CBacres ex horse barn shop

[cbacres]

While sitting by grill figuring how I was going to get lights mounted, I noticed the 1-1/4” solid steel axle had a pretty good rusted out divot. Can’t take the chance of a possible failure going down the road, so a emergency axle repair is commenced.

Axle

I cut the spring pad off, ground the rust out and welded axle to build up the divots, ground down.
I used a 1” solid square to reinforce and to serve as new spring pad.

Test fit before final welding.

Welded up. I love turning up the mig on heavy pieces of steel.


Now I noticed all the rust, it’ll need a paint job!

 

[shortykorte]

Nice start. Look forward to some samples off the grill.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Welcome to grill restoration!

 

[cbacres]

It’s not done yet! Had some running around to do this morning, meet wife mid afternoon, so a short day.

I primered the frame, kept looking at the coupler, looked really close and decided I got my 35 plus years out of it. I happened to have a coupler (next to the casters) that fit, so right after painting, I’m cutting the old coupler off, I know, I’m backwards on this project.

Added a safety chain.

Tomorrow put axle on, repack bearings, paint entire grill, new shelf and wire lights.

Friday we help son move, get ready for Saturday, cook on Saturday.

Its all good, been planning on getting a little work done on grill, it just got accelerate. It’s why I have a shop!

 

[harley jim]

It's good to have a shop.

 

[shopnut]

Wow, lots of fun projects going on there CB! It took quite a while for me to get caught back up on your thread. I'm sure its nice to get that Vidmar cabinet rolling and working like new again... I get extreme satisfaction out of doing stuff like that. Looking forward to seeing further developments on the hoist system... soon you'll be lifting and rolling. Family matters can certainly boost projects to the top of the list in no time flat. But in this case, you are getting a nicely upgraded grill out of it all and another one checked off the list. Got to be happy about that. I can almost smell those ribs from here!!

 

[rmack898]

Have grill, will travel.
Can we place an order and have it delivered.

 

[Chrisb62]

Where does the son live ...... I am only 20-30 minutes up the road if you need help moving him or someone to taste test the food

 

[cbacres]

Going to be a 109 degree heat index today.
I can even see the humidity today.

This grill project is getting me.
Since I pulled hubs off, it only makes since to repack them, the inners had too much pitting for my likes, so I got some on will call and conned the wife into picking them up.

I have had this grill go over backwards on me a few times, it’s short and the main part of grill is perfectly centered over axle. The wife and I were talking about it, and she mentions the drag cars, didn’t know what the wheels were called behind them, wheelie bars I said, then instantly remembered a pneumatic swivel caster I had.

I needed to make it retractable, so a couple of different things size sq tubing, a nut welded to the bigger piece to allow for adjustment and a pin to secure it in the retracted position going down the road.

I attached it to the angle that I cut out and welded back in, but I needed to add a spacer to get stand away from angle (pay attention, this matters later on)

So this was a quick and easy idea, I got to get this done today.
Works pretty good, wish I’d thought of it years ago.

This is down and lets push it anywhere we want without fear of a backflip.

This is a fail safe pin position in case the tightened bolt don’t hold or we forget to tighten.

This is the going down the road mode.

So, do you remember I told you to pay attention later? This is later.

Being in such a hurry, I neglected to check little pesky things like clearance. Went to mount bumper and noticed the third wheel bracket took up some of the same exact space that bumper was going to.
No biggie, just a notch or two, and a nifty custom hole for the adjustment bolt just like I planned.


I used two stainless button head bolts, looks like a real bumper mount.

Here it is painted.

 

[shortykorte]

Clever idea on wheelie bar. Now get that bumper polished.

 

[cbacres]

Clever idea on wheelie bar. Now get that bumper polished.

It was done before you posted.

 

[cbacres]

See? I was out in shop at 6:30 so I could wrap up.

Only thing I won’t get done is the wood shelf.

 

[cbacres]

After the last week of angle grinders, cut off wheels and wire brushing, the multiple cords had me talking to myself. So, I took a little side trip on retrofitting a cabinet I bought a few months ago.

Its a a parts cabinet with tall vertical drawers that are fitted with shelf’s for boxes of parts. Was thinking of notching the shelves so i could hang angle grinders in the drawers, but didn’t really like how it would turn out.

Came up with cutting shelves out completely and used a 1” aluminum angle popped riveted in place. So far looks promising, I need to tame the cord, going to grab a handful of the cable cuffs.



Heres the cab drawers:


Attaching angle with pop rivets, steel shelves already removed.


Angle in, test fit of a few grinders.

I don’t know if this will be the way to go with the angle grinders and a supply of related wheels, but I’ll give it a spin. The grinders that don’t have a guard will likely just be placed on the shelf as pictured, like ones with wire brushes.

My thoughts a few months ago when I bought it is I can roll cab out to my shop porch and have everything there, spanner wrenches, etc. Maybe I’ll mount my 1” belt sanders on top?.

 

[cbacres]

Not much been going on, spent time with wife at skate rink videotaping her for a skate test, took MIL out for lunch (2.5 hours away), dropped off some air tools I sold (dude wasn’t there, his aunt answered door in bath robe, he must of been a teenager).

Picked up a few things for the shop, a platform step ladder, 300 lb rated off market place. Paid $30 for it, just sold a old step ladder for $20, so a cheap upgrade. It’ll come in handy for the upcoming lift work.

Wrapping up rehanging the doors on the patio cabinet. I built this cab 20 plus years ago and the hinges gave out. Wife found some nice hinges, they just needed a frame around the door to be able to mount. Of course all of the screws on the old hinge had to be drilled out.

The welding clamps come in handy.

Hit a sale that look promising, picked up two ballpein hammers, like I really need anymore. But these were diffrent.


Will be getting back on the posts for the lift tomorrow. I need to do a marathon clean out of the shop as my job interviews are heating up.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Any excuse to buy a hammer is a good one.

 

[Chrisb62]

Good to here about reentering the employed, and paying taxes again..........

 

[cbacres]

Good to here about reentering the employed, and paying taxes again..........

Nothing concrete yet, but some seemingly good prospects. It’s amazing reading the descriptions just to come up to the degrees they ask for, and I’ve been doing the same type of job for 28 plus years.

I keep referencing my degree from being on the GJ.

I’m calling Mike Rowe!

Time to get outside and enjoy the heat.

 

[Strouty]

You would think that employers would want experience over a degree anyways, I know I would, well, except the GJ degree, that is a whole different ball game.

 

[Chrisb62]

Today's companies seem to want a degree and 30 years experience with crappy pay.
A lot of times the newer mechanical engineers here where I work ask us guys in the tool room if we think it will work as intended, until some of them grow into people who "know more than you". Not intending to say all mechanical engineers are bad in any way.

 

[cbacres]

Today's companies seem to want a degree and 30 years experience with crappy pay.
A lot of times the newer mechanical engineers here where I work ask us guys in the tool room if we think it will work as intended, until some of them grow into people who "know more than you". Not intending to say all mechanical engineers are bad in any way.

But the drawing shows it fitting!!!!

 

[cbacres]

Today's companies seem to want a degree and 30 years experience with crappy pay.
A lot of times the newer mechanical engineers here where I work ask us guys in the tool room if we think it will work as intended, until some of them grow into people who "know more than you". Not intending to say all mechanical engineers are bad in any way.

Every job I’ve had in the past 30 years I was offered on the spot, shortly after or after a impromptu interview.

The last job I was the winner in a inventory reduction task, I say inventory because that’s about the treatment I received from the co in the past year. Im not really complaining too much, it happens all the time, the office I worked out of was on manager number 4 in 11 years, and this manager just didn’t consider my value.
My clients sure did, they panicked when I informed them, and I helped them out the best I could.

Ill be better off down the road, mentally at lest!

Im enjoying life right now, making progress on shop and house stuff.

As far as the degree, I just need to find the right place that values the experience, their out there, just need cross paths.

 

[Chrisb62]

It seems the bigger the company the more the push for a degree, smaller companies seem to value skill sets learned from on the job training. Once again where i work it seems to be , are you good with power point presentations ...... you must have a degree..... your job skills required for hands on aren't as important. The company I work for is also a $2.6 billion market cap corporation striving to get to $1.0 Billion in sales for the year across all divisions by 2024, employing 2,000 around the world. So more a corporate mind set with a lot of lower level turnover from anybody can do your job mentality , not working as well with nobody wanting to work lately . Got 26 years so far hoping for a few more before saying adios .

 

[cbacres]

Worked on cleaning up beams, sanded, wire brushed and coated with Ospho. The Ospho will take care of the rust in the pitts, I’ll primer right over.

One thing about buying steel from the scrap yard, it comes with gouges and bumps on the edges. I made sure the bottom flange was flat for the trolley that will be riding over it.

Most of my extension cords are still in my truck box from the gathering at our sons and I was too lazy to walk out to truck, so I just put my new cord reel to work.

Getting the top bracket and base plates on the posts.

so...... was just about done when the wire quit squirting.

Yep, ran out of wire. Haven’t done that in a lot of years. I run 35 lb rolls and they generally last a while, but it’s been a few years since I swapped out. The posts are galvanize, even though I ground the area to be welded, still got into some, so much that it just about closed off my gas flow at the nozzle. The galvanized really throws back splatter into the tip/ nozzle.

Base plates tomorrow.

 

[shortykorte]

Ah, pulling a Shorty. Running out of wire or gas.

Is there a degree for common sense?

 

[harley jim]

I didnt want to say that!

 

[cbacres]

I didnt want to say that!

Ah, pulling a Shorty. Running out of wire or gas.

Is there a degree for common sense?

I’ll keep my pulling a Shortys to running out of stuff.
I wear boots and try to keep the blood shed down to a minimum.

in the back of my mind, I had a couple rolls in my drawer, but one was stainless and the other .045 flux core. Until December, I hadn’t used the mig for a while.

 

[harley jim]

I kept running out of wire at 10:00 at night, finally bought two rolls.

 

[cbacres]

I kept running out of wire at 10:00 at night, finally bought two rolls.

Got 44lbs, would of been set for a while if they gave me .035, , busy chatting with salesman I’ve known for years, they handed me .045 and I didn’t notice.

I’ll get a backup roll a little later.

Picked up a couple nozzles while there, it wouldn’t thread all the way on the gun.
The male threads on gun were buggered up, so I figured after owning the machine for 14 years, I’d fix up the threads.
Threads match a 9/16-18 on gauge, my thread restoring kit came in handy.
I used the thread file to get threads somewhat in order, ran the die over it and that did the trick. It looks a lot better in picture than it really is.

 

[cbacres]

Amazing what can be done with some wire!


Exchanged the 045 for some 035. I guess this is the first time ive used a 44lb roll, the old one was a 30lb. So I’ll be able to go 1-1/2 times longer before I forget again.
Welded base plates.

One of the sq tubes was painted, I used a 3M scotch brite pad on the grinder, worked great removing the paint and general cleaning.

I coated all with Ospho, you can see the reaction with the galvanized, I’ll do a quick wire brush and it’ll be ready for paint.
Moved the cross beam to the shop porch so i can add a spacer and bracing for the trolley beam.
The little yellow cart at work again.

Beam on stands, makes it so easy to work on.

 

[cbacres]

Beams are done, just a quick wire brushing and it’s on to primer and top coat.

Made and welded up the spacer for trolley beam.
Cut a 3”x6” rectangle tube to brace the cross beam where the spacer is.

The brace tube interferes with the back two bolts where trolley beam will attach, added a couple of nuts.

The 12“ Fireball angle came in handy, it’s wide enough to square the spacer both vertical and horizontally.




Added some brackets for a electric cord reel for hoist power. I’m not sure which reel and how exactly it’ll come together, just wanted to get something in place on the ground to simply attaching later.

Added a mounting plate for the hose reel.

 

[shopnut]

Nice progress CB! Looking forward to seeing what it looks like up there in its final resting place.

 

[cbacres]

Me too!

 

[shortykorte]

Great progress. I’m thinking safety yellow with red pinstripes.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I have can of spinach you an have when it comes time to hoist that thing into place.

 

[cbacres]

I have can of spinach you an have when it comes time to hoist that thing into place.

Now that would be awesome if I could just do like Popeye!

 

[cbacres]

Great progress. I’m thinking safety yellow with red pinstripes.

Thanks
Going to be dark brown, safety yellow won’t help you that high up.
Just watch your feet when pushing the down button.

 

[cbacres]

Look at all the new steel!

I like not got the primer on with the rain.
I rigged up the fence as I didn’t have any floor space left under the roof.

I’ll need to separate tomorrow, the pieces are too close together and the overspray is hitting the other pieces, not a big deal on the primer, but it’ll be a mess with the top coat.

I‘ll be glad to get this part done.

 

[cbacres]

This is the spinach I’ll be renting.

 

[Chrisb62]

I think this might be more fun


With Shorty driving...................

 

[Toolfool]

I think this might be more fun


With Shorty driving...................

Have the camera ready !