NEW ROLLER & SHEEPS FOOT - ON THE WAY

[crash325]

There is one company that makes roller that uses oak for bearings. You could also use babbit metal for bearings.

Hi TRR,
Thanks for the thought. Had not thought about wood or Babbit, am sure either one would work well. Babbit a little pain to pour. No longer have a lathe good enough to turn the wood bearing.

Bearings are not actually needed, lots of miles as a roller. Just some holes burned into 1/4" plate, very little wear. It did get a little squeaky every now and then. :laughing:

PVC may be a bad choice, but I have a lot of it, easy to use & glue. Think most anything will last longer than I do. Then its someone else's problem.

 

[crash325]

Made some progress today. 2 Hours fighting with the saw and 3 hours of production. When it reached 100 degrees it was time to quit.

Got 2 more rows welled on, that was all the stobs that I had ready and used up all my 1/8, 7014 and almost all of the 2/32, 6013. Roughly 1/2 of the stobs are welded on. Only 96 more to go. :laughing:

Figured out a place to shim the idler pully and the blade stayed on for a long time. Then it started coming off again, doubbled the shim and it worked for a while. Got the connecting rods cut off. The problems started over again, it was hot so time to quit for the day. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[crash325]

Nothing got done yesterday. Had to go to town, dog food & welding rod. OK a 30 pack of beer as well. Can't expect me to work without some refreshments. :thumbsup::laughing:

Some progress today. 2 Full rows welded on, all solid and 2, 1/2 rows, most welded solid. Only about 72 more stobs to weld on.

Drug it around for a while, hoping to knock off some of the slag and see if any of the stobs bent or would come off. Didn't knock off much slag, but nothing bent or came off. Have 1 stob to stand up straight, but that's from not holding it straight to start with.

Drug out the small tank, strange plumbing on it. It must have been mounted vertical, no cap on fill pipe, small over flow pipe and a bunch of copper tubing on the bottom.

Quit working as I ran out of shade and it got close to 100 degrees.

 

[radioman]

you are almost there!

 

[crash325]

More cutting & pasting today. Only 28 more to glue on. Would have stuck more on today, but ran out of stobs.

Cutting "Stobs" is so much fun, I may give up watching grass grow and watching paint dry. :laughing:

If all goes well tomorrow all the stobs will be glued on. Then the blank metal, old bridal & tongue cut off.

More fussing with the power saw. Spit the blade off twice today. With idler pully shimmed the blade does ride on, but found a problem with the drive pully. It slopes away from the flange on the back. Think with blade off I can take a file and dress it so that it slopes to the back side. Then remount the Stand wheels on a stronger bracket and it may be a sort of decent saw. Want to move it out side and use it to cut the bridle parts.

 

[crash325]

Made some progress today. At last all the feet are welded on. Did miss about 4 that need the final weld. Over 220 of those suckers. Just way too much fun.

Doug out an old Pintle hook, it will have a FEL mount and a 3 point mount.

Fired up the old forge and started bending the eye for the pintle hook. More fun, just a little over 90 degrees when I started the fire. Even more fun when cranking the forge, maintaining the coals and doing the bending. I quit when it went to over 100 degrees. Pictures are when just getting it fired up and burning down the new coal. Pintle ring is being made out of 3/4" cement stake. A little more bending to do, but got a good start.

Was going to work on the bridal, but metal saw blade broke. It had made well over 200 cuts, still sharp, guess it just got tired. Did get the drive wheel dressed so that the blade will ride on instead of off. May get some new blades tomorrow.

Fairly happy with the design & results so far. Foot spacing should have been 7 or 8" instead of the 6" used. Were I going to buy a bunch of metal, things would be done a little different.

 

[crash325]

Fired up the forge early today. Right after daylight and only 76 degrees out side.

Finished up thee Pintle Eye and welded to the tongue. Tongue is 2" square with 1/4" walls. Not really needed but boxed the end at the eye.

Used an angle grinder to start cutting out the bridle parts. It's faster than the metal saw and almost as accurate. Don't have enough 2x3x1/4" angle iron to get it all done. More digging around in the treasure pile, must have something that will blend in and work. :confused2: Couple more things to cut out and time to start welding again.

Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[TRR]

What do you use to fuel your forge? Coal or charcoal? Where do you get it?

 

[crash325]

Hi TRR,
I'm using coal. When I got the forge the guy had a wash tube full of coal. It has been around so long the the tub has rusted away. If it ever gets used up, I have 20 gallon garbage can with charcoal in it,

In the past I have used both. Charcoal heats a little faster at the start, but does not last as long. Coal has to burn down before making real heat, but lasts a lot longer.

Pictures were taken when the coal was still burning down.

 

[crash325]

Moving along at the speed of a "Racing Snail". :laughing: At least most of the time, progress is being made. :thumbsup:

Bridal build has started, things are going pretty well, except for 1 dumb mistake. The corners of the "L" will get a gusset or boxed in. Lot of strain on that area. All cutting was done with 1 HF cutting disk, including about 1/2 of the mistake welds.

Connecting rods did not like 7014 rod, welds got better after changing to 6011. Once the bridal is ready to be installed the connecting rods will be on the bottom side. 2 Reasons for welding them on as shown, 1 it takes the direct strain off the bolts, 2 it makes installing it much easier. Nothing to hold, just set it down. They are mounted externally just in case they don't hold up, repair or replacement will be easy.