here we go with another hairdryer special...-i can not imagine 99 % of you will find this useful..... but i sure found it an amazing. project to have some fun with..... IN THE WIDE OPEN SPACES. -- COV STYLE PROJECT...
2021 4 23
LAWTONS does big welding jobs like scaffolding and things like that but through the years I've gotten to know the owner a little bit so I just pulled around the back and sat there with my bent piece of Cardboard till somebody finally came out and wondered why I was there---- there was a little bit of confusion because the owner as apparently retired and I had new people to train to some of the idiot things I might have need to have welded ---so I handed my little piece of Cardboard to a very confused welding expert and explained to him what I needed and he said fine can we get it for you tomorrow or do you need it right now I I said tomorrow would be fine I was making great progress so I went away and in a couple hours got a phone call but it was done beautiful it's probably 3/8 inch metal absolutely perfect right angles holes where I needed them and a ring at the bottom for the pin perfect so for the cost of two monkey fists and two calendars and THE WAGON IS HITCHABLE....
Just a small aside I had pulled around to the back door of this significantly sized welding establishment full of large hard working men who were flabbergasted TO FIND A little lady routine at their back door WITH the three great Danes .. Luckily the two men who came out love dogs and were thrilled to have a dog to Pat for a few minutes---- so after I'd given them my piece of Cardboard one of them stayed behind to help me back out which was very nice of him and I explained that if I hit three things in one day I had to stop driving but I could see he was very nervous I told him he should have been there the day I pulled around there with my horse trailer----- it had an awful time backing out but I made it sometimes being the little old lady with Cardboard patterns has the entertainment value THEY’LL go home and have a beer someplace it'll give him something to talk about
WITH buds ability to BOLT it to my golf cart we now are making great strides to being able to get chaos up the Hill ..
I'm going to have to cover the wagon with that blue stuff that we have all over the floor in the living room from pig company I don't know what they call it but it's wonderful it really sticks well and provides traction aside from that---- the little wagon needs a little bit of decoration----- I'm sure somebody will take care of that---- put on racing stripes or something ----because it is sort of a dreary black at the moment ..
so back to the camera person telling me how I could have tried bending the stuff myself .. I never heard of this process but I can see where it probably would work and he OUT
LINED the details with charcoal bricks and a hair dryer
You will need a way to heat the bend area to cherry red and bend them using a big vise and hammer.
The way to do this is with charcoal briquettes (used for cooking food) and the exalted hair dryer.
Using a Grill (or other suitable container) stack the charcoal briquettes on top of some sand in the container to make a ‘blacksmith’s forge’. Light the briquettes and apply a blast from the hair dryer, as needed, until the coals are very very hot.
Now bury one end of the steel plate within these hot coals to heat the area to be bent. The whole plate does not need to be heated, just the bend area.
Keep the hair dryer directed right at the coals and the buried plate end so it is heated very hot right at the intended bend point. You want a bright red...or straw color, if you can achieve it.
Apply additional heat right at the bend point, using propane or MAP torches if you have them. Use two if you can. The hotter you keep the bend area the easier it will be to bend.
Note: Rounded radii at the bend points is best, to reduce stresses. Sharp bends cause stress risers and are not desired.
When it is as hot as you can get it, quickly remove it from the ‘forge’ and clamp the end in a big vise with the long end standing up, and the short end clamped in the vise at the bend line.
With gloves! Pull on the long end and use a big hammer, at the junction of the plate and vise, to persuade the plate to bend over 45 degrees. Use a template of a 45 degree angle cut from wood to help judge when the angle is achieve.
The propane torches should be used to apply heat to the plate at the bend point while it is in the vise and being bent, so it stays hot. Remember, the hotter the better during the bending process. If it cools, reheat it.
Let it cool on its own. Do not place in water to cool. It needs to be flexible, not brittle.
Drill the holes to suit using lots of edge-distance.
Bolt one end tightly to the tractor hitch point with a big threaded bolt , big washers and one or two lock nuts. If it is attached tightly to the tractor it acts as an extension of the hitch. All the pivoting should occur at the trailer attach point at the lower end.
----
WOW... WITH THAT INFO ....NEXT TIME COULD BE INTRERESTING.
IN THE MEANTIME TODAY WILL BE TRAINING CHAOS TO UNDERSTAND SHE CAN GO AND VISIT DOWN BY THE T TENT.. AND WE WILL GET HER UP THE HILL TO HER SOFA.
INTELECTUAL STIMULATION IS SO CRITICAL FOR THE AGING..
