Good morning!!!!

[Larro Darro]

I think very well thanks. I was so tired at 4pm when they left I came in and fell asleep. Man they work hard.
pics to follow.

Drew, I know just how you feel. It wears me out watching people work

Larro

 

[deerseeker001]

I was tired watching that Packers/Vikings Game last night,those guys played hard.

Drew, I know just how you feel. It wears me out watching people work

Larro

 

[Larro Darro]

I was tired watching that Packers/Vikings Game last night,those guys played hard.

I switched over and caught the end of the Central Florida and Huston game. That one had a crazy ending. And I recorded the Ducks and Wildcats and watched it this morning. Those west coast games come on so late I can never stay up to see the end.

Larro

 

[buckeyefarmer]

about to say good night. pouring down the rain here.

Got my 4' ceiling mount LED light fixture today. Expensive, but looks like it will work ok. I'm tired of always fixing the cheap shop lights in the basement, always burning out lamps or ballasts go bad. For now, I wired up a cord to it from an old shop light.

 

[rswyan]

55F and cloudy @ 01:45 ...

Actually woke up around 12:30 ... had woken up earlier around 09:00 but fell back asleep ...

Got all final welds to the (4) pipes on the upper grapple jaw done earlier ... also bent the 1/4" x 2" flats that are on the inside of the grapple arms and got them tacked into place. I'm pretty pleased with how the bent flats turned out ... it was only my second time using the bender and I was able to make two pieces that were nearly identical. Plus the bender's capacity is only 1 15/16" x 2" ...

After hefting this thing around and it getting heavier and heavier as I added parts I got a little concerned about the weight, so after finishing up for the day I came down to the house and ran some numbers on the total lengths of the materials I used ...

I think I may have a problem ...

Just based on my estimates (which doesn't include the wire used to make the welds) it appears that the upper jaw (including the hydraulic cylinders) will weigh around 185 lbs.

I can reduce that somewhat (11 lbs) by removing one (out of 4) of the pipes (an 1 1/2" Schedule 80) ... but will pick some of that weight back up in 1/4" x 2" flat stock that will needed to be added to "capture and contain" the load.

The 48" W. R. Long root rake/grapple I patterned this after has a listed weight of 325 lbs. Some of the discrepancy may be due to using heavier pipe than what Long uses (Schedule 80 vs. Schedule 40)

So I ran some numbers for the lower rake portion based on the materials I intend to use and I come up with a weight of at least 232 lbs ... and that doesn't include all of the components (probably another 50 lbs) ... I'm thinking that I'm probably in the neighborhood of 475 - 500 lbs as currently designed.

So I may have to put this thing on a diet.

A good chunk of that 232 lbs for the lower rake portion is the SSQA plate (49 lbs)

I have no idea whether W. R. Long includes the attachment points in their listed weights, as they offer both pin-on and SSQA attachment ... and they probably don't weigh the same.

The Titan SSQA plate I'm going to use is an "open" plate (not solid, or full) ... and it has a 3/8" (by 1 1/2" ?) bar that runs the entire length across the top ... part of that could be eliminated (cut off), once I have the two ends of the plate welded into place.

One other possibility to reduce the weight would be to drill out some holes in the arms for the upper jaw in the drill press with Lennox bi-metal holesaws. From what I've read on TBN, this can be done without sacrificing much in the way of strength.

Needless to say, this probably should have been confronted a little better in the design phase ...

Another day in paradise ... :laughing:

 

[RoyJackson]

2014-10-04, 0433

51 right now and a high of 58 today. Looks like it'll be steady rain today, so outdoor work will be limited. I wish I had done some leaf blowing yesterday.

 

[wngsprd]

72 and heading to 39 tonight. Yep, we are already at our expected high, then dropping like a rock.

Rain has stopped, so I'm heading out the back door in a few minutes for opening day of bow season. Haven't seen much on my trail cams to get excited about, but I do enjoy sitting in trees.

 

[bakerg]

Good morning, a rainy morning here and 43F heading to only 51F today. Pulled the trigger last night and bought a new to me car, 2013 Chrysler 300. I just cannot justify buying new. Got the 2013 with only 23000kms (about 13800mi) for less then 1/2 the price of new.

 

[dave1949]

about to say good night. pouring down the rain here.

Got my 4' ceiling mount LED light fixture today. Expensive, but looks like it will work ok. I'm tired of always fixing the cheap shop lights in the basement, always burning out lamps or ballasts go bad. For now, I wired up a cord to it from an old shop light.

Looks nice. I didn't know they had LED's in that format. Good riddance to the old buzzers! I remember years ago the ballast boxes would go bad leak gooey stuff, probably PCB's or something just as bad.

 

[dave1949]

72 and heading to 39 tonight. Yep, we are already at our expected high, then dropping like a rock.

Rain has stopped, so I'm heading out the back door in a few minutes for opening day of bow season. Haven't seen much on my trail cams to get excited about, but I do enjoy sitting in trees.

That's just too much material to work with before sunrise. :laughing: Good luck!