Oh. Forgot I had that....

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Greg_Lewis
Posts: 3014
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2003 2:44 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Well, I’ve committed heresy. I’ve cleaned out my shop. As in Cleaned Out My Shop, all the way down to the walls. Everything was moved out except the lathe, mill, and large cabinets. Went through every coffee can, every drawer and every pile. I even washed the windows and knocked down all the cobwebs. Please forgive me.

My sig line reads: “Celebrating 30 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.” A lot of stuff can pile up over 30 years. And while there is useless scrap, there is also useless useless scrap; the end bits you toss into coffee cans “just in case.” But most of that was too short to fit in the chuck. (Basic rule of shop work: any piece of stock you’ve saved will be ½-inch too short for what you need.)

Then there are the little fixtures I made 20 years ago and I can’t remember what they were for. Add to that the humility box, home of those parts that made it to the last tapped hole, wherein the tap broke off and couldn’t be removed (or the part came out perfect but due to a brain cramp is a mirror image of what was wanted).

And that stuff just had to go.

But the good part is that I found a bunch of stuff I forgot I had. Like a pair of archbar trucks. How about a box of couplers? A set of riding car truck frames and brake parts? A set of Allen Models truck castings?
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(Please continue to Part II)
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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Greg_Lewis
Posts: 3014
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2003 2:44 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by Greg_Lewis »

Part II

Under the lathe was discovered a box of bearing bronze, one piece being 2 ½ inches in diameter and perhaps five inches long. Don’t remember where that came from.
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Now I know how the 49’ers felt when they hit pay dirt. The list includes a milling vise, a box of jewelers’ files, two half-horse electric motors, a half-gallon of WD40, a box of propane torch heads, an 18-inch exercise ball, a 24-inch crowbar, a 1994 McMaster Carr catalog, and what is now my eighth copy of Machinery’s Handbook (I don’t buy them. I think they reproduce in the night.).

And mother nature contributed a termite tunnel and 12 field mouse nests, one including the mouse.

All the metal got sorted and arranged by type and size, the wood pile was thinned and the tools I never use were pulled from the drawers under the lathe and put in deep storage (Eight drill chucks? Six die holders? Eight tap wrenches? Seven pounds of dull end mills? Where does all this come from?).

I was going to save the residue and offer it to one of you — lots of good stuff. A set of camper jacks, two Ford truck hubcaps with broken retainer tabs, the left-over granite from the bathroom remodel, a croquet set, three 30-year-old fire extinguishers, the Coleman stove my parents bought in 1957 (sleeping in tents is for the young and the homeless), and a considerable amount of generally useless and unidentifiable detritus.
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But must I apologize for cutting you out of this bonanza. Honey insisted that it go last weekend, so I put it out along the road with the sign pictured below. It went out at 3 p.m. Friday and 24 hours later it was all gone except for the empty coffee cans and the window glass. I’m not bringing that back into the shop, but if you want it, let me know and I’ll move it inside the gate so it will be safe. I’ll give you ‘till the end of next week, but after that, it’s too late.
sign.JPG
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
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DianneB
Posts: 733
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:05 pm
Location: Manitoba, Canada

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by DianneB »

I could REALLY use a set of trucks and couplers ..... but I don't think it would be worth the drive from Manitoba to California LOL!

Nobody here throws out good stuff like that.
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Fred_V
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Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:26 pm

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by Fred_V »

I guarantee you will find a need for all of that within 2 weeks!!!
Fred V
Pensacola, Fl.
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gwrdriver
Posts: 3439
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 10:31 am
Location: Nashville Tennessee

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by gwrdriver »

LOL! I've just begun the same process!
GWRdriver
Nashville TN
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NP317
Posts: 4557
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by NP317 »

I completed that same process ... by moving 2 years ago!
It's amazing the items that crawl away into hiding places.
But now, my new shop is clean, bright, organized, and starting to hide items again.
They can't help it.
~RN
John Hasler
Posts: 1852
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:05 pm
Location: Elmwood, Wisconsin

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by John Hasler »

A Coleman stove is just right for heating phosphating solution on.
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by rkcarguy »

I'm drooling over the box of couplers myself:)~
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Harold_V
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Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2002 11:02 pm
Location: Onalaska, WA USA

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by Harold_V »

John Hasler wrote:A Coleman stove is just right for heating phosphating solution on.
You commented as if you know the process. Care to share what you know? I've done black oxide several times, but never tried phosphating, which, I expect, has better properties.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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Fender
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Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:33 pm
Location: Chattanooga TN

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by Fender »

I had to shed a 2500 lb. lathe and 1000 lbs of steel when I moved.
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
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JTolan
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:17 pm
Location: Huntington Beach CA

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by JTolan »

Are you willing to ship?
John Hasler
Posts: 1852
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:05 pm
Location: Elmwood, Wisconsin

Re: Oh. Forgot I had that....

Post by John Hasler »

Harold_V wrote:
John Hasler wrote:A Coleman stove is just right for heating phosphating solution on.
You commented as if you know the process. Care to share what you know? I've done black oxide several times, but never tried phosphating, which, I expect, has better properties.

H

I buy pipeline cleaner at the farm store (phosphoric acid with a bit of surfactant) and dilute it about 10:1. I then add the black stuff (manganese oxides) out of a handful fo alkaline cells and a wad of steel wool. When it quits bubbling I add a touch more acid and bring the solution to a slow boil. Stainless-steel pots work fine. Immerse the part to be treated for five to fifteen minutes or until it looks done. Rinse the part in tap water and allow to air dry without touching it. Optionally rub in tung oil. If you are removing rust as well as finishing leave out the steel wool.

Note that if you want the finish on different parts to match you must either do them in a single batch or control your chemistry much more closely. Different alloys give slightly different colors.
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