[Otto Nobedder]

Here it is, in perspective.

DSCF0036.JPG (66.22 KiB) Viewed 2253 times

Steve S

[Poland308]

Nice! Looks like the old one got patched a few times.

[Otto Nobedder]

Nice! Looks like the old one got patched a few times.

Yeah, there were band-aids on top of band-aids, from someone who tried to MIG it without cleaning it or having a clue how to MIG aluminum. It took 15 minutes just to cut and grind the dog turds off the wing gusset.

That's pretty common in this business... Before they'll take a trailer out of service to have it fixed right, they'll let any mechanic who "thinks" he can do it give it a go to keep it running. The sad thing is, I did it right in 9 hours on one day, and could have done it in six if we had the shop fully set up... I wasted a lot of time setting up equipment and finding materials.

Steve S

[Coldman]

Thanks Steve. Clicking on the link took me to the fb login page.
That was one ugly repair to attack. My heart sinks when I see crap like that. Keeps us in a job I suppose.
So what's your deal now? New shop, new employment?

[Otto Nobedder]

Well, Coldman, it's an interesting story.

I worked for WesMor Cryogenic for several years, almost from the startup of our hydrogen service division. We were in the red for two years, operated at a high profit for five years (high enough we supported the manufacturing division in Texas), and were then bought out by Trinity Industries, Inc. They ran us back into the ground in two years because they answer to corporate bureaucracy instead of business sense. Symmetry, I suppose. In the process, they pissed off every major player in LH2 delivery.

They shut our shop down, gave us all a shitty excuse for a severance package, and wished us luck.
My boss, who's been in this trade for over 40 years and was the one who made us profitable in the first place, took out a significant loan, and we, the whole crew, are starting fresh in a building 50 yards from our old location. Kind of a big "screw you" to the corporation that screwed us.

We already have firm commitments for work from three of the major players in the industry, because we carry our reputation with us.

For a rare moment of showing personal pride, I'm confident that my agreement to commit to this new venture was part of his decision to take this risk. I'm one of four people who, between us, possess the cumulative knowledge to make a go of this without a learning/training curve, and knowing all of us would make a go of it had to make the decision easier. The other folks who stayed for the new venture all have at least a year of this specialized experience, as well, so, again, no learning or training to be profitable from "go".

Steve S

[Coldman]

One door closes, opportunity knocks and another door opens. Happened to me a few times.
One interesting thing at these times is you really find out how valuable your accumulated knowledge and experience is to the market and your pay generally goes up. So uncertainty turns into reward. A nice feeling. Enjoy it, you earned it.

[Rick_H]

Awesome Steve, glad to see you hit the street running, I'm sure you guys will be fine.

[Rick_H]

Made a quick little repair stand to hold my mountain bike, have to permantly mount the base to my work bench. I'm going to make it slide in and out to keep it out of my way, the top section will just pop out and store below. Have to add rubber to my clamps too...but it works great!

[RocketSurgeon]

Well, Coldman, it's an interesting story.

I worked for WesMor Cryogenic for several years, almost from the startup of our hydrogen service division. We were in the red for two years, operated at a high profit for five years (high enough we supported the manufacturing division in Texas), and were then bought out by Trinity Industries, Inc. They ran us back into the ground in two years because they answer to corporate bureaucracy instead of business sense. Symmetry, I suppose. In the process, they pissed off every major player in LH2 delivery.

They shut our shop down, gave us all a shitty excuse for a severance package, and wished us luck.
My boss, who's been in this trade for over 40 years and was the one who made us profitable in the first place, took out a significant loan, and we, the whole crew, are starting fresh in a building 50 yards from our old location. Kind of a big "screw you" to the corporation that screwed us.

We already have firm commitments for work from three of the major players in the industry, because we carry our reputation with us.

For a rare moment of showing personal pride, I'm confident that my agreement to commit to this new venture was part of his decision to take this risk. I'm one of four people who, between us, possess the cumulative knowledge to make a go of this without a learning/training curve, and knowing all of us would make a go of it had to make the decision easier. The other folks who stayed for the new venture all have at least a year of this specialized experience, as well, so, again, no learning or training to be profitable from "go".

Steve S

Way to go Steve!
Any possibility your boss could venture into Man Rated Space Exploration?

[big gear head]

Great story Steve. I hope you all do very well.

Rick, fancy stand. Good work.

[Chuck_junks]

Made a quick little repair stand to hold my mountain bike, have to permantly mount the base to my work bench. I'm going to make it slide in and out to keep it out of my way, the top section will just pop out and store below. Have to add rubber to my clamps too...but it works great!

Rick that is freakin' genius! Wish I had thought of that before buying a cheap plastic/Chinesium work stand off amazon. Like you said though you need to add rubber to that angle iron jaw. I think the tool handle PlastiDip at Lowes or Home Depot would be the best bet... Only $7 for a 14oz can. Multiple dips to make it nice and thick...

[Chuck_junks]

Made a quick little repair stand to hold my mountain bike, have to permantly mount the base to my work bench. I'm going to make it slide in and out to keep it out of my way, the top section will just pop out and store below. Have to add rubber to my clamps too...but it works great!

Rick that is freakin' genius! Wish I had thought of that before buying a cheap plastic/Chinesium work stand off amazon. Like you said though you need to add rubber to that angle iron jaw. I think the tool handle PlastiDip at Lowes or Home Depot would be the best bet... Only $7 for a 14oz can. Multiple dips to make it nice and thick...

[Rick_H]

Made a quick little repair stand to hold my mountain bike, have to permantly mount the base to my work bench. I'm going to make it slide in and out to keep it out of my way, the top section will just pop out and store below. Have to add rubber to my clamps too...but it works great!

Rick that is freakin' genius! Wish I had thought of that before buying a cheap plastic/Chinesium work stand off amazon. Like you said though you need to add rubber to that angle iron jaw. I think the tool handle PlastiDip at Lowes or Home Depot would be the best bet... Only $7 for a 14oz can. Multiple dips to make it nice and thick...

Thanks Chuck, yeah I was looking at the stands on Amazon and with being me I decided I had enough scrap to throw something together that would fit what ever frame size or shape, and I was thinking of making a small adapter so I could put it on the hitch of my truck as well in case we run into issues while away doing some riding. My buddies have this model which works pretty good I just didn't want something on my floor... http://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Cycle-Me ... pair+stand

It fits my GT perfect... What kind of riding do you do, lots of great trails up there in Washington State!

[Chuck_junks]

It fits my GT perfect... What kind of riding do you do, lots of great trails up there in Washington State!

Mostly trails on the Kitsap and Olympic peninsular... I have an older Specialized Enduro and a GT hardtail. When it's not raining on my days off I try to get a ride in. I have 2 County built and maintained mountain bike parks 15 Mins from my doorstep.

Chuck

[TamJeff]

Haven't been doing too much boat stuff in the last few months. Not for the lack of it, we've just been on a lengthy and involved, production project.

Instead of using a separate, left and right pattern or superimposing one over the other, which I have to draw full size each time, I just draw one and build the one side complete on the pattern and weld the exposed side completely. Then I check to make sure that none of my jig blocks have moved off of the lines, and build all except for the part that sticks up, that would stick down on the mirror part, and weld what is exposed of that as well. Then it's just a matter of running masking tape where the two assemblies will touch, align and clamp them together, make sure all the ladder rungs are perfectly aligned, and then add the stick up part opposite it. This way I can take my time, relax, and still draw and build/weld these parts in 3 hrs time, including cutting/bending all the parts. All of the parts are cut exactly the same, and both sets are dry fit in the original full assembly in the pattern, and that they fit exactly the same.

In the first photo, notice that the ladder rungs are closer together on the stick up (which is actually also a plumbing chase) part. That's because one whole side of the assembly could not be welded on the table. Once those sides are welded, it will pull them parallel once I release the clamps. I used to correct this beforehand, but then I would have to tweak them back with levers and whatnot. Now I just build it in initially, and let the otherwise weld distortion, actually become the correction. I end up using this tactic on a lot of weldments, and design a lot of parts with that in mind. You get a reliable feel for just how much things will move. You let off the torch on the last weld, flip up the hood, and just watch it magically creep to it's correct place.



Then it's just a matter of standing the parts up, making sure they are in rack, and add the cross members and tie it all together. Sometimes I will tweak it out of rack just a bit to compensate for the side I have to weld first, and then just alternately weld the little oval spacers, and then start from the opposite directions on the reverse side. All the welds on the standing assembled parts are vertical up, and all the welds that were done on the table, are welded so they will be vertical up to match when assembled.



After welding the truss in, when I remove this part from that building board, those legs will spring in almost exactly 5/8" per side with my welding. I leave it in there. The installers are to pull it out to it's designed centers. This preloads the truss, and adds a significant about of rigidity to it. This helps when you cannot always get mounting points in ideal places, and helps to make the assembly, somewhat self supporting from the deck up, or when the console it is tied to is flimsy and not offering much support. In these cases, the tower actually supports the console. The main truss in this instance, is actually a lam, meaning, there is a smaller sched 40 tube inside the outer. It's more resilient than a sched 80 pipe would be and is much less prone to heat fatigue.

[MosquitoMoto]

As always...masterful stuff.

Thanks for sharing!




Kym

[weldit321@gmail.com]

Nitrous spraybar mount for a custom CNC Dodge Viper intake =D

[Artie F. Emm]

Made a quick little repair stand to hold my mountain bike, have to permantly mount the base to my work bench. I'm going to make it slide in and out to keep it out of my way, the top section will just pop out and store below. Have to add rubber to my clamps too...but it works great!

I like it! Taking notes because I may copy that design. I wonder if you might use 1/8 in rubber sheets (gasket material) on the clamps.

I improvised a bike rack by bolting a wall hanger to a chunk of board, and clamping into my vice. Did the trick and got me by, but by using the vice I blocked access to my tools. So careful where you mount to your work bench!

[Rick_H]

More process piping

[rufflivin]

Your work is looking great rick.

[zank]

You know...the usual. Bike stuff.


Ryun P by Mike Zanconato, on Flickr


Ryun P by Mike Zanconato, on Flickr


Ryun P by Mike Zanconato, on Flickr


Ryun P by Mike Zanconato, on Flickr


Ryun P by Mike Zanconato, on Flickr


Ryun P by Mike Zanconato, on Flickr

[Otto Nobedder]

With all the weld porn he posts, I think Zank may identify as bikesexual...

Which bathroom does he use? The one at the bike shop, of course!

(Sorry. I couldn't resist poking a little fun at this "gender identity" nonsense in the media these days...)

Another great project!

Steve S

[MosquitoMoto]

'The usual.'

(sigh...)

Zank, if your 'usual' applied to all the other aspects of life we'd all be having champagne on our corn flakes and wearing Armani overalls. As always, inspiring. Love the 'Z' widget. Inspiration in the details.


Kym

[zank]

You crack me up, Steve!

You guys are too kind.

[Backsheddave]

Mm perfect as usual, you are human aren't you? Just always looks like the work of a robot You set The bar high for us Nubies to strive for. Keep the pics coming, enjoy seeing your work.