Never enough time

[steamin10]

Cleaned, greased, fueled, and serviced, The tractor was returned, and then brought back as the mower when run, made a terrible racket. Well, I mounted the center blade off center and it slipped out to touch the housing. I am irritated that I missed that, but the correction was easy, only the double trip wrecked the day. (sigh) Always a trick to stumble on.

Purchased two corner pcs for the chicken house, from the bargain center. Off color but close, the birds dont mind. Moving forward again. and the last of the hatchlings are moving out to the yards as fist sized birds. Several dozen still in totes, as we clear out hatchers for the year. Got a good batch of silkies and misc birds last week as we hatched some clutched eggs from a psycho hen that gathered about 30 eggs, hatched 2 and then walked off.

I bought a new sanding sponge, to address the failed paint job on the Rangers truck bed. Failure to remeove silicone and wax has caused the paint film to crinkle and fail in the sun. The original Blue is showing though the black on the top of the bedrails. I have a coupla paint jobs to do, so I am having to bring out and renew seals and internal filters on my guns to apply some coats of finish.

I am nearly embarrassed at the amount of things to do here, just have to keep on keepin on.

[spro]

I again step in and try to say something. I don't know but the ones which can go "off" are those flower or star shaped. You're probably dealing with larger equipment but these smaller are a trip. I've had to just remove the jackshaft, determine if it time to do the bearings and go at it with files and chisels to remake the pattern. You would be correct to assume that got old really quick. Those type get smuched and then difficult align correctly. So don't let anyone think this doesn't occur when you are on your back reaching and holding the blade and bolt with one hand and the wrench with ... well you are not comfortable on your back for long.
Pulling the deck is some little work but stuff like that, meant nothing and we just did it.
The real thing is laying sideways and in the gravel trying get things done without pulling the deck. Then you finish and dang! the drive belt goes or something else and you have to pull the deck off anyway.

[steamin10]

Exactly right Spro! It is a round hole in the blade that engages a flange, that is supported by a hex washer that engages the shaft, and held up with a washer and 3/8 bolt , all in a stack. The blade must have been off center leaving a gap, so the blade slipped and hit the housing and was off balance, along with a terrible noise. Thankfully, nobody saw my defeatist rage, at having fouled up the simple job and my time line. DRATS! That hurt for a pro like me. On the Simplicity tractor the blades are engaged with an electric clutch and pop button. Lots of bells and whistles on a heavy( compared to some other yard tractors) machine. I have a diesel, but that means parts are scarce, because it over ten years old. A 91 Case badged Mitsubishi, 3 cyl Isuzu engine, that runs all day on 5 gal of fuel. But the deck parts dont measure up, being a Habine manufacture, and closed in 95, good luck with support. Anyway, the blades are friction run, so objects that hit hard just bump the blade around a bit, without damage to the belt ways, or drive components. (Simplicity). My mower only takes so much hitting saplings and rocks, and the gearbox gives up. Whaaaa! Another mismatch. The right angle box is a Lawson product, but they are not standard and have different splines and directions:depending on the model number. So if a tooth is gone, the splines on the shaft dont fit, to just replace the gear. I have found 7 variations, and have multiple broken boxes, without commonality. BLAAARP! Whadya do? ANS: Go get a box that works. Simple aint it? Going up a size to a $500 box, that is commonly used by John Deere. But it has to be adapted. The 1 to 1 box has to have the right rotation, one inch shafts, and then shimmed into the deck with spacers cut for the 3/8 mounting bolts, to center the box. I donwanna do this, I'm retired, and wanna have fun.. Jeeze! I am commanded to excercise my skills past my tolerance..

Ok. My rant is over. Tomorrow is another smiley day. See, I'm smiling

[steamin10]

My itinerary took me to the local pawn shop, after paying this months mortgage installment. There is a Generator sitting there in pristine condition staring at me, on 'Managers special'. Turned in as a pawn it has gone 90 days and now offered for sale, for $150. It wont start, but they are not stored with much fuel due to fire laws here. It is a Homelite 5600 watt, (5000 run) with all the bells and whistles. No wheels for the frame, large 'long run' tank on top, the hour meter shows 210, the voltage meter jiggles when influenced by a finger on the scale lens, and the power panel is set up for 20 amp 120V, AND 220 volt service, with idle down capable.This is the project for this morning, (Wed.) as it is predicted to rain again about 5 AM into the late morning. I will check service for running, and get it started, as I have 24 hrs to return free of charges. It is fairly new, so it may hang around a while, for the increasing power outages. This will be the 4rth genset I owned this year, two sold out for profit, one a doornail, returned. I am happy so far, we'll see what goes.

Mom's long day at work, so I will be off the honey doo list for the day, and my list is long enough.

EDIT: Information changed to reflect the correct wattage, due to a dislexic set of fingers.

[steamin10]

Borrowed tractor is sent back, trailer is cleared. We have been under rain clouds and gathered another 1.5 inches of soft rain. Went to the bird auction, and traded some birds for more desirable color and breeds for us, to strengthen our lines and population. Mom is throwing ideas out for modifying coops and such, she doesn't understand how many hours she is describing. Currently trying to side the building with vinyl remnants and then put in foam panels for the walls, and rudimentary lighting. Moved one of my 'hoop' coops and the base wood 2x4s are rotten and gave up. Nearly destroyed the door panel on the front. I dunno if I can rebuild it, or just salvage the main parts. Kindof the same thing.

The local watering hole had somebody break their small cold box for the Soda Gun water. The 3/8 copper pipe had broke loose from the floor of the shoebox sized stainless drain, and leaked ice water down on the floor, instead of out the drain tube. So I took the box home, without the cold pate inside, and silver soldered the short drain elbo assembly back into the bottom drain hole, and tacked the tube to the bottom of the outer shell. i pulled the drain tube out with a wiggle and twist, and ran the oxides and corruption off the thing on a stainless wire wheel, and blocked it in position with a shard of wood. I used Harris 45% silver for the small job. Good quality silver solder must be used on brushed or polished stainless, to bond to copper. When working these materials, sometimes tinning the base pieces can then be joined with lower temperature (%) silver, or silver bearing solders. I used Harris white flux for this job. This small project brought to the fore that my many materials and equipment are getting scattered, and it turned into a hunting safari to gather tool parts that would work. My propane Turbo torch, my fav for copper work, did not produce enough heat with the standard (only) tip I have. Next is a Harris welding torch, but I have no acyt to run it as the pony bottle is missing. (Sonny boy?) Last was a small Presto, with an Auto bottle, that got it done, using the large tip I have. Two smaller tips remain in the box. So job done, I now have all the welding/brazing torch equipment together in one place, to target the other stuff, as I shuffle around and move things about. (Collect and pile again ). Another issue was a small 160 lb gauge I put on the Presto torch to replace the smashed one (!). Upon opening the bottle, It swung round and pegged, not to work again. It shows 20lb when off, so it is obviously damaged (?) Ooops. Adjusted the torch by ear and feel, and got done anyway. I dunno what gremlins get into my supplies, but I dont remember breaking or hiding things. I also cant find a tote (tool) box that has a new tube of Sil-phos and some line taps and fittings in it for AC work. Because of this, I missed a small all glass display cooler, that had a weak compressor, and only attained 44*. It went missing, and I didnt get it

[steamin10]

The pawned Genset, that would not start, was simply out of gas, despite the slosh in the tank, prolly not much more than a gasp. Neighbor and I pulled it onto the tailgate of the Black Ranger, and it started in two pulls. (YEEEAH!). Then I proceeded to gouge my right leg trying to lower this monster to the drive, almost crushing my toes. It is set up for an axle and wheel set with premade holes for one inch u bolts, so, that is the direction I am going. Much easier with wheels. Going to think about a wagon handle too. I have some cheepy soft air tires, but they go flat all the time. Tubes cost more than the tires. The wheels are those on the cheaper hand trucks, that I exchange for hard tires, and bearings. Since it wont be used much, it should not be and issue, If I pump them full of Wonder foam, from a can. Being tough and resilient, it should last a while before getting crushed down some. I dunno if I can get enough in, or if it will blow the tire apart, when it swells, but a $3 can sounds better than fooling with $20 of tubes. We shall see how it goes.

[dly31]

Liquid tire sealant such as 'Slime' may be easier and just as effective in keeping the tires from going flat.

[steamin10]

I dunno why I did not think of that, prolly because I think of those sealants as down and dirty, and ruins the tire for any other repair. But this is a no value tire, and the goal is less fooling around to keep things up and running so I might do a pair with each, and see how it goes. I have a pile of these aggravating small tires. Not to mention the yard cart tires, that are wheelbarrow tires that are always flat too.

[warmstrong1955]

We have several Russian Olive trees in out back yard, that always shed spiny little branches all over. Easy to pick up many, but you can't get 'em all.
My routine to mow was to start by airing up the tractor tires. Not big leaks....but annoying, as after sitting a week, they were pretty much flat.

I tried slime in the front tires....figured I had nothing to lose.
Wrong.
Besides having flat tires STILL when I went to mow, I had little green spots on the floor of the garage. Does make 'em tough to patch too, but you knew that.
I ended up buying new front tires...and went back to airing 'em up, and patching 'em now & then again.

Not a slime fan.

Bill

[BadDog]

On the cheap HF tires, and with pretty much everything in AZ having thorns, I started out by putting "slime" in them. It's mostly good enough to make the cheap HF tires hold air, but that's about it. Just as Bill said, any real puncture is still going flat. The tire I filled had slime in it.

[steamin10]

I dont have sharp things in the Midwet swamp here, except for Hawthorns, that are killed on sight, just mostly old stuff. Seems anything with tires over 3 years old has chronic flatness. Dont get me wrong, I run over nails in used wood and all that. My Case diesel rear tires are $300+ each. Every hole is inside patched, which means a teardown and $20 repair at a shop. Rt side has 8 holes, and the left 11. Still running on the original turf tires from 91, as the tractor is kept out of the sun.

The question remains on how to keep air in the multitude of tires, without going bonks on an air compressor. One answer s remove the air en-tire-ly. That was a suggestion of a freind, who in his weirdness gave me the foam answer.

[steamin10]

Well it looks like I missed the bullet again! These past coupla days have been spent getting the Big Chicken House ready for winter. Bought last fall for $200 the 8x16 shed roofed building was moved by flatbed wrecker to the backyard here and dropped in an odd place. For $70, the driver wrecked part of one end with surly and lazy conduct, as I had to repair framing damaged by his actions.

Having been pressed into service before I had made some modifications, (thanks Mom) several ameteur mistakes were noticed, like no overhangs on the ends of the building allowing rain water to soak the sides with runoff. Since the structure is sheeted with chip board, this is unacceptable, even tho painted with a semigloss house paint. So as luck would have it a friend cleaned a trailer from a builder at my homesite, and left many shorts of vinyl siding of a gray color from a very large house. I figured I could pretty up' a fair sized building, or several small ones with the scraps, or get a $.05 a lb from the local recycler that does plastic. As it works out, I have bought very little in siding and the coophouse is about 3/4 done.

At the command of Mom Rose, and my agreement to clear the tunnel clogged withcages and stuff to save, The fall cleaning of litter in the house has opened the inside up for modifications. ( we clean the litter in the larger houses twice a year of wood ships and the other stuff, as the chickens just naturally stir it up, scratching around. Its decay warms the house, but after a while, amonia can become a problem and demands a change.) So, I started cutting and fitting blocks of expanded bead foam from the saved blocks of shipping cushions. about 39 inchs wide and 47 tall, 4 inch thick, each block is measured for the wall space, and cut with grandads ol handsaw, that blows right through the foam with little effort. at low angles you get a fairly straight cut, no sweat. About half way through filling the long blank backwall, a problem is noticed. All the chicks and silkies and Polish are EATING the little snowflakes of foam drifting around the yard trailer cutting site. Upon realizing this, I look around and the birds are starting to pick at the walls and eat the exposed foam. GAAAH! This cant be good. So I shift actions and start to install the wall covering that is melamine covered hard board. This will provide a slick and relatively cleanable surface. These are on sale about $10 a sheet BUT some damaged sheets in the rack are only $6. I get 3 damaged and 2 prime sheets, to get the lower inside done. These sheets are held in place with 2.5 inch plated construction ( drywall) screws with a 3/16 x 1 inch fender washer to prevent pull through. Now the sheets are standing against the foam, but the 4 inch thickness makes them proud of the framing. So I start cutting battens of 1/2 inch thick from 2x6 too9 short for other projects, and frame out the door and 3 window openings, ring around the floor and corners and wherever else needs support for the screws. The battens are installed with a few 7p gavanized nails on hand, way overkill like most things I build. The idea of using the hardboard is to keep the building weight down for movement, as is the foam, that is light weight, high R value, not to mention free. So after day 2 of getting around to the front wall, and filling window cavities, I have to resort to sheet foam for the remainder of the building. Mom is in a hurry for the lower portion so chicks and cages can be installed for use and bedding put in place again. So as I work along on the details of construction I am sawing more battens and moving along to the last 8 feet to the front door. Looking forward toward closing out this segment, and stopping the foam eating habit.

Thats when it happened. On the second slice of a hemlock 2x6 I cut through a knot the size of my thumb, and it exploded. Before I could blink, it shot up, hit my nose and bounced dead center off my right eye glass. My glasses being of modern type, the plastic lens held, but sported a mark from the impact. A small mosquito type mark was evident just off the center of my nose, but for the feeling it was like getting hit with a baseball.

With all my preaching about playing in the shop safe, I am struck by the fact there was no way to predict this shard of wood impacting me, as I saw through knots all the time. I use a push stick, and am very wary around the unguarded blade when doing fine work, which for me, is most of the time. So with a sore beak, and good vision, I bid you to play safe, think, and have fun.