Daves’ Gadgets

[Rawleigh99]

Great idea on the wrenches!

[just Dave]

On 5/26/2023 at 4:13 PM, mike newman said:

my late Dads  18inch Diamond 

A couple Diamonds from my late Father July 4, 1915- Sept 11, 1985.

[just Dave]

Everything is working good now but I need to clean this little tractor up. Off with the belly pan, quite possibly the first time in 48 years.

[Rawleigh99]

Yummy!!!  That would have made a nice engine barbecue if it had caught fire!

[just Dave]

19 hours ago, Rawleigh99 said:

Yummy!!!  That would have made a nice engine barbecue if it had caught fire!

I removed two bags of dirty grease blobs….6 maybe 7 power washes later, it’s green in there. I found little hard chunks of grease in a couple corners with factory paint on them, strange I thought.

[Gearclash]

On 6/30/2023 at 7:13 AM, just Dave said:

Everything is working good now but I need to clean this little tractor up. Off with the belly pan, quite possibly the first time in 48 years.

If that is about all that was in there I am impressed.  Been cleaning skid steer bellies out for several decades now and back in the days when we used skid steers to make silage piles, there would be silage piled 6 inches deep in places.  Now its mostly dirt and corn stalks.  Still takes several hours to do a good cleaning. 

[just Dave]

My son had a giant oak right against his house. I didn’t have the equipment to take it down my self but I did haul it home to feed the stove. The loader makes very short work of it. The bees had took the honey and run some time earlier.

[just Dave]

A little detail on the head ache rack. 1 1/4” boss in 4” sq tube to support swivel winch.

[just Dave]

This was typical of the era, a load of bricks unloaded entirely by hand at a job site. At least they had a truck! This is a power plant under construction in 1942. I worked there many years later until I retired.

[Gearclash]

17 minutes ago, just Dave said:

This was typical of the era, a load of bricks unloaded entirely by hand at a job site. At least they had a truck! This is a power plant under construction in 1942. I worked there many years later until I retired.

“The Proper People” on youtube has been slipping into some of these abandoned older power plants and video taping everything they can find.  I find it really neat to see inside those plants, and it is disappointing to see them being demolished.  I hope a few are saved intact and kept as museums.

[just Dave]

That plant was added onto 4 times, so it had 5 boilers and 4  turbine generators. The company added four more power plants through the 70s, some on this site and some up river. None of the plants have bee torn down. One 1950 plant had been decommissioned for some time until a major plant exploded near by ( different company) The owners of the exploded plant leased the old plant, did some frantic upgrades and ran the wheels of it for a couple years whole they rebuilt their carcass. The forties plant pictured was part of my responsibility for a few years, keeping power available for the overhead crane in the track bay and windows covered. I kept an old heating boiler going in another of the decommissioned plants we had. It was always an adventure in time travel when visiting these old structures. 
Here is another shot laying coolant lines at the 40s plant.

Missouri River is just past the levee in the back ground. The wall was nearly breached in the 93 flood.

[just Dave]

Projects around here are on a sliding scale, nothing gets left behind but timing and importance is always changing. This came up for the right price. I broke it into 4 main sections for easy transport.

[hardtail]

What make and model mill?

Thx for the power plant pics, worked in many over my career, always interested in history

[Gearclash]

Judging by the angled knee crank I am guessing a Bridgeport or some clone thereof.

[just Dave]

On 7/30/2023 at 11:57 AM, hardtail said:

What make and model mill?

Thx for the power plant pics, worked in many over my career, always interested in history

It’s an early 80s clone by Enco. Surprisingly I have found most of the hardware to be SAE. It’s a 2HP with little wear but a lot of grime from coolant residue and every thing that sticks to it.

I have some more plant pics somewhere.

[just Dave]

My old vertical mill has done what I couldn’t do at work for the last 40+ years. This Enco has a variable speed head and digital readout, two things that make the time you spend together more enjoyable. It’s making it’s way to the new spot.

I broke it down for easier loading but it made the much needed cleaning easier anyway.

0

[Rawleigh99]

Sweet!  I have an old round ram Bridgeport that is just worn out!  I would love to have one with less slop!!

[just Dave]

On 8/4/2023 at 11:26 AM, Rawleigh99 said:

Sweet!  I have an old round ram Bridgeport that is just worn out!  I would love to have one with less slop!!

A bunch of these verticals have that bow tie effect. If the gib is adjusted right at mid table it get way too tight at the ends. You can pull that table and do some scraping with the end of a Nicholson file ground to fit the situation. I am not talking about super precision scraping, just removing small amounts in the right spots until full travel is similar fit. I would also pull the saddle to make it much easier to test fit it to the table while the table is upside down on sawhorses. I have always kept vises towards one side of the table to achieve more even wear. This can also be a way to get your milling done in in a tight zone instead of a loose middle section of the table. If you scrape you may need to order a new gib. I imagine Bridgeport still supports that good old girl. Good luck and enjoy the process.

[Gearclash]

Regarding Bridgports and the such -- Steve Watkins has observed that many BP and BP clone tables have a bow to them across the length.  His theory was that it is caused by over tightening T fasteners or simply by the “cold working” effect of a lifetime of T nuts/bolts being tightened in the slots or both.

[hardtail]

Could resurface the table if that was the case, I remember a guy I knew got a really good deal on a Tos FNK25 mill in Calgary from an owner where the employee ran an end mill into the table and then walked out, he best be running cause he would be deserving a beat down after that move

 

[DT Fan]

23 hours ago, just Dave said:

A bunch of these verticals have that bow tie effect. If the gib is adjusted right at mid table it get way too tight at the ends. You can pull that table and do some scraping with the end of a Nicholson file ground to fit the situation. I am not talking about super precision scraping, just removing small amounts in the right spots until full travel is similar fit. I would also pull the saddle to make it much easier to test fit it to the table while the table is upside down on sawhorses. I have always kept vises towards one side of the table to achieve more even wear. This can also be a way to get your milling done in in a tight zone instead of a loose middle section of the table. If you scrape you may need to order a new gib. I imagine Bridgeport still supports that good old girl. Good luck and enjoy the process.

One of the guys I apprenticed with stressed to not put the vice dead center all the time. The gib-wear was the thing. Just offsetting it 6" to one side then the other helps a lot. Of all the guys I worked with he was the only one that talked about things like that and pumping the oiler and such.

[just Dave]

When a spray can falls off the bench and breaks the top off, about all you can do is regret letting it happen. At work I would cut a 3/4” pipe coupling as pictured to make a guard. I ran across a piece of tubing I saved from an old shelter tent that works well too with a few punched holes. Haven’t lost a single spray top wearing the crown. At around $25 a can these days for good stuff it’s worth the effort. So far all cans seem to have a uniform size valve section.

[Rawleigh99]

Great idea Dave!  Thanks!

[just Dave]

Doing some chainsaw maintenance today. I thought some of you may appreciate my vice jaw attachment. It’s not fancy but works well for sharpening my 30” down to my little climber.

[hardtail]

That's a great idea 💡