Author Topic: Going nuts with no wind  (Read 5820 times)

PonoBill

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Going nuts with no wind
« on: August 08, 2018, 11:41:28 PM »
I had a productive week, even though it's been blisteringly hot in Hood River. Probably the lack of wind had something to do with my productivity--kept me off the river.

I built a tow bar base plate for Archie, the dune buggy dingy I plan to pull behind Fritz, the 1978 GMC motorcoach I'm rebuilding. I fabbed up the baseplate for the towbar with some square tubing and 1/2 inch plate. Integrated the "bumper" into the towbar. It's pretty unobtrusive when it's all in place.





I tuned up all my welders, added a pulse controller to my Miller Sychrowave TIG, went through my MIG welders, calibrating the wire feed rate, and rebuilding the torches and the ground clamps. Rebuilt my spool gun, replaced the bushing and feed tubes. I'm amazed at how much better they weld after some TLC.


 I added a pulser to my TIG and I'm loving it for fusion welds. The electronics are already in the welder--the pulser board is just the potentiometers. I can't believe how much bitching that inspired on the welding forums when Miller released the field upgrade kits for welders that were purchased without the pulser or sequencers. Of course, they manufactured the main boards with all the electronics in place. Reasonable manufacturing practice. Charging $500 for the upgrade was reasonable since that's what the price difference was if you bought the basic model. I got my upgrade for $200--I doubt there are many kits left. This is a pretty old TIG system. I don't think anyone buys these old transformer monsters anymore, but they sure are workhorses.



Calibrated my old workhorse MIG. I've pushed a lot of wire through this dinky thing.

I finished the pantry shelves in Fritz, built a prep shelf for over the kitchen counter. I don't want to do a cabinet--I plan to actually cook in this kitchen. The shelf adds good work light and a place to set platters and prepped ingredients. the shelf folds out to extend it's capacity or up out of the way. Also got he bed area curtain tracks in--Diane is finishing up the curtains.



New pantry shelves. They pull out to about 30 inches deep. I was going to face them with wood, but the aluminum shelf frames I built are a bit tricky to get perfectly square. I added bent edges to the faces to take up any gap with a little flex. The swirl pattern is just some freehand patters I laid in with my bead roller. I think it makes a nicer transition to the metal surround I built for the refrigerator and oven. The original two pantry shelves weighed 60 pounds each. I turned them into three shelves and these weigh 4, 6 and 7 pounds





I bought two condemned propane tanks to build a "Franklin Barbeque" style smoker. Started cutting on those big boys. Thick metal. It's gonna be a while before the first briskets rollout.



The latest stupid idea--a giant smoker that will still be here when cockroaches rule the planet. Those are the pallets of marble and granite against the far fence.



I also borrowed the neighbor's forklift to move a bunch of pallets of marble and granite labs from the side yard of the shop. Some of the pallets broke--they've been sitting for years. I foresee a bunch of backbreaking work in my future. We're going to scrape that area clear, put down gravel and sand, and then place the slabs as a giant patio. Both to keep the flammable weeds away from the shop and to take advantage of our spectacular view of Mt. Hood--which isn't very spectacular with all the smoke.



More pallets, stone and weeds. Soon to be a lovely patio. Maybe.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2018, 11:49:00 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

eastbound

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2018, 04:55:56 AM »
you need a project or something, pono............
Portal Barra 8'4"
Sunova Creek 8'7"
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stoneaxe

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2018, 06:11:24 AM »
Me too...but the wind has nothing to do with it.

I started to clean my garage.... ::)

Make sure you don't put the polished side of the stone facing up or you'll have a skating rink when it rains.
Bob

8-4 Vec, 9-0 SouthCounty, 9-8 Starboard, 10-4 Foote Triton, 10-6 C4, 12-6 Starboard, 14-0 Vec (babysitting the 18-0 Speedboard) Ke Nalu Molokai, Ke Nalu Maliko, Ke Nalu Wiki Ke Nalu Konihi

PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2018, 07:29:29 AM »
Thanks, I didn't think of that. I'm sure we would have, and it's been known to rain in Oregon. Just not lately.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Weasels wake

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2018, 04:49:18 PM »
It takes a quiver to do that.

Rider

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2018, 07:46:15 PM »
Hi weasel, even though some would say no wind in the gorge, we’ve been on the river the last two weeks, windsurfing or paddeling. All things come and go and for me, this site has reached it’s point of no return. See you in the fall. Cheers.

Weasels wake

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2018, 09:23:22 AM »
Hi weasel, even though some would say no wind in the gorge, we’ve been on the river the last two weeks, windsurfing or paddeling. All things come and go and for me, this site has reached it’s point of no return. See you in the fall. Cheers.
Does that mean you're going to windsurf again with us?  Hmmm?
It takes a quiver to do that.

eastbound

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2018, 01:57:19 PM »
bona fide lousy wave summer in NY/NJ

no solid storm yet, and none in sight

i bike hard every day, but paddle fitness will be nil by the time we see a good swell
Portal Barra 8'4"
Sunova Creek 8'7"
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KeNalu Mana 82, xTuf, ergoT

PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2018, 09:33:34 PM »
Smoke, heat, and no wind in Hood River persists, so I've been working hard on Fritz. I needed to get the shelves in place so Diane could hem the curtains. These shelves are made from aluminum honeycomb, covered with faux stingray shagreen and trimmed in aluminum angle. They took a while to get right, but the effect is pretty cool. They're just temporarily in place but they're as solid as granite. The mounting system is a little over the top--welded aluminum angle--but I don't want them going anywhere.  That's Nero, my race car trailer, through the window. Should have shot this with Diane's curtains up.











« Last Edit: August 14, 2018, 09:37:07 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

stoneaxe

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2018, 08:27:38 AM »
I chased whales yesterday....I swear they were fucking with me. Minkes in the bay below the house and humpbacks outside. Wind was blowing 15 SW. Parked on the beach and paddled back down to Sandy's and then let the wind take me out to them....they moved.....paddled towards the spray......gone...paddled....gone....humpbacks fluke slapping far side....paddled to the Gurnett with a nice downbreezer….gone. Took me an hour to paddle the mile+ back straight into the wind to my truck.... >:( :P
« Last Edit: August 15, 2018, 08:29:34 AM by stoneaxe »
Bob

8-4 Vec, 9-0 SouthCounty, 9-8 Starboard, 10-4 Foote Triton, 10-6 C4, 12-6 Starboard, 14-0 Vec (babysitting the 18-0 Speedboard) Ke Nalu Molokai, Ke Nalu Maliko, Ke Nalu Wiki Ke Nalu Konihi

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2018, 12:13:54 PM »
I had a productive week, even though it's been blisteringly hot in Hood River. Probably the lack of wind had something to do with my productivity--kept me off the river.

...snippity...

The latest stupid idea--a giant smoker that will still be here when cockroaches rule the planet. Those are the pallets of marble and granite against the far fence.




We were at the PRCA rodeo event here in town a couple of weeks ago...and, were quite impressed with the quality of grinds coming out of Neighbor Tim's smoker...
Mahalos...{:~)

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PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2018, 10:05:25 PM »
That's the plan, stan. I like the design. Come up to Hood river next year Wardog. I should have brisket mastered by then.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

all~wet

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2018, 08:45:13 AM »
Pono: I find a bit of humor in the the backdrop to your photos and your posts... the random diversity of projects and subject matter strewn about. Dare I say a testament to severe ADHD (rampant curiosity) with the time and means to indulge it? Lol a life well lived. Good onya.

Weasels wake

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #13 on: August 17, 2018, 12:12:26 PM »
Supposedly it blew yesterday (16th) at the gorge when this pic was taken.  This pic cracks me up.
It takes a quiver to do that.

PonoBill

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Re: Going nuts with no wind
« Reply #14 on: August 17, 2018, 08:00:49 PM »
Pono: I find a bit of humor in the the backdrop to your photos and your posts... the random diversity of projects and subject matter strewn about. Dare I say a testament to severe ADHD (rampant curiosity) with the time and means to indulge it? Lol a life well lived. Good onya.

You think? When ADHD became a thing instead of "what's wrong with that guy?" I spent some time with a shrink and wound up in a study of adult ADHD. They were developing tests for determining the spectrum of ADD (as it was called then) and naturally, as you can immediately tell from my shop, I tested at the 99th percentile. It was early days, and probably everything they were doing is laughed at in academia today, but the other folks in the test all seemed pretty ordinary to me. Never a good sign. Since I'm retired the pills stay in the bottles and the shrinks have to get along without me.

For me it feels like I get more done in a day than most people do in a week, but the stuff I do is generally not the stuff I intended to do. I spent a lot of time today designing and building new undercabinet lights. I went through five prototypes and finally got one I like. Very productive, except that today I was supposed to work on the DC wiring for Fritz. The lights were a momentary notion.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

 


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