Daily Fabrication Thread

mudfarmer · December 14, 2020, 08:29:21 AM

QuoteWhich turned it into a complete animal. Its very grabby and kickbacks are serious in 1" and up wood anywhere other than the 4-5 o'clock position where its a manageable animal. Its basically a skil saw on a stick now, behaves just like one.

Yup that's what I meant before, sounds like you made it work like a store bought blade, nice job!

I always keep everything and pick up any good deals or free stuff that might be handy later. This time it was some old tire chains out of my "what are you ever gonna do with that" pile. 2 mostly there but slightly mismatched chains + 3/4 of some other chain for the missing pieces = a front set for the bota

Had a set of H-pattern rear chains a guy gave me for the old Belarus that just needed cut down. It needs a clutch and front axle rebuild and that won't happen this winter so now it needs chains too they weren't doing any good sitting around!

mjeselskis · December 30, 2020, 01:37:38 PM

Finished my roof, lights, and limb deflector cables on the tractor. I don't take it through much brush, but the limb deflectors are for anything that springs back from a brush pile while grappling or anything that decides to come up and over the bucket/grapple/forks and heads towards the operator. The roof is made with 1.75" DOM and skinned with 18ga sheet metal.

donbj · December 30, 2020, 01:41:02 PM

Quote from: mjeselskis on December 30, 2020, 01:37:38 PM
Finished my roof, lights, and limb deflector cables on the tractor. I don't take it through much brush, but the limb deflectors are for anything that springs back from a brush pile while grappling or anything that decides to come up and over the bucket/grapple/forks and heads towards the operator. The roof is made with 1.75" DOM and skinned with 18ga sheet metal.

How did the clutch job work out?

mjeselskis · December 30, 2020, 02:03:42 PM

The new clutch works great so far. The information you provided was very helpful during the reassembly. It took WAY longer than it should have to get the shafts lined up to slide the tractor halves together, but once they meshed, everything else went good.

donbj · December 30, 2020, 02:10:59 PM

Quote from: mjeselskis on December 30, 2020, 02:03:42 PMIt took WAY longer than it should have to get the shafts lined up to slide the tractor halves together, but once they meshed, everything else went good.

Yes that's the tricky part. Throw a few bucks at a shop manual, you'll be glad you did.

I thought I had big problems last year when my gear shift let go and just flopped around doing nothing. I though oh crap here goes a few thousand dollars into my transmission. The manual has the break down and all it was was a split pin inside the casing that joined the collar to the shaft inside. Took a day and a half to replace a fifty cent pin. Had to remove quite a bit of stuff to get at it.

mike_belben · December 30, 2020, 02:11:52 PM

Nice job on the log catchers.

mjeselskis · December 30, 2020, 02:15:24 PM

The service manual is on the short list of things to order

Crusarius · December 30, 2020, 04:12:13 PM

Curious to know how you like having the lights there. I definitely need better lights on mine.

mjeselskis · December 30, 2020, 04:45:36 PM

Quote from: Crusarius on December 30, 2020, 04:12:13 PM
Curious to know how you like having the lights there. I definitely need better lights on mine.

So far, so good. I haven't hit my head on them yet. Two forward, two back. I think the rear ones will be good for snowblowing and backhoe work. The front factory headlights are bright enough, but always blocked by the bucket or cross tube. I may aim the front ones down a little so I can see behind/under the bucket for the few times I'm moving dirt after dark.

Crusarius · December 30, 2020, 07:30:12 PM

I always seem to finish that last log that should only take 5 minutes up about an hour into dark

Sure I am not the only one.

mjeselskis · December 30, 2020, 07:52:24 PM

Quote from: Crusarius on December 30, 2020, 07:30:12 PM
I always seem to finish that last log that should only take 5 minutes up about an hour into dark

Sure I am not the only one.

Nope, certainly not the only one. It's time to quit when it's dark enough that you can see the sparks clearly when you saw into a rock.

thecfarm · December 30, 2020, 08:00:44 PM

Nice size tractor you have there.
I like the lights too. Been thinking the same thing,2 up high, like you did and than 2 more that point down towards the ground in front. Probably only one that points towards the back. But I have a head lamp that really gets the light where I need it. ;)

Crusarius · December 30, 2020, 08:12:36 PM

I thought alot about putting some on the loader arms at the bend. Inside of course. I was just concerned I would get to much glare off of the hood.

mike_belben · December 30, 2020, 08:51:57 PM

Ive bought a few ebay chicom LED multi light combo kits over the years. Say a 18 bar and 4 small utility lights for $50 shipped.. That sorta thing. All my junk has those and none have ever failed surprisingly.

Crusarius · December 30, 2020, 09:09:31 PM

I found a dual 20" spot/flood package for $20 on amazon. I also got a bunch of 4" and all sorts of other random ones. All still going strong.

I have wanted some nice LED floodlights around my house for quite a while. I dunno if anyone has priced out the cost of 110v LED floodlights lately. But last time I looked a nice fixture was $130+.

I picked up those 20" lightbars and wired them up to a PC power supply I had laying around. So now I have LED floodlights all over the house. Super simple, cost $20. I can easily light up across the yard and to the other side of my pond. That is not a small feat.

Ed_K · December 31, 2020, 07:35:31 AM

Bought two 6" led lights on amazon and mounted them from the roof in the center front an back. I also got a west coast mirror and hung it sideways from the front inside center so I can see where I'm going backwards, I can't bend my neck enough to be able to look back. I have bumped the mirror getting on but it's easy to reach and reset.

mike_belben · January 11, 2021, 07:12:38 PM

So id bought a $20 shipped knockoff pruner attachment based on a single vague picture.. Almost just to see what it even was honestly.. I partly expected a toy or a single piece of it. I could not have known It had a 7 spline european drive gear and 26mm pole which wont fit my square drive 1" unit. I couldnt find a trace of 7spline to square adapter whatsoever.

I whipped this up out of all sort of junk. NPT threaded water pipe into the gear box after i tapped it. A piece of pole from a trampoline safety fence that had a neckdown that slid over the 1" shaft and adapted via welder to the water pipe. The drive shaft is a piece of steel 1/4" rod i cut out from a cable raceway assembly. I welded a blob on the end and turned that into splines. The female square drive i made from welding 4pcs of keystock onto the round shaft. And it actually worked really good but started to twist the splines.

Back to the drawing board i guess. Handy to be able to cut limbs 15ft up from the ground.

dougtrr2 · January 13, 2021, 07:54:29 AM

The log catcher looks like a good idea. Any "breakaway" provisions for the exhaust stack?
Although if a log hits it, it will breakaway, just maybe not where you would like.

Doug in SW IA

Dom · January 13, 2021, 08:12:15 AM

Quote from: mike_belben on January 11, 2021, 07:12:38 PM
So id bought a $20 shipped knockoff pruner attachment based on a single vague picture.. Almost just to see what it even was honestly.. I partly expected a toy or a single piece of it. I could not have known It had a 7 spline european drive gear and 26mm pole which wont fit my square drive 1" unit. I couldnt find a trace of 7spline to square adapter whatsoever.

At $20, it was worth a try.

Curious if you come up with another solution. I've been tempted to buy one for our echo, but they are expensive.

mjeselskis · January 13, 2021, 10:21:06 AM

Quote from: dougtrr2 on January 13, 2021, 07:54:29 AM
The log catcher looks like a good idea. Any "breakaway" provisions for the exhaust stack?
Although if a log hits it, it will breakaway, just maybe not where you would like.

Doug in SW IA

No exhaust breakaway yet. I may build a new exhaust pipe that angles back and shoots up to the roof, but haven't decided yet.

mike_belben · January 13, 2021, 11:09:51 AM

Quote from: Dom on January 13, 2021, 08:12:15 AM
At $20, it was worth a try. Curious if you come up with another solution. I've been tempted to buy one for our echo, but they are expensive.

pull your echo head off and measure the shaft and count the spline. i think echo may use a 7 spline. there is also 9 spline and obviously square drive. if you've got a 26mm shaft then there are all 3 available. for knockoffs theres a square drive 26mm pruner head for under $60 i have saved somewhere. an NPT tap goes right in for it to thread to water pipe.
i haven't solved the issue yet. I'm thinking a piece of drill rod thats fat enough to bring down to the finished spline without any welding there. then grinding in flats to weld on the square drive end again. not having any issues at the bottom, just the top. its on the back burner until the piece of material lands in my lap or someone hires me for a job that will just pay for the OEM still attachment. for now its just a personal use tool i need once or twice a year maybe.

mike_belben · January 13, 2021, 11:11:39 AM

actually maybe rebar will work. the shaft i made flexes all over inside the pipe and it was very crooked when i started so it don't need to be perfect. it'd be fine by my standards if the splines weren't twisting off.

Edvantage · January 26, 2021, 07:44:31 PM

My almost free snowblower setup. The three point blower was given to me. I had an extra quick attach plate hanging around. I called a hydraulic supplier to size a motor to run off the bobcat auxilliary hydraulics. Turns out the exact motor was kicking around in my asst junk. The only purchased items where a couple of quick connects, lovejoy coupling, and a check valve. Best of all my 16 yr old welded it up and made it go. Wish I had this year's ago. Everyone said a low Flo machine wouldn't work for a snowblower. I guess they where wrong this thing is awesome. Finally got a little snow to give it a good test

mike_belben · January 26, 2021, 08:06:01 PM

Atta boy, love it.

👍

mjeselskis · February 01, 2021, 11:17:23 AM

I got this contraption for nothing. Apparently it's made to drag into a row of round bales and wrap them for the winter. From what I gather, it wasn't pleasant to use, so it got tossed in the bushes. I'm planning to strip it down, narrow up the frame rails to 34", and make it into an off road log trailer. The frame rails are 12 ft long now, so I'll add a tongue to it and keep the 12 ft deck. I'm going to build a walking beam for it. It also had a pile of extra square and round tube sitting in it that will come in handy

The stub axles that are on it now are 1 3/4". They are stamped 3000. I'm wondering if they are strong enough for carrying a load of logs, or worse yet, if I add a dump body and subframe to it from a one ton like I'm hoping. If it's really a 3,000lb axle and hub, I should be fine.

Wishing for a plasma cutter right now.