What did you do today?

[Handy Don 13,427]

2 hours ago, Mickwhitt said:

I can't imagine how much 5 hours of labour for two men along with the jetting truck and camera gear would have all cost. 

 

Skilled laborers in our village’s public works department have base salaries of $80-90,000 depending on seniority for ~2,000 hours per year. That equates to $40-45 per hour before benefits (vacation, health care, pension contributions, training, etc.) and other overhead (supervision, workspace, clothing allowances, etc.) which together I roughly figure as adding 50% to the base wage. So the labor (portal to portal, not just time on site) without any overtime: 2 x 7 x $65 for $910. At least $1,000 per day to own a jet truck (including fuel, insurance, maintenance, and depreciation) and $00’s for the other equipment. And those are on a cost basis without any profit margin! Easily a $3,000 invoice if done privately. 

[HyperPete 605]

It's been raining the last couple of days, so Donna & I went shopping for plants.  We need to finish the vegetable garden because it's well past frost season and we don't want to miss more growing season.

I've purchased a bunch of pollinator friendly flowers (milkweed, beardtongue, bee balm) to supplement the goldenrod at the edge of the woods, the butterfly bushes, and the various annuals yet to be planted.

 

Clematis is off to a good start, too.

 

[ebinmaine 71,001]

2 hours ago, Wayne0 said:

Just wait. They'll come on their own!

 

Absolutely unavoidable.  

 

But I gotta admit... I do kinda like running the Ripper Spikes around for seat time.  

[ebinmaine 71,001]

Spent more time organizing the barn and the new workshop space this morning. 

The workshop will have two heating methods. 

Main heat will of course be a woodstove. 

The other will be electric. 

Two appliances, one a each end. One is a very large 220V AC and heat combo unit that could potentially be set in a window. We're building a permanent wall mount for it. 

The other is a 5000W fan driven heater that'll hang from the ceiling. 

We need two separate circuits for them. 

This morning I fastened the wires to a truss of the barn. 

 

I've also started marking out a hole 🕳  to be cut for a 20 inch square exhaust fan to be above my welding corner in the barn.  

 

 

[cafoose 3,393]

3 hours ago, 953 nut said:

The center of the quake was Maryville, TN, about 70 miles away. My niece lives nearby, called her but went to answer phone, probably talking to her mom.

Maryville is about 80 miles from me. I didn't notice anything here.

[ebinmaine 71,001]

Here's the before n after for the exhaust fan installation. This'll help with welding smoke and sanding or grinding dust.  

 

 

 

[953 nut 58,243]

57 minutes ago, cafoose said:

Maryville is about 80 miles from me. I didn't notice anything here.

Seems it ran along the Blueridge and was felt in Northern GA as well. My niece is near Knoxville and seems like we felt it more than she did only 30 miles away. 

[HyperPete 605]

Donna & I worked on her new garden today. 

Until I began to level the 4x6s framing them, I did not realize how much slope my yard has.

 

The far side is leveled, staked, and screwed in place.  The closer side is level, but we need to support the beams better.  The low side had to come up 5 inches.

 

Donna said she didn't care if it was level, but it would always bother me, so level it will be!

Now I think I need 2 or 3 more yards of soil between the two beds.

 

[Tractorhead 9,106]

18 hours ago, adsm08 said:

 

Peeled back the original weld and inspected it. It actually went down better than I thought. I still stitched back over the whole perimeter, and it looks much better. Not as pretty as some, but I am far from a professional welder. My training has all been very informal, learning from guys who actually know what they are doing as I need to do it.

 

It doesn't look as good as what I'd expect from a body shop, but the whole repair cost my $35. I'd have spent at least 10X that at a body shop.

 

 

The seams be ok for my opinion.

 

they must not be extreme pretty, on the Truck they Should last.

here we call them „Working Seams“

you can grab a grinder and grind the seam smooth, but who cares?

 

But please allow me one comment:

 

If you fix a Frame i would suggesting

drill the Edges from the Patch your going to replace before you cut them out with the Grinder.

The reason for that is while a frame is in permanent structural movement.

the rounded edges prevents that a rip in the frame can enlarge further because on structural movements..

 

whenever you see a rip in any flat surface

drill the edges of the rip first

to prevent the rip continoues.

 Here a 5-6mm drill would be the choice - imho

 

 

 

 

[adsm08 2,760]

5 hours ago, Tractorhead said:

 

 

The seams be ok for my opinion.

 

they must not be extreme pretty, on the Truck they Should last.

here we call them „Working Seams“

you can grab a grinder and grind the seam smooth, but who cares?

 

But please allow me one comment:

 

If you fix a Frame i would suggesting

drill the Edges from the Patch your going to replace before you cut them out with the Grinder.

The reason for that is while a frame is in permanent structural movement.

the rounded edges prevents that a rip in the frame can enlarge further because on structural movements..

 

whenever you see a rip in any flat surface

drill the edges of the rip first

to prevent the rip continoues.

 Here a 5-6mm drill would be the choice - imho

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, not leaving a hard edge that can rip is important. I did not drill them, but I did round the corners of the hole during final prep. My last weld also extends about 5mm past the edge of the cut.