Good morning!!!!

[Popgadget]

TapCons are good, just used boxes of them on cinderblock and concrete walls I was working on.

I would say that they are excellent, as good as what they are threaded into, ie concrete vs block.

 

[wngsprd]

Interesting observation on the hawk, wngsprd. Saw one yesterday too when I was feeding the animals. Did you catch the news on Old Rag permits? Not liking that at all, but I get the reason.

Yep, they've been "testing" the process for 2 years...trying to cut down on the crowds in the warmer months. I need to go again before March 1, although the permit is "only" $2.

 

[wngsprd]

What's an Old Rag permit for? Another way to tax probably.

Billy, hope ankle gets better.

41F on back porch, going to low 70's. Rain coming this Friday they say.

Had problems with 2007 cnc mill for a while at work (since Thanksgiving). Wrongly diagnosed by their support guy too. Ended up being a bad 3 phase breaker. Electrician said he's hardly ever seen them go bad. Wasted many hours and about $500. But very happy it is going again because the students will get training on it starting next Monday. The bureaucracy and a slow ordering staff caused much of the delay.

Now working on a Lincoln Torchmate cnc plasma table. Found out yesterday that the rectangular lithium backup battery on the motherboard is bad. It is soldered on and I wish it was just a plain old coin cell. Unit will have to be reprogrammed, and they don't make it easy to do that. Need a 9 pin serial cable and computer to push the file to it.

Yep, it is another way to tax, from March 1 to November 30. They will sell up to 800 permits each day, 400 can be reserved a month in advance in case one is planning a vacation...the other 400 will be available up to 5 days in advance, for folks who want to go today, or tomorrow, etc. Not too many days will likely max out , except 3 day weekends.

Many of the big, popular National Parks are now requiring reservations just to enter the park, due to popularity.

Thanks for well wishes. Sorry about the battery.

 

[wngsprd]

I second, no third, no fourth the positive vote on tapcons, at least on block.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Morning Guys,
Deerfield Beach, 54 to start going to 73 !
Another beautiful sunny day ! No plans yet, but I need to get some beach pictures for Ted !

I see it’s only 30 back home so I’m not complaining!

Scott(vt) hey you have same temp forecast as us Hope dinner was good.

Good Morning Mostly, dinner was good, we Ubered down to Pompano, had dinner and then took the free shuttle down into the center of Pompano and walked the boardwalk ! The free shuttle doesn’t go into Deerfield, so we shuttled back to the border and and then Ubered back to Deerfield!

Hope all have a blessed day !

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 34 to 41 and cloudy.
Son has volunteered to help autistic children with swimming at school.

RNG - I used about 300 tapcons to put up the furring strips on the garage walls for mounting the drywall.
They work really well as long as not overtorqued and the pre-drilled holes are the correct size.
Out of the 300, I had two break free in cinder block so far.
I am thinking of sleeve anchors (red head) for my shelves instead.
They are much bigger though at 3/8 vs the Tapcon 3/16 or 1/4

Be well,

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Good morning! 39˚F heading to 72˚ with winds turning from the South and partly cloudy becoming full sun.
Yea! Today is graduation day! Last day of Physical Therapy on the new knee.
Also a big relief yesterday with closing on the estate house to cousin's kids with a lawyer instead of a Realtor. My cousin has the property on one side now their kids will be living on connecting property.
Dad was one of the first to get a FEL on his farm tractor and I saw how useful it was and how it was a necessity not an option when I bought my tractor.

Glad the transfer finally got done.
The L5030 I got for Dad was his first FEL, and he uses it for everything, and things he shouldn't. That tractor let him keep farming longer. O how I remember shoveling everything as a kid.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

tapcon's go right into concrete. you drill a pilot hole first. Guess i'm now the sixth person....

 

[JJT]

Good Morning!!!! 43F @ 4:45AM. Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High 63F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Saw an animated prediction of rainfall over the Pacific Ocean yesterday, and it looks like David has set up a Pineapple Express for us for the next ten days or so. That ought to get all the reservoirs up to full, and maybe even overflowing. Most are already at least 25% above average for this time of year. But all that warm air isn't going to win him any friends among the skiers.

Sounds like that plasma cutter has a serial interface, Kyle. I probably have a box full of those DB9 cables ready to drop off at a recycler, and I even found an old Mac PowerBook laptop that could probably transfer the file. But whatever software generated the G codes was probably PC based, huh?

I've been struggling with a rocking toilet for a while now, and since I'm headed out of town tomorrow, decided yesterday to finally deal with it. Someone broke all the concrete out away from the sewer pipe under it, so there's no support for the closet flange. Yesterday I picked up a bag of thinset mortar, so today I'll pull the toilet and see how good a job I can do filling the gap and getting it even with the bottom of the closet flange. Then the mortar will have at least a week to harden. I watched a YouTube video where someone used TapCon screws to secure the flange. I wonder how solid they can be threading directly into the concrete without some kind of anchor. Any of you guys have any experience with TapCons?

I pretty much finished up the schlepping in the garage, and am ready for the next load. Which will be mostly machine tools and yard equipment, I think. It always comes down to what's easiest to move and load. I do know it won't be the lathe or mill because they'll need a heavy duty open trailer and it'll be too wet for the next ten days.

Happy Hump Day folks!

Tapcon's are the best concrete screw you can buy. If the concrete is good, they will hold just fine. Is the closet flange bad? They make stainless steel repair flanges.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Yep, they've been "testing" the process for 2 years...trying to cut down on the crowds in the warmer months. I need to go again before March 1, although the permit is "only" $2.

More and more of this at National parks. I couldn't believe the crowd in SNP last fall when we drove up it. Never seen so many people there.
I've always wanted to hike Old Rag, but never did..
A lot of my dating with my wife was hiking in SNP.

 

[LouNY]

French farmers aren't happy, blocking access to Paris with their tractors,
sprayed manure on politicians a month ago
Euro tractors go fast and they appear willing to take their tractors to town, or the big city
Not sure what has them so upset but likely follow the money, cheaper imports, high cost of fuel, etc.

I think one of the coolest traditions in the MidWest is take your tractor to school day.
I never got to do that...did any of you?

got two trays of seeds planted, sitting on warmers, figure another week before the babies arrive
mostly zinnias and pansies. Have to wait on the marigolds til late Feb.

A great many years ago before it was popular I took our Farmall 400 to school. The paint was getting faded and I was in ag mechanics class in school, so a quick cleanup and degrease and a new coat of IH red and home she came again. As I recall took it in Monday morning and drove it home Friday afternoon, in the winter with no cab.

 

[LouNY]

How you liking your new doozie stove? I like your reason for buying it.

It's a fancy South Korean brand an LG. So far so good the burners are very adjustable and responsive the oven has more modes then I have hair left on my head, from bake to air fry and two broiler temps.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

LS, I suppose the dog ate your homework, too.

Yep!

 

[scott_vt]

Good Morning Ted,
Just a few pics for you !

 

[plowhog]

39F going to a v-e-r-y windy 58F in Beautiful Northern Nevada.

Big storm coming. 5 feet of snow over Donner Summit in the next 5 days. I have no choice but to drive through the jaws of the storm twice. To CA, then back to NV, through the snow, ice, mess, and chain controls. I drive carefully but I can't control the flatland idiot drivers, going too fast for conditions, menacing everyone.

Was in CA yesterday and caught this photo of 4 bucks near our pond ....

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good Morning Ted,
Just a few pics for you !

THANK YOU! beautiful! The Goodyear Blimp! Haven't seen that in person for a looong time. As a kid, I used to see it all around Philly, it used to moor at N.E. Philly airport.

I could see myself fishing off that pier!

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning! Low of 27°, going up to 53°. A slight chance of a few sprinkles this morning. Yesterday the temp hit 59°. We now have an 80% chance of rain on Friday.

RNG, tap-cons will work for the flange especially if you reinforce the concrete around the flange.
Please direct David's pineapple express this way!

I can see the NPS charging entrance fees. Just not enough money in the coffers for maintenance. I would rather see a beautiful park and pay a fee.... the question is: will it be used accordingly?

I knew playing hookey yesterday was going to bite me in the you-know-what..... beautiful day yesterday... was supposed to be nicer today... nope. Cloud cover, breezes, lower temp....
NUTS!

David, any more signs of the intruder getting into the yard? Hopefully you found the spot.

Don, glad the property transfer finally was done. I bet a relief off your shoulders. Good to hear the knees are working great!

Drew, did you figure out how to anchor the greenhouse? How about something like these?

https://www.amazon.com/Rvtkak-Spiral-Stable-Durable-Camping/dp/B0CJ86XQ9F

Everyone have a great day!

 

[daugen]

Ted, I have a set like that in the rv, the trick is being strong enough to screw them in.

good food shopping trip, used my 10 percent off coupon and found out they capped discount at 10 bucks. Truly fine print.

 

[wngsprd]

More and more of this at National parks. I couldn't believe the crowd in SNP last fall when we drove up it. Never seen so many people there.
I've always wanted to hike Old Rag, but never did..
A lot of my dating with my wife was hiking in SNP.

That's a good date, in my book.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Morning Lou,
We have all LG appliances at our Vermont home ! Bought new about 10 years ago when we remodeled the kitchen ! To date we have had no problems with any of them, other than a broken shelf on the right refrigerator door, which I was able to get a replacement for !