Above 1200 Sq/FT 86's 20HP shop

[86turbodsl]

Got the narrow end closed up. I'm amazed how thin of metal can be joined using TIG. Tested fit on the Namco, it's a bit of a snug fit, but it does go in. I will try and tune it up a bit more before it goes in.

Got the sides sanded down so i can see what the beads look like. I think it'll pass leak test.





Hammered down the bottom to the side, and turned down the heat. Worked so good most of the joint didn't even need filler metal. Proper heat control is everything.

 

[bimmer1980]

Good progress!

Yup, Tig is all about heat control, consistency and a steady hand. Practice and more practice is the ticket....

 

[ClappedOutBport]

Using your 330 or something else?

 

[86turbodsl]

No, i'm on the syncrowave 300 now. the 330 is plastic wrapped and going on pallet rack for storage for now.

the tank is welded up. need to leak test tomorrow.

 

[racer-john]

Beware of that copper tube, they have a habit of cracking due to vibration you know.

 

[86turbodsl]

Beware of that copper tube, they have a habit of cracking due to vibration you know.

With the mass of this toy, i'm thinking the vibration signature is going to be a very very low Hz. I thought of that too. If it breaks, i'll make a stainless one.

 

[Strouty]

I need to learn to dig as well, I first learned welding with an Oxy acetylene torch, from what I understand it is pretty similar, minus the warpage. I used to use car hoods and trunk lids to repair floors, nothing show car, but when the vehicle is a Flintstone mobile, it worked well.

 

[86turbodsl]

I've heard that too. Personally i like it a lot, but not oxy/acety welding. The amount of heat control is amazing.

 

[bimmer1980]

My brother and I benefitted from our high school having a wonderful welding shop and teacher. We started off with torch welding steel, then working through stick welding (6011, 6013, 7014, 7018) and then into Mig with a variety of welders, including dual shield.

At an internship, we then learned TIG welding on stainless steel machine frames. Having been proficient at torch welding made the transition into TIG fairly straightforward. Stainless welds very nice, but tube frames are hard to keep square due to the amount of shrink and warp that happens when the weld cools. Learning to control that was the bigger item.....

We ended up buying a used Miller 250 syncrowave at an auction. My brother is currently using it at his SD shop for a sizable aluminum project. Here in PA I don't have a Tig welder..... perhaps I need to source one....hmmm....

Are you ready to weld a threaded rod into the snout of the crank shaft and just use a nut to hold the flywheel on? Plan C. ;-)

 

[86turbodsl]

Haha! Good idea. We'll see how far it does down the rabbit hole. Maybe i'll turn an insert with threads on the end and tig braze in place... plan d?

 

[bimmer1980]

That would work too!!! Brazing would probably be better and easier than a fusion weld on the end of a crank.

It's good to have back up plans.....takes the fear out of plan A..

 

[86turbodsl]

Hot dawg! Tank fits great.

 

[bimmer1980]

good deal!!! progress. Nice to see a plan start to come together.

 

[Chrisb62]

Fits like a glove...... great job.



Are we there yet

Are we there yet

Are we there yet

Are we there yet

 

[Strouty]

I just got to try a dual shield setup, it was interesting, allows for lots of heat. Seems like mig 7018, so lots of prep to make it look nice. In high school I actually had the privilege to work with a guy that made hot rods and he only used oxy acetylene for every aspect and people paid huge money for his cars. He showed me lots of tricks that I used over the years, probably forgot more than I remember, but it was a cool experience for sure.

 

[86turbodsl]

Very cool. I want to try dual shield eventually. I have a much harder time controlling heat input with oxy/fuel torch than with tig. So i gravitate towards tig.

 

[Strouty]

some of my floor pans are still going from 1993.

 

[86turbodsl]

Just got back from the scrap yard taking in most of the hulk of the little electric. $257. Plus the $75 for the charger and i still have a battery and some other stuff to sell. Basically a free mast.

 

[bimmer1980]

Awesome!! So the overloaded trailer worked ok? Any pics?

 

[86turbodsl]

No pics, it wasn't as overloaded as i thought it would be. Forklift without battery was supposed to be ~ 4000.
Ended up being 2700. I guess the mast weighs more than i thought. Spring packs were near flat, tires were fine.
I've done 2500 on the trailer before, so it just seems worse.

 

[86turbodsl]

Yesterday, we left for Saginaw to visit a friend with the little trailer, he is going to give me some stuff to make biodiesel with the several thousand gallons of oil i have sitting around. We made it to Lansing and one of the tires went flat. Nails all over the road. We aborted and spent the rest of the day getting the trailer back home.

Today, i swapped the bases for the PLC's from lights to boiler control. This is so i could swap out the analog inputs from the cheapo chinese temperature transmitters that don't work worth a damn to direct reading RTD input modules. They are going to take up one more slot for the whole shebang, so i was out of slots on the 6 slot base. The lighting one was a 9 slotter, so there's plenty now. As a result, the lighting plc will now do just lights, door and rpc control and the other one will run boiler and AC. I am now short an ethernet card for the lighting too, i want to add one of those so i can remote shut off the lights and close the overhead door.

I complained to the wife this morning how i don't seem to work on the boiler in the summertime, she reminded me that i have too many things to do in the summer that are very pressing. Somehow that's small consolation....

 

[Strouty]

Can we keep the oil off the floor this year?

 

[86turbodsl]

Thats always the plan. Until it doesnt happen

 

[86turbodsl]

Flat tire this morning. Took it off and down to the tire shop, "closed for recreation today"

Today is opening day of firearm season. I'm not going anywhere.

 

[bimmer1980]

RE: Flat tires.... Man, you just can't catch a break! sorry to hear that!

RE: Boiler. Do you have work on the actual burner to do or will the PLC modifications be most of the required work to get heat? If it needs monitoring, any chance of having some of your "work office" out there so you can work while monitoring the heating process? i.e. if you were present while it was in heating mode, you could shut it down for the time that you are not present and not have concerns. At least until you build confidence in the burn cycles.

 

[83VillageRepair]

Flat tire this morning. Took it off and down to the tire shop, "closed for recreation today"

Today is opening day of firearm season. I'm not going anywhere.

Sounds like a good reason to get a tire machine. If you were a little closer I have a spare manual Coats I would give you but the freight would be a little high. You could always plug it.

 

[rattle_snake]

Suggest design and fabrication of you own custom tire mounting machine. What's one more project?

 

[86turbodsl]

RE: Flat tires.... Man, you just can't catch a break! sorry to hear that!

RE: Boiler. Do you have work on the actual burner to do or will the PLC modifications be most of the required work to get heat? If it needs monitoring, any chance of having some of your "work office" out there so you can work while monitoring the heating process? i.e. if you were present while it was in heating mode, you could shut it down for the time that you are not present and not have concerns. At least until you build confidence in the burn cycles.

Last burn last year, the doorknob fell off the mount. I already soldered it back on. I have mostly controls work to do. I bought the RTD modules and swapped the bases on the weekend. Its been cold so i have been avoiding it. it would be hard to move my workstation out there. I do CAD a lot, so have a pretty serious workstation setup.

 

[86turbodsl]

Sounds like a good reason to get a tire machine. If you were a little closer I have a spare manual Coats I would give you but the freight would be a little high. You could always plug it.

I actually do have a tire machine, a John Bean i think, does up to 17" tires, but doesn't work that well. the "shoe" that rides the tire is a mess and rotation is opposite all normal tire machines. I'm planning to reverse rotation and buy a normal shoe for cheap. Another project....

 

[86turbodsl]

Rummaging around in my stash of auction purchases, i found an old bank kiosk computer, a tiny thing, Atom N270 based, runs Windows XP perfectly using an SSD. I installed the Directsoft5 software on it, along with a fresh copy of XP. Then hung it on the door of my boiler control panel. I'm busy running cable from the shop switch to it, and installed a nifty free RDP client on the office workstation. With a cable to the PLC, i can monitor and program directly on the PLC from my office in the house, eliminating a lot of the footwork and cold feet sitting out there programming. I can also closely monitor the operation while working. Since the shop is ~300ft away, it's a pain to run out there to check on things. It's a nice upgrade while i work out bugs. We've got some cold weather coming this week, so it's going to be nice to check on things easily.

 

[bimmer1980]

Good deal, that's progress! Hopefully that makes it easier to program and fine tune.

 

[86turbodsl]

That's the hope anyway. I'm still working on stringing Cat5. I started dropping things a lot around 830pm so i quit for the night. Gotta know when to quit while you're ahead.

I'm not looking forward to stringing the wire. There's a TON of stuff in the way of the ladder including assembled pallet racking.

 

[Strouty]

Trained monkeys....

Goof luck with the wiring, I know how much fun that can be.

 

[86turbodsl]

Ok, i strung the wire, that was a lot of fun... standing on unsecured empty pallet racking beams WITHOUT decking. Shaky, straddling fun? check. Finally found my punchdown tool last night too, but i had already quit by then. I'll knock it out today during breaks and see about checking temps from the comfort of the indoors. It was 18F out there today!

 

[Strouty]

We were only upper 20s, 18 would have been awful, I am so sorry....

 

[86turbodsl]

Yeah i am not ready for this nonsense yet. Good thing there's so much thermal mass out there.

 

[86turbodsl]

Good grief it's cold outside today. Cold feet in just 10 minutes. I need to move...

 

[Spareparts]

Going to be around 65 here in To-To land

 

[bimmer1980]

While York, PA isn't cold, cold, by a lot of standards, it is feeling chilly to me today..... In anticipation of being on PTO tomorrow, I just turned up the thermostat in the garage..... 10 seconds later I could hear the natural gas boiler kick on...... It will take about an hour per degree to warm up.... I only bumped the thermostat to 54 degrees. I'll see how it feels later today....

Good luck with your boiler programming! It will be great when it works!!

 

[u3b3rg33k]

Very cool. I want to try dual shield eventually. I have a much harder time controlling heat input with oxy/fuel torch than with tig. So i gravitate towards tig.

This is how I feel about tig/mig. I'm slow, and so is tig. everyone's happy.