The Hunt!/Eric's new dump.

[ericjon262]

Why are you sending to wot tech?

Just sell them yourselves. Ben will just steal it from you.

I've been doing business with Ben for a while, I'm not particularly worried about him stealing the design from me.

I have a couple reasons for selling to him wholesale, he has an established brand and storefront already, things that I do not yet have, so it makes it significantly easier for me to actually make a sale, and one larger sale is easier to make than several smaller sales, although the smaller sales would be more profitable.

These particular flanges incorporate design requests that he made, specifically the round ports. it's not out of the question that I also produce other flanges that have D ports, or other design features, and if I do, they will most likely be sold through a store once I get something up and running, along with a few other parts like Grand Am manual trans swap mounts, LZ swap mounts, low mount alternator kits, ect.

[ericjon262]

I mentioned in one of my other threads I was making a sign for a guy at work, it's designed so that it can easily be folded to wrap around the corner of a building.



I made this little tray as a proof of concept, it was quite easy to bend, but I think if I make another sign this size, I'll add webbing in the middle to help keep everything square.



the sign, cut on the plasma cutter:



I'm pretty happy with it, and the job paid well enough.

____________________________________________________

in other news, I planted more pecan trees, six Mohawk Pecans, and eight more Pawnee Pecans.



I continued the pattern outlined above. I was pretty worried about several of the original batch, they were starting to look kinda rough, when the last 14 were delivered, I asked if the owner of the company I bought them from thought they would make it, and he said they look fine, I was quite relieved, I've had a couple irrigation issues, mostly related to a hawk attacking my dripline.

there's clearly talon marks in the hose, and what looks like a beak took a bite at it, I assume, because the hawk thought it was a snake, and was rudely informed otherwise if the water was running at the time.

[pmbrunelle]

What do you think about sandblasting and finishing (paint, powder, etc)?

It seems like it would fit together with cutting+welding to provide finished products.

[jdv]

How long before the tree's produce?

[ericjon262]

What do you think about sandblasting and finishing (paint, powder, etc)?

It seems like it would fit together with cutting+welding to provide finished products.

I actually offered a ready to paint product, the customer decided he wanted to finish it himself. If the sign were any bigger, it wouldn't fit on the machine, and would need some kind of welding to complete.

How long before the tree's produce?

The first batch I planted already had some on them, I'll fertilize them early this spring, and hopefully get a impressive amount of growth over next summer.

[ericjon262]

I finally had more than 24 hours off work to do me things, so I went out to the garage, and found the air compressor wouldn't start... erg. check voltage at the switch, and it's flatlined... Reset the breaker, and it springs to life, by the time I get back outside to the compressor, it tripped again, and the motor is literally smoking... erg. Thankfully, I had 240 volt 5 hp motor on my old compressor. it was wired for 120 volt, so I reconfigured the wiring for 240 volt, dropped it on the compressor, tightened the belt, and it's back to life, and I'm quite thankful for that.

as for failure analysis of the motor. the existing motor was on the compressor when I bought it over 10 years ago, it was a scratch and dent item, it fell over somewhere either in a Lowe's facility, or on it's way to/from one, and the capacitor housing, and motor endcap had been damaged as a result. it worked for a few years, but saw no significant duty cycle until the last few months. when I brought it to my shop in SC, the capacitor straight up failed, so I put a new one on, and ran it. the entire time it's been up here, it's been more or less open to nature, I've had plans to build an inexpensive and stylish (if you're not my neighbor) awning out of a car hood, but hadn't got around to it, so the motor has been rained on a not insignificant amount. I suspect the motor's centrifugal switch has failed.

here's a couple youtube videos of single phase induction motors, and the centrifugal switch that describe where I thing the problem was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XYdTog ... myFielding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-jOBxn ... myFielding


I could be wrong, but it seems like the most likely failure point, as induction motors have very few failure points, the other being the capacitor, but I suspect a new(or relatively so) capacitor is probably still fine, and if it failed, it would probably not even start.

now since that's sorted, I could move onto other things.

For years, I've been telling myself that I was going to build an awesome welder car that holds my welders, gas bottles, and paraphernalia, well, I finally said enough is enough and just bought a cart to put it all on. I have some plans for modifications to the cart to split the difference from what I planned to what I have, but I think this will make a excellent starting point, and in the meantime, get all of my machines off of the floor.

[SappySE107]

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[Series8217]

I got that same cart;) Its nice to be able to roll everything around at once. You gotta show me what you do when you modify it.

That's a name I haven't seen in a while.. welcome back dude.

[SappySE107]

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[ericjon262]

Welcome back! stick around, cool shit happens here!

as far as the welder cart, I have this thread on the welder cart here:

http://www.realfierotech.com/viewtopic. ... 5503d9fc49

[ericjon262]

Pretty excited about the latest addition to the shop.



I'll need to install a VFD to run it, and a baseplate adapter for the motor that came with it. but both of those are pretty simple operations. It came with some tooling, a chuck, a faceplate, a quick change tool post, a DRO, and a few other odds and ends.

[SappySE107]

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[ericjon262]

Nice! I need space for one of those. Id be interested in how true a valve will spin when chucked into it.

hopefully pretty damn close in a collet, but I won't know until I get power run, and the appropriate collets.

notes for me:


2 36x80 prehung
1 32x80 prehung
1 72x80 bifold
patio door
96 8x8x16 block
4 2x6x16
4 2x4x16
40 2x4 precuts
19 2x8x14
10 2x8x12
subfloor
drywall

[SappySE107]

.

[ericjon262]

It takes collets? I figured it was a 3 jaw chuck but I guess I didn't look that hard. TG75 are the collets my valve grinder uses. TIR < .0004" If its something like that, id say its promising:)

it can take collets, but I also have a 3 jaw for it.

[ericjon262]

I had intended on getting more done on my cars this past week, unfortunately, I needed to take care of some responsibilities first, and those ended up taking alot longer than I thought they would. The land neighboring mine is for sale, and lately I'd been considering what I was doing with my land, and found that all I've really been doing is trying to maintain it, which is more difficult than it sounds. I have found a few thoughts rolling around in my head, and think I might try and sell most of my land, it would put me in a much better spot financially, and and it might even be something I can make a profit from if I play my cards right. if I don't sell it, I need to improve it in a way that makes me money, one thought is to put a stable in that people can board horses in, as horses are really popular in this part of SC, and typically, horse people have money they can afford to make poor financial decisions with, but, I also know nothing about horses, so it would require me to either learn about them, or partner up with someone who does. it would also require a not insignificant investment on my part to build stables, and supporting infrastructure.

this week, I spent a ton of time cleaning up the right of way, the property line closest to the house, and pressure washing the driveway.

I really wish I had taken before pictures, because only seeing after doesn't do the work any justice. I'm considering cutting down the pine tree towards the right side of this picture, along with 3 others that are in pretty rough shape, but I might try and find an arborist to come out and look at them and give me a better assessment of their health first.



The driveway was nasty, I know it hasn't been pressure washed since I moved in, and I suspect it probably hadn't been done years prior either.





This dude strolled up looking lost as hell, I walked him around the area asking if anyone recognized him, and nobody did, tried dropping him off at the shelter, and the humane society, who both said they couldn't take him for whatever reason, so I ended up stuck with him for the day, thankfully, after posting him on facebook, his family was found and I was able to get him home, because I didn't have anywhere to keep him at the moment, and if I left him out, I was worried he would get hit by a car. This was actually the second dog that week I reunited with their families, the first one was a yellow lab that was at work, he was laying down near the front offices, with his paw pads worn raw. Thankfully, the shelter was able to take him in, and tend to his paws, and we were able to find his family as well.

[pmbrunelle]

Does your large land give you a large property tax burden that is difficult to justify without the land generating revenue?

[ericjon262]

Does your large land give you a large property tax burden that is difficult to justify without the land generating revenue?

it's not a huge tax burden, but it does exist, if I had more time and energy to invest in it, I could actually make it a not insignificant tax write off(hence the Pecan trees) I just don't have time to work on it, the house, the shop, the car(s) ect. and the sale of the land could put me much closer to paying off the mortgage on the house, which would be a massively awesome relief.

The other side of it, is that this particular piece of land isn't quite what I thought it was when I bought it, it's not really secluded at all, it's on a fairly busy road, close-ish to a manufacturing plant. it just has more compromises than I thought it did when I bought it, and because of that, I don't really feel attached/interested in it like I was when I first looked at it. hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had made a move on land just a few miles further away, it wouldn't make for a significant change in my commute, or way of life as a whole, but it would have provided me with something a little more inline with my desires.

[ericjon262]

bleh, I have a full set of house plans, and I have this dump... I started working on renovating what's here, worst case scenario, I end up with something I can live with and just stay in it.

a basic overview of the plan(not in any way to scale)



over the last couple of weeks, I framed up the walls for the office space, and began working on the pantry space. unfortunately, nothing seems to have been built around any accepted standards, and the house has settled alot, so I'm having to take a ton of measurements, and carefully jack the house around to make everything flat and plumb again.

I've installed a new main panel in the office, because I intend to remove the wall that the current panel is installed on before too much longer. I haven't begun wiring it up yet, I need to install an exterior disconnect to bring the house up to code, and then I can make faster progress on that.



The office overall will end up as a fairly awkward shaped room, almost like a very wide hallway... I tried hard to make it not so, but the layout of the rest of the house seemed to suffer if it was any other way. My current goal is to have this half of the house more or less done before fall. I'm trying to do all the work without taking on any new debt, which so far has been very reasonable, we'll see if it stays that way.


Notes for me:

https://www.printables.com/model/441486 ... ossf/files

[ericjon262]

I've been pretty busy lately, I've been trying to make some stuff happen with the house, and I think I'm starting to make actual progress..

I decided I wanted to install an electric, tankless hot water heater, mainly because they take up significantly less space. when hot water isn't needed, they use less power than a conventional hot water heater, but as demand rises, they use more power, alot more, most call for 3+ 40 amp breakers, so I figured some upgrades would be required.

we'll start at the power meter, my existing meter was a 200 amp unit, and was very poorly mounted to the house (note the very crooked conduit, and the nasty looking hole)(yeah, I know I need to get new screws for the AC panels.)



since 120-160 amps would eat up most of the power my meter was rated to, I talked to the power company, and they hooked me up with a 400 amp meter. Upgrading the meter also meant I needed to install an external means of disconnect to bring the outside of the house up to code. I bought 2 200 amp disconnects, one will feed the main panel for the house, one will feed the hot water heater, and laundry room.



I really heated the giant hole in the side of the house. I bought a piece of Hardi-Trim cement board, and cut it up and made some trim to make it a little cleaner.



I also took some time to redo the conduit from the power company, I was pretty disappointed in how crooked it was.

next I had to put a 3" hole in the brick/block wall, it was a giant PITA, I bought a "Spider" holesaw with giant carbide teeth, and cut as deep as I could, and then chisel out the middle, then repeat a few times. I had to make a extension for the arbor because it wasn't long enough to reach all the way through, luckily i had an extra 10mm socket, and a crappy extension I could cut up.









then I was able to run conduit from one of the disconnects to the house. getting the wire from the disconnect, through the conduit, into the house, was a giant PITA, but well worth it now that it's done, it's very clean compared to what was there. I'm very happy with how this part of the project turned out, but I was slightly concerned that when the inspector came out they might want to see the termination at the main breaker panel inside the house, which I knew probably wasn't up to code...






What I didn't know, is "probably not up to code" was the understatement of the century...









Lots of double, triple, or even quad tapped breakers, wires entering the panel without chafe protection, no ground buss, it was a giant mess,



it's way better now, but ate almost an entire day, and in the mess, I ended up axing the feed for my washing machine... DOH. and after all of that, the inspector didn't look at it at all... it was kinda a bummer, but whatever, "long" term, the panel is getting replaced with the one in the last post.

I have also been working on removing a ton of pine trees, actually, probably several tons, and have been working on trying to grade the "yard" smooth.






I have three large pine trees left to cut, unfortunately, they're all leaning in directions that make it difficult to just chop and drop, I'll have to get up there and tie them off, and put tension on them while I cut.






this is my next project, whoever poured this foundation on the patio needs to be shot if they're still alive...



I kinda have a plan, but it's not evolved enough yet to discuss.