I can clearly remember frustrating my father who had little mechanical ability. At some point ours was converted to the optional electric start because of my fathers frustration. I got all the parts to convert this one in the deal but I sort of like pull starting it so I'm not sure I'll bother putting them on.
These are the solitary controls. Forward and reverse, high and low. Throttle is on the other side.
For reasons that now seem stunningly beyond my comprehension I was allowed to use this thing at about 10 years old - or Nadia's age. When I got this tractor unloaded I immediately fired it up and took it down in front of the house to the wild overgrown bit of land to try it out. It was far more angry and violent than I remembered. It will easily mulch trees up to an inch or so in diameter and it makes 50 year old me nervous to think about 10 year old me using it. Dad was a great guy and times were certainly different but damn that's some seriously lax judgment!
Also as a kid I remember those controls being very loose and wobbly and that always bugged me. Our Peugeot
car had crisp controls but this tractor and all tractors seemed to have these vague, sloppy, wobbly controls. I assumed that was how it was.
You probably see where this is going.
I now have the opportunity to fix a childhood wrong. Not punch out the bully or finally talk to Dawn Morton (or whomever was the first crush) but now I can take a look at these controls and maybe understand them, perhaps fix them. I can unwobble the past.
Now I just want to say that I'm not, under any circumstances, going to "restore" this tractor. I'm not that old yet. But if I can do a few things to make it work better...
Stripped of paint.
Bored out to .75"
New standoffs made from larger steel.
Painted.
Then I turned and pressed in new bronze bushings, bored the control pivots over one size and made new oversize pins to match. It's still just as primitive but with closer tolerances.
There's a few things on my list still to do and most all of them are to simply make it like I remember ours when I was a kid. A few are to improve it's tractorness and maybe a little bit to unwobble the past.
Gregor
And you would be correct.
We don't have a lot of land - half an acre maybe - but we have about three acres of blackberries. That might be hard to understand unless you lived here where blackberries are the Kudzu of the PNW.
But really that's an excuse.
I had planned on renting a brush hog after last years escapade wherein I paid two, unbeknownst to me, meth heads to clear a small patch of blackberries. They worked their asses off and then disappeared leaving a mess and two broken lawn mowers.
When a good deal came up on an old Gravely I snagged it. Or rather Lara did because I was out of town. Out here they're pretty scarce - back east they are pretty common and cheap. These were the main commercial lawn tractor of every institution from the 40's through the 70's and a testament to an unchanged design.
The reason for this particular tractor is purely sentimental. We had one when I was a kid and we lived on an over grown patch of land in Pennsylvania before moving to Colorado. The Gravely was my very first awareness of an internal combustion machine. Cars were conveyances. This was a loud, angry, simple machine that ate anything in it's path and all it's parts were on display - much like a motorcycle.
My clearest memories as a child are bringing my dad a glass of water as he cut the fields in a pair of shorts and no shirt. My fondest memory is that tractor and my father cutting a maze into head high grass and the meandering paths that he would cut every year around the 18 acres we lived on. Each year the paths went somewhere new, each year the maze was different. The smell of the cut grass, the excitement of the new paths are probably my best memories.
So for me to buy one of these things, for the tiny plot of land we have, is really pretty stupid and completely sentimental. If I add up the cost of renting a brush hog 3-4 times a year I can (weakly) justify the purchase.
The Gravely is an old design - like the first one was a plow with an Indian engine in 1916. The basic design you see here was arrived at in 1936 and didn't change much for the next 50 or so years. It's a 500cc side valve motor attached to a differential with a PTO on the front. It's extremely heavy, reliable and versatile with the concept being that you can get a huge variety of attachments for the PTO - everything from snow blowers to log splitters - and so it was the swiss army knife of small tractors. My father had a rotary plow attachment that he used to till the garden every year.
It's a pull start motor. Something I can clearly remember frustrating my father who had little mechanical ability. At some point ours was converted to the optional electric start because of my fathers frustration. I got all the parts to convert this one in the deal but I sort of like pull starting it so I'm not sure I'll bother putting them on.
These are the solitary controls. Forward and reverse, high and low. Throttle is on the other side.
For reasons that now seem stunningly beyond my comprehension I was allowed to use this thing at about 10 years old - or Nadia's age. When I got this tractor unloaded I immediately fired it up and took it down in front of the house to the wild overgrown bit of land to try it out. It was far more angry and violent than I remembered. It will easily mulch trees up to an inch or so in diameter and it makes 50 year old me nervous to think about 10 year old me using it. Dad was a great guy and times were certainly different but damn that's some seriously lax judgment!
Also as a kid I remember those controls being very loose and wobbly and that always bugged me. Our Peugeot
car had crisp controls but this tractor and all tractors seemed to have these vague, sloppy, wobbly controls. I assumed that was how it was.
You probably see where this is going.
I now have the opportunity to fix a childhood wrong. Not punch out the bully or finally talk to Dawn Morton (or whomever was the first crush) but now I can take a look at these controls and maybe understand them, perhaps fix them. I can unwobble the past.
Now I just want to say that I'm not, under any circumstances, going to "restore" this tractor. I'm not that old yet. But if I can do a few things to make it work better...
Stripped of paint.
Bored out to .75"
New standoffs made from larger steel.
Painted.
Then I turned and pressed in new bronze bushings, bored the control pivots over one size and made new oversize pins to match. It's still just as primitive but with closer tolerances.
There's a few things on my list still to do and most all of them are to simply make it like I remember ours when I was a kid. A few are to improve it's tractorness and maybe a little bit to unwobble the past.
Gregor
E12-535iTurbo
Well-known member
Saw the first picture and thought: "Ah, Gregor is going to restore a tractor. Why not?"
joneschase
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2014
- Messages
- 33
Gregor mc fly unwobbling the past!
Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal
Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Ah, vintage well built machinery! I still use my dad's 1980 2-stroke Lawnboy push mower. It fires up every time and will plow through most anything. Needs very little maintenance...
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Beautiful job on the controls Gregor.
I love doing jobs/projects like that. Bringing something back and making just a little better.
I love doing jobs/projects like that. Bringing something back and making just a little better.
Terranova
Well-known member
I want to see 5he video of the first time you let Lucas rev the tractor. Lol
That video was great. Connection made. Hook set.
Well done.
That video was great. Connection made. Hook set.
Well done.
As many have before me, I finally reached the (current) end of this thread. Though many have expressed their gratitude and admiration, I wanted to thank you for your clear documentation in both words and pictures.
Some favorite quotes:
(and the quote in my sig)
Some favorite quotes:
(and the quote in my sig)
WSHILL
Member
I use a ‘70’s model Gravely 566 around our farm. It is a 12 hp with 2 field mowers, a finish mower from a golf course, rotary cultivator, blade, and rotary plow attachments. It is a workhorse, but it can also work you especially in 90 degree 100% humidity while working on the winter garden and food plots.
In the process of getting a ‘46 5 hp L model back working to use. Have fun with your new toy.
In the process of getting a ‘46 5 hp L model back working to use. Have fun with your new toy.
You're very welcome. I'm glad people find inspiration here - this was really about a way to keep my enthusiasm up. I guess it's working.
I really love the older ones - there's something so great about their simplicity.
_______________________________________________
I have a huge job next week and a few small ones from the past weeks which is great considering how slow it was the first three months. But I don't want to start a job with the shop all torn apart and half a tractor in the driveway. Plus, I promised Lara she could use it for her boyfriends property.
Gotta get this done.
With the controls off it was pretty simple to remove the handlebars or whatever you'd call them. They were very corroded and the paint was just slapped on over all sorts of chips, rust and one was bent...
Cutting off the grips revealed some pretty serious rust pitting on one side. I couldn't abide that and wasn't going to fill it so I found some steel water pipe of the right dimension and cut off the rusted section.
I opted to just sand them down with the Flex tool.
A weak spot on these is the handlebar is used as a lever to pick up the tractor and pivot or lift the front. The bar is drilled through the center and of course that's a real weak spot and it's where they tend to bend. I machined a piece of solid round stock to fit two inches into both ends of the tube and cut the drilled section out and drilled the solid tube and welded it back.
I then ground the welds back and primed them with POR-15. On the right bar you can just see the weld seam from the replacement tube.
I also primed a couple of sheet metal heat shields that were missing. The motor has a fan on the back and the shields are the only thing that helps them direct air over the fins.
I ordered new grips, a kill switch and the glass fuel filter bowl which is again a nod to my memory than any sort of requirement - I'm sure a paper filter and rubber hose would work well but I always loved looking at the fuel in the glass bowl. The white grips are a signature of the old Gravely's along with the handlebar end kill switch. I'm surprised at how much I remember of this old tractor.
This isn't the correct set up for the fuel line - it's supposed to be hard metal lines and a glass fuel filter bowl. I've never run hard fuel lines - are there any tricks to be aware of? I believe I have a flare tool and a hand bender somewhere in the shop. Any recommendations on what kind of line to use? Steel? Stainless? Copper? I feel like copper would be too soft. I'm guessing steel was the original method. The fittings are 1/8-27 NPT and I'm guessing I'd use 1/4" tube with compression fittings. I have yet to find a photo of the original routing.
The tractor came with a bunch of odds and ends - this was the original 3/8" thick brush hog blade which is a bit damaged.
I reground it based on what I could see of the original profile. Supposedly you don't make these sharp because the force that they carry will destroy an edge quickly so you blunt the sharp edge back.
Almost done. Just a couple coats of paint away from getting this wrapped up. Then I can start on the turbo for it.
Just kidding.
Gregor
y'sguy
Well-known member
Being a hot rod guy I love the look of hard fuel lines usually safer too. IMHO. The typical metal line for brakes and fuel is at your local auto supply. You'll of course want the best tubing bender you can by for all your future projects. ; ). You can also find nickle /copper lines which I have also used. They can be formed by hand, much easier. But hey!, where's the challenge in that?
I have a feeling you will learn tubing bending better than most of us and soon be teaching us how it should be done. No bouncy rubber lines for me !
Almost forgot!, A hard fuel line needs to be double flared, not single flared as well as brake lines.
By more line than you need and practice. It is pretty cool when done right.
I have a feeling you will learn tubing bending better than most of us and soon be teaching us how it should be done. No bouncy rubber lines for me !
Almost forgot!, A hard fuel line needs to be double flared, not single flared as well as brake lines.
By more line than you need and practice. It is pretty cool when done right.
E12-535iTurbo
Well-known member
Please go for stainless and explain the flaring process to me. Which tools to get etc. You know I have projects too and I'm already waiting for quite some time till you start a project with this included. The tractor seems to be a very good oppertunity. As a starting point: a hand flaring tool won't work. Stainless is too hard for that.
zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Like y'sguy, it's the hot rodder in me that loves the look of hard lines, especially polished stainless steel. In my street rods that is about all I used with through the frame bulkhead fittings. On the sandrails that I built the polished stainless steel lines really stood out against kandy colors and make the whole setup pop. I even used billet aluminum clamps that I either painted to match frame or polished for that extra touch.
Bending them is very similar to using a tubing bender. You can go through a lot of calculations using bend radius, etc. but I found it just easier and quicker to make a test bend and then use it for determining where you wanted the bends to start and end on the chassis (or whatever you are installing them on).
As for tools, any good flaring tool will work but I find the Mastercool a nice setup. I have flares for double flaring plus all of the GM and most Chrysler and Ford fuel lines plus I purchased a set of 37* dies for it to use for JIC fittings.
I also purchased an Imperial Eastman manual flaring tool many years ago and it used to be my "go to" flaring tool until I purchased the Mastercool about 10 years ago. If you can find one of the old Imperial Eastman that would be my suggestion as the Mastercool is quite expensive and possibly a little overkill unless you plan on doing a lot of rigid tubing.
As for benders, I think the best ones on the market right now are the Rigid HD line. There are a ton of cheap tubing benders out there but I haven't been impressed. The Rigid's are great for getting consistent repeatable bends. They also make a standard version that is nice but the HD version has roller followers rather than friction so if you plan on polishing the tubing the rollers won't leave any burrs or markings on the tubing.
Here is my Mastercool flaring tool along with one of the Rigid HD benders.
Bending them is very similar to using a tubing bender. You can go through a lot of calculations using bend radius, etc. but I found it just easier and quicker to make a test bend and then use it for determining where you wanted the bends to start and end on the chassis (or whatever you are installing them on).
As for tools, any good flaring tool will work but I find the Mastercool a nice setup. I have flares for double flaring plus all of the GM and most Chrysler and Ford fuel lines plus I purchased a set of 37* dies for it to use for JIC fittings.
I also purchased an Imperial Eastman manual flaring tool many years ago and it used to be my "go to" flaring tool until I purchased the Mastercool about 10 years ago. If you can find one of the old Imperial Eastman that would be my suggestion as the Mastercool is quite expensive and possibly a little overkill unless you plan on doing a lot of rigid tubing.
As for benders, I think the best ones on the market right now are the Rigid HD line. There are a ton of cheap tubing benders out there but I haven't been impressed. The Rigid's are great for getting consistent repeatable bends. They also make a standard version that is nice but the HD version has roller followers rather than friction so if you plan on polishing the tubing the rollers won't leave any burrs or markings on the tubing.
Here is my Mastercool flaring tool along with one of the Rigid HD benders.
