What is the craziest build idea you ever had ?

[Iplayfarmer]

In Jr. High I had heard about rail guns and decided to make one. I took a track from my HO scale model railroad and a steel ball bearing that fit just right between the tracks. I hooked the two sides of the track to the two wires of an old electrical cord and plugged it in.

There was a big pop and the cord melted. I never did find the ball bearing.

My latest crazy idea is to build a 2/5 scale military tank for the kids and me to ride around in. I've got an 11 hp engine and an old fairway reel mower as a donor for the hydraulics. It's going to have a pneumatic potato gun for the main cannon and a 90 PSI water gun in place of the machine gun. The turret will swivel 350 degrees and the cannon will go up and down with hydraulics. The biggest obstacle I'm having right now is finding an economical way to do the tracks. I figure it will still be a few years before I get serious about building it, but I'm collecting any parts for it I can get my hands on in the mean time.

 

[RadarTech]

DuPont Fishing!!!

Ok I am sure that requires a little explanation...

Years ago Dupont was the primary contractor for military explosives and various components.

When I was in the Marines in the early 90s, I had a few friends in EOD.
And there was always something to be disposed of. Some of the devices they disposed of got thrown in the blast pool, hence the fishing part.

To back up a little:One of the MGySgts was in a mood to complain since the fish were all gone and there was just no fun in it anymore. I did not understand at first... Then when I was out at Lejuene or Quantico I got to see and hear someone go DuPont Fishing.. that is when a buddy explained it to me. I will never forgot that day.

They had an old case of grenades found in an abandoned bunker in the "back 40". They told me that they all looked stable but regs required destruction. So the best way was to destroy them in the blast pool since it was way to much explosive for the other containment areas. They put the stuff in a little floating container. and sank it once it got out to the middle.

Water shot at least 100 feet in the air when they hit the plunger.....

One time they mentioned the story of soaking a bunch of butter bars that sat to close the the lake for an explosives Demo... and they laughed because they to shape the charge to blow the water at the stands....


and now it has become an old joke..
hey Let's go DuPont fishing..

I am sure that someone somewhere is still enjoying the laughs on this one..
Or maybe a blast of water!!!!

Enjoy the laughs.


Later,
J

 

[RadarTech]

In Jr. High I had heard about rail guns and decided to make one. I took a track from my HO scale model railroad and a steel ball bearing that fit just right between the tracks. I hooked the two sides of the track to the two wires of an old electrical cord and plugged it in.

There was a big pop and the cord melted. I never did find the ball bearing.

My latest crazy idea is to build a 2/5 scale military tank for the kids and me to ride around in. I've got an 11 hp engine and an old fairway reel mower as a donor for the hydraulics. It's going to have a pneumatic potato gun for the main cannon and a 90 PSI water gun in place of the machine gun. The turret will swivel 350 degrees and the cannon will go up and down with hydraulics. The biggest obstacle I'm having right now is finding an economical way to do the tracks. I figure it will still be a few years before I get serious about building it, but I'm collecting any parts for it I can get my hands on in the mean time.

If anyone here lives or vists Panama City Beach, Florida, can you get this guy a picture of the ole Tennis ball tanks?

I don't remember where it is but on the strip there is a place that had the little tanks where you could shoot tennis balls at each other as you drove them around an old tennis court.... BUT the last time I was there was over 25 years ago......

That was so much fun!!

Later,
J

 

[RadarTech]

As I remember it......When I was a young lad....my Dad had a group of about 3 welders working for him....and I would help out doing some grunt work on Saturdays and such. One of these welders was not only a fantastic welder....but a genuine practical joker. One day he put a "little" car washing soap in an old hub cab and made a small pile of bubbles with the oxygen and acetylene from a torch.....and when I walked by....he tossed a match in the bubbles and the resulting explosion scared the XXXX outta me.

So....not to be outdone (remember I was about 14) I waited for break time....and when those guys came back in the door I had this "huge" pile of explosive bubbles awaiting my match....and tossed a match in the bubbles. As I remember.....I rattled the overhead doors and blew out a couple windows and I think I blew out those guys ear drums (and my own) with the resulting explosion (don't try this at home). Them 'ole boys were pretty careful after that with the practical jokes on "the kid".

This sounds like a joke that happened at my Dad's old company..
Back in the early 80s, Dad was transferred about 100 miles from home.
and they shop he went to had a bunch of jokers..
One time the took a small balloon filled it with oxygen and acetelyne from the torch. put that in a brown paper lunch bag lit it and threw it in the shop manager's office. he looked, laughed and kept working.. boom..


Shook half the bldg..(it was nothing more than a sheet metal shop about 30 by 50...)

2 days later, they took another bag, this time with just a normal balloon in it, lit it threw it in the office.

The foreman saw it grabbed a chair busted a window and ran out of the bldg.
The balloon popped with little fanfair and the entire shop was standing outside waiting on him...

There were alot of returned "favors" after that...
but those are a whole different story...


later taters!

J

 

[Renze]

In Jr. High I had heard about rail guns and decided to make one. I took a track from my HO scale model railroad and a steel ball bearing that fit just right between the tracks. I hooked the two sides of the track to the two wires of an old electrical cord and plugged it in.

If i was married, i'd probably have a wife that would censor TBN when seeing my smile after reading this...

I also had plans to make a heavy crossbow with leaf springs of an old car, and use arrows with impact explosive "warheads"...

 

[Taylortractornut]

My dad worked off and on For Bonds company excavating and paving. My dad was an operator one day he was at the shop getting a dozer this he stopped by their asphault plant across the road. He saw a worker named Freddy fillling a gabage bag with Oxygen and acetylene, He knew nothing good was about to happen a went to the office and got his dozer. Well Freddy walked up to where some of the ventilation for the burner goes, he let the 30 gallon can liner go. Dad said folks from the town of Burnsville came to see what happend and Larry Bonds fired Freddy. He was rehired at the end of the week. Now hes a State Inspector.
One of the craziest builds we did was the Compactor I posted a link to in the phots section we built the wheels and did the conversion. I also worked on bulding a small terracing machine for a tractor to make water conservation terraces. That had some pretty good results, last i heard it was in the Itawamba county on a farm. One of my friend built a chainsaw winch one time that had a HF boat trailer winch and bolted it to a chainsaw motor. he used a chain the had made to drive it. He chunked the cable up in the fork of a tree and winched his self up but the one was action of the boat trailer winch wouldnt let him lower his self.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

If anyone here lives or vists Panama City Beach, Florida, can you get this guy a picture of the ole Tennis ball tanks?

I don't remember where it is but on the strip there is a place that had the little tanks where you could shoot tennis balls at each other as you drove them around an old tennis court.... BUT the last time I was there was over 25 years ago......

That was so much fun!!

Later,
J

I'd love to see that. I was thinking that I'd make the "bore" of the cannon the right size to fit a tennis ball or a racquetball just in case the state ran out of potatoes (I live in Idaho).

 

[have_blue]

Apart from the tiller, it sounds very similar to the "elevating grader" (not like elevating scraper) except from using a tiller instead of a grader blade to collect the dirt.

Most known are the ones drawn by old caterpillar tractors, but when i tried to google an image for you, i found this horse drawn version:

http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/data/6/2/91362-505188.jpg

I bet it would be a lot healthier for your tractor and FEL to move dirt this way, than to bust up your front loader, clutch and front axle.

There are so many folks in the USA that buy a small tractor hoping to dig fishing pond. My idea was an implement that could make that possible. Scraper pans (earth movers) are brutal on small tractors. They're just not practical in my estimaiton.

Here's a cartoon we were were laughing at on the pondboss forum. I showed it with an auger, but a link belt may be more practical.

Happy New Year to all!

 

[Taylortractornut]

HB and Renze do a google on Malsam terracers, Thats what I made a smaller copy of, it pulled good with a 3000 Yanmar. Tha Malsam is a bigger machine thought i just copied it and a Russel elevating grader. We built a frame and used a 24 inch Disc breaker bearing and disc and set it on an angle with a home built conveyour. You can load the snot out of a trailer pulled behind another tractor that way or build roads with it to. The rolling disc cuts the soil and throws it up on the conveyor. It cuts roots rols over or up smaller rocks and does a pretty good job. The man I worked for in college had a welding and fab shop I worked in off and on. We had seen his father had one built that the conveyor was run off the input shaft of a truck axle that was used on the back of the machine but the ground drive had a few flaws about dumping material. THey dug alot of small duck ponds this way with 2 tractors with dump trailers and the elevator working.

 

[mjncad]

In Jr. High I had heard about rail guns and decided to make one. I took a track from my HO scale model railroad and a steel ball bearing that fit just right between the tracks. I hooked the two sides of the track to the two wires of an old electrical cord and plugged it in.

There was a big pop and the cord melted. I never did find the ball bearing.

My latest crazy idea is to build a 2/5 scale military tank for the kids and me to ride around in. I've got an 11 hp engine and an old fairway reel mower as a donor for the hydraulics. It's going to have a pneumatic potato gun for the main cannon and a 90 PSI water gun in place of the machine gun. The turret will swivel 350 degrees and the cannon will go up and down with hydraulics. The biggest obstacle I'm having right now is finding an economical way to do the tracks. I figure it will still be a few years before I get serious about building it, but I'm collecting any parts for it I can get my hands on in the mean time.

I saw one of these rail guns on a Discovery Channel show and they are impressive.

As for your tank project, do a search on YouTube for an Aussie who has a multi-part video series on how he built a tank including the tracks. I watched about 8 of the videos, and he had a bunch more. It was pretty impressive work.