Give me hell!

[Thumper68]

I always wanted to make one that would be for moving trailers. Never thought about making it so it can be a snowblower again. Could be a swiss army knife at the shop.

If you can find a older Ariens machine they are made to be split apart with just 2 bolts. then all you need to do is make mounting plates. I will take some pictures of my Ariens snow blower, lawnmower, leaf vac tomorrow and post them up so you can see what I mean.

The thing I like best about this is that I don't have a engine sitting around for the off season, that seems to me when the issues start popping up. There is nothing like pulling out a machine at the beginning of the season and having to **** with it just to mow or move some snow.

 

[Thumper68]

Not the best picture but I was dodging raindrops to get it.
You can see the 2 bolts that hold the attachment to the power unit, on this one an old (1968) Trac team there is a drive coupler that transmits power to the attachment. On the bottom there are 2 hooks that hold the lower side of the connecting plate in place.

 

[Strouty]

I had not looked at the older ones, that is really cool. Now I will have to search some out. There have been a few times that I could have used one to push a car into the shop.

 

[MRMARTY]

Nice,,,,

 

[Strouty]

Any updates?

 

[Thumper68]

No not really, I have been out of town dealing with the MIL's death and now busy at home getting ready for the power upgrade, I will be out there tomorrow, have to do the power steering hoses on the sons truck. (helping not doing) then next weekend taking the daughter to college.

Should be back at it after that, and like you the heat is slowing me way down. It is not supposed to be 90+ degrees in northern MN!

 

[Strouty]

I hear you on the heat. Glad to hear you are working with the son, not for him. Hope all goes well. Have a great weekend.

 

[Thumper68]

Well we didn't make it out to the shop today like planned, Thanks to the freaking heat I am behind on getting ready for the electrician, today was spent vacuuming celuose insulation remnents from the basement ceiling then cleaning up the mess from the floor.

Tomorrow I need to remove a bunch of strapping from the ceiling so he has a clear shot for drilling.

Going to be headed out to the shop on Tuesday as soon as he is finished up. Then on Friday I'm headed to Chicago to drop the daughter off at college. After that I will have much more shop time.

 

[Thumper68]

no pics of the progress and projects this weekend, I got a bit more cleaned up between projects.

The project list seems to be getting longer not shorter, but that is just the way life goes at times.

I scored this vise in an online auction tonight for just under $50.
Simplex 61S

 

[Strouty]

Decent looking vise. How heavy do you think it is?

As for the project list, that seems to be my problem too. The more I get done the longer the list gets.

 

[Thumper68]

Decent looking vise. How heavy do you think it is?

As for the project list, that seems to be my problem too. The more I get done the longer the list gets.

I found a ad that someone had posted and it says that the vise is 145 pounds

 

[Strouty]

Yup, it is official, YOU ****!

 

[Thumper68]

Yup, it is official, YOU ****!

well thank you!

BTW I picked it up on Wed, it's better than it looked in the auction pics, I will post up some better ones when I get back from the shop next week.

It's dirty but jaw inserts look almost new.

 

[Ponchoguy]

Re: Give me hell!!

I filled 3 40 gal bags of trash today, I'm finding the hard part is deciding what is sell, what is trash and what is keep.

My goal is to have it all cleaned up by the end of the week of July 4th (we will be there that whole week)

Right now I need to have the woodworking side of the shop cleaned up so I can build the cabinets for my sisters travel trailer remodel, there is nothing like spending 2 hours cleaning off the bench so I can make 1 cut with the radial arm saw.

On a side note what is the best way (cheapest) to get rid of old electronics it seems that there are 5 non working vcr's in there and 2 old scanners. Damn kids keep bringinng them home.

Staples takes 'em back for free. I just went through that over the winter.

 

[Thumper68]

Ponchoguy thanks for the tip, I was able to drop them off a few at a time at Best Buy so all the old non working electronics are gone.


Had a busy productive weekend, on Friday I got the hubs pulled from my uncles new to him free boat trailer with plans to repack the bearings. Of course the bearings were sitting in a nice bath of grease and water and were rusted to hell, funny I wasn't able to feel it when rotating them by hand. So I got lucky and the closest parts store 16 miles away was still open and had the bearings and seals in stock. So by 9pm that project was done, since it was dark by then I cleaned up the lug bolts and gave them a bath in black paint.

Saturday morning I was able to get the new wheels and tires on the treailer, mount the new winch, new lights and wireing and the bunks. I ground off the welds holding the coupler in place (switching from a 1 7/8ths to a 2" to match all our other small trailers) and primed and painted the end of the tongue before noticing that my uncle had picked up a coupler for a 2 1/2 inch tongue and not the 3 inch tongue, so put the rest of the trailer on the to do list for next weekend.

It was getting hot out in the sun so I moved into the shop and pulled the new to me Simplex vise apart for media blasting and set the parts aside on the todo cart for when I have a rain day.

Then I headed out to work on the rebuild of our screen porch, the roof had caved in last winter and we decided that since we have the windows we would make it a full on 3 season porch, I had a bunch of the decking to replace which I was able to get screwed down before I had to make dinner for the boys and myself.

Sunday was back to work on the porch after it had dried up from the rain, had just gotten started when the neighbor came over and asked for some help so there went the rest of Sunday (6 beers and 3 cocktails and I was done for the day)

Today the boy and I got going bright and early 11am on the porch, got the front wall framed up and stood in place, this is where I remind everyone to check your measurements, I had measured the windows in May for length 83 5/8 inches rough opening I didn't even question the height I had written down, well just before we started to build the header beam I ran back and re-measured the height 60 1/2 inch rough, I had cut and notched the posts at 59 1/8th.

Oh well I found a fix and things rolled along smoothly from there.

I have to pick up some flashing and next weekend we will get the rafters and roofing on before framing the end walls.

 

[Strouty]

You got a lot more done than I did! Can't wait to see some pictures of the vise.

 

[Thumper68]

You got a lot more done than I did! Can't wait to see some pictures of the vise.

I was going to snap a few of the vise and a few other things I have picked up over the last few weeks but forgot in getting ready to head home.

Small list

Weaver 4 ton jack from a member here

Linky

The vise which I will post pics of soon.

I have been wanting a safe way to hold my used cloth shop towels and while I was shopping for Industrial tarps for a job I found a safety can that is large enough to hold a washer load. 21 gal. I feel much better about leaving the shop now. Not bad for around $100 but piece of mind is priceless.

 

[Strouty]

21 gallon is very large, seems like a good price for $100. I think I paid $40 for my 5 gallon one.

 

[Thumper68]

21 gallon is very large, seems like a good price for $100. I think I paid $40 for my 5 gallon one.

I considered a smaller one but I decided that I wanted one big enough that A full bag would be a washer load, I have lots of shop towels so no worries about running out if the can is near full.

I haven't made sure but I think that it will fit under the sink next to my 2 drawer file cabinet I use for all the paperwork that comes with tools etc...

 

[Strouty]

You do know that you are supposed to empty the can every night right?

Yeah, I don't empty mine either.

 

[Thumper68]

You do know that you are supposed to empty the can every night right?

Yeah, I don't empty mine either.

Yeah I think it might say something like that on the big *** label, and if I was in a commercial shop I would do so (Not really) but since I am just trying to have a bit of piece of mind.....

 

[Strouty]

I always say, no sense in having a little fire when you can have a big one.

I don't think mine has been emptied this year.

 

[Thumper68]

Well getting ready to head out for the weekend, time is getting short and I can feel the pressure of winter coming, to much to do and as usual not enough time.

There are a few outdoor things that "need" to get done, First up is the new 3 season porch, which with a bit of good weather should be mostly wrapped up this weekend.

The second is rebuilding the pump house, for the past few years I have been collecting bags of leaves and piling them around and over as added insulation which works but adds another chore to spring, so the plan is to build a slightly bigger house with more insulation and insulate the ground as well to keep more of the heat in.

Then I will be ready for the usual pick up and store all the summer stuff, tables, chairs etc... that should be away from the winter weather.

Here are a few of the goodies that have come in the mail over the last couple of days.

I scored a bunch of Craftsman industrial and Blackhawk sockets from grainger clearance.



I picked up a couple more Hanson socket trays to go with the collection.

Then I finally got the gas lens kit for the tig welder, from what I have read this should help with my tig.


I have a few more deliveries from Grainger coming, tomorrow and Monday with the rest of the sockets I ordered.

Have a great weekend I know I will, there is a auction I promised my father I would take him to on Sat, if I'm lucky I wont find anything I can't live without.

 

[Thumper68]

Had a good weekend, the weather was kinda crappy on Friday so not much done on outside projects but I did get the new vise in the media blaster and it cleaned up real nice.

In between the raindrops and gusts of wind I braved the cold 53* and finished up the trailer project, new rollers and coupler, when the oldest boy got there Friday evening we loaded the boat on the trailer and parked it out of the way.

Saturday morning the weather had improved and my dad showed up nice and early so we had time to run to the nearest town and pick up the paint I forget to get and have breakfast before heading to the auction, at first I didn't see much, small hobby type farm but there were a couple of things that My son, father and I were interested in so we decided to hang around for a bit and see how things would go.

The first thing that I popped for was a nice tile cutter, went for $30



Then I picked up a older USA made Porter Cable trim router for $25 and a 5 piece Freud raised panel door router bit set for $75 all in like new condition.

Then we sat around and had a few hot dogs while waiting for them to get through all the household ****.

Most of the guns went for okay prices but there was nothing there I needed.

Then I got this Cman chest and lower for $150, $25 more then I wanted to pay but I needed the storage bad.

It replaced my taller 5 drawer that has the storage compartment on the bottom, amazing how fast the tool switch over went, things may or may not be in their final spots but I think it will work until I can get around to making my Steevo style bench.

Tat was it for the auction, nope not quite I did get a gas pump, I have wanted one to put a hose and electric reel in for outside the shop but as I was paying for the stuff the guy who bought the other 2 pumps offer me $55 for the one I got $5 more than what I had paid and since I would have had to come back for it (only about 10 miles) I took him up on the offer.

After we got back we unloaded the new stuff and I got to painting the vise, Rustolum hammered green I really like that color.

This morning the paint was dry so I took a few minutes and put it together.





Put the paint can in for scale.


And then we went to work on the 3 season porch.


That was my weekend. We did measure out for the new pumphouse and that will be our main objective for next weekend.

 

[Strouty]

I like the hammered green too, although I would probably like that vise in any color.

I did not realize how big that porch was, hopefully the weather will cooperate with you.

 

[Thumper68]

The porch is 32x12, the screen porch that we took down covered 12x26 of it so most of the decking that was exposed to the weather I had to replace, this is where the horder tendencies come in handy, we tore down a old school about 30 years ago and in the back under a few pieces of tin roofing are my stash of 2x14x24 doug fir, that is what it is decked with, the frame is made of 2x8 doug fir from the same school, after 30 years I am finally running out only about 10 of the 2x14's left.

I think the hammered green is going to be the official shop color, it is very close to Grizzly green and matches my table saw, jointer, and wood lathe so I painted the blast cabinet I built that color. Now with the big vise that color I think I'm going to keep it going.

I don't remember which thread I saw it in but it was suggested that going with a theme color makes a shop look more organized, we shall see if that is true....LOL

 

[Strouty]

I may have to try and color coordinate things in my shop.

 

[Thumper68]

I may have to try and color coordinate things in my shop.

Do you have a color in mind? If you say hammered green......

On a side note my son asked if we could source some Craftsman red spray paint so I looked it up they want $18 a can F that.

Tomorrow I need to go to the steel yard and pick up some 5" square tube with a 3/8 wall and some 1/2" plate to make a post for the new vise.

The old china vise is going to be re mounted on a new post and brake drum filled with concrete and reside outside. Still keeping my eye out for a matching Craftsman vise so I can have 2 matching on the work/welding table.

 

[Thumper68]

Well I got to the steel yard and of course that didn't have what I wanted, ended up with 5" square but with a 1/4 wall, I changed my mind while I was waiting for the tube to get cut (nice guy waived the cutting fee) I ended up grabbing a 2'x2' 3/8 plate to make the vise mount and floor mount out of, Then I was poking around in the drops bin and he said to take what ever I wanted from there, so I grabbed a few pieces of 3/8ths x 1 1/2 to make gussets from, and a larger piece of 1/4" about 6x10 just because it was there.

The fun part is going to be drilling all the holes to match up to the anchors that are already in the floor, at least I can use the old base as a template.

I will have to remember to get some layout fluid I think my container is dried up or empty.

 

[Strouty]

My color scheme will probably have some dark gray (think machine tools) and blue (like my new tool box) with green (snap on extreme green) accents. Once I get things figured out I think those colors will tie in nicely. So I promise I won't use hammered green.

Sounds like you have a good plan for the new post setup. I need to get a rugged old fixed vise that I can setup outside. I figure I can cover it with a bag or something. I just need to find a place that won't be in the way or make it removable for the winter plowing.

 

[Thumper68]

My color scheme will probably have some dark gray (think machine tools) and blue (like my new tool box) with green (snap on extreme green) accents. Once I get things figured out I think those colors will tie in nicely. So I promise I won't use hammered green.

Sounds like you have a good plan for the new post setup. I need to get a rugged old fixed vise that I can setup outside. I figure I can cover it with a bag or something. I just need to find a place that won't be in the way or make it removable for the winter plowing.

The movable things was worried me as well so I decided to go with the brake drum filled with concrete, to protect it from weather I will do what I did at my old shop and just keep it covered with a Rubbermaid bin I think it was a 5 gal that fit perfectly it also was nice to have that bin next to the vise while working to keep tools in, keeps me from misplacing them while working outside the shop.

Your color idea sounds cool.

 

[Thumper68]

Well of course the weather and a few other issues screwed up my weekend, so I had to change things up a bit.

Friday the weather sucked, at least for the first half of the day so I worked on inside ****,
there were a couple of thngs that I needed to get done and a few more that I wanted to get done

First up was finally finishing up the 95 work truck at least enough to get it out of the shop after almost a year. Finished the rear drums, filled all the fluids and bled the brakes.

Done!!

Then I got started on the new post for the new vise. I know someone is going to ask why 9 anchors, that goes back to the old post, for the base I used a part of a old c band dish and it had 9 holes...

When I built the shop I ran conduit under the floor for the vise post I hate drop cords and since I use corded tools a lot I figured what the hell, in the old post I had 1 duplex outlet split so each side had its own breaker.

In the new post I had room for a 4 sq box so I put in 2 duplex outlets each on their own 20 amp breaker.



The new post is 5" sq tube with a 1/4" wall, the top and bottom plates are 3/8ths "

Got a bit of fusion welding tig practice installing the 4 sq box.





And bolted down with the new (to me) simplex.





Saturday was a outside clean up for winter day for the most part but the boy and I did get a bit done for the new outside vise.

Old brake drum 70 lbs of concrete and another left over from a old dish.

 

[Thumper68]

Even though I just bought a new chest and box I'm still short of tool storage, I filled the old roller with machinist tools and it is over full. the new boxes I got two weeks ago are full and my old chest and small roller are over flowing as well and I still have a few boxes (small ones) filled with the over flow, on top of that things are a bit mixed up with no real good order to where tools are in the boxes, I know where stuff is but the kids and other shop users tend to have to open several drawers to find anything.

So I have been planning on building a new bench/tool storage center based on Steevo's design.
I think this might be the next project now that I have the truck out of the shop. I also have a bid in on a top for a new welding table 60x30x2 solid steel (1200 lbs.)with threaded holes for clamping.

I forgot to add that I have already got a nice SS top for it, will back that with 2 layers of 3/4" ac ply.

I see a trip to the steel yard in my future.

Anyhow I spent a little time with sketch-up today and this is what I came up with.
2 HF 44 inch 13 drawer rollers.

Let me know if there is anything that should be changed before I order the 1.5"x1.5 inch sq tube.

 

[damiansd]

Do you have multiples of tools? That's a lot of boxes.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[dcmus]

Jus read the entire thread. Keep up the good work!

 

[Thumper68]

Do you have multiples of tools? That's a lot of boxes.
Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

I don't have to many multiples, but I do seem to have a few extras here and there.

Jus read the entire thread. Keep up the good work!

Thanks, I did get quite a bit more put away last weekend after I got the truck out of the shop.

 

[christopher7390]

organize, 1 corner at a time!

 

[damiansd]

You've done heaps of work. Much further along than I am. Got a recent pic of the whole thing?

 

[Strouty]

The pedestal with the outlet box is a great idea. It looks nice with the green and black.

 

[Thumper68]

You've done heaps of work. Much further along than I am. Got a recent pic of the whole thing?

No I don't, I try and not take overall pics as they are depressing, maybe when I finish eating the elephant I will take some over all pics.