29 September 2011

blasted - tnuom repilac ekarb tnorf

Mark brought over a small project for the Wasp Sidecar.
Let's do a "Liar's Club".
First person to figure it out gets a free trip to our TJ dentist.

detailed instructions


















He always has detailed instructions.
I could tell he spent some time figuring this out.


tnuom repilac ekarb tnorf

















After welding,  I tried bead blasting it,
it kinda made it look like a cast piece.

back side

















I think it will look better installed!


TP

25 September 2011

how to - prep a grinder

This week marks the probable passing of an old friend.
Yeah,
for some reason I get a little attached to my tools,
especially my grinders.
I don't know exactly,
but it has to do with the hours of holding on,
and the amount of work or projects they help complete.

I guess my endearment wasn't too strong cause I didn't take a picture of this one,
but here's the new replacement.

makita 9557pb grinder


















These are the best grinders out there,
the Makita 9557PB.
The motors are quiet,
they are light enough for long grinding spells,
and they last a long time if taken care of.
The "paddle switch" makes one handed grinding easy.

Tool Depot, right up the street,
has a great deal on these every year, about $50 (normally $80 or $90)
and I try to stock up on at least a couple.


my grinder cemetery

my brothers grinder cemetery






















Yeah we've gone through some grinders over the past couple years.
There are a couple reasons why these have died,
and remember there are other workers that have helped kill them.

1 - water - dropping in water kills a grinder instantly.
2 - water - grinding something wet and not protecting the air inlet will kill a grinder.
3 - generator power - drops in electrical output burn up either the brushes or armature,
 especially under load. I just figured this out. Sometimes they can be cleaned up,
 but there's usually a dead spot that's a tough fix.
4-pressure - bogging down the grinder isn't good. There is a sweet spot speed the grinder likes.
5 - dust - the air inlet sucks air through the body. Dirty air wreaks havoc on the insides over time.
6 - slag/chispas - welding, cutting or grinding on the grinder isn't good for it.

lava shower - poor grinder

























If you look real closely, you can see the grinder in the lava shower.
This is a good example why I get a little protective.
It is sad to hear the gurgling sound of a once proud grinder.


So let's do a quick and easy "how to" on prepping a grinder.

pig tail




















First I like to remove the guard.
It is illegal to not have the guard for some jobs,
so I usually have it around just in case.

Than dig out the old dead grinder,
and cut off the cord at the base,
and attach it to the new grinder.

reinforcement line



























When wrapping it with electrical tape,
add a piece of line or cord to in the wrap,
than if you pull it, the wires won't separate.

umbilical cord


























There,
now you've doubled your grinding distance,
without needing any extension cords or changing outlets.

bambino 2011 september

















Than I like to stamp a name and a date in the housing.
Its helps to know how long the grinder has lasted,
and also easy to identify.

Yep that's it.
Now let's get dirty.

TP

23 September 2011

top or bottom?

Fun at the boat yard.

body condom




















This guy drew the short stick.
Hopefully they alternate.


scrub-a-dub




















Another reason to brown-nose your boss.

TP

21 September 2011

getaway vehicle

Saw this while paying my insurance.
This looks to be the perfect getaway vehicle.

getaway vehicle



















It's a great idea, bulletproof hay,
since it doesn't look suspicious.

TP

20 September 2011

fine wine

So Sunday night went to the shop late and knocked out a couple holes.
It was a good epilogue to a day that included getting beat by my 9 and 11 year old kids on HALO.
They are ruthless and their aim is on.
Maybe a little more practice.

holey

























These are the holes I'd like to use,
but after making the cardboard templates,
(see bottom pics)
the doors will open wider if the holes are matched to the inside edge of the jamb.
If there is a notch in that part,
the hinge can sit in the pocket when it is closed.

pink


























That's one of the reasons why I push this stuff on you guys.
It's like fine wine.
I do a little work,
let it sit,
look at the pics than an idea ferments.

TP

19 September 2011

How to - egg in a hole!

I don't do too many food posts,
but I'm dry right now so this is what you're going to get.

Like most people I enjoy eating,
but on a workday morning I can get pressed for time,
and cooking breakfast takes up the majority of it.

Usually I like oatmeal with a ton of brown sugar,
but after a couple hours I'll need more sugar.

Than for a while my regular was over-easy eggs,
and 2 english muffin peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
One of my simple favorites,
it's just that it takes a bit of time.

Well an old standby was something called "egg in a hole".
Here you get the bread and egg in the same package.
No toasting the bread AND frying the egg.

Well,
there's a bagel store down the street,
and they make these things called "everything" bagels.
They aren't like the storebought ones, these things are good.

So one day we were out of normal bread so I tried it.

Time for a "how to"!


everything bagel


















Then you get a small rimmed glass to cut the hole.

holey bagel





















After that cook it up on a well-used frying pan.

cookin



















It always tastes better with the remnants of yesterdays breakfasts.

flipped



















This is the best part.
While cooking this you can get dressed,
make coffee (which I don't do anymore),
blog,
get the kids ready for school.

messed up but tasty























Typically it's impossible to ruin these,
but for this shoot I did.
Still tasty though.

egg in a cheese bagel hole




















Now I've been experimenting with other bagels.
This cheese bagel was ok,  better than a plain but not as good as the everything.

So as usual I did a quick study,
and I guess people call it way more things than egg in a hole.

Egg in the basket - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also I'm not the first one to use a bagel.

Oh well.

TP

17 September 2011

touch of grey

Last night I was dirty enough to get more dirty.
First off,
welded up some of the last holes in the top of the cowl.
Than, after an hour of wire wheeling with the grinder and die grinder,
I was over it enough to quit breathing the rust dust,
and switch to some epoxy fumes.


touch of grey - primer






















Give me a mini-roller and a brush any day,
and I'll goop this stuff on thick.
I'm really antsy to get the hinges figured out,
and especially the dash,
which will hide all this work I've been fussing over this summer.

gooped

























Now let's just hope it kicks off,
it's a two part epoxy and this was the tail end of the buckets.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Since yesterdays one shot,
I need to make a little effort at a song,
so might as well do a foray into the Dead that I actually was able to see.





I went to way too many shows to count exactly, but about 100,
and this is what they looked like.
Old.
This was when short shorts were normal!
Funny chit.

This show was at Shoreline Ampitheatre in '89,
so this may have been the show that my brother Trevor and I missed out on.
We had tickets for the day before and/or after,
but not the middle day.
Usually it was easy to get tickets but not this time.
Well I had prepped a "vodka watermelon" for the trip up.
It had sat for days so there was no alcohol taste.
We munched it down and all of a sudden we had a pretty good buzz.
There was a golf course around the venue,
and we thought we could sneak in,
but a hundred other people thought the same thing.

We were watching from the base of the hill,
and all these guys rushed the fence.
Some made it.
It was too crazy to follow that rush,
so we just went back to the parking lot and hung out.
It was fun enough.

Good times, good times.

TP

15 September 2011

one shot

cut, drill, cut, bend, weld - (2x)
 unbolt, cut, drill, drill, cut, tack (4x)
weld, grind, buff (2x)
shoot (1x)

door jambin'

























Not as exciting with step by step photos,
endless rambling,
and musical interludes...

TP

14 September 2011

little boxes

Remember the Wasp sidecar?
Well it's gone and Mark is hustling to get it running,
and good for me he's got a couple extra projects.


scale drawings





















It's funny cause it is very rare that I get to build anything from a detailed scale drawing,
with actual measurements, on paper.
Seriously I can't remember the last time.
I'm still thinking.


chindaderas


























The scale drawings were from a design viewpoint,
not a builder's viewpoint,
so none of the measurements really worked.
That's typical of almost every project with scale drawings,
 even autocad versions.
It's hard to compensate for the bending and cutting tool gaps.
Fortunately he had brought a large piece of aluminium.


2-d vs 3-d




















This is the battery box for the wasp.
Kinda fancy.


aluminum battery box




















My brother like's making boxes.
It's tricky to make things square.


finished




















I found out I need to practice my aluminum TIG welding.
It has a 70's Linde look to it,
so I guess it fits the era of the bike!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++




ok if you need help,
this girl will translate.




it will sound like this...





Doh vstrey cheh!

TP

what's he building?

The liquor store around the corner has this 2 for $1.00 special on "peace" teas.
Since i've quit coffee for over a month now,
I drink only one caffeinated beverage a day,
really, no joke.
These overly sweet large cans have some extra punch that make good things happen.

yep, headlight buckets






















I was torn about not getting those NOS headlight buckets at the swapmeet last week.
The original buckets are starting to clean up,
good enough for something that is hidden away.
I'd much rather have the $50 than given it to that goober.

*********************************************************

So let's start the song early this time.
It's good reading music,
you'll forget what you've just read and reread it,
while probably playing the song again cause its cool.





Tom Waits.
Good chit.

************************************************************

The hinges.
You read the other day that I just sat for an hour and contemplated what to do.
I had searched the HAMB and found some "hidden hinge" threads,
but really didn't want to build 4 little boxes and hope the holes would be straight.
There were also the old hinges from the "hurtlocker" truck,
but they were too heavy and the pins were wobbly.
Than I found this box of treasures.

little treasures


























This totally screwed me up and that's why I went home early that night.
The next day I had an idea.
It had to wait though,
cause the holes in the door jamb needed to be filled first.
Always something.

filling gaps

























If you look closely you'll see the whole bottom corner is missing.
Of course on both sides.
It's important to fix these first,
while there's grinder access to the back.

more gaps to fill

























You can see the big hole on the top there too.
I've seen these holes for weeks,
but I couldn't get myself in gear to do it.
Weak.

finally


























While making the little patch panels,
I realized the new door jamb pieces weren't welded in, just tacked.
There was an idea of removing it to modify for the hinges.
Great, add another smoke filled hour.

now we're ready


























So this is the start of the hinge contraption.
Let's see if you guys figure it out,
(hence the Tom Waits song...)

hinge part A




















After making some templates,
hoped that the pivot angles would work when transferred to steel.

Hinge part B


















After assembly,
both sides looked like this.

parts A + B assembled

























This was what I had been waiting for,
but by than it was 1230 AM,
and I really just wanted some water.

**********************************************************

You know it's time to stop when you're thinking like this song sounds.




Butthole Surfers

*************************************************************

Note to self,
2 for 1 deals on "tea" drinks doesn't mean I need to drink both.

TP


12 September 2011

best view of a boat

Last year this was one of my first posts.

perich brothers (and sister): stink's toy

The T-top or shade or whatever it is called held up,
but the volvo 290 du0-prop sterndrive didn't.

stink's toy























Funny how everyone disappears when the lot smells like decaying barnacles at low tide.

trusty A-frame


























With the help of the trusty A-frame,
it popped right off.
I'll have to relabel some older posts with "A-frame" it's so handy.

not quite ready


























Last year I whipped out this stand,
and fortunately didn't cut it off.
It's been handy for a multitude of random uses.

now we're ready




















This is why you don't see too much engine rebuilding at the shop.
It's tough to have a dedicated clean spot.
That wooden shelf was made last year,
and it has seen a good share of similar type projects.

One of my goals is to have another dedicated spot for long-term clean projects.
I better put that on my list.

holy chit


























There's a point called "what the heck did I get myself into".
It's important to get past this point.
The manual helps.

ready for paint


























Everything went together fairly easily,
especially since Stink doesn't mind spending money on his boat.
This is what keeps me in the small inflatables,
the rebuild parts alone would have bought 2 of them!
Someday maybe...

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Ahh heck.
Perfect time for an intermission




Someday Baby - 1974
 pre-"legion of mary" jerry garcia and merl saunders.
One of the best versions - I can't believe someone youtubed it!

I've gotten alot done playing this song on repeat -
Play it loud, you'll like it...

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

installed


























After a couple coats of primer,
the drive slipped in alot quicker than last time,
probably cause the paint was dry.

best view of a boat





















There were a handful of mini-projects that were somehow finished with a day to spare.
That was good for both of us,
get that friggin thing outta here!


bye!





















I got a call the next evening...
choke...
Nope, everything worked fine.
Whew!

See it next year!

TP

X marks the spot

This weekend I had planned great things.
I didn't know what they would be,
but I was ready to put some shop hours in.

Not sure what happened but this weekend I was totally useless.
There was a local car show in Old Town near the shop.
I almost bailed,
but at the last minute rallied and swapped the broken starter on Chief.

Well this was the first time it had started since the new oil line for the filter,
and of course a o-ring was missing so a quart or 2 of oil spewed out.

I didn't fix it,
just plugged the oil line.


uh,
that's not my oil spill!


























I almost called it quits and went back to bed, but didn't.
Jaxon and I loaded our bikes and headed down to the show,
"Fiesta de Kustom Kulture"
than rode back home.

chief in old town

























Glad I didn't bail the show.
I've got excuses not to go to shows that are a couple hundred miles away,
but not really a show 3 miles away.
If I had better planning I would have pulled the Tres Huevos 40 down there.

FIESTA DE KUSTOM KULTURE - SAT SEPT 10th - OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO - THE H.A.M.B.
(if you are interested there's more pics I took the 2nd page of this link)

At the show we met the guy BOMONSTER that does that scratch art.

BOMONSTER and PERICH's




















Got some stickers and shirts.
bomonster
This is the segue into the 2nd thing I accomplished,
(other than the coon tail)

new sticker





















I went to the shop not too ready to tackle a big project,
and ended up staring at the missing hinges on the 40 for an hour.
The one thing I did do was put the BOMONSTER sticker on the welder.

Holy Chit.
I'm either on fire or ash!

So now that my batteries are recharged,
here's hoping to a productive week.

TP