Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Welcome......To Odd Acres

[Finallygotit]

..........I am guessing you have a recessed groove in the concrete that the bottom rollers are captured?
Or maybe you inserted a raised "track" from O gauge train tracks and are running rolling stock "Wheelsets" on the bottom of the gate?.............

Sorry for missing this question ambenz.


I chose not to go with a recessed groove in the concrete due to all of the dirt and rock in the area. That groove, while allowing vehicles to drive over it with ease, would have become a catch basin for all kinds of gunk. That would have been a constant maintenance issue.

I chose to go with a surface mounted V-track which I will be installing shortly, that is if the temps around here ever decide to recede a bit. Geeeez it's been warm!

 

[Finallygotit]

Dan thank you for sharing pics of your trip. It would have been fantastic..

Thanks for dropping by 1/2! It's always a pleasure.


Take care!

 

[zmotorsports]

Been gone for a little while. It was our annual guys fishing trip to Canada. Really like going up there. No cell service, no calls from work! We fished for walleye and northern with a few perch and bass thrown in for giggles. The lake is so big and vast, we rarely see other people while fishing. We do get to see a lot of natural wildlife.



A few pics

We limited out on northern in one day in six hours. That was fun.

A bald eagle graced us with his presence. Beautiful bird!


Some of our bounty packed and ready to go.

My first selfie........yuck....


And one of many beautiful sunsets....

More to come!

Glad you were able to have some R&R time. Sometimes we need that don't we Dan. Looks like a great time was had.

 

[njhoudini]

Dan, really like your BP. I wish I had a machine that could cut rotors and do a lot of other fun stuff. Looks like you had some fun fishing. Please take back some of the heat. It's been close to 100* F the past few days. My car said 104* F when I left the office.

Eugene

 

[Finallygotit]

Hello Eugene and thanks for stopping by.


Take back some of the heat? We need to get rid of some of this. It's been 100° to 105° for the past three to four weeks and predicted for the rest of this week. The dew point isn't high enough yet for the monsoon rains to kick in. Getting kind of tired of this here.


The fishing vacation was great. It did my soul well to unplug.

 

[jblnut]

Been gone for a little while. It was our annual guys fishing trip to Canada.

I thought I saw you fly over but wasn't sure if it was you. I waved, did you see me ??

It's been 100° to 105° for the past three to four weeks and predicted for the rest of this week.

It's been a balmy 75°-85° here the last week with the dew point in the low 70's ... just gross. You walk outside and just start to drip. It is forecasted to be 88° and 85% humidity with a 74° dew point tomorrow .... Gonna be a good sleeping night as there is almost guaranteed to be a thunderstorm !!

 

[Finallygotit]

I stayed in Minnetonka for a few days before and after the trip to visit with friends and it was really uncomfortable for me. I do not miss the humidity at all.


Thanks for stopping by Mike!

 

[Finallygotit]

Well, back to the gate saga.


As I mentioned earlier, scope creep was well engaged here.


The squarish box in the picture houses one of the wheels that the gate rolls on.




I tore the hardware off the gate and went to a local vendor to get the parts. (remember the rubber rollers with the welded axles??) I bought two cast iron wheels designed to roll on V-track. As I was assembling the new wheels, it became apparent that they weren't going to fit. These wheels, with their bearings, were 1/2" wider than the old wheels. So I went about trying to get new wheels. Come to find out, all of the replacement wheels, at least around here, are the same width. So what the hell did the PO put in there.


Since I wasn't about the cut those out and make new wheel boxes, I got some all-thread with nuts and washers and stretched the boxes out until the new wheels fit. They just fit!


Here is the completed assembly....








Here's a shot of the V-track. I drilled for Tapcons to hold it on. I probably could have gotten away with a third less tabs on the track to hold it in place.





After all this was finished, my friend and I went to the shop to cool off. Well, in my case that wasn't soon enough. I was sitting on one of the stools talking with my friend when I noticed that the room was starting to go black. I told him I wasn't feeling well. The next thing I knew, he was patting me on my back and yelling at me to wake up. I was having a nice dream at the time.


I now know what salt deprived heat exhaustion feels like. I had all of the classic symptoms. It was pushing 100° when we finished but with a light breeze that didn't make it feel as hot as it was.


BTW, did I mention that I got "the look" from my lovely wife?



Anyway, the gate is done dear.


More to come!

 

[andsonsvd]

Dan,

Great thread. A pleasure to read from start to finish (whilst at work!) Lucky I have a good boss!

I have subscribed to keep in touch with the 'Odd Acres'.

Shane

 

[bj383ss]

Gate looks good Dan. Be careful on the heat exhaustion!. We need to see more updates from you in the future!

Bret

 

[njhoudini]

Get a damp rag for your neck. The evaporative cooling really can take the edge off. I was amazed how great I felt after I did the one time that happened when I was younger. Not a fun experience either way.

 

[Finallygotit]

Dan,

Great thread. A pleasure to read from start to finish (whilst at work!) Lucky I have a good boss!

I have subscribed to keep in touch with the 'Odd Acres'.

Shane

Thanks for stopping by Shane and thanks for those kind words.

Gate looks good Dan. Be careful on the heat exhaustion!. We need to see more updates from you in the future!

Bret

This one caught me by surprise, Bret. Guess I'm not as young as I used to be. ............sigh............

Get a damp rag for your neck. The evaporative cooling really can take the edge off. I was amazed how great I felt after I did the one time that happened when I was younger. Not a fun experience either way.

Hi Eugene! You are correct sir, but like I said earlier, this one caught me completely by surprise. You should have seen me when I got in the house. I had a bag of frozen peas camped on top of my head to draw the heat. Funny thing, at first I didn't feel the cold.

 

[Finallygotit]

This past week I also worked on refurbishing the little lathe. The shaft on the hand wheel that moves the carriage back and forth had way too much slop in it. Bridgeport to the rescue!!


Here is the carriage clamped to the table and being indicated in.





The original bore size was 0.375" (3/8") but I could fit a 0.379" gage pin through the hole and a 0.386" gage pin would start in at the mouth so I decided to open it up for a 1/2" bronze bushing. Here I am drilling the hole out to just under 1/2".






Then I pulled out the boring head and opened the hole to 0.500" (1/2").








Since the lathe was out of commission, I brought a piece of bronze round stock to work and made a new bushing with the ID undersized for final boring in position. Here is the bushing pressed in with Loctite 609.





And final boring in position with 24 hours of cure time for the Loctite.





Milling the bushing flat to the casting.





All done and reassembled. I also decided to clean up and buff a majority of the hardware that I removed.






All of the gibs are adjusted, all of the feedscrews are cleaned and lubed. Backlash is at a minimum.



Interesting find, I found a paper shim under one of the gibs that obviously didn't belong there. (Rusted the adjoining metal pieces due to the water retention.) I replaced that with a piece of brass shim the correct thickness.


More to come and thanks for stopping by!

 

[njhoudini]

Nice fix on the lathe!

Sent from my LG-H918 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I'm going to have to make that exact same fix on my Rockwell lathe. Nice work.

 

[zmotorsports]

Dan, the gate and lathe projects turned out freaking awesome.

Take care of yourself in that heat bud, heat exhaustion/heat stroke is nothing to mess with, flirted with that a few years back and it scared the hell out of me.

 

[Finallygotit]

Nice fix on the lathe!

Thanks Eugene.

I'm going to have to make that exact same fix on my Rockwell lathe. Nice work.

Thanks GLTHFJ60! The biggest issue I had was getting a solid set-up to bore out the hole. 1-2-3 blocks worked out well.

Dan, the gate and lathe projects turned out freaking awesome.

Take care of yourself in that heat bud, heat exhaustion/heat stroke is nothing to mess with, flirted with that a few years back and it scared the hell out of me.

Thanks Mike! Regarding the heat, what kinda pisses me off is that I'm starting to feel my age a bit. Not happy with that! I want to be 35 again and invincible.


Thanks for stopping by guys, and I really appreciate the comments and the encouragement.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Finallygotit the lathe looks a treat..

 

[Finallygotit]

Finallygotit the lathe looks a treat..

Thanks 1/2! Looks like Andrew is going to keep you busy for some time. Enjoy!

 

[Terrick down Under]

I like your patience to do it right!
BTW, you keep up the fluids when working in hot areas, natural fluids, Bourbon!!LOL
My mate has a small piece of conveyor rubber "V" fashioned like the front of a steam loco cattle scoop, one at each wheel. He says it keeps 95% of the rubbish away from the tracks.

 

[Finallygotit]

I like your patience to do it right!
BTW, you keep up the fluids when working in hot areas, natural fluids, Bourbon!!LOL
My mate has a small piece of conveyor rubber "V" fashioned like the front of a steam loco cattle scoop, one at each wheel. He says it keeps 95% of the rubbish away from the tracks.

I really like that idea for keeping the track clear. If I run into problems with garbage on the track, that will be my "go to" solution.


Thanks Terrick and thanks for stopping by.

 

[ODIS]

Have enjoyed reading your thread. Great projects with wonderful results. From landscaping (where every border rock was perfectly placed), remodeling, machining, cool cars, to all the things most of us here on GJ enjoy reading about.

Special thanks to your “lovely wife” since she has contributed greatly to this most interesting story!

Odis.

 

[zmotorsports]

Dan, I wondered this when you posted pictures of the track but never asked. Curiosity is getting to me.

On the track, how tall is it? Are you worried about driving over it and having it either flex back and forth or deforming? Any worries about the hard point on tires when driving over it? I've seen a few of them around here at a few residences and businesses but the tracks are all sunken in the ground so the top of the V is flush with the concrete on either side. That too has me wondering because of snow and ice here but I doubt you will have that issue.

Again, just curious. I had thought about this at my last place but ultimately just used hard wheels running across the concrete on my sliding gate at our last place but it had a tendency to track uneven once in a while and I had to move it back into place.

Thanks.

 

[Finallygotit]

Hi Mike


The track is 1-1/4" tall. With all of the tabs I had welded on and the Tapcons holding it down, it doesn't move. I also have no worries about driving over it. We have driven over rip rap that was way more worrisome than that track. It's just a little bump-bump when driven over.



Now I have a question for you, what is this snow you speak of.


Now, I have a suggestion for you as you might be worried about these rolling gates in colder climates. What I have seen done around here, where they couldn't or wouldn't put a V track down, was to make the gate sections with round tube stock on the top and bottom portions. That round stock would then roll on wheels that were attached to the stationary fence. The wheels had the same radius (concave) that the tubing had so as to capture the gate. The only thing they added was a hard rubber wheel on the end of the gate to support it when it was extended.


Next time I run across one, I will take a picture and post it.


I hope this makes sense.


Thanks for stopping by.

 

[Finallygotit]

Have enjoyed reading your thread. Great projects with wonderful results. From landscaping (where every border rock was perfectly placed), remodeling, machining, cool cars, to all the things most of us here on GJ enjoy reading about.

Special thanks to your “lovely wife” since she has contributed greatly to this most interesting story!

Odis.

Hello Odis and thank you very much for those kind words and stopping by. Coming from you, that is indeed high praise.


I will inform my lovely wife of your thanks.


Again, thank you very much!


More to come!

 

[zmotorsports]

Hi Mike


The track is 1-1/4" tall. With all of the tabs I had welded on and the Tapcons holding it down, it doesn't move. I also have no worries about driving over it. We have driven over rip rap that was way more worrisome than that track. It's just a little bump-bump when driven over.



Now I have a question for you, what is this snow you speak of.


Now, I have a suggestion for you as you might be worried about these rolling gates in colder climates. What I have seen done around here, where they couldn't or wouldn't put a V track down, was to make the gate sections with round tube stock on the top and bottom portions. That round stock would then roll on wheels that were attached to the stationary fence. The wheels had the same radius (concave) that the tubing had so as to capture the gate. The only thing they added was a hard rubber wheel on the end of the gate to support it when it was extended.


Next time I run across one, I will take a picture and post it.


I hope this makes sense.


Thanks for stopping by.

That is exactly how I did my last gate Dan. It had a 2" thick walled round tube frame behind the garage. On the gate I had poly wheels with the same 2" contour so they wouldn't damage the white powder coating on my gate or the frame structure. I also went one step further and fabricated a bracket that followed the rollers but did not actually come in contact with anything. This was a capturing method to keep someone from merely lifting the gate off of the round tube track and gaining access to my back yard when we were away.

I wanted to do a track but due to having to shovel/plow/snowblow that ugly white **** around here I opted to keep the driveway clear of obstructions and put a set of poly wheels on the leading edge of the sliding gate.

It worked well for the 15~ish or so years I had that setup. Prior to us selling our previous house I was waffling on stripping it back down and having it re-powder coated because it was starting to dull a bit but decided not to mess with it any further.

As for that snow I speak of, it is just one of the wonderful things we "get" to deal with here.

 

[Duker]

So ....it’s time for an update..... what’s the latest project ? Don’t leave us hanging! [emoji51]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[zmotorsports]

So ....it’s time for an update..... what’s the latest project ? Don’t leave us hanging! [emoji51]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

^^Yeah, what Duke said. Come on Dan, don't leave us hanging.

 

[C_F]

I'm with these guys, here's the after lunch thread bump!

 

[bj383ss]

He will show up here in a minute.

 

[C_F]

He will show up here in a minute.

I'm beginning to think he's out setting up forms for another concrete pour somewhere in the yard, and is just too busy to check in on the GJ.

 

[Finallygotit]

Hahahahaha......... You guys are funny.
I really appreciate you guys checking in, thanks!



Well, it's that life "thing" that happens every now and again.



Work has been stupid busy so that means I have been flying all over the country. I'm getting really tired of airports. The Southwest gate attendant at the local airport and I are on a first name basis now.......sigh..... But the vendors I deal with are great people so that helps a bunch.



Sadly, with the help of my brother, we had to move our parents into an assisted living facility. Mom is 85 and dad is 93. Being that they live in Florida that meant a lot of traveling for both of us. Things are better now.


My lovely wife and I just got back from taking a long overdue vacation. It seemed like, for the past few years, any vacation time was used to visit my folks and fix something. Not that we're complaining; they're a hoot. This vacation was a road trip. We drove to Albuquerque, NM to visit some friends of ours. On the way we stopped in Hatch to pick up some of the local vegetation (chili's). BTW, they have some really strange names for some of their towns in NM. We visited Sandia Peak. Breathtaking views from up there. Air's a bit thin tho 10,378' above sea level.

Then we drove to Denver to visit another couple and spend some time with them. Geeez we ate a lot. We drove around a lot to see the area.


From there we set our sights to St George Utah. Driving through the mountains was absolutely beautiful. Spent some time in St George checking things out. We then headed for home by the way of Las Vegas and Phoenix. We sure do live in a beautiful country! 2,600 miles later, it was time for an oil change, vacuum and wash.


I picked up a project. I sold my old Explorer to a friend of mine a while back. Unfortunately they had a drunk pull out in front of them at 50 MPH and totaled both vehicles. Luckily nobody was injured. Since they were going to scrap the Explorer, I asked if I could have the second row of seats. I'm going to make some shop furniture!



Here's our dog Ashley giving us her seal of approval. (She loves going for rides) This is her "hurry with the dumb picture dad" pose.






I'm going to make a base for it, put it on wheels and I will have a couch.



I also picked up another little project to help a group of guys around here finish a scale model of a radial engine. This will not be a static engine. We have full intentions of getting this thing to run. Everything you see was made from billet.






My project is to make the dry sump and tube attachments and finish the motor mount below.






Just about all of the parts are finished. It will just be a matter of assembly then fire it up.



Thanks for stopping by!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Dan it sounds like a well deserved holiday.

I absolutely luv the radial engine, beautifully done.

 

[zmotorsports]

Dan, sounds like an awesome road trip. Like you I love driving around this beautiful country of ours. When my wife and I travel in our coach we try hard to stay away from interstates and take the two-lane country roads to see the hidden gems of the country.

Glad to hear you were able to get your parents into an assisted living center, I hope they are happy. Nice that they can still stay together.

Looks like a cool little project, thanks for posting it.

 

[Finallygotit]

Dan it sounds like a well deserved holiday.

I absolutely luv the radial engine, beautifully done.

Thanks Steve and thanks for dropping by. ALWAYS a pleasure to see you.

Dan, sounds like an awesome road trip. Like you I love driving around this beautiful country of ours. When my wife and I travel in our coach we try hard to stay away from interstates and take the two-lane country roads to see the hidden gems of the country.

Glad to hear you were able to get your parents into an assisted living center, I hope they are happy. Nice that they can still stay together.

Looks like a cool little project, thanks for posting it.

Mike, the trip was awesome. I really wish we had more time so we could do what you and your wife do, stay off the interstate roads. Those get to be boring.


The assisted living arrangement was a long time coming. My dad is actually doing great and still drives. And very well I might add. It's my mother that has issues. They seem to be happy right now and the facility is actually helping them a lot to get settled in. My dad needs to keep busy otherwise he gets cranky. (Now I know where I get it! DUH! )


A couple more shots from Sandia Peak.














Thanks for stopping by!

 

[wasfast]

The transition with aging parents can be tough. You only get to do it once and at times it's difficult to know what the right choice is. I moved my Mom independent living to assisted living in May. She had a severe stroke (#6 or so) and passed in July.

 

[tweidman]

That little engine is way cool.

 

[Finallygotit]

The transition with aging parents can be tough. You only get to do it once and at times it's difficult to know what the right choice is. I moved my Mom independent living to assisted living in May. She had a severe stroke (#6 or so) and passed in July.

wasfast, I'm so sorry for your loss. You are right, the transition was/is tough. They had every intention of being carried out feet first from their home but fate intervened. My mother fought it the most but in the end, she realized that this was the best way to go. Now they're wondering why they didn't do this sooner.


Thanks for stopping by!

That little engine is way cool.

Thanks tweidman, I'm anxious to see this little guy fire up. The guys even made an electronic ignition module for it.


More to come!

 

[C_F]

That's great that your parents are enjoying the assisted living center, instead of outright hating it. I know my grandmother enjoyed living in one during her final few years.

Great photos of Sandia Peak, I'm gonna have to try and check it out one of these days.

Great looking little radial engine too, that will be a hoot when you get it running!

 

[Finallygotit]

That's great that your parents are enjoying the assisted living center, instead of outright hating it. I know my grandmother enjoyed living in one during her final few years.

Great photos of Sandia Peak, I'm gonna have to try and check it out one of these days.

Great looking little radial engine too, that will be a hoot when you get it running!

Thanks C_F, I plan to take a video and post it when it runs. Hopefully fingers will stay intact.


Thanks for stopping by.