Patio's projects

The Photo Album is a place for "Shop Shots" as well as pictures and descriptions of projects that we are working on. Show off your Shops, Machines, and your Projects!

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Patio
Posts: 1369
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: Centralia Wa

Re: Patio's projects

Post by Patio »

To catch up a bit...
RNA,
I never made it to Banff, my traveling partners and good friends, were not allowed in. Nothing serious, but enough to keep us out.
We just headed south, stopped at a road side museums, yard sales and took naps in the early afternoons. I got to see an old friend and generally had a great time. Thanks for asking.

Here is a project that I have been trying to get done for awhile now. We have a root cellar that the door to, is outside under a deck. I made a trap door that my gal can open. It uses counter weights. Under the 2X6" decking, is a 1/4" layer of plywood, to keep the rain out. The plywood has rotted and I needed a replacement. I made it out of a sheet of plastic that is used to cover walls and make a nice cleanable surface.
I have always had problems with water leaking at the hinge, so I made this one to cover the hinge also. I used a propane torch for the heat and clamped the plastic between a pair of 2"X4" studs. I then heated the the area of the bend and used a third board to bend the plastic and clamped it in place over the bend until it had cooled. I first made a small test piece to see if it would work.
It looks like I should go take a couple of more picture to show the final results, but here is what I have now.
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Still happily busy, more to come!
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JackF
Posts: 1616
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:56 pm
Location: Caldwell, Idaho

Re: Patio's projects

Post by JackF »

Pat, is there no end to your talent? :wink: :lol:



Jack.
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warmstrong1955
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Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:05 pm
Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Patio's projects

Post by warmstrong1955 »

Hey!!....it's Patio's patio repair!

:D
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
Patio
Posts: 1369
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: Centralia Wa

Re: Patio's projects

Post by Patio »

It has been awhile. I have been keeping busy with the holidays and it is cold outside, so not much work is getting done out in the shop.

Here is a picture that may help everyone understand the plastic sheeting for the cellar door.
20161227_074021a.jpg

Here is a project I made, it was a gift for a friend.
I stated with this!
20161224_085149a.jpg
Which turned into this!
20161224_145911a.jpg
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Prepare for tomorrow!
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JackF
Posts: 1616
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:56 pm
Location: Caldwell, Idaho

Re: Patio's projects

Post by JackF »

Pat, Great job, what a nice gift. :) You and that "new" lathe are turning out some beautiful work. :wink: :D



Jack.
Patio
Posts: 1369
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: Centralia Wa

Re: Patio's projects

Post by Patio »

I am still at it! It has been a long winter in the NW. We have had more snow this year, than since I arrived in 1991.

A friend sold us an 11'3" Lance truck camper for a song. I also gave him my 8' truck camper. The 8' camper rode on a 1979, 3/4 ton Chevy pickup. It is not near strong enough to hold the Lance camper, so I had to find a truck. I ended up with a 2003 Dodge Ram, 1ton dually with the Cummins 5.9 diesel motor. I got a really good deal on it too, but not before finding out the cost of these trucks. I was afraid, for awhile, that I was not going to be able to afford a truck large enough to haul the camper. I did have to do some work to the truck to get it ready. New tires, rebuilt ball joints on front, install a lighter shad of tint on the driver and passenger windows, install Super Hitch and tie downs. The super hitch will allow me to pull a trailer behind the camper. Also fixed some electrical issues with the power windows and lights.
Then my same friend, comes along and says he has some electric jacks he will sell me for another song. Soooooo now I needed to set up some electrics for the jacks, on a camper that is not made for them. :roll: So that is what I have been doing for the last couple of months. But we all know, it never happened with out pictures......
Both trucks.
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Camper has original hydraulic jacks on it in this picture.
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Block made to hold the female part of the plug connector for the electric jacks.
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I also made a coupling, for the wire to be able to exit the conduit. I did not take a picture of the process or part, but it is in one of the finished project picuture, in the next post!

Next post!
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Patio
Posts: 1369
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: Centralia Wa

Re: Patio's projects

Post by Patio »

Here are the pictures of the finished project.

Front drivers side.
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Coupling for wires to exit.
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Back passengers side.
20170313_174418a.jpg
That finishes the camper project, and I am glad it is done. :)

Here is a picture of the cellar door when closed. It also helps to understand why I need plastic sheet to keep the water out.
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What's up next!?
I am going to do some work on the lathe.
I need a spindle extension tube that did not come with the lathe. Cazeneuve wants 650 bucks for it. If that is a good deal or not is yet to be seen. I am going to try to make it. The lathe has a top spindle speed of 3k rpm, so it needs to be done well. Before I can make that part I need a steady rest, as the lathe did not come with one either. Harold tipped me off to a auction that had a couple of used ones, coming up soon, so I bid on it and won. To my great joy, it is the right size in height. I will need to make a new base for it to fit my lathe. The tailstock ways on the lathe are about 9" apart.
Here is the picture of the donor tailstock with the material for the base.
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I also intend on moving the lathe controls back to their original position, on the apron.
These two projects will fill in between all the other projects. One needs to have several going at the same time to stave off the boredom. :wink:

More to come!
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Prepare for tomorrow!
Forgive the past!
JackF
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Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:56 pm
Location: Caldwell, Idaho

Re: Patio's projects

Post by JackF »

As always, beautiful work Pat. :D Do you find it hard to find time to make a living with all these projects? :roll: :wink: :lol:


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warmstrong1955
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Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:05 pm
Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Patio's projects

Post by warmstrong1955 »

It's Patio's patio! :)

Nice work Pat!

Friends of mine came up to visit last year. Drove their pickup with their new Northstar collapsible camper on it.
They got side swiped by a deer on the way up, tough on the deer, and the camper. The jack was in the ditch.
So we spent an afternoon repairing the RF corner of the camper, and remounting the leveling jack...and a few wires....
Not a lot of 'structure' to work with in those campers!

Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
Patio
Posts: 1369
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: Centralia Wa

Re: Patio's projects

Post by Patio »

Jack, I find it hard to get the projects done, because I have to make a living. I have been looking for a sponsor. No takers yet and no rich uncles either. My SO says when I am 65 I can quit. I do have a friend in Montana that is my age. He and his wife just moved to Florida and bought a sail boat. They are headed to the Caribbean. I asked him if he was now retired. He said no, they just gave up! I am not sure how they are planning to do it, but it will be nice to have a friend to go visit in the Caribbean.

More to come, as I get round to it. :)

P.S. I don't work near as hard at this as others might think I do. I think Harold works all day, because of the amount of work he gets done. He tells me, he doesn't work at it, near as hard as I might think he does, either. :)
Live for the moment!
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Patio
Posts: 1369
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: Centralia Wa

Re: Patio's projects

Post by Patio »

Here is an update as to how things are going, and it is not at all like I had planned. It does keep me busy though. :roll:

First up!

I finished a project! :D
I had gone to bid a job, here in town and sitting in the front yard, in the weather, on a stump, is a Wilton Bullet vise. I asked the general on the job what was with that? He says it just showed up one day and did I want it?
I get it home and the movable jaw is frozen in the base. Also one of the pieces on the tail end is broken.

Here it is after I got it apart.
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The part circled in blue is the broken one.
I bought some brazing rod and flux. I have a set of torches but no bottles, so I went to a friends business, put my torch on his bottles and did a little brazing. First time brazing for me.
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A little machine work, a little file work, a bunch of elbow grease, a little paint and I ended up with this.
20170430_214008a.jpg
There's more!
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Prepare for tomorrow!
Forgive the past!
Patio
Posts: 1369
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 3:14 pm
Location: Centralia Wa

Re: Patio's projects

Post by Patio »

Bill you are right about campers not having much to support itself on the jacks!

I momentary loss of situational awarness, and I am now rebuilding the back end of the truck camper, that I had just finished getting ready to go for the year. I am not going to go into any details, it is embarrassing enough that I did it to myself. I will say that I tore the back drivers side jack off of the camper and did a little damage to the other side back jack.
Here is a picture of things all taped up. This right after the incident and I did not have a tarp yet, and there was a storm coming in.


I now have a tarp that covers the whole thing and tied out as to let me work on it even if it is raining.
I have gotten it opened up, all the rotten wood has been removed. Patterns have been made for fitting marine grade plywood in, to replace the lower wings on bottom sides of the camper. I will glue, staple and screw in new wood, I am adding some extra support, because I can. The extra weight will not make much difference.
Here are pictures of some of the progress. This is before I cut out all the rot. I also opened it up further since this picture. I will post more as I go along.
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Tomorrow I hope to fit all the small boards, and once done I will start to permanently assemble the puzzle.
During this time a friend acquired a bunch of machines in an estate sale. He offered me a Jet table saw for $100 bucks. It has some issues with the wiring that was quickly sorted out. It also came with a Biesemeyer fence system, that had a rather long fence guide. I made a new shorter fence guide and saved the longer one for the future.
This project became a priority because I need it to repair the camper. The timing was not very good, but it all worked out well.
Table saw pictures.
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Nice new Starrett scale attached to fence guide and top needs some cleaning yet, but I am happy with how it performs.
More to come!
Attachments
20170430_214145a.jpg
Live for the moment!
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