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Above 1200 Sq/FT The Salvage Garage

Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
I was trying to do something "quick" in the office, ha ha. I have spent the last two and a half hours trying to get one piece of paperwork submitted. We have no internet right now, been down about five days, I can use my phone as a connection for the office computer, but the copier has a more complex setup. I figured out that I had to swap back to the original network to print documents, but I can't scan them as the printer has to email the documents. This is because it is an older unit and there was not easy way for it to direct scan to the Mac computers in the office. Well, now I wish I had done it the hard way, I am going to have to go back to my house and setup the new scanner I bought for that location. Everything I have touched this morning has been an issue, I suspect that the rest of the day is going to be the same. Everything outside has turned to an icy mess and the sander isn't setup yet. I was hopeful that the warm weather and rain would take care of the snow, but that is Wednesday, I just hope I can make it that long.
 
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jack stand

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Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
3,346
Location
Lakes Region Maine
Computers and the like....
Over the weekend I had a big, fed with the excavator burn pile that I've been waiting for some rain or snow to burn. The state has a handy on line burn permit system that wouldn't take my zip code part of the application, entering both the long or short zip code.
It has worked in the past and worked fine on Thanksgiving.

I took a screenshot of my repeated attempts and burnt away.
20241202_163432.jpg
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
Too much **** revolves around internet access, I just deleted a huge rant, I don't need the mess I have in front of me.

I am waiting on Dad to show up for signatures, he said before lunch and it is after noon now. I guess he could have meant before lunch on January 1st, 2025?? I just transferred all my needed files to Dropbox, waiting for the sync to finish, then I am going to find Dad and get the signatures I need so I can try and start my real day before it gets dark.
 

LaneRover

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
301
Location
Maine
It definitely doesn’t feel as cold as they claimed it would. I am still happy to be in the office today. I do have to drop off some recycling that is now frozen cardboard, just went to the bank and the teller tried to give me an old $100 bill, I told her that she needed to swap it out as I wouldn’t spend it because it was worth keeping. Then she asked me if I wanted some old $10 bills, got one 1950 star note and one 1950 non star, the star note is worth about $40, so I bought both of them. I really need to get into money flipping, would be easier on my back.
When I was on the show "Everybody Hates Chris" we would keep a bunch of 'old cash' around because the show took place in the 80's and we couldn't use the new 20's 50's and so on.
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
Dad showed up and I was about to walk to the truck, got a call from my Neighbor saying his internet is back, I checked and thankfully mine is too. So now I have to go back into the office and finish up what I was trying to do. I have already gotten over the fact that I won't see any usable daylight today. I think I am just going to rework things and plan on Thursday through next Monday to try and get everything done outside.
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
Even more than that, it's getting to where you can't get anything done without a phone "app".

I don't want to be tied to that damn thing!
My palm pilot handle voice recognition and handwriting recognition as good or better than the new phones, it also was excellent to use for writing as it wasn't this crappy capacitance type of touch screen, you could use a stick to input with it, or gloves that weren't special, or ice cold fingers.
 

86turbodsl

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 1, 2005
Messages
6,558
Location
Michigan
Dad showed up and I was about to walk to the truck, got a call from my Neighbor saying his internet is back, I checked and thankfully mine is too. So now I have to go back into the office and finish up what I was trying to do. I have already gotten over the fact that I won't see any usable daylight today. I think I am just going to rework things and plan on Thursday through next Monday to try and get everything done outside.
Watch yourself. There's a super cold wave heading that way. Our Thurs high is 14F. Hits you friday-sat maybe.
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
I think the ocean is making some adjustments to the, they are calling for similar temps to what we have had the last week, lows in the 20s and highs in the 30s for those days, before that it will be in the 50s and after that in the lower 40s. As long as I have traction, I can get what I need to done, right now it is like a skating rink all over the place.
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
We got a few inches of snow overnight, still not planning on touching it. Supposed to start warming up this evening and will be raining and mid 50s all Wednesday, temps won’t drop until Thursday and there will be some wind. I am hopeful that this will remove all the snow and the wind will dry things before we freeze again. Fingers crossed on that one, otherwise, I am effed.

I need to grab a few more things from the Salvage Garage, I unloaded the little tilt trailer the other day and it is at the bottom of the Hill waiting for me. I had planned to take all the junk batteries out if equipment/trucks, but I may just pull the two that need to be dealt with for now and wait for the snow to go away before messing with the rest. I have office type work that needs to be done anyways. I guess it depends on what the temps are, I was up late last night and I am getting a late start today.
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
That "free" little forklift is getting expensive, I thought the call this morning was going to be that it was ready to pick up, nope, master cylinder is leaking and main lift cylinder is ******* fluid everywhere. :(

I will probably just have the work done as it will be a good forklift to have and I don't have the time to do the work without messing up something else. Was just hoping that I could have gotten out of it for less investment, at least the initial investment wasn't too bad...
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
Those aren't mine and they are both little towers, not giant ones. :)

The little clark forklift is done, just under $1900. I really can't complain too much as anything I would have bought, would have needed work for sure. Wasn't what I wanted spend, but as long as it stays functional, it will be nice to have a forklift that is usable in the quonset hut all the time.

I was also watching a YouTube video where they had an electric forklift that instead of the big batteries, they used a couple regular batteries to get the 24 volts and a block of concrete to use as counterweight in place of the batteries. I am actually thinking that this may be the way to go, they mentioned that they could use it for about 45 minutes before it needed to be charged. I figure if I use four deep cycle batteries I could have more than an hour at a time and I rarely use the electric forklifts for any real length of time. They are more for a quick move here, wait, move something else, wait, move the lift out of the way, wait, rinse and repeat. The batteries will be worth a few bucks in scrap as well, so I really think it would be worth the effort. I would build a metal box that fits the forklifts, just like the batteries have, then pour concrete into them, leaving enough room at the top to put the smaller batteries. I really think this could work for my purposes, a used battery would be a couple grand for sure, anything new would be thousands more. Anyone see any reason not to do it that way? I am not going to jump right on it, but it would be a good thing to do this winter.
 
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kent_323is

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
274
Location
South Dakota
Those aren't mine and they are both little towers, not giant ones. :)

The little clark forklift is done, just under $1900. I really can't complain too much as anything I would have bought, would have needed work for sure. Wasn't what I wanted spend, but as long as it stays functional, it will be nice to have a forklift that is usable in the quonset hut all the time.

I was also watching a YouTube video where they had an electric forklift that instead of the big batteries, they used a couple regular batteries to get the 24 volts and a block of concrete to use as counterweight in place of the batteries. I am actually thinking that this may be the way to go, they mentioned that they could use it for about 45 minutes before it needed to be charged. I figure if I use four deep cycle batteries I could have more than an hour at a time and I rarely use the electric forklifts for any real length of time. They are more for a quick move here, wait, move something else, wait, move the lift out of the way, wait, rinse and repeat. The batteries will be worth a few bucks in scrap as well, so I really think it would be worth the effort. I would build a metal box that fits the forklifts, just like the batteries have, then pour concrete into them, leaving enough room at the top to put the smaller batteries. I really think this could work for my purposes, a used battery would be a couple grand for sure, anything new would be thousands more. Anyone see any reason not to do it that way? I am not going to jump right on it, but it would be a good thing to do this winter.
I think this might be the way to go. Are you thinking that with setting up the 4 batteries in the tray with concrete, that they'd stay there all the time? No need to be portable with the batteries?

I have a small straddle material lifter fork in the garage... it's 12v and I just use an old car battery for it. I use it only occasionally, and I just plug in a battery maintainer as needed to keep it charged. Works great. The battery is from the van, it wasn't enough to start the vehicle, but it's enough to continue to run this. I've got something like 4+ years of use doing it this way.
 

Craptain

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
4,029
Location
Tampa Bay FL
Those aren't mine and they are both little towers, not giant ones. :)

The little clark forklift is done, just under $1900. I really can't complain too much as anything I would have bought, would have needed work for sure. Wasn't what I wanted spend, but as long as it stays functional, it will be nice to have a forklift that is usable in the quonset hut all the time.

I was also watching a YouTube video where they had an electric forklift that instead of the big batteries, they used a couple regular batteries to get the 24 volts and a block of concrete to use as counterweight in place of the batteries. I am actually thinking that this may be the way to go, they mentioned that they could use it for about 45 minutes before it needed to be charged. I figure if I use four deep cycle batteries I could have more than an hour at a time and I rarely use the electric forklifts for any real length of time. They are more for a quick move here, wait, move something else, wait, move the lift out of the way, wait, rinse and repeat. The batteries will be worth a few bucks in scrap as well, so I really think it would be worth the effort. I would build a metal box that fits the forklifts, just like the batteries have, then pour concrete into them, leaving enough room at the top to put the smaller batteries. I really think this could work for my purposes, a used battery would be a couple grand for sure, anything new would be thousands more. Anyone see any reason not to do it that way? I am not going to jump right on it, but it would be a good thing to do this winter.
I've considered this myself. Used forklifts without or with bad batteries are pretty cheap. And as long as you are happy with the limits I would go for it.
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
I was at my local battery place and talked with the owner about this idea, he said the absolute best way to do this would be four 6 volt batteries. He just happens to have 8 of them that were purchased, installed in a lift, the lift was still not working, so they scrapped the lift and he bought the batteries back from them. He said that they have never even been discharged, he is asking about half price for them, I think I may just grab them and then get the big packs scrapped, I may be able to recover most of my money by doing that. Only down side is that I have to actually do it and get the cases made for the concrete, then deal with that as well. Not a huge deal, but also not what I was planning on doing right now either. I don't think the batteries are going to be available for very long, so I will have to make up my mind quick.

As for a car battery pack, they are way too big and setup for crazy voltages most of the time. I have swapped cells in a Prius pack before and it is not even that heavy, just lots of smaller brick sized packs combined into one large one.
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
I did manage to get a fair bit done today, eating my late lunch right now, still have to tie down the snow plow on the trailer. I wanted to get these two trailers combined a couple weeks ago, just didn't have time. I pulled out the adjustable part as it is bent and essentially damaged beyond wanting to fix it. I figure when I cut it up, I can save the other part of the tube to make some sort of adjustable jib thingy for the forklifts. I pushed the trailers around to the back forty where they can sit for another couple years.

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bimmer1980

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Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
2,104
Location
York, PA
Buy the batteries and just strap them in for the moment. It will lower the lifting capacity for the short term, but at least it is usable.

Then when time permits, or when you allocate it, just build a box with osb plywood (or similar) and pour the concrete.

Having the forklift usable is worth way more than the absolute perfection of full lift capacity.... but that's just me..
 
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Strouty

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Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
The forklifts are both usable, but the battery capacity is insanely short as they are on their last legs. I want the weight removable in case I ever want to put a factory battery back, so I may not just make up an OSB form, I was figuring a permanent steel case with lifting tabs like the way the battery is currently. The steel case means I don't have to worry about any rebar and also just use cement powder with no aggregate, I have access to a little bit of that.
 

Dixie_Flatline

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Joined
Oct 30, 2024
Messages
387
Location
Tennessee
The forklifts are both usable, but the battery capacity is insanely short as they are on their last legs. I want the weight removable in case I ever want to put a factory battery back, so I may not just make up an OSB form, I was figuring a permanent steel case with lifting tabs like the way the battery is currently. The steel case means I can not worry about any rebar and also just use cement powder with no aggregate, I have access to a little bit of that.
Cut those air tanks off those trailers since you already caged the brakes, weld a loop on it, fill with cement...or lead!
 

kent_323is

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Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
274
Location
South Dakota
You've got so much scrap steel, just hang some steel off the back of it, or stack on top. Are you trying to lift insanely heavy stuff with it, or could the reduced capacity be good enough for a while?
Having it drivable would be worth it right away.
 

Spareparts

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Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
2,045
Location
Lansing Ks.
How in the hell did you bend that Pintle Eye, I have been around them in both the Army for
6 yrs and Line building for better part of 20 yrs , used and abused them but never bent one
if you bent that one you are a Brute, hat off to you.
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
Messages
38,218
Location
Southern Maine
The lunette eye got bent because it swivels and it was also attached to a swivel pintle hitch and they both got turned 90 degrees, so when the truck made a sharp turn (going up a mountain) the force bent it. Normally you have one part fixed so the other part can rotate, not both, just a random thing.

As for the forklifts, the battery essentially is the counterweight, so you can't really go without, it would really limit the capacity. As for hanging something off the back, no thanks, these are indoor forklifts and they need to be as small as they can be. One battery weighs about 2500 pounds and that is a third of the forklift weight, maybe a bit more.
 

Mr.zippy

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Joined
Apr 27, 2020
Messages
2,221
Location
Wyoming
The lunette eye got bent because it swivels and it was also attached to a swivel pintle hitch and they both got turned 90 degrees, so when the truck made a sharp turn (going up a mountain) the force bent it. Normally you have one part fixed so the other part can rotate, not both, just a random thing.

As for the forklifts, the battery essentially is the counterweight, so you can't really go without, it would really limit the capacity. As for hanging something off the back, no thanks, these are indoor forklifts and they need to be as small as they can be. One battery weighs about 2500 pounds and that is a third of the forklift weight, maybe a bit more.

Can you relocate the 4 new batteries on the forklift somewhere, and just leave the old ones where they are? Probably a stupid question though.
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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38,218
Location
Southern Maine
It is cold, but so far no wind, so it doesn't feel that bad. Going to drop the new to me plow for the Salvage Garage, it is a 9' 6" V plow, the old one was an 8' 6". If the burb can take it, it should make things a bit better, especially clearing around the front of the building, the closer I can get, the less snow I have to shovel. It is in better shape in some ways and worse shape in others, but it should work well enough for what I am doing.
 
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