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I am about to go on a trip, and will be leaving my car (VW Jetta) and truck (Ram 2500) parked for about a month. I want to leave them on a trickle charger so that I don't get a disappointing surprise when I get home. I only have one trickle charger, though. If I were to use jumper cables to put...

They will go through it in about a week. Here's a photo from one of their performances. It's a kind of circus-with-fire.

I know this is the opposite of what the thread is for, but my friend posted this pic of his trailer today, and I was so impressed with how well it was loaded, I thought I would post it here, just as a, you know, palate cleanser.

I think this feller is a little heavy on his pin. Even if you got a 3500 dually, you still have to think about weight.

A little while ago, the wires going to my PTO clutch on my mower were cut by rubbing up against a belt. After I fixed them, everything seemed to work fine, but now when I stop the blades (sometimes) or when the blades bog down (sometimes), the part of the clutch that the wires come out of spins...

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The wires going to my mower's electric clutch rubbed against a belt, frayed, and broke. Fixing them will be no problem, but the problem is that both wires coming off the clutch are black, so I'm not 100% sure I will get them back in the same polarity that they were. I'm guessing the clutch is...

If you look closely, it seems like the truck is actually being towed itself.

My girlfriend has been dreaming about getting an RV. We crunched the weight numbers on a fifth-wheel, and I was surprised at the result. Here are the specs for my truck: 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 SLT Quad Cab Short Bed 5.9L HO Diesel Engine GVWR: 9000 lbs GAWR (front)...

I tried to refill the refrigerant in my vehicles today using A/C Pro refrigerant recharge kit. Here's the run-down of what happened: 1. Located low-side port on my truck (Ram 2500 Diesel). Connected the cannister. 2. Located AC compressor, but unable to verify that it was engaging due to...

This is fine advice, but copper isn't cheap. Here is the relevant table from the NEC: The PA300 has a 60% duty cycle at maximum amperage. At max amperage, it pulls a sustained 46.8 amps. At a 60% duty cycle, a non-motor generator has a duty cycle multiplier of 0.78. 0.78 * 46.8 amps = 36.5...

I just watched this video. I was surprised to hear him say that, in general, a low OCV is more desirable. I have heard that a higher OCV is needed to run 6010 properly. Maybe this is a case of "Goldilocks"--not too little, not too much, but just right? The other thing that surprised me was...

Says a friend of mine who works in dispatching/logistics: "I have 2 techs who, against advice, took their buckets up over 30ft and are now stuck because the hydraulic fluid is cold." I thought y'all would get a chuckle out of that. Stay warm, everybody!

I am running a gas range off a 20 lb propane tank. I've got a two stage regulator on the tank and have converted the stove's regulator, orifices, etc... Everything was working fine up until yesterday, when the stove began acting starved for fuel. The burners have small flames. The oven looks...

The attached video shows the (apparently) successful result of using an Arduino microcontroller to manipulate the output of the welder, in place of the pedal. The welder puts 2.7 volts through the pedal, and a potentiometer in the pedal redirects some of that voltage to pin 4 of the...

Here's tonight's progress. The above pic shows the wallowed-out mounting hole for the front lift arms. I was kind of 50/50 on whether to just weld up the hole, grind it smooth, and drill it out again, or whether to cut off the tab and fab up a new one. I went with welding up the hole, because...

I got a little more done. I put a jack underneath the motor so I could get the mounting bracket out without having to lift the motor off. Then I welded the mounting bracket up. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a "before" picture, so you'll just have to take my word it was in three pieces.

Ran one more bead, 6011 downhill at 75 amps, just to finish filling in the crack. Looks a lot better than the first one(s). Don't know if that's because of the switch to downhill or because I wasn't trying to fill up a 3/32" gap anymore. I also used the rod to build up the bottom of the...

Strong remains to be seen. I mean, if it's full-penetration, it's probably at least as strong as the base metal, right? Unless it's full of slag or something. I dunno... I took a work light out and got a picture of the weld, before I ground it down. I think I'm going to put one more bead on...

Ground clean and tacked. I went ahead and welded it up but it was too dark by the time I was done to take a picture. Let's just say that vertical up is not my strong suit on a good day, and kneeling, bending over, looking down on the puddle instead of sideways at it... all of this was not a...

Despite my list of to-do projects, I couldn't resist tearing into this mower today. After all, it's just a few bolts here and there, right? It's not like I'm going to start welding it up or anything... (I may start welding it up.) As with many things, once I got a better look at it, the...

A few quick snapshots for y'all. Here's the old girl. The broken motor mounting bracket. I'm torn whether to just weld it up or reinforce it somehow. On the one hand, it ran for fifteen years as it was. On the other hand, it's not a mystery why it cracked. A repair to the frame, done by...

My neighbor just called and said he had a proposition for me. The engine mounting bracket on his 15-year-old Craftsman mower cracked and he and his wife had decided it was time to replace it (with a new 500 series Deere--sweeeet). Since he knows I weld, he asked if I wanted to try to fix it, or...

A small update for y'all, just for fun. Here's some lap joint work I did today. I was at about 100-110 amps max pedal. For simplicity, I used a lay-wire technique and tried to focus on torch angle and travel speed/consistency. Other settings were: 3/32" 2% lanthanated (blue) electrode, 1/16" and...

Long story short, my porch lit on fire the other night. My girlfriend smokes, and she had a trash can full of finished compost, into which was set a five gallon bucket, and then in that was a pyrex bowl with her butts in it. She was working on screening some compost, and then she needed...

A few days ago, my girlfriend told me our truck was acting weird. Revving at stops and pulling too much at low speeds. We took it in and it was diagnosed as the transmission. Apparently, there is an issue with these trucks where the torque converter clutch fails and the torque converter locks...

I just put the last welds on this project today. I'm pretty pleased with the welds holding the expanded metal on. Welding them up without melting the expanded metal away took some ... skill? It might have been skill. How about that? E6011 3/32" at about 65-70 amps. The bottom of the...

When I was shopping for a welder, I wanted to get something that would do TIG, in part because TIG is awesome and beautiful, but also because TIG allows welding of thinner material than stick. So far, I have been TIG'ing 1/8" material that I could have done with stick, it just wouldn't have been...

I had an issue tonight while trying to TIG weld some stuff. Symptom was that the arc wouldn't start even though I could hear the HF buzzing. Tried it on the work piece and my table top. Nada. Checked ground and it was good. The welder worked fine in stick mode. Checked all settings on the...

For a "camping" project I'm doing, I want to hook a full-size stove up to a 20-lb propane tank. I have already switched the stove's regulator from NG to LP. Some instructions on the Internet seem to indicate that I need a second regulator at the tank. Is this true, or can I rely exclusively on...

I want to start a thread recognizing some of the All-Star members of TBN. I've noticed a couple people who are consistently helpful and knowledgeable, and I think they deserve to be recognized. Everybody is welcome to add whomever else they like to the list. Let's please keep it on-topic and...

The picture tells the story. Although I'm normally a DIY kind of guy, the top of the tree is hung up in another tree, which pretty much automatically makes it over my pay grade. Still, I'm curious how a professional would go about this? How could the tree be brought down without having it...

According to the video description, this was a "professional" faller. Given that he didn't cut off the back-leaning limbs OR put a backup line to guide the fall, I have to wonder if he wasn't just some guy with a saw who figured it was an easy way to make a buck.

I am planning on building a sound-deadening box for a portable generator. I'm curious if y'all could suggest some hardware-store material that would be a good choice, that might not be obvious. As I understand it, the best material would be MDF, because of its density, but that's a no-go because...

I've got a small update for y'all. I was on a family vacation all last week, so I didn't get any work done. Now that I'm back, I finally got to work on the cart some more. One lesson I'll take from this project: when trying to heat-bend using welds, don't spray the thing down with water to speed...

Here's another pic somebody just posted. Looks like the tail of the trailer is what saved the whole thing from going in.

You're correct. Here's what it looked like. A relatively short right before crossing the bridge in the tree line. Next time, maybe he'll just park on the other side and drive the golf carts out!

This happened as a vendor was leaving an event that I attended. In case it's not obvious from the photo, the trailer has gone off the side of a small bridge over a creek.

Amateur though I am, I do occasionally turn up a bead that I'm not totally ashamed to show my face around in public. Do you think I'm putting too much heat into the metal?

This is what it's come to...

Here's a photo of the piece, if you're curious.

I welded some 1" x 1/8" thick tube into a T today. The "top" of the T warped slightly, of course. I know one way to bend it back is to weld a bead on the back side of the joint; I believe the bead should be perpendicular to the length of the tube, is that right? I was also wondering if I could...

It runs 6011 just fine. The welds around post #66 on this thread are 6011. Really, I think any welder should run 6011 okay. It's 6010 that seems to be a real test for some welders. Honestly, I ran, like three inches of weld before it started raining and I had to run in. Technically, the last...

I got a shipment of parts for my TIG torch today. I want to get set up with a gas lens. I have a 17-style torch. I ordered the lens, the insulator, and the nozzle/cup. When I was looking at the Weldcraft web site, I didn't see a dedicated gas lens collet, but now that I have all the parts, my...

Driving down the highway yesterday, I saw a trailer that looked askew. At first, I thought the axle must be overloaded and bent, because the tire was cambered out so far. But upon closer reflection, I realized that what happened was, one tire on a dual-axle trailer had blown, and the axle was...

Literally within hours of putting a new set of blades on my mower, I ran over a root in an area I have mowed a hundred times, and for some reason, this time I hung up a blade. Normally, when I hit something, the blade nicks and I cuss and go on, but this time, the brand new blade was totally...

I noticed tonight that some of the posts on my pole barn are starting to rot at ground level. To say there are runoff issues would be putting it mildly: the barn is on a gravel pad, and when it rains heavily, there is standing water in some places. I recently had two 6x6 fence posts rot out...

That's a photo from an eBay listing of an Idealarc TM-400. It shows 128 amps input at 220 volts. That indicates to me that it's wired for single-phase.

Mark 2.0. I have a 12-volt tail-light in series, to act as a resistor and rudimentary fuse. I also realized that I could just plug the battery charger in parallel, and it would detect the battery and help keep it topped off as it ran the circuit. The circuit is drawing about 1.5 amps, whereas...

Okay, here's a "before" and "after". Both of them had been brushed with a wire wheel to remove the worst of the rust. I think the result is pretty dramatic! I do confess that the difference is a bit exaggerated by the fact that the clean one is still wet, but literally within minutes of...

I decided to build a stick electrode caddy out of a piece of 4" pipe that's been sitting out behind my barn since I moved in here (and probably longer). One problem: how to clean the rust out of the inside of the pipe. A wiser person would have just bought a clean piece of pipe and gone from...

I put up a Want-To-Buy ad on Craigslist recently, looking for an argon cylinder. Somebody contacted me saying he had a 300 cf cylinder (empty) that he'd sell me. I have some reservations because nobody around here sells larger than 125 off-lease, but we talked about it and he said if you have a...

I'm contemplating the design of a ballast box for my tractor. My target weight is about 800-900 lbs, or maybe a little more. If memory serves, my owner's manual calls for 800 and change, but I figure the three-point can take more, and a little more ballast is probably better than a little less...

I'm about two cords through the pile. Here's the second one. Split every lick of it by hand so far, because... well, I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. I do like swinging that maul--CRACK! The pile is getting smaller and smaller. As soon as it's gone, I'll go back and get some more...

Here's a chart showing the amps draw for the size and number of brake magnets that you have. This can be tested with an ammeter as discussed above. You will need to disconnect one brake and put the ammeter in-line to measure the amps. Be careful not to exceed your ammeter's rating. Many...

I did a little more practice today, with extra focus on joint prep: small lands (penny or less) and larger gap. 1/8" E6011, 85 amps. A little rough at the restrikes, and I still have trouble filling the crater at the end, but otherwise I'm very happy. I was pretty pleased with the profile...

I finally figured out what is making the dings in the paint on my right side fender. It's not my kid. It's not a chicken. It's not a rodent. It's me flipping off the seat belt and letting the buckle slap against the fender. I wonder if there is some kind of dense foam that I could put there to...

Here's something I can't figure out. The blade of my metal-cutting horizontal bandsaw is getting stuck in the kerf. This seems like it should be pretty much impossible, since the teeth should be wider than the body of the blade, so the kerf should always be wide enough to clear the body of the...

I did some work with my nemesis, E6011, tonight. In order to maximize my chances of success, I did careful joint prep, including beveling and *gasp* even cleaning a spot for the ground clamp. I had been having trouble running 6011 with my new welder--having to maintain very tight arc length to...

To answer your question directly, you can probably get away with an inverter-based welder in the 140-160 amp output range. To be sure, just look at the owner's manual of the welder (usually available online), and they will have a table like this: This table will give you the welder's amp draw...

Please note: I am not an electrician or an electrical professional. Please defer to electricians who disagree with me on this topic. One thing to keep in mind is that the NEC allows you to derate the wire gauge that feeds a receptacle if the receptacle is only ever used for an intermittent-use...

Just about a week later, and I estimate I have cut and moved about two to two-and-a-half cord of wood, when it's finally split. Cutting the logs into rounds on site and moving them one truck-load at a time seems to be about 1/3 faster than moving them with the tractor, not even counting...

2013 Ford F150 - Factory hitch rated for 500 lbs without a WD system. http://www.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/13flrv&tt_f150.pdf 2013 Ford Super Duty pickups - Factory hitch rated for between 600 and 850 lbs depending on spec...

Seen on Craigslist. Satoh S650 weighs between 2100 and 3600 lbs according to Tractordata.com. I suppose it's not totally impossible that the trailer is under the axle's rated weight, but I sure would be concerned about the tongue weight on the trailer, given how much of the tractor is front...

A street corner about two miles from my house is being widened, and many trees are being taken out to make room for it. The trees have been tagged forever, and about a year ago, I chatted with the homeowner on the corner and asked him if he would let me know when they started taking them down so...

Welcome to TBN! Just a small tip: you don't have to hit Enter/Carriage Return after every line. Just keep typing and it will wrap automatically at the appropriate place. As-is, it looks like you are hitting Enter at the end of each line, and your screen is way more narrow than mine, so it ends...

Two layers of heat shrink later...

I noticed a scorched/melted part on my ground clamp today. My best guess is that when I had it clamped on the table, the woven copper bridge between the two jaws arced to the table, as shown below. It could also be that the woven copper bridge arced to the clamp itself, but that seems...

I'm super excited! My PA160 STH arrived today. I haven't had a chance to weld with it, because it's raining outside, but as soon as I do, I'll post up some pictures and experiences. In the mean time, here are some unboxing photos. The welder comes in a plastic briefcase. There's enough room...

I have a 2007 Dodge Ram 2500. In the last few weeks, it has been having trouble starting when it's cold sometimes. The dealer is saying there's water in the fuel and they've got to flush the system, change the fuel filter, and clean the injectors, to the tune of around $700. If the injectors...

Here's him and his mom.

My 21 month old son squished his finger in the lid of our coffee table tonight. In the hinge. Popped it like a grape! We took him to the ER and they fixed him up and he'll be fine. I may never recover! This is the first time he's really hurt himself more than a bump or a bruise, and it really...

Since stick and TIG are both CV (Edit: CC) processes, many (most? all?) TIG welders also say they support stick. But is there typically a difference in arc quality between a dedicated stick welder and a TIG welder that also does stick? I know one potential difference is that some stick welders...

For example, here is a photograph that I took. I own the copyright on it. I'm posting it here for you to see. But if you print it out, frame it, and try to sell it, I will still have the right to prevent you from doing that.

I've installed a box for a 120v receptacle on my welding table. It's metal, so I just tack welded it to the table leg. Normally, when doing work like this, I would bond the box to ground, so that the box wouldn't become energized if a cable came loose or whatever. I'm not sure if there will be...

The manual for my tractor says not to operate the 3ph position lever when the rate-of-drop valve is all the way closed, because it will put the system into relief and can overheat the hydraulic oil. Seems pretty straightforward. But in another thread on TBN, someone said that, on their tractor...

This was the first thing that came to my mind. :D

My current project is a small portable welding table. I don't have permanent shelter near my 220v outlet, so I'm constantly rolling my welder into and out of the basement. I currently weld on a pair of saw horses, but that's hardly ideal. The welding table will provide both a work surface and a...

We raise about 8-10 piglets to market weight each year, and I have to disagree that you can't save money doing it. For the most recent batch of pigs we did, our total cost per-pig, including slaughter and butchering, was about $300. That's for approximately 135 lbs of meat in the freezer, or...

I seem to recall getting quite a few cuts from the 14" abrasive wheels on my chop saw. I went to HD and bought some Diablo brand wheels and got, literally, one to two cuts per wheel, through 2" square, 1/8" wall, tubing. I figured something must be wrong with the wheels, so I complained and...

I was adjusting the dry-fit on a piece today. The ground clamp was hooked up and the welder was on; the stinger was placed securely away from the work area. It had been raining and the ground was wet. I wasn't wearing gloves. As I put my knee down on the ground, I felt a little tingle in my hand...

I've been doing some work on a small welding table, and had some ideas about how to help make sure it's square. The table is mostly made of 2" square tubing. For the top, to make sure it ended up square, I realized that I could easily put tacks as shown below, allowing them to act as a hinge and...

I was doing some box blading today, trying to clean up the area where the pigs were. They root right up to their fence, which is only about 12" off the main fence, so there is a tiny berm of dirt all along where their fence was. Trying to pick it up, I eased the tractor right in next to the...

A little cart I rigged up for my Harbor Freight 4x6 bandsaw. 2" x 1/8" square tube and 2" x 1/8" angle iron. After getting it to this state, I decided a lift handle on the front would be helpful, so I'm going to weld a piece of 1" tubing with an end-cap on. Other than that, it's basically done...

Just thought I'd dump this little repair here, since it didn't deserve a whole thread of its own. The hinges on my barn door are poorly designed. They bend and separate and break over time. You can see the separation starting in the photo above. One of them had broken completely. I had...

Shield Arc: Here are some pics. The last pic shows the "spreader" that I improvised to try to get the thing back into alignment. I set the joint up as a totally non-overlapping corner and then welded the fillet on the outside. I also put a single bead down the inside fillet after welding up...

I wonder if anybody more experienced could give me tips on correcting for warpage. Like, recently I tried to build, basically a three-sided channel. No matter how carefully I aligned the side walls before welding, afterwards, they were out of true. I got a suggestion to fix it by clamping them...

A bit more progress to show. When I realized that I was going to have to put a front plate on the loader-side of the adapter, I looked around for pieces of metal that I could use. I had two 11"-and-change drops of the same 3/8" thick 2 1/2" wide flat stock that I made the side plates out of. It...

Have I mentioned how awesome you guys are? You're awesome! I keep having to remind myself that this is a learning project, and boy am I learning. Per your suggestions, I rigged up a spreader by buying one of the couplers they make for all-thread and mating it with a bolt. I bought a grade 8...

I got a little more work done. First, I took the DOM tubing to a local machine shop, where they reamed it out to the proper size to receive the 1" pin. It cost $25, which is about as much as a reamer would have cost me, but I decided it was worth the cost to have it done right, versus me hacking...

Well, folks, I set up the camera to take a nice time lapse of this build so I could put up a video for y'all to enjoy, but when I was done, I realized I hadn't put a memory card in the camera. So all you get is the finished photos. Until recently, the sheep have gotten by without any...

My fence has several places where there is a 6x6 post with a long (drive-through, opens-in-the-middle) gate hanging on one side and a short (walk-through) gate hanging on the other side. Two of them have recently broken off at ground level--probably rotted away, I would guess. I would love to be...

So cold my lambs are wearing sweaters!

I got a little more work done. In order to allow me to work on the bench, I used the first set of side-plates as a jig to guide the alignment of the bushings for the second set of side-plates. If you look at the above photo, you will notice that I accidentally nudged the alignment of the...

I was pulling a load of firewood in my garden cart today, and I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be neat if I put an electric motor on this?" I have a zillion projects in the queue at this point, so who knows if I'll ever get to it, but as I was thinking about it, I realized that I didn't have...

Got some more work done today. I used the existing bucket ears and pins as a jig to align the bushings on my side-plates. The small bushings are flush on the back side, but the larger bushings extend inside the ear about 1/4". I figure the safest thing to do is to re-create the bucket's...

I didn't want to pay for shipping, so I had the bushings come in on the bi-monthly stock order to my dealer. That was today! Here are a couple of the bushings. For the side plates, I'm working with 3/8" thick by 2 1/2" flat stock. I cut the stock to 12" length using a my new Harbor Freight...

I cleaned out the top chamber of my wood stove today. I noticed a red crumbly, almost clay-like substance coating some parts. Specifically, it appeared to be coating parts where air flow was restricted, like the grate leading from the firebox to the upper combustion chamber, or a place where the...

Watch Family Guy: Excavator online | Free | Hulu Yup. That seems about right.

I got some use out of the hooks today. The attached photos show one of the main intended uses of the hooks: moving the walls that I use to turn my utility trailer into a makeshift livestock trailer for moving pigs to the processor. I was easily able to pick up all the walls at the same...

My full 5 gallon diesel fuel can was in the back of the truck while it rained. The fancy-schmancy no-spill spout seems to have been stuck slightly in the "open" position, and I'm concerned some water got in. It got me thinking... Can anybody confirm whether my tractor (Bobcat CT225) has a...

Unfortunately, I may have to wait until after the new year to find out about ordering the bushings. Patience is not my strong suit. Today, I got a little done by cutting two side plates to length and drilling pilot holes for what will eventually be the holes for the bushings. I'm very annoyed at...

I realize this is all just armchair quarterbacking, but I can't see how that is true. You can see that the weld at the bottom of the ear is not parallel with the frame. Nothing could make that weld be out of true except that the piece was mis-aligned at the time it was welded. I have marked...

My garden cart's steering rack broke. Now I'm fixing it. The broken rack. Used a cutoff wheel in an angle grinder to cut out the (tiny) welds holding the original piece in. I didn't have a piece of 1/8" flat stock handy, so I cut one out of some 3/16" stock that I had laying around. I...

Thanks for the compliment. Those first beads were pretty bad, and I'm glad I went back and ground them out. I still have a lot of practice to do with 6011, but as long as 7018 keeps working for me, I may never get to it. ;-) I mean, I will probably do it some day, because 6011 is such a...

I realize that I'm being pedantic, but...

I have a Ram 2500 with a Cummins diesel. The owner's manual gives two oil change intervals, depending on usage: 5,000 miles and 15,000 miles. It says to use the 5,000 mile interval if you make many short trips without bringing the engine up to temperature, if you operate in dusty environments...

Here's a few photos from today's work. After grinding out nearly all of the 6011 welds and going over with 7018, I am adding a 2nd and 3rd pass, building up weld in the joint. I also welded the sides of the base plate and closed off the hooks per suggestions here. I just got done putting the...

Gary: Funny you should say that. I decided that "good enough" wasn't good enough, so I started grinding the welds mostly off and going back with 1/8" 7018. Here are some pics. I'll go back and weld all the way around the hooks.

Here are the pics. The perfectionist in me is tempted to grind smooth some of those welds and try to go over them again and make them look nicer. The pragmatist in me says that I'm not likely to make them look any nicer the second time than I did the first time! Practically speaking...

I hate having to un-do the U-bolts and take apart the weatherproof box to get the battery out. Also, I hate the idea that if I stored the battery indoors on a charger, I would have to take the time to put it all back together before using the trailer. So I put one of these ring terminal...

I have reviewed all the other bucket mod threads I could find, and I've decided that I am going to put hooks and a 2" hitch receiver on my bucket. I'd like to get some input on the best way to install them on my specific bucket. The bucket is made of ... well, my caliper says 5/16", but that...

A few days ago, I went to use my tractor and the battery was dead. Like, won't even light up the dash dead. It had been a few weeks since I had last used it, but it was still pretty unexpected. The key wasn't in it, so it's not like I left the lights on or anything. So I put a charger on it and...

If it was my fence, I would not want you repairing it, especially if you didn't know what you were doing. I have a particular way I like to do my splices, and I reckon so do most fence owners. Most people who don't know what they are doing want to tension the dickens out of a high-tensile fence...

I got the nuts welded on. I used a combination of the tips presented here. Using the bolt to hold the nut in place while welding was genius. Not sure why I didn't think of that to begin with. I built a small puddle on the base metal and then tried to draw it over to the nut. In the past, when...

Here are some pics of the project. One side weld. 3/32" E7014. Other side weld. The second side is a lot neater, I think because the electrode had burned down shorter. If you look at the first side, you'll see it gets a lot better towards the end of the weld. Top plate. I beveled the...

No, not my nuts. :laughing: I'm making a toy for my 17-month-old son. He loves playing with wrenches and nuts and bolts, so I figured I would make him a plate of metal with some captive bolts and a box wrench on a chain, so he can turn the bolts but neither they nor the wrench could get...

First attempt at vertical up. E7018 at about 130 amps on 1/4" stock. Using a "z" motion. I gotta tell ya, 7018 is really a wonder of a rod. Makes me look like I might know what I'm doing--at least to the untrained eye! Here's my second attempt. This is actually over about 3-5 fillet passes...

My neighbor was given a BBQ/smoker in exchange for some work he did. The firebox has its air intake and damper on the side wall, close to the smoke chamber. What this means is that the air goes past one corner of the fire. That corner quickly burns out while the rest of the wood smolders. I...

I took a picture for you today, Dave. Unfortunately, I don't have a "before" picture for you to compare it to, but just imagine it 5" lower ;) I did have to change the hitch ball height, but that was sort of the point. With the ball at its old height, the torsion bars of the WD hitch scraped...

I got some time to do some more work on this project today. Reconnecting the axle required lifting it into position and then installing the U-bolts. This was hard to do by hand, so I propped the axle in place using a wheel chock as the final spacer. Then I hand-tightened the nuts, ensuring...

Man napping in cornfield survives being run over by combine Used up one of his nine lives, that's for sure.

I went to an informal workshop put on by some local welders today. I think I really made some progress. There really is no substitute for seeing someone do it in person. Two tips that I took away were how to steady myself against the table, and to switch to 7018 rod. I had been avoiding 7018...

A little more work done today. For those who were concerned about my use of cinderblocks to hold up the front of the trailer, here is the new arrangement: Note that the trailer is actually resting on the jack stand, and the cinderblocks are just stabilizing the trailer from wobbling. On the...

Well, I'm going ahead with it. Here are some photos. I put jack stands behind the back of the trailer... Then raised the front of the trailer with the loader... And set a cinderblock under the jack. Currently, the tires are removed and the U-bolts are off. The conversion kits should...

I recently did my 50 hour service, and afterwards, one of my hydraulic filters is leaking just the tiniest bit. I may have to take it off and make sure the seating surface is clean. If I have to do this, do I have to drain the oil into a clean container first? Or is there some trick to allow...

I did some more T-joints today, and a few lap joints. Just a bunch more junk, of course, but I finished this weld and when I went to strip the slag, the whole thing came off in one big clean strip. I looked at it and I thought, "You know. That looks like a weld." I still have some issue with...

Did some more work on T-joints today. I watched some videos last night and decided one thing I was doing wrong was not pulling the puddle up the vertical face. Rather, I was trying to push the puddle up the vertical face via the rod angle, while moving the rod as if it was a flat weld. I made...

Since a few folks here seem to be enjoying reading about my progress, I will continue to post updates. I took various TBN'ers advice and got some pieces of metal to stick together, instead of just welding beads. I bought some 1" x 1/8" thick bar stock and cut it into 3" lengths. Here are the...

I don't know how much control the admins have over what ads are presented here, but I saw an ad for a "Free Energy" device the other day. Put simply, free energy devices violate the laws of physics. Anyone selling a free energy device is running a con. Anybody buying a free energy device is a...

Not that there haven't been threads on this before, but I did my 50 hour service today. It was mostly uneventful. One challenge was finding somewhere to put the 8 gallons of used hydraulic oil until I was able to pour the new oil in. My oil drain pan only holds four gallons. Another challenge...

We run a theme camp that we take to Burning Man regional events in the southeastern US. Well, in principle, we take it to "events in the southeast," but in reality, we have only ever taken it to Alchemy, the Georgia regional, which is our home burn. In the years when we've had the dome, we have...

Before I start using my auto-darkening helmet, I always turn it off and back on again. When it's turned on, it flicks dark for a moment, which assures me that the batteries are working and all. Then, before I start welding, I put the rod just out of my peripheral vision and drag it to make...

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

If you only had one, which would it be, and why? I'm kind of going back and forth. Cup style is kind of better for cleaning flat surfaces, but I also kind of find myself going to the edge of the wheel more often than not, and think maybe I should just use a disc. The cup wheel is bigger and...

I have a project that I may be doing soon that will involve cutting about 250 pieces of 3/4" EMT. The last time I did this, I used a 14" abrasive chop-saw, which worked really well in a lot of ways, but one thing I didn't like was how long it took. I could only cut one piece at a time and each...

Today's small welding job: fixing a pair of hedge clippers. They are double-jointed, and a pin fell out of a joint. You can see two other pins in the photo that are still in place. I'm honestly not sure what's holding them in. They kind of seem to have been peened at the end, but of course...

I did some more practice tonight. I had planned on welding up a small frame for the hand truck that I use to move my welder around on. Just a square base-plate basically, to allow me to tilt the truck back and move the welder around without having to have the welder ratchet-strapped to the cart...

Yup. I have seen that very thread. And, at least on the inside, that looks to be the exact same welder that I have. Looks like it has been sold with many a different face plate over the years. Silly me. I thought that symbol was just indicating that this was a diode. Didn't occur to me that it...

I did a little more studying, and I believe that I have translated the welder's circuitry to a proper electrical schematic. I tested the diodes and they're all the same polarity, so that will make replacing them easier if it comes to that. I'm posting the schematic here just for the sake of...

Okay, CNCDan. Here's what I've got: Everything that's not marked was between 0 and 1 mV. I also didn't do any measurements from the lugs out the leads to the load because of the clean 27 volts measured between the lugs, which is what was expected. Now I'm not enough of an electrical engineer...

Well, I made something useful today! I had some hooks from some ratchet straps that had to be retired, so I put some screw threads on them so they could screw into the wall and hang tools from and such. Don't bother critiquing the welds. They are total crap and I know it. But I twisted and...

I am having trouble finding sources for practice scrap. I have called scrap dealers in my area, but they only buy from the public; they don't sell. I have picked up a few pieces from neighbors' junk piles, but they are rusted to heck from being left out in the weather, so cleaning them is a real...

I just did what you suggested with the light bulb. With the welder set on the lowest amperage setting (20 amps DC), I measure 57 volts DC and 22 volts AC with the light bulb not in circuit--in other words, just measured between the leads. With the light bulb in circuit, I measure about 27 volts...

I actually have done that, but not since I got the auto-dark hood, so maybe I ought to run a few more beads and see if the results have improved any. A guy who was getting out of welding sold me a bunch of his old supplies on the cheap, and one of them was a box of 6011. Here you go. I found...

I stuck two pieces of metal together today. I ground and half-beveled the edges, but surface prep was otherwise nonexistent. At first, I had a lot of problems with sticking the rod, until I realized that I probably had poor contact to ground, causing low amperage. I moved the ground clamp...

I got an auto-darkening helmet today, and boy howdy is that a treat. Only thing is, now I have to remember to make sure it's turned on again when I get done grinding. There's an accident waiting to happen. Maybe I should use a different face shield when I grind. So far, I just look away and tap...

Well, I'm back from my trip, and I have a small update. I got the new fan installed! It came with no leads, so I just soldered on the leads from the dead motor. I will always be thankful to my dad for teaching me to solder years and years ago. It has come in handy more times than I can say. I...

My front tires are not holding air. I have to fill them up every time I go to use the tractor. I have replaced the valve cores, but that didn't do it. I have inspected them carefully and don't see any punctures. What's the next step? It must be the bead, right? Thanks.

The diodes are labeled IR 70HF30, and then on the other side, 80 32. A little google searching turns up this thread on WeldingWeb. The innards of that welder look identical to mine and the label on the diodes matches. Photos below show my entire rectifier array, and then a single diode...

Here's a photo of the leads plugged into the DC terminals. I am looking into whether I may have a bad rectifier. As a start, I put a multimeter on the DC terminals. I measured 55 VDC, which if I understand correctly is about the right range. On a hunch, I set the multimeter to AC and measured...

Well, the fan is still not fixed, but I took the cover off the welder and aimed a box fan at it so I could get a little more practice in. I moved from the relatively shaded part of my driveway that I was working on to an in-the-sun part, and lo and behold, I could actually SEE the rod and the...

It does not sound like your controller was turned up too high. It sounds like the brakes are adjusted too tight and are dragging. But presumably you towed it home from where you bought it and didn't have this problem, right? Here is what I would do. First, with the trailer disconnected from the...

This is what my welder's fan is doing: I would love any suggestions on steps to troubleshoot or repair it. I have a very basic theoretical understanding of how electric motors work, but not enough practical application to proceed. A new one will cost me around $70, and I have other things I...

Well, my neighbor came over and we installed the receptacle today, and I finally got to weld a little bit. Here are the results. One piece of equipment that I'm lacking is a stiff wire brush, so the slag is not as cleaned off as it could be. Striking the arc was harder than I expected. I...

Did a little touch-up on my gravel drive today with the box blade. I have worked it with the loader, but this is the first time I really got in there with the box. Suffice it to say, I'll never go back to the loader again if I don't have to. The box did a great job, both at aggressive leveling...

My tractor has a "hard shifting" issue. To shift gear ranges, all pressure must be relieved from the drive system. There are various techniques to relieve the pressure: reducing RPMs to near-idle; turning the wheels all the way left, then right again; pressing in the clutch and tapping the HST...

I made an Android app to calculate the amount of firewood that would be produced from logs of a given size. I was inspired to make the app once while I was surveying a pile of logs that a guy was wanting to sell. Not knowing how much wood was really in them, I couldn't tell if his price was fair...

I can't conceive of how the hitch could be at that angle. We know the WD shank is at a right angle to itself, as shown in my edit of the image. But how could the receiver itself be at that angle? Even if it's bent, how did it get bent up like that? At least it explains why the spring bars are at...

Driving on the highway today, I saw a car with its flashers on. It wasn't having trouble or anything. Just driving with its flashers on. Then I realized that the travel trailer in front of it also had its flashers on. The car was acting as a chase-car. Once I got a little closer, I saw why.

Good news! I rigged up some leads to just the fan (not the welder) and alligator-clipped them to my dryer plug's hot pins so that I could continue to work on the fan. A little WD-40 brought it back to life. It looks like this one's a keeper!

Okay. Found a friend of a friend with a 240 hookup so I could see if the welder works. It will weld, so that's good! What's wrong with it is that the on/off switch sticks in the on position and the fan doesn't blow. I am pretty sure I can get the switch to work with a little finagling. The fan...

If I have a portable generator with a floating neutral (e.g. it has a grounding lug on the frame, which is supposed to be run to a ground rod) what are the implications of not running a ground rod? I have done a bunch of web searching on this, and I still don't feel like I have a straight...

50 amp stick welder with helmet, welding rods, and carbon arc torch Can anybody give me an opinion on these welders? I'm considering learning to weld and am browsing used units on CL. BTW, I think the guy has the prices of the two units reversed, because the Wards unit seems hands-down better...

What about these? Seems like they're even better than the circular snap-pins, and even less likely to dislodge. Or not?

These are the pins I'm referring to. I have heard both of these referred to as "cotter pins". The ones on the left are "spring-type" and the ones on the right are "split-type".

This is now the second time I have lost a cotter pin off the back of my tractor. The first time was during some rough bush-hogging. The cotter pin got pulled out and I lost the retention pin that holds one of my sway bars on. Now, I noticed that the cotter pin on the retention pin that holds my...

I am really tempted to do an SOA conversion on my trailer. The trailer rides low enough that I have to have a really long shank on my WD head in order to get the trailer to ride level. Even worse, the spring bars scrape on the ground sometimes, if I go over a bump or a dip. The extra 4-6" or so...

I want a dimmer to dim about 300-500 watts of incandescent lighting, and I think I could probably make something a lot cheaper than I could buy it. Is there any reason why I shouldn't just buy a dimmer switch, a wall box, and a face plate from the hardware store, then cut an extension cord in...

Well, I did the work today. These pics would have had more impact if you could see a "before" photo, but I didn't think to take one. Here's the "after" anyway. In the 3rd photo from the left, you can see where I graded the hill a little bit. At the bottom of the hill, there was a steep...

Thanks for the advice. In answer to your question, it's not too big--about 50'x40'. You can see it in the attached photo.

I am going to use my box blade and FEL (but mostly the box blade) to recondition an area of my property that, until this week, had pigs on it. The area is sloped, so all of the topsoil has washed down to the bottom as the pigs tilled it up, and there are lots of spots where they have made...

It seems to me that a trailer can be generalized as a second-class lever... ...with the axle acting as the fulcrum, and the weight of the cargo lying, on average between the axle and the coupler. This generalization works even if there is cargo rear of the axle, because the trailer should...

Here's a photo of the walls for the trailer that I mentioned. Three out of five sections done. I love living next-door to a guy who runs a saw-mill. All of the lumber for this project ran me $145.

Vertical Cut Bush Hog Is it me, or does this look like a heck of a deal? I have the impression that flail mowers usually go for a lot more than this, even used. Best part is, since he calls it a "vertical bush hog" it's not likely to get many hits.

I went and picked up a hog today. We have six hogs, five of which are spoken for, and the sixth is ours. Only problem is, one is a runt. Her sisters are all around 200 lbs. She's around 50. We have done everything we can think of to make sure it's not a medical issue. She just won't grow. So...

I have a kind of dumb question. I'm no stranger to simple electronics, but I'm relatively inexperienced with automotive electronics, and I'm trying to figure out the proper usage of a relay. My understanding is that a relay is used when the current draw of the load is more than the switch that...

Ooohhhh.... now this is downright sexy. Switches and a 12-volt port in the same box. http://www.amazon.com/Seasense-Marine-Way-Switch-Panel/dp/B002VHWLP2/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top If the lights are 55 watts each, and I put two of them on a single switch (two forward, two back, at most)...

Can anybody help me out with the capacity of the alternator on my CT225? I'm pondering adding ROPS lights and want to determine how much headspace I'm likely to have. If it turns out it's in the back of the manual, I'm going to kick myself. What's a reasonable assumption for current draw when...

Axle placement? What axle placement? Am I missing something, or is this a really unsafe trailer?

The box blade I bought today has loose lower link pins. They appear to be threaded all the way tight, there just aren't enough threads on them to let the nut squeeze all the way down on the metal of the frame. It seems to me they might oval out after a while or something. Should they be tight...

With regard to a generator, "dirty electricity" usually refers to the quality of the AC power coming out of the generator. When I first heard the term, I thought you were referring to "dirty" vs "clean" electricity in the environmental sense, but now I don't. AC energy should be a perfect sine...

Woo hoo! I'm super excited. Now that I sold off some of my firearms stuff, I can go buy this box blade! **Implements box blade,plow etc... It'll also help a little with ballast, until I can get the ballast barrel project completed. Really looking forward to what it'll do on my driveway, as...

I have realized what a difference a ballast box will make in my tractor's handling. Only problem is I just got quoted over $700 for one. And they say Deere accessories are expensive! That seems like a pretty high price to me, and I wonder if the dealer is just trying to have me on. But no...

Took the loader off the tractor for the first time this weekend to do some bushhogging. What a difference! With no implements front or back , the tractor was so balanced and planted! I felt like I could zip anywhere. As soon as I put the loader back on, I could immediately feel how front heavy...

I have a 16', dual-axle, utility trailer, rated for 7000 lbs GVWR. I have recently started using it to move my tractor around, when I need to. My tractor weighs 3050 lbs (per manufacturer specs). Say I've got an implement on as well, up to maybe 1000 lbs, for a total weight around 4000 lbs...

I bought five round bales today and brought them home on my trailer, stacked three-and-two. The top two were (relatively) easy. I parked the truck parallel to the trailer and tipped them into the truck's bed. One, I did with ratchet straps and elbow grease. The other, I tipped some of the way...

Once upon a time, at a camping event that I go to, a bonfire was starting to spread just a bit more than was desired, and a nearby person, trying to be helpful, grabbed a big jug of water that was sitting around to put the fire out. The big blue jug. You know, like blue, for water. We never...

I just spent a little while troubleshooting a "won't crank" condition on my mower. After testing the battery, I went on to test the starter motor (good) and solenoid (good), only to find out that it was, in fact, corrosion on my battery terminals that was the problem. When I tested the battery...

I looked for a pre-existing thread to stick this comment on and didn't find one, so here's yet another thread talking about HST. I had my first real, extended seat time today, bush-hogging a 3.6 acre field for a neighbor. Took me about 4 hours, which is the longest I've spent in the seat since...

I'm curious what you all think is a good pace for bush-hogging with a 5' cutter. I bush-hogged my first big field today (3.5 acres--it's big to me!) and I totally mis-estimated how long it would take me. What I did was, I used a mowing calculator to determine how fast I could mow a field at my...

Thanks for the advice, everybody. I did the job today. The road trip was totally uneventful. Even though I was going much faster than I do in the field, the road was smooth enough that the mower barely bounced at all. Frankly, it gets a lot more bouncing up and down in the field than it does on...

I am going to brush-hog a nearby property tomorrow. The place is just a few miles down the road, and I'm going to just drive the tractor over, instead of putting it on the trailer. My question is, is it okay to ride like that with the brush-hog on the 3ph? It bounces up and down a lot. At first...

Had two pucker moments today. I was brush-hogging an unfamiliar lot. There was a tree I was going under, so I put the ROPS down. Before putting it back up again, the terrain changed unexpectedly, and I found myself at an uncomfortable side angle. I turned the wheels down-hill, but the lay of the...

With 10 hours on my new tractor, I'm going through a basic maintenance once-over. I figured I'd hit all the grease points just to be thorough. This is my first experience with a grease gun, and I think I have figured out all of the wrong ways to reload it. Wrong way #1: Mis-read the...

I was unloading a bale of hay from my truck Friday when it starts beeping at me. Zero oil pressure. I shut it down immediately and pulled the dip-stick. Bone dry. Okay. No clue when that happened. I just bought the truck a few months ago, and I'm sure I've glanced at the oil pressure gauge a few...