Another Chicken Coop

This may seem a little bit overkill but I went and got myself another chicken coop this week.  Technically I purchased it back when I brought the Super A Farmall home but never hauled it home.  The property that the coop was at is up for sale so it became time to move the little building home.  My father and I were able to drive both of his tractors down to where the coop was and quickly jack the shed up and push it onto the trailer.

Once home it was almost too easy to unload.  I built a set of skids from telephone poles and 4x4's, and gently pulled the coop off the trailer and onto the skids. 

After it was on the skids Old Smokey and I pulled it over next to the chicken fence so it can be tied in to the fence and the chickens can move in. 

Until next time stay tuned and check back often. 

Rebuilding the Maytag Ice Cream Maker

Buckle in folks because this is going to be long ride but we actually have a project start to finish here.  For a while now I have been having a hard time typing blog posts.  Truth be told it has been awful hard to get the motivation to type blog posts late in the evening and I think the winter slows me down as well.  With winter coming so rapidly to an end I have had renewed invigoration to work on some projects and quite frankly get my rear in gear.  The most important project for me has been rebuilding my Ice Cream Maker onto a cart. 

The design here is simple and usable but very ugly.  Everything was done with rough unfinished wood, lag bolts, and plywood.  For the price I paid for it, it was everything I wanted but once I started bringing it places and running it more the design needed fixing and a cart was put into the works.

Once I got it off from the plywood, everything was put into one big pile and the planning began.  Being who I am this cart is going to be well overbuilt!  Given the amount time I have before I need the cart done, I acquired a  couple of ash 2x4's from Trevor and with a bit of guesswork chopped out a rough frame.  After an hour with a plainer and a countersink drill we have something resembling a frame. 

I think this was the hardest stage in the build so far.  Trying to mock everything up and figure out where my braces need to be to make things look good and still work.  The real hard part about the mock up was making sure I had it 100% the first try because everything is countersunk so if I was wrong the frame would have 1/4" holes that did not belong. 

Once I got the countersinks done I needed plugs to make it look a little nicer. Roland came to help me plug all of the countersinks.  More like he just wanted to play with the dowel and the glue.  The two of us plugged all of the countersink's and then let it dry with sanding and polyurethane to come. 

After letting the plugs set and glue dry, we started with the first coat of the polyurethane.  It looks so much better in person and when it is done it will look much better in the natural light.  While I have been woodworking and putting the final touches on the framework Grampa has been making me a set of brass bushings to adapt the wheels and axel to the pillow bloc bearing. 

The bushings are gong to be a simple brass bushing that Grampa machined down from a solid block of brass.  I would have loved to have been over there working on it with him this weekend but with the Corona Virus and the fact that I work for the public I am trying to keep my distance from everyone. 

And just like that we have two bushings ready to go.  When Grampa finished with the bushings I still had a few coats of polyurethane to go before I could begin the long awaited assembly process.  After four coats of polyurethane and three days to dry I started stage one of assembly.

The bearings, axle and wheels went on first and were the easiest.  I had pre-drilled the holes for the axle bearings making that a cinch. The handle is something I acquired the day before I started assembling so with much measuring and care I got the handle on there securely as well.

 At this point I was again at a standstill until I figured out the legs for the back of the cart.  I had not been able to make them yet because I did not know how tall the cart would be sitting on the wheels.  This was actually one of the toughest decisions in the whole build - trying to make it practical yet leaving it looking good.  Ultimately I went with the typical wheel barrow stand design for the best look and it seemed the most sturdy.

I bent the legs out of some 3/16th steel and as with everything else, I lag bolted them.  We were in the home stretch at this point, so off I went to assemble the ice cream making parts!  In very short time I had the whole thing put together and ready to go.

On the front I added a bumper to keep the wood from getting beat up.  One other noticeable thing is the use of make-a-belt.  This product is one of the handiest things in lower speed v-belts.  The belt consists of separate links allowing you to shorten and lengthen the belt in half inch increments.  Without further stalling here is a nice short video of the Maytag Ice Cream Maker.
                                                        Maytag Ice Cream Maker Video
 The last part of the cart came as an afterthought.  A homemade project is not complete until it has a tag.  I came to a realization that I had some nice brass plates from Grampa and had Allyssia make me a stencil on her vinyl cutting machine.  After trying to engrave it with a drummel tool I stopped and researched some other options.  I decided to try an acid engraving method and man am I glad that I did.  After cleaning it up I filled the lettering in with black model paint and when it was dry I cleaned and polished it again. 

 I hope you all enjoyed this and before I go I want to thank everyone that helped me pull this together like my father for the carpentry advice, Grampa for making the bushings and supplying the name plate, Trevor for all the lumber for the frame, and Allyssia for the help with everything and not killing me for talking about this thing non stop.  Until next time stay tuned and check back often!

Engines at Work

Working for the public sometimes has its perks for a guy like me.  I see quite a few people in my travels during the week and every once and a while one of them is interested in or has some of the same old junk as I do.  A few months back we did some work at a customers new house and in the back of one of the outbuildings there was a few engines.  My boss saw them first and set me on the chase.

The first engine that I found in the barn was a small Detroit marine engine.  It seems to be complete though it is stuck.  This motor would have been used on a small boat and they were used all over the country. 

Like many marine engines this one has quite a bit of brass on it that when polished up is going to look very nice.  Since getting it home I have filled the cylinder with marvel mystery oil and at some point I am going to try to get it freed up.  The other engine is not in nearly as good of shape.

When it is all set together like in the picture it looks nice but the whole engine was disassembled and the cylinder was sunk in the mud.  The bore is very pitted and the piston is stuck tight. 

A few people have told me that it is still saveable but it is missing a handful of parts and quite frankly I haven't decided what to do with it.  Eventually it may end up as a stone wall decoration.  The last thing I hauled home was a simple pulley set.

It is nothing special but it is old iron so I ended up with that as well.  Until next time stay tuned and check back often!