Coffee 2-16-2013

Good morning! Please, come in, stay for a few words, enjoy the company. Trade a story, or an idea. It's a comfy place and has a meteor proof roof.

The coffee is hot & there's plenty of it. Always a tea pot on the stove too. Hot chocolate? OK! I'm thinking a fast simple breakfast. Maybe just pancakes & peaches? It's going to be a bust day. Heck, it's been a busy week!

R2D2 Paul & I are trying to finish CNC'ing the "Data Ports" & get them shipped out. 38 sets are heading across the USA & around the world. We've learned a lot about cutting aluminum. I've spent more time writing files it seems than I have anything else. The first Data Ports we made took over 2 hours each, now we are making them in less than 40 minutes. Changing the cut depth and rate almost cost my marriage, then the same thing saved it. I'll explain. At first we cut the depth using 6 passes. It was rough on the tips of the carbide cutters, but any chips were so small the weren't noticed. Then I discovered that the side of the blade actually cuts better. So I wrote all new files making it cut the entire .08" at once with a slower forward speed. Doing so makes MUCH larger chips. Well....it seems the smaller chips, if tracked into the house, weren't seen. But, the larger ones....oh, gosh...Marty got after me as I tracked aluminum chips allllll through the house, there were sparkles everywhere! OK, changed habits & stopped tracking. Pauls idea: Use the chips in a Valentines card. I did. I took white Elmers glue, makes hearts & squigglies, sprinkled the chips & made a sparkly card. I took mini Reeses & made a 12" heart, put the card in the middle "You are the sparkle of my life" type words & told Marty she had to come to the shop as "I want to show you something too dangerous to bring into the house". She lifted the cover, opened the card as she finished reading she said "Where'd you get the spar.... OH! They are the chips!" It was fun.

All is OK here. I hope the same for each of you. Oh, no, I've rambled.

Enjoy the weekend!

Mornin all--simple & fast is always good--in MOST things-- outstanding choice my friend. Hey--- ramblin is good Freddy. Nothing to ramble on about on this end:( A happy belated Valentine to Marty from a not so secret admirer Have a good week end everyone.

Hi all, I hope the Easterners are all ok and everything is cleaned up? Not much going on here this weekend just a typical one.

Freddy,don't piss off the wife I hate to say but she is right. You are going back to the old school of machining with a heavy DOC(depth of cut) and a slower feed, now It's light fast cuts.We have a Mazack lathe that turns and roughs out gear teeth,they use a 3/4" carbide ball mill at 9000 rpm 400 IPM feed and a .03 DOC It seems to work but I think in a few short years that machine will be in the bone yard.I have been in the field for all but 8 years and I love what I do,It's very challenging at times,not only do I do the machining but most of the programming as well.
This is a job I just finished a few weeks ago it's a repair of a 260" OD split gear with a 45" face,It had 4 broken teeth at the split so we cut out the bad spot and made a filler section,returned and recut the teeth.


That was a first for me,I have done some crazy stuff but nothing like that I just hope It works. Well take care all and have a good weekend .Keepaeyeonit

Good Morning all,

Boy, I wouldn't know how to react if DK surprised me with something spectacular like that. Unfortunately after 32 years I don't think my chances of finding out how I'd react are very high. I can't even get DK to take the hint that I'd like a simple cut flower arrangement every now and then. It's a good thing he has other redeeming qualities.

Well, this morning I had a close encounter of an unpleasant kind with my Harman. My grates locked up yesterday afternoon and despite leaving it alone and running a hotter fire to burn the blockage up, it wouldn't move. I let it burn low so if it dumped I wouldn't lose as much coal and started digging around the coal bed; nothing doing from the top so I was on my knees digging from the bottom up. Despite the hot fire and resulting low level of coal I had to deal with hot coal falling out of the load door as I dug around. That reinforced a lesson learned - if at all possible exceed the distance to combustible requirements by 18 inches or so. That's how far a piece of hot coal will roll if it escapes the stove - yes, I know this because at times I stuff the stove and some hot coal has escaped over the years and as a result I have a couple of burn marks on my wood floors. I'm looking at a "fireproof" hearth rug to extend my safety zone. Fortunately, I was able to locate the ROCK quickly and remove it without dumping the fire or any escaping coal. Yes, Smitty it is Blaschak nut that gave me the problem. This particular bag had more stove size coal then I've ever seen. That's how the rock made it through I guess.

Today has the potential to be a bust day as far as doing what I'd really like to be doing goes. It's been raining all night and it's going to change to snow for a while a little later. Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. Bummer, that means I won't be able do anything toward my new apriary (bee yard) or assembling my Top Bar Hives. We just don't have any indoor space to do stuff like that. Hopefully, we'll get some spring weather again next week. I have to have everything ready to accept the bees by Mar 20th and time is flying.

I hope every one else can knock a few things off their to do list, take care and stay warm, Lisa

I'm findin' Fried Ham Slices & Homefries are cutting right through our balmy 18 degree morning......oh,the hot coffee 'aint hurtin' a thing,either! Greetings to all from the Hilltop overlooking Lake Erie !

Thanks for the pancakes Freddy,I love peachs hope you don't mind if I put some whipped cream on mine! And just like a mainah to repurpose items from around the house, and you help the rest of us stay warm and fuzzie, why not Marty's turn.

I am checking in from a new diner in Rouses Point..."The Squirell's Nest". Impressive menu, I have a Denver omlet on order and a pancake with a side of ham for Ivan. Free Wifi, good coffee...so far it gets two thumbs up. Only thing missing is a coal stove in the corner.

Good morning everyone!
We had a light dusting of snow last night, its been steadily cooling down, from the 40* temps at the beginning of the week, high today forecast
to be about 20* with a low of 9* tonight.. mostly sunny tomorrow, high of 20*..
At least the wind is very light..
my AA boiler is very happy, it's been making dusty powdery ash and clinkers all season so far. The load of uAE coal I'm burning is one of the
best I've every bought. Too bad that mine and breaker is closing.. i have a lot of UAE coal stored, but I'd like to have more,, I might see if
they will make a TT load of pea for me. I don't even know if the mine is still open, I'll have to call.

I had a friend in my Antique car club, the Pierce-Arrow Society send me 2 # of fresh Lobster meat. So I'm having a Lobster feast for a few
friends tomorrow,, Lobster Bisque, and Lobster Fetichini Alfredo.. or something like that.. .
I sent him a part he needed for his car, and refused to be paid for it.. He needed it and I didn't. and I still have a spare or two..So he decided to
send Lobster meat.. I didn't want live lobster in case I can't get it consumed, I can freeze the cooked meat.

I've done a minor 'fluff up' on the old original bathroom in the 1849 part of the house. The bathroom cabinets and counter top have been untouched since i bought this place in '97. The countertop is a piece of pre-molded KITCHEN countertop/backsplash, so it's 25.5" deep, wihicis 3" too deep for bathroom cabinets.. And the sink was a $5.00 plastic sink from a motor home i think.. A bathroom on the cheap.
So i removed the sonk and countertop and found a counter top memnant at my cabinet shop, they cut it down and cut the hole for my 'new' sink..
The sink and faucet wer given to me, I have a friend who raids the discard piles at Lowes and Home Depot on a regular basis, he picked these up for a song, he refused any payment.. The faucet was a display-only item, it didn't have any copper supply lines soldered in,, so I had to finish building the faucet, but it works and doesn't leak..
The sink is a bit different, but I like it.. and I really like the price.. free! .
The whole job cost $110.00 ! Another bathroom on the cheap'. I hope it lasts as long as the last one!!





Have a great weekend !!
Greg L

gravy mornin all just had a great breakfast,sausage gravy over grands biscuits wow ,lots of sausage.well have a good day and keep ur eyes to the sky,u never know...

Good morning all,

I can't stay long since I am already running behind today. I'm taking the day off today to ride the snowmobile from my house up to Long Lake, NY. They are having an antique snowmobile race today and tomorrow they are having a one hundred mile snowmobile race. It should be a great ride since we have a ton of snow and the races should be great. I will probably make the trip again tomorrow to see the one hundred miler. Stay warm everyone and think snow.

The snowman.

It's snowing!

Keepaeye..... good looking stuff.. REAL stuff. If that machine only lasts a few more years, it's because it worked itself to death & I'm sure paid it's own way. That's some serious stuff you're doing. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Nice remodel on the bath, Greg. Close to free is close to perfect!

Here's a pic of "end caps" after cutting, but before clean up. We needed 66 total I think. The trick to the cutting we are doing is.... no lubrication. Yaaa, it's tough on the bits, but doesn't make a wet mess. Face plates & surrounds in the background.

Lisa, looks like you got the same batch that I got. VERY frustrating. Hope yours isn't as bad as mine has been - I bought 14 pallets of the stuff in July '11. It's hit or miss here. Some days it shakes down fine, other days, the handle gets wedged. Usually at that point, the pan area is bright, so reaching underneath is not an option. I've saved the fire a few times by just loading on top of the stuck grates, but other times I haven't been so lucky and dumped the fire ... then spent an hour picking the fresh coal out of the ash ....

Thanks to Chris (009to090), I've got my own sample of UAE's finest sitting in a postal box right here, for when I get that stoker boiler hooked up at some point. THANKS again, CHRIS!!

Yeah we got about an inch of snow too. Was shocked to see the PLOW out today ...wtf ... for an inch??





Had a productive day yesterday. Got the Focus all fixed up AGAIN, with the second timing belt tensioner in 2 weeks. This time I got my money back from Advance Auto, and bought a OEM FoMoCo one to replace it. Made in USA - what a shocker .. but a good shock! Was $30 more than the chinese Dayco one from Advance. Should've done that to begin with ....



After the last storm, my Polaris transmission locked up. Couldn't shift out of Park. Was ready to do some major surgery a few days later to it, but the shifter suddenly freed itself. I suspect some snow melted from the heat, & got into the plastic shift pawl cover & froze everything up. The weather had warmed substantially the day it freed up, so that's the theory. I dry-lubed the linkage and the shifter mount, and tightened the loose shifter bolts. That helped with the smoothness big time. Was never this smooth, even brand new. But anyway ... that last storm got me thinking about getting another snowblower, since the Polaris can only do so much around here. A snowblower would make life much easier for walkways, and around the mailbox, and out back to the sheds, etc & take the load off my machine. Won't last long working it the way I did that last storm. Plow works great for the driveway, but for the aforementioned areas it takes many frustrating passes when you have 2' of snow to deal with. I got stuck more times than I spent clearing! Sooooooo .... I decided to start looking on Craigslist for a fixer-upper. Yeah, I know - BAD time of year for that! Should be doing that in the summer. But my buddy calls me, and I tell him I'm on C-list searching ... and he says I HAVE ONE HERE FOR FREE - COME N GET IT!

So that's exactly what I did! It's a 1989 Toro (REAL toro - not a MTD) PowerShift 828 model # 38570. 8HP Briggs and Stratton with E-start and a lighting coil - thing is loaded! That PowerShift feature rotates the axle back about 8" or so, shifting all the weight forward if the front ever rides up on the snow. No weights needed. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen! Has a REAL transmission too - was surprised to see that under there. Should be a bulletproof setup. It's been parked outdoors for 10 years! So I had a little bit of lubing and fighting frozen cables to do. Also had to pound the bevel gear mount for the chute crank handle so the gears would mate properly. Of course, the requisite carburetor/fuel system flush/clean. Fuel tank was cracked at the bottom where the shut-off valve screwed in. Fixed that for the time being with some Yamabond ... but it still weeps a bit. I'll have to really goop in on there later. Throttle cable was frozen solid. A trip to the bottom of a bucket filled with used motor oil fixed that problem!

This thing has the STRANGEST carburetor I've ever seen! The intake is on the bottom ... and air goes THROUGH the float bowl & up thru the top! WEIRD - check out the pics. First time I've ever seen a setup like this. Was an adventure taking it apart because I had no idea what I was in for. But once inside, this thing is VERY well built & simple. Even has a Viton-tipped float needle -- waaay ahead of it's time for '89, unless that's an upgrade from a later date. BIG brass float. Quality stuff. Main jet is about 4" long & runs diagonally thru the float bowl into the air passage - yeah, strange!

I got her running in a few hours. The primer system didn't work. Bulb was screwed up. Tried to take the bulb out so I could take it apart and see if I could work my magic with it. It was WAY overtightened, and I broke the spigots off trying. SO, I took a clear Tygothane C-210-A hose leftover from the RD build, cut it real long, and hooked that to the primer spigot on the intake manifold. Turned out that pin used to retain tension on the Focus timing belt tensioner fit PERFECTLY inside this hose. This is my new primer system. Remove the pin, squirt a blast of brake cleaner in there, install pin, and pull start! WORKS GREAT!! Smitty's patented primer system LOL .... You can see it in the last part of the vid.



Focus got my wife to work this morning. Anyone want to wager if she makes it back?

Breakfast was postponed to a brunch...had the long over due honey dipper here this morning and got him loaded up and on his way with 2000 gallons of old pooh.

Sunday I am going to look at a used Keystoker Boiler...if it is in good enough shape and at the right price...I will bring it home...can never have too many boilers.

The Honey Wagon! YUMMY!!

SMITTY wrote:This thing has the STRANGEST carburetor I've ever seen! The intake is on the bottom ... and air goes THROUGH the float bowl & up thru the top! WEIRD - check out the pics. First time I've ever seen a setup like this. Was an adventure taking it apart because I had no idea what I was in for. But once inside, this thing is VERY well built & simple. Even has a Viton-tipped float needle -- waaay ahead of it's time for '89, unless that's an upgrade from a later date. BIG brass float. Quality stuff. Main jet is about 4" long & runs diagonally thru the float bowl into the air passage - yeah, strange!

Smitty,thats a up draft carb I don't think anyone uses them anymore but they were common on Briggs small engines and some farm tractor motors years back but be thankful they don't use them now,they were a big PITA.

Freddy,nice little job you have there and keep up the good work.

Keepaeyeonit