Daily Fabrication Thread

[mike_belben]

Finished proof of concept today.  The jury has reached a decision:  

it beats a shovel, but its no PC400. 










Some efficiency additions to be made when i get another spool of mig wire. 


We then moved on to destructive testing of cables and chains.  The stump wasnt such a tough guy after half an hour of waterboarding.  Oh youll talk alright mister stump. 
 

















 

[Ed_K]

 I use a 1 1/2 ton hydraulic jack. And different height boards under the log and drop the log onto them.

[teakwood]

I use to use a 2x4 and a few different thickness sticks, my DIY mill was cantilevered so the shim stick could be long and not interfere with the mill track, that way I could place the shim while being at the end of the 2x4.

Other possibilities?

Frontier Sawmills Attachments - Toe Board - YouTube

How to set up your toe board | B751 & B1001 Band Sawmills | LOGOSOL - YouTube

Nice, thanks for all the good ideas.
That frontier solution gave me a good idea and i will fabricate something simple 

[Hilltop366]

I was also wondering if a small boat winch could be used somehow, it would give you a reduction gear and a ratchet pawl but that is as far as I got on that idea.

[Iwawoodwork]

A boat winch or 12v atv winch might work hooked to a bell crank with the upper crank attached  to the Frontier system in place of the manual lift.

[mike_belben]

A boat winch with a gear rack that raises the log support bar would make for a hand cranked, gear reduction work of awesomeness.


Or strip the rack and pinion from and old junk car and put a handle on the input shaft to raise the log support.  A manual steering gear box from a truck should work too.

[Hilltop366]

Cool ideas!

Another one could be a large cam (think upside down snail) that rotates towards the back stop, as you turn the winch it turns the cam that pushes directly on the log raising it until you get to the  desired height, to return to "no lift" keep turning in the same direction until you reach the flat area of the cam.

Depending on where you want to be when you are adjusting the height the cam could chain drive from the winch to be along side the log or shaft drive if you would want to adjust the log height from the end of the mill.

Using a under slung cable like a drywall lifter could work also.

[teakwood]

Here is my solution, as simple as it gets, works like a charm and didn't cost more than 4h of work

[mike_belben]

Well that takes the cake, love it. 

[caveman]

That dog will hunt!  This is similar to what we did with a canthook handle and a couple of different thickness wooden shims we kept near our LT-28.  Good job on the modification.  You may want to add a picture to the sawmill mod thread.

[mike_belben]

I got some piloted annular cutters for my mag drill and theyre awesome.  You can take a piece of 1" thick plate and without even center punching it, just bore a perfect, machine finish 1.000" hole.  Lube flows from a tank through a groove in the pilot which unseats when it touches the part so it stops automatic when you lift off.  Im very pleased.  Its like a holesaw had a love child with an end mill.  I am sold on coreboring over twist drills whenever possible. 







Late this afternoon i whipped up a class 3 to sleeve hitch adapter and went out to my new deer trails to give it a try.  Works fantastic for making a trail that has tire tracks on the outside and a seeded middle section so i can still use them with the tractor and forwarding trailer without wrecking the food.  








Normally these sleeve hitch attachments are useless without a pile of cinder blocks ontop but with the weight of my winch plate pushing it down the chisel tines dig pretty good and rip up the shallow root layer,  killing off the competition in the seed bed.  


I strapped my sled pullin block to the front and it helps quite a bit with the backhoe and skidding logs up the hill.  Think i will make a more permanent arrangement.

[mike_belben]

It can be a pain to position in tight quarters and wont make the straightest trench when you cant quite get it in the corner right, but my dull backhoe is still putting my sharpest shovel to shame.  The last job you ever want to do by hand is trench a rocked clay driveway.  

Done it twice, think id rather move away then try a 3rd round!

[donbj]

It can be a pain to position in tight quarters and wont make the straightest trench when you cant quite get it in the corner right, but my dull backhoe is still putting my sharpest shovel to shame.  The last job you ever want to do by hand is trench a rocked clay driveway.  

Done it twice, think id rather move away then try a 3rd round!

Anything with hyd cylinders and a bucket of sorts beats a shovel all day!

[mike_belben]

Well one thing led to another as they often do. I needed to redirect runoff, trench some utility and make road for cement truck access. Needed some gravels.







I havent been very happy with 3 minus lately.  It rolls out nicely with the dozer if laying thick, but it doesnt spread homogenously.  Youll have patches where theres all big rocks ontop of fines that stay loose and rolly.  and patches where theres just fines with no big rock to keep it from mushing into the clay and creating potholes that need to be dug up and fixed later.  A load dont go far if youre putting many inches of it. This doesnt matter for cars but im expecting loaded semi trucks. My forklift can be up to 35k on 4 tires, itll find the thin spot.


 i cut my base and worked it until i got all the drainage perfect so minimal rock would be needed.  I tried 1-3 limestone this time and love it, excellent base rock.







1-3 is rolly and needs a cap in residential application.  Well, much less cap rock is needed if the base is compacted first.  So i needed a compactor.  And built this.








Nothing fancy, just a pto shaft turning a big hunk of steel for a shakeweight over a scrapped conveyor roll, and some cut up solid rubber tires to make huge bushings that helps dampen it from the tractor.












Its no wacker or dynapack but i spent like 50 bucks building it.  hard to see, easy to feel with your feet that the stones get aligned and flattened more with every pass.. Two is pretty sufficient to get things solid where they dont shift when i drive over with a machine.






From there i only need about an inch of crusher run ontop, smooth and flatten with the land plane, water it and hit with the roller again to work the fines into base.  1 day old driveway is as solid as my 4yr old one thats built from 3-5 then 3minus then crusher run.







I will probably add another shake weight block to play around with phasing them, and also some steel to capture anything that grenades.  I have a bolens hydrostatic rear that this will eventually get coupled to with a predator engine.  It woulda took half the time if the boy could compact on a dedicated little machine while i ran the land plane or bobcat.  And hydrostatic with 3000-3600rpm will give way way better control and compaction.  Gearing choices stink on my setup and its only shaking @1000hz at best. Room for improvement.

[sandersen]

I must say...I'm quite impressed Mike with your design and fab talent. That's great stuff...especially for your kids to be around it and on it all too.    Too few folks know how to improvise these days. Well done sir. 

[barbender]

That's pretty groovy, Mike! From an old paving/gravel guy, that's some pretty nice looking work you did on the driveway, too👍👍

[mike_belben]

Thanks guys.  As they say .. Necessity is the mother of invention.  

Its poured all day, and the runoff pattern has been completely altered for the better.  Glad i got that part behind me. 

[Crusarius]

I would have never thought to make a vibrator like that. I was very confused why you had a driveshaft going to it till I realized what you were doing. 

Very nice.

[moodnacreek]

Belben, you need to get up here and weld me up a pantograph for my sawmill carriage and while your at it a frame for a top saw.                       I must say you are quite handy.   

[mike_belben]

Doesnt someone have a sig about if the women dont find you handsome they should find you handy?

[Resonator]

That would be Red Green. Also known for: "The handy man's secret weapon... duck tape".  ;D

[Magicman]

Ga Mtn Man

[zinc oxide]

So... I saw the capstan winch for sale... One year too late. Think it was almost a year to the day from last year's Paul Bunyan show over in Ohio. The last day, just as they are packing up seems to be a good time to buy things.



 

 

Had to be 12 years or so ago that I cobbled this together. Neighbor provided the rear end from a 10 hp Sears tractor, the little metal dome Thingy that the shifter went through was cracked in half. JB Weld, some clamps on a flat surface, and some 'lapping'  of the mating face, good as new.

 The 6 hp motor was like brand-new as was the mower it was attached to, put out for junk. Somehow, the oil fill tube was broke off where it entered the casing. Easy fix. It's amazing what people throw away.

First attempt for the capstan, Filling up the wheel, or rim, whatever it's called, with some kind of body filler and machining it down.  don't know anything about gear and pulley ratios, but it had comparatively no power. It's possible that I didn't get a true feel for it, I only use that the one time on a test drive dragging a telephone pole across the yard. Probably didn't help that I was  riding the telephone pole and trying to keep tension on the rope same time. Could have been the Vodka.

 That attempt only cost a truck load of firewood to the machinist down the holler. Not too good at bartering. The second capstan was made out of off-the-shelf weld on thingamajig's from tractor supply, conduit and the two beveled pieces by the same machinist. More firewood. Said he never thought to use a hoe to drag the firewood to the tailgate. I'm lazy. I have one of those joint jigger things, made quite a few things that looked like I knew what I was doing.

The belt tensioning slide idea I stole from the motor mounts observed in packaged sewage plants that I was volunteered to work on, and I never knew what kind of belt I was going to have laying around. Works perfect for taking the flap out of the belt.  I was concerned that I would have to rig up some kind of spring-loaded idler, but really no need for a way to disengage to change gears in my opinion with no load on it. Was going to put a throttle control on, but due to the nature of the device really didn't need that either. Both items probably beyond my technical pay grade.

You may notice a piece of paracord in the pics, one end was always clipped to my belt, the other end went to a 'customized' romex metal staple. Released the brake mechanism when the string was pulled on. The rope guides were made out of the only round stock I had lying around time, heated up in the drum stove and bent around a couple of bolts in a vice.  found the center point on a piece of conduit and made the pivot which mounts to a square tube going into the receiver, 'automatic' alignment with the direction of pull. I was concerned with what I believe is called an 'overhung' load... The first test? Mounted on my truck, connected to my neighbors truck. Only had about a 75' piece of rope of the right type. Gravel driveway, butt to butt fairly quickly in first gear.  Didn't have spare money, (400+) for a big hank of rope, but I do stumble across amazing deals from time to time at the pawnshops, feel guilty profiting from others misery, but i do enjoy beating up the pawnshop when possible. 

Made a cone out of an old plastic barrel, which became more of a sled, replete with ratchet strap. used that quite successfully for a while, 'til i cobbled up a 'fetching arch' of sorts using some golf cart wheels. no pics, someone really liked it and i couldn't say no.
 
Just used it most of the time to pull firewood off the hillsides, EZPZ, and up out of the crick, which was the scariest. the truck would sometimes bounce quite a bit when i snagged something, and i thought about some kinda outriggers, but i could hardly pick it up to mount it as it was then, and i didn't want to shock load the rear end.
(One of us has gained weight or lost muscle i noticed when i finally had a place to store it out of the weather, When i put it up on Harbor Freight™ stand, on sale at least once a yr. for 20 bucks.)

I noticed a few older threads relating to rope storage...



 

 
...So this is what i came up with when i finally found the money to buy a spool, never used it...Yet. Was worried about the upright filling with water if left outside, an old tube of silicon caulking dried in the tube made a perfect cork. actually spent sometime experimenting with different way to accelerate the hardening in the tube, nice round resillient plugs of the thickness you choose are handy.

 I noticed that you can see a little spool to the left in the first pic of these 2 behind the ladder, 2 120' foot pieces from the pawnshop along with a 'tree seat' that i have no idea what to do with/how to use for 50 bucks. (less than 1/2 price from 'sticker', My 'buy' point). I've always struggled with knots, '69' being perfect for joining and easy to undue, can't remember the 'real' name. Never made a stand. Generally speaking, only used one piece at a time mostly, coiled and tied for storage/transport. recently just cut down the bulk of a spool for the 2 pieces, still in good shape.

The most important lesson learned from this project? NEVER try to start a lawnmower engine without 'something' on the output shaft. I think i remember reading about this being possible with old motors...Something about cast iron flywheels?...didn't look in to the issue until one arm felt longer than the other...and my fingers...ouch.

My Dad always told me..."for a stupid head the whole body must suffer"...Lots of cross-platform compatibility in those words. 

[mike_belben]

So i sorta made a clearing saw.





Someone gave me a dead stihl 55R weed wacker that id fixed a while ago and rarely used because i dont have much fancy grass work to do and a string just doesnt work on the scrub and heavy grass i do need to cut.  The 55r is not a brush cutter model and those start around $500 at the co-op.. Never gonna happen.


Well, in my junkpile was an echo clearing saw blade that i dont remember acquiring but musta also been free, my favorite price.  When i unthreaded the string drum there was a splined aluminum backer plate with a slightly proud register for a 1" shoulder that matched the blade thickness.  Hmm.  


I used files then a reamer to enlarge the hardened blade bore until it centered on this hub, and a pair of bellville washers then a thick fender washer and finally the left handed metric nutsert that i knocked out of the plastic string hub to hold the blade to the shaft.  



Cautiously gave the thing a whirl and am stunned how good it works.  Stuff that i would normally be standing there gnawing away at full throttle and just wasting fuel and string while junk hits me in the face... simply lays over at idle now.  Its like a jedi light saber.. Blade is barely moving and stuff is laying down without reving engine at all.  Wow...


Now before anyone says youll shoot yer eye out kid...  I have used this and concluded regular string trimmers throw WAY more debris and trash up in your face and probably wont ever put the string head back on.  It is one sheet of steel with no brazed on tips to fly off.  The hub nut didnt loosen even a quarter turn and it would take about 20 turns to lose the blade.  The teeth dont have sharp tips..theyre rounded over so you can grind into a cinder block or fence pipe without harm.. Just light scratches and no need to resharpen.  And it throws nothing.  Not one little shred of grass or sticks comes up.  The stuff just gets severed in place and lays there dead.  I cant believe we all have weed wackers and psychologically think these saws are dangerous.  Its the other way around.  Id let my 7yr old run this saw before the string line, hands down, way safer.


But mike does it work on brush?  


Oh yeah.    








Blip the throttle one time just before initiating a mock golf swing near the base.  Follow through and the blade just passes by while the sapplings lay over.  Im barely using any fuel now because its mostly at idle until woody 1/2 inch plus stems require a bit more.


 Again this blade does not have a sharp ripping point or any tooth set.. It will not saw a kerf by going slow, but rather will just sit and smoke if you treat it like a regular circle saw.  Swing it like a sickle and think of it as a rotary machete.  The gullet does the cutting, the tips are completely round, dull and almost harmless.

[mudfarmer]

Mine is fs90 which I don't think is rated for it either.. with the other kind of blade you sharpen with a round file. There is a "right direction" and a "wrong direction" to go at the stem but I don't remember off hand which it is  ;D Be careful of kick back and have fun. I don't know how long the shaft/hub will last but there is only one way to find out and there is another thread for the results