Random slightly cool stuff you built but not worth its own thread, thread

[Valiant]

I had some sharnes with @scooters recently about old FMC log skidders, I was saying that as a kid a friend of Mum and Dad had a friend who worked for FMC and gave us lots of promo material etc and that Dad had made a wooden toy based a FMC skidder that had been a huge favorite when I was little.

I asked Dad to send me a photo of it to pass on to Scooters but I think Dad's a bit bored and he went next level on the photos. They are too cool not to share.

So to clarify I didn't make any of this stuff, Dad did 30 plus years ago. 

 

 

 

 

 

[kyteler]

Well those pictures very quickly explained why you're such a foamer. 

Nice. 

Best we got was big home made wooden trucks, mine and my oldest brother had flat decks and middle brother had a container truck. It was so much cooler because trailer, not fixed and used little brass hook catches to keep the opening rear doors closed. 

[Valiant]

Yeah I think I was born a foamer.

Cup hook towing eyes for the win! 

When we get back to level 3 I'll get them all out for a truck and tractor show.

[CaMpylobacter]

5 hours ago, felixx said:

Found this thing on the side of the road. 

Took it home,  filled the flagons inside it with kero.. no go.

 

Blew all the jelly out of the fuel lines

Garage heater.. it needs painting though

That’s bloody neat

[igor]

Think we had one of those heaters at school.

[CaMpylobacter]

Just now, Valiant said:

I had some sharnes with @scooters recently about old FMC log skidders, I was saying that as a kid a friend of Mum and Dad had a friend who worked for FMC and gave us lots of promo material etc and that Dad had made a wooden toy based a FMC skidder that had been a huge favorite when I was little.

I asked Dad to send me a photo of it to pass on to Scooters but I think Dad's a bit bored and he went next level on the photos. They are too cool not to share.

So to clarify I didn't make any of this stuff, Dad did 30 plus years ago. 

 

 

 

God damn so good

[felixx]

I am gathering quite a collection of kerosene toys.  3 tilley lamps that go.  3 that don't. 

Some hurricane lamps

4 stoves

This heater

Full on apocalypse set. Better get a drum or 2 of kero

 

 

[CaMpylobacter]

That stuff has its charm. Be cool to have a full camping setup of old stuff like that.

i scored a wee no name primus copy white spirits backpacking cooker a few years ago that I tidied up and got working. Seems way less output than the equivalent butane cooker but hey. That charm.

was another big camp stove in the pile too but it was a bit far gone to fix up so sadly it got turfed.

 

[scooters]

thats a 10/10 from me 

 

[yetchh]

26 minutes ago, kyteler said:

Well those pictures very quickly explained why you're such a foamer. 

Nice. 

Best we got was big home made wooden trucks, mine and my oldest brother had flat decks and middle brother had a container truck. It was so much cooler because trailer, not fixed and used little brass hook catches to keep the opening rear doors closed. 

 

Hah, had a tonka once.. Dad got it from the dump cabless , made a cab out of some 4x2s and painted it with timbacril.. Loved that truck. 

 

[ajg193]

My dad made me a wooden truck with tipper deck when I was little.

I rattle canned it about 5 different colours and stole the nissan badge off my brother's pulsar and glued it on like a number plate.

/It was nowhere as fancy as your toys but shit it meant a lot to me as a kid

[Kimjon]

Made a start on this, then decided that drinking piss and talking shit across the fence with my neighbours was more important than working on this.

Will finish when less drunk.

[Kimjon]

And finished:

Then I sandblasted the handle for contrast and texture, and polished an edge on it sharp enough to cut you just looking at it!

Posers photos below:

I'm happy with it. Something unlike most knives people make at home, which was the goal.

[rusty360]

This interests me alot I actually thought about going on a knife marking course day thingy but just havent got there yet. 

If ya dont mind me asking-

What steel do ya use for the blank? Obviously something with a bit of hardness? I'm guessing that's way you are heating it up to take some hardness out of it? Is there any shape in the blank or is it just parallel?

Cheers!

[Kimjon]

37 minutes ago, rusty360 said:

This interests me alot I actually thought about going on a knife marking course day thingy but just havent got there yet. 

If ya dont mind me asking-

What steel do ya use for the blank? Obviously something with a bit of hardness? I'm guessing that's way you are heating it up to take some hardness out of it? Is there any shape in the blank or is it just parallel?

Cheers!

I'm no expert, just googled a few things and gave it a crack. The steel is an old saw blade that kitchen builders use for cutting stone with. They're about 400mm in diameter and about 2mm thick. I got a couple for free, as the blades were flogged out.

I use a 40 grit flap wheel to slim the thickness down, then work through the grades to polish it up, eventually using a buffing wheel to polish. I do this process very carefully to avoid heating up the metal and ruining the steels heat treatment.

The blow touch is to soften the handle steel. Two reasons for this:

1) So I can drill the hardened steel, without this spot heating the drill wouldn't cut through.

2) knives should have a softer tang/handle, as hardened steel is brittle and the handle junction is the highest stress point, so if it was left brittle it would snap.

The vice acts as a heat sink and keeps the heat out of the blade.

That's about all I can offer. My brother has a furnace and makes knives from files. But he does full on heat treatments etc. I try to avoid all this and just make basic stuff.

[Willdat?]

Just now, Kimjon said:

My brother has a furnace and makes knives from files. But he does full on heat treatments etc. I try to avoid all this and just make basic stuff.

I've been hoarding files at school (probably have over 50) , we have electric furnaces, but I've really struggled with getting the heat into the files. I probably should persevere as the students would be super into it (get the parents to collect them from school to save dick headery at lunchtime or on the bus home...).

[Kimjon]

3 minutes ago, Willdat? said:

I've been hoarding files at school (probably have over 50) , we have electric furnaces, but I've really struggled with getting the heat into the files. I probably should persevere as the students would be super into it (get the parents to collect them from school to save dick headery at lunchtime or on the bus home...).

He just puts the files in his fireplace (wood burner) and leaves them there for a few weeks while warming his feet watching Netflix. This apparently heat cycles the steel and makes it go soft. He said it adds carbon too, but I'm not sure about that...sounds a bit weird?

Anyway, the soft metal is easily worked and shaped. Once he's happy with the shape and it's all polished up, it then gets heat treated in the furnace. The furnace causes a little distortion and ruins the finish, but it doesn't take much effort to make it look good again afterwards. If you don't polish the blade prior to heat treatment, then it's a huge amount of work to get the scratches out because you're working with steel that is now back to the hardness of a file!

 

[Kimjon]

My mig welder has been misbehaving lately. I figured out the issue and did this fix.

Bolt head is pulling out of the base, cheap shit plastic!

Luckily I have a tig, so was able to weld this bolt to a bit of metal I turned up on the lathe.

It's done the trick, but it's still being a bitch and acting up. The 0.6mm wire just doesn't seem to work in this welder. Weird, as I used to run it without issues. Maybe cheap brand? Anyways once lockdown is down I'll go back to 0.8mm.

[Muncie]

@Kimjon if you pass your wire through a tampon it scrubs the dust and some oxidation off the wire before it gets into your rollers and makes them skid. Old panel beater Barry trick that seems to work.

[Mof]

Just now, Muncie said:

@Kimjon if you pass your wire through a tampon it scrubs the dust and some oxidation off the wire before it gets into your rollers and makes them skid. Old panel beater Barry trick that seems to work.

Yes that reminds me 

Mig at work stopped feeding properly, all that shit off the wire had collected in the beginning part of the tube after the rollers.