Daily Fabrication Thread

[mudfarmer]

Moving dump body from one rusty beater to another and trying to eliminate some of the "rusty" and "beater".. A fool's errand at best, which makes me feel right at home  ;D

HK the clean steel dust tastes so much better in the back of your throat after a full day than rust. I am not the safest, bunch of ppe but often don't bother or remember while doing this kind of shop (outside in dirt) work. Ear plugs safety glasses and or face shield about it. Have been trying and sometimes succeeding to at least use a bandana. Some kind of dumb subconscious rebellion after 12hr shifts w/ respirator. At least this old shop jacket doesn't catch fire easy or the job would never get done.

[Jkauffman]

Hey just thought I'd post a follow up about my dozer.I found a company to reline my brake bands for 300 each (Ceco friction products) and also replaced the fiber discs in the steering clutches for 250 each (from Kent Baugh equipment)Just thought I'd let y'all know in case somebody wants to know where to get parts for a small komatsu dozer 8)

[beenthere]

Both local to you?  Or have to send them out?

[HemlockKing]

Moving dump body from one rusty beater to another and trying to eliminate some of the "rusty" and "beater".. A fool's errand at best, which makes me feel right at home  ;D

HK the clean steel dust tastes so much better in the back of your throat after a full day than rust. I am not the safest, bunch of ppe but often don't bother or remember while doing this kind of shop (outside in dirt) work. Ear plugs safety glasses and or face shield about it. Have been trying and sometimes succeeding to at least use a bandana. Some kind of dumb subconscious rebellion after 12hr shifts w/ respirator. At least this old shop jacket doesn't catch fire easy or the job would never get done.

For the rusty frames on trucks I use POR15, seriously give it a google, stuff is wicked. Wire brush off the loose stuff and then slap the stuff on with a brush, take a hammer
To it after dry won't chip it. It is not UV stable so that's why I only use it on underbody a etc, you could clear coat though. It actually works best on rusty stuff as it bonds and sticks to it, neutralizes the rust, hence POR- paint on rust. Pricey though.

[Jkauffman]

Both local to you?  Or have to send them out?

Shipped brake bands but did clutches myself just ordered new fiber discs as the steel plates where still good.Saved some money as komatsu wanted like 2500 per side and I'm done for about 1200 for both

[Roundhouse]

I figured I'd add a follow-up to the forklift floor project. Last weekend I was back at the forklift to finish removing the blown hose. With the machine still down I wrapped up the floor repaint. The forward portion of the floor needed freshening up to match the removable pan. I made sure to take a before picture showing the starting dirt, rust and grime. 




On the plus side it is a small area so scraping out the dirt, wiping the grease, and wire brushing the floor didn't take all day to yield a nice result.




Once it was good enough it was time for a coat of primer.




By afternoon I had put down a nice thick coat of yellow using up the rest of my "custom mix" paint. The following day I added the pieces I redid at home and put it all together.




It may seem a little silly to put this sort of effort into the floor of an old piece of equipment. Overall the paint on the forklift is in really good original shape (I suspect it has always been inside/shedded). The lion's share of the wear was found inside the cab. As a machine I intend to keep for a long time I want to be able to climb in and feel good about it, if there's dirt on the floor it'll be my dirt. It doesn't help to have hesitation when the wallet has to be handy to keep the machine running. The hose I removed (connects the pump with the hydrostatic drive) set me back $148 when I had a new one made up this week. I've got a lot of work in mind for the Owatonna in the coming years.




I also repainted the black brackets seen here that hold the floor plan in place.

[mike_belben]

buddy we wouldnt be in the shape we're in if everyone took care of their junk like you do. theres unknown costs to this throwaway society we've created.  

[Roundhouse]

Thanks Mike. When the crowd zigs it's time to zag. There's deals to be had for the patient and I hope I've found one here. I'm working on getting into a self-perpetuating cycle with this machine, I add a little value to it, in turn I see it as more valuable, then it is worth making a few more improvements, and it becomes more valuable, worth maintaining etc. I will need to love it and what it's capable of when it's time to start putting tires on it.

[mike_belben]

Mini telescoping LED light tower on the quad 

[HemlockKing]

 Got those same leds on my quad, talk about lighting up the night, you can even see the insects flying around 

[barbender]

I hate most everything from China, except for those cheap LEDs. Man those things are awesome! The Ponsse cut to length machines have always been well lit, they used to use halogen bulbs. H7 are they? I can't remember. You had about 10 lights on the machine, and you were always replacing bulbs. Now they are equipped with LEDs, and they really light up the night👍🏻👍🏻 My buddy had an older Ponsse harvester with halogen lights, he retrofitted it with those Amazon LEDs (Ponsse was getting over $200 a light for theirs) they've held up well and he probably did the whole machine for less than $100.

[mike_belben]

Those ones pictured are $6 each shipped when you buy a 6pack.  Ebay.


Trying to extend the wintertime chore window and get the quad rigged up for a fencing machine around all this tsi jive.  Its gonna get a few more.  

[Dom]

Nice, I installed a set on the tractor ROPS.  I had nice NBB Xenon work lights, but they need so much juice from the electrical system they were not worth the effort. 

LED all the way now! Cheap, durable and bright. Can't go wrong.

[Crusarius]

Make great house floodlights to.

[21incher]

Good idea Mike. I use them as tool lights also with an old power brick. You can get them on Amazon for about 4 bucks each if you catch a deal also. 

[mike_belben]

Whats a power brick?

[Walnut Beast]

I hate most everything from China, except for those cheap LEDs. Man those things are awesome! The Ponsse cut to length machines have always been well lit, they used to use halogen bulbs. H7 are they? I can't remember. You had about 10 lights on the machine, and you were always replacing bulbs. Now they are equipped with LEDs, and they really light up the night👍🏻👍🏻 My buddy had an older Ponsse harvester with halogen lights, he retrofitted it with those Amazon LEDs (Ponsse was getting over $200 a light for theirs) they've held up well and he probably did the whole machine for less than $100.

If you want the best and made in the USA. https://www.rigidindustries.com/why-rigid. 

[Ianab]

The actual LEDs will be made in China, but Rigid will be insisting on (and paying for) better QC and materials. 

Problem with Chinese gear is that's it's often made by the lowest bidder. That means cutting corners on materials and QC. Suspiciously cheap Chinese gear? It will be dodgy every time.  They can build decent gear now, but it's not stupidly cheap to do that. 

A $10 Chinese LED lamp is probably crap. A $50 one might be as good as a $100 Western one, but of course buyer beware. It could be a $10 one that someone is charging $50 for.  :(

[Gary_C]

About two years ago I retrofitted my forwarder from halogen to LED and had two problems. The working lights on the side have to be flood lights to light up all the area on both sides and the back of the machine. I looked for and bought only flood lights but when I installed them they were narrow angle beam lights. I went back to Amazon and checked the specs and ratings and found other complaints about the lights not being flood lights. I entered a complaint and the seller sent me a new set of "flood" lights but the replacements are not much better. They are very bright but still too focused.

The other problem was the mounting. The manufacturers are insistent on base down mounting and on a forwarder the lights are mounted under an overhang on the roof of the machine for protection. So I had to make custom brackets for each light. 

It was also a pain to make up connectors. Those Deutsch connectors are sure expensive. 

[HemlockKing]

The actual LEDs will be made in China, but Rigid will be insisting on (and paying for) better QC and materials.

Problem with Chinese gear is that's it's often made by the lowest bidder. That means cutting corners on materials and QC. Suspiciously cheap Chinese gear? It will be dodgy every time.  They can build decent gear now, but it's not stupidly cheap to do that.

A $10 Chinese LED lamp is probably crap. A $50 one might be as good as a $100 Western one, but of course buyer beware. It could be a $10 one that someone is charging $50 for.  :(

Old machines with play in them, sloppy over used dies, probably children working the equipment 

[Ianab]

Old machines with play in them, sloppy over used dies, probably children working the equipment 

That's the "lowest bidder". Buy from them and you are sure to get crap. 

But a majority of Electronics, or at least some components now comes out of China.  Like I said, Cheap and Chinese is still going to be crap. Same as cheap crap from any other place. They CAN manufacture decent stuff, but that costs $$. 

[HemlockKing]

Old machines with play in them, sloppy over used dies, probably children working the equipment

That's the "lowest bidder". Buy from them and you are sure to get crap.

But a majority of Electronics, or at least some components now comes out of China.  Like I said, Cheap and Chinese is still going to be crap. Same as cheap crap from any other place. They CAN manufacture decent stuff, but that costs $$.

Yeah I suppose they should be able to manufacture decent stuff, after all the designs they have stolen, and we buy right back

[mike_belben]

They all advertise as flood lights but are pretty much all spotlights unfortunately. 

IMO the biggest benefit is low current.  Dodge rams were known to melt the headlight switch once you hook up an incandescent trailer.  LEDs solve it and are way brighter

[21incher]

Whats a power brick?

Those black remote  power supplies that look like a small brick and are used on things like PCs and monitors.  Just make sure they are not ac output.  These lights will run on 12 to 36 volts. Make amazing  light for things like router tables when mounted  on a old microphone arm. I also have one I made an adapter  to use a dewalt 20 volt battery with a power wheels adapter from Amazon that is like a really  bright flashlight for 12 bucks.  The Chinese have really gotten  these down with amazing  quality and reliability. From my experience it's  not worth  spending  extra on the US made LEDs. If something works  properly and is in my budget I don't  care where  it comes from anymore. I used to push buy American  but have had too many problems  with American  quality  lately.  

[Crusarius]

if you read the main page on that rigid site it says "designed and engineered in the US". Says nothing about where they were made. I guarantee they were made in china.

As many others have said, china is very capable of high quality goods. The reason there are so many low quality goods coming from there is they are built to a price point that their customers have set. 

for example cheap americans wanting to make more money says you need to build this for $5. So you get a $5 product. a different company says I want you to make the same thing but the price point is $20. You will get a much better product from china with a higher price point.

Just like the lumber industry. Typically the more money, the better the product.