[farmerSK]

Here a "tool" we are currently building... Portable scaffolds. two decks... 16' wide and the top deck is about 15' high

 

[whtbaron]

Sweet. I've been toying with the idea of a 14' pull type scaffold to take around fields so I can trim back branches with a chain saw. Now you've got me thinking about mounting it in the back of an old truck.

 

[pj9510]

Doorknob I may have to borrow your idea on the cutting bench, I really like the removable slats, I hate cutting on nice concrete i always like to put down an old scrap of sheet metal to save slag marking the floor, but a cutting table like this with a bit of a tray for slag n moveable slats would be great

 

[doorknob]

Doorknob I may have to borrow your idea on the cutting bench, I really like the removable slats, I hate cutting on nice concrete i always like to put down an old scrap of sheet metal to save slag marking the floor, but a cutting table like this with a bit of a tray for slag n moveable slats would be great

You wont regret it. With your skills, it will be a fine table and I hope you post pictures when you are able to build it.

I too dont like it when concrete start popping and big holes appear all over the floor from it. Only thing I wish I would have done when we poured a new slab in the bay next to the shop, was to put a perfect level set of beams in the floor to tack weld projects to making level and square so much easier. But,..........maybe next time.

 

[pj9510]

A really nicely set up workshop down the road from where I grew up use to buy plate steel in 20x8 sheets, they would lay them on the floor until they needed to cut a piece out for some fab or repair work, but in the mean time it gave them an awesome floor to tack frames to or to fab something off, I've never had the need for that much plate in one go but the idea always interested me

 

[whtbaron]

Yea... we thought we were doing good when we built a welding table with a flat top. Since then I've learned about the slatted style like Doorknob has and maybe someday I'll get around to building something nice.
I was getting annoyed with having to find the right piece of tubing to release the bottle jack on my cheapy cheapy 20 ton press. It just stuck enough that you needed something to help turn it by hand. After listening to some ideas on another site I took an old plastic knob off a creep feeder and drilled it out to 3/8" to fit on the jack valve. I slotted it with a die grinder and disc so the pin on the valve will operate, filled it with hot glue so it sticks on and now I don't need the jacking rod to work the valve.

 

[doorknob]

Well thats a good idea. If your hands are oily or something you can still release the jack. I hate it when I cant turn something because my hands slip. That's why I end up not using my snapon ratchets very often and instead use my SK or Craftsman. At least with an extension on them I can grip the handle to rotate them.

 

[whtbaron]

Small taps have always been a sore point with me as well. Don't know why they don't make them with hex heads instead of square tops so you could put a small socket and ratchet on them. The T bar holders are often a PIA in tight quarters and just plain slow. Too often the vice grips get put into service when using multiple sizes at once. I know the easy solution is to buy a set of square drive sockets from SnapOn, but I know they'll be over $100. A guy advertised his own version for $60 in the last Farm Show mag, but they aren't as handy. Lately I've been thinking about welding a nut on top of one of the T bar holders which would also work, but restricts you to one size for torque. I took an old scissors jack out of an abandoned car and welded a large nut on the drive. It's come in very handy for aligning parts for welding and taking dents out of auger tubes. It's cheap junk so I just weld the attachment I need for the job onto it.

 

[whtbaron]

The vacuum pump on my honey wagon finally gave me problems after almost 40 years of service. It hasn't been apart since it was built in the 70's so it was a challenge. My puller couldn't grab the uneven surface on the inside of the casting so I had to make 3 little legs out of some really tough scrap that bolted to the pump retaining holes inside. I tossed the whole thing out in a snow bank for an hour, then used old screw driver blades for wedges along the outside edge , put tension on the puller in the center and heated the inner bearing race before it finally gave up. The pump is obsolete so breaking the casting was not a good option.

 

[whtbaron]

I've been hanging out at a site for welders and blacksmiths so I've been picking up some new ideas. One of them was to make a small bench anvil out of a piece of railroad track. This particular piece was damaged after a local derailment in the 70's. It's Birmingham steel that was placed here in the 1870's so it's very hard on the running surface.

 

[Arro]

I've been hanging out at a site for welders and blacksmiths so I've been picking up some new ideas. One of them was to make a small bench anvil out of a piece of railroad track. This particular piece was damaged after a local derailment in the 70's. It's Birmingham steel that was placed here in the 1870's so it's very hard on the running surface.

Awesome job of the anvil! What a great idea, I reckon the heavy rail from the iron ore lines in the Pilbara of WA would be good to, just hard to find a bit that they aren't using!

Airtractor landing gear legs are solid spring steel and get replaced at set intervals, the old ones are supposed to be destroyed so they can't be reused, if you can find a set of an 802 that will keep you going for a while! They must be close to 2" thick.

 

[whtbaron]

I've actually got an antique Peter Wright anvil that belonged to my grandfather, but the one thing I have learned by hanging with the blacksmiths is that an anvil really isn't supposed to be used for beating cold iron, only hot. Since I don't want to inflict any more damage on grandpa's anvil, I've been looking at some cheap but indestructible alternatives. When they pulled the Morris/Hartney line up it ran through the middle of our farm and they weren't always careful about the cleanup so I ended up having to pick up some of the smaller bits left along the edge of the field. This particular piece dates back to a train wreck that happened locally so it's got a couple nasty divets out of it and it's actually slightly twisted. Either of your suggestions would work very well. We have some preconceived notions about what an anvil should look like, but in reality they have taken many different forms over the years to fill specific needs.

 

[phillphy]

Here's one that is incredibly simply but handy. I get oil in bulk barrels, and never have the right spanner wrench around when I need it. I made this one out of a piece of scrap pipe, some rod and a short piece of flatiron. If I was going to make another one the pipe would be longer to give me more knuckle clearance at the barrel. The round side opens the big bung, the flatiron is basically a large screwdriver that opens the small one. It hangs on the wall over the barrels and is always there, because it's useless for anything else.

Nice work effort put in there, a piece of flat with a bend (L shape) in it does the job here

 

[offroadnt]

One thing about using damaged railroad iron is if you want to get someone that's annoying you straightened out is to tell them "That railroad iron was straight when I first built it, it's saved a few lives..."

We built a pretty neat jig for widening truck rims, it's kinda ugly now (because I just can't seem to train the welders to make neat modifications ) but gets them just about perfect.

 

[SouthernSK]

Has anyone made a tool to take off the end off of hydrulic cylinders that have I think 4 holes in the end cap for a wrench to grip. We have one of these cylinders I could not get apart on the stabilizer arm of my case 590 backhoe.

 

[BrianTee]

Building a cnc machine that's 5' x 5'. A lot of work but hope to be able to mount either plasma for steel/stainless etc or a spindle for wood, aluminum, and possibly steel cutting.

Using mach3, turbocad, and mastercam, sheetcam, and Vectric.

 

[SouthernSK]

Sounds like quite a project Brian. Post some pictures when it is done.

 

[snapper21]

Has anyone made a tool to take off the end off of hydrulic cylinders that have I think 4 holes in the end cap for a wrench to grip. We have one of these cylinders I could not get apart on the stabilizer arm of my case 590 backhoe.

Those are a pain. Changed the seal on a swing auger ram. It wasn't too bad I ended up using a hammer and punch to spin it off. Although it is crude a 36" pipe wrench may work. Can't see why you couldn't fab up a cap wrench with a 3/4 drive adapter on the top. Most times I end up getting the pipe wrench because if it is really tight I fear the gripping capability of 4 1/4" pins with little down pressure holding it place.

 

[SouthernSK]

A 36 inch pipe wrench with a 4 foot pipe on it would not budge it. The other side came off easy. I have left it leak till I can figure out how to get the cap off.

 

[whtbaron]

I had one like that once. We had to wrap a cold wet cloth on the cylinder and keep lightly heating the cap and tapping it with a hammer and punch. The pipe wrench with that kind of leverage will just force the cap onto the cylinder tighter.