Mastodawn

#Tractor #Welding #DIY #SalvagePunk #ScrapMetal #Homestead #Fluxcore

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar Mar 8

Progress on the #PalletFork

Working with reclaimed steel is a lot slower. I was cleaning up rust and dirt, welding shut some holes where the fence wire used to go through and painting rust converter on where it would be difficult later.

After much measuring and aligning, I cut the frame and tack-welded it together.

Then a filler plate into the top.

In between, some angle grinder repair (broken wire) and of course the fluxcore reel ran out and needed swapping.

#Tractor #DIY #SalvagePunk #ScrapMetal #Homestead #Drilling #Metalworking

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar Mar 9

Not much progress today, bad sleep and stuff.

Working on the fittings now. Found some suitable steel for the lower link "ears" and cut it to length, only to discover it was some kind of legendary impenetrable steel. Nothing got through it and I needed a 19mm hole in that stuff.

Even tried a 3mm drill bit in the die grinder for shits and giggles and that actually made the hole smaller as it friction welded the drill bit into it 😆

Just to prove I'm not going crazy or all my tools had gone dull over winter, I drilled a hole in one of the C-beam scraps and that went through like butter, which it should when you're used to drilling stainless steel.

So I at least made the top link attachment instead.

#Tractor #PalletFork #DIY #SalvagePunk #ScrapMetal #Homestead #Metalworking #Welding

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar Mar 11

Set up the plasma cutter, which we don't have enough power for and so I can barely use it at half and frazzled a hole into the undrillable steel, then made it round and clean(ish) with the die grinder, which took a good while. Funny, the angle grinder cut the stuff just fine. This is why your legendary items are so expensive - bloody difficult materials to work with!

Top link fitting is on and the ears are aligned and tacked on, the aligning being the hard work here.

Couple more parts to go!

#Tractor #DIY #SalvagePunk #ScrapMetal #Welding #Homestead #Metalworking

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar Mar 11

#PalletFork progress! 🎇

Made the top pieces for the ears (lift arm connections is the technical term, I think) and made a crossbeam, which took some elaborate measuring but fit pretty good.

Some seam welding later and then a moment of immense satisfaction: It fits! Took it for a spin immediately, of course.

Even better, I thought I might need a shorter top link but it looks like I might just get away with the one I got.

The rust converter has been busy over night and some rust has turned black.

Still need to finish a couple seams and then weld a bunch of extra armour points to the critical fulcrums to increase the load rating. So far I only tested it with my bodyweight

#Welding #Fluxcore #SparkleWrench

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar Mar 12

Whoops. Where'd all that go. Sparkled a whole reel into this contraption.

#Tractor #PalletFork #Welding #DIY #Metalworking #Homestead #SalvagePunk #ScrapMetal

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar Mar 12

Added some reinforcement pieces at the critical corner. That concludes the welding.

Cleaned up a bit with powered and manual wire brushes, then put on some anti-rust primer (Novakor from Rilak). Painting is where you pay for not using closed profiles 😆

Looking forward to using this thing to tidy up the yard!

#DIY #Welding #Tractor #MetalWorking #SalvagePunk #ScrapMetal #Homestead #Paint

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar Mar 13

The homemade #PalletFork is starting to look like money. These sell for €300 to €500 if you buy one instead of welding it from scrap steel found around the farm.

Let's see what this cost us (rough numbers):
€11 fittings
€26 paint (only used half though)
€5 power
€12 fluxcore wire
€3 cutting/grinding wheels etc.
====
€57

Bargain! And it was more fun than buying. And much more satisfying 🤩

This paint dries slowly. One more coat, hopefully tomorrow.

#Homestead #DIY #Welding #Metalworking #Tractor #ScrapMetal #SalvagePunk

Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Homemade scrapmetal #Palletfork complete. Seems I got the measurements right, picks up and drops pallets from the ground perfectly. Either length- or sideways.

Very pleased. This will be so useful for hauling stuff around the farm.

Slight limitation in how high I can lift them, but it's sufficient. Might modify it if the need for more height arises, but it's a yard hauler, not a forklift.

Now I just need to get more pallets 😁

Krahabors Mar 16

@yngmar You have two choices: build pallets from rusty steel or from concrete beams

@yngmar
It would be interesting to see how much it can lift, and what determines the limitation for you.

@Maker_of_Things I'm sure we'll find out at some point. And then weld it back together, subtract 1 kg and put a sticker on it 😆

Or replace bent fork :)

@yngmar
I was thinking that the hydraulics, or the counterbalance might also come into play.

Though you can always add more weight at the front until the rear wheels collapse! 🤣

@Maker_of_Things You forget what tractors are built to do. Have you seen the weight of a large plow?

Or the load on the frame when using a front loader lifting 600 kg (the original loaders rating, iirc).

Counterweight is on the job list, in the form of winch and lead 😁

@yngmar
Haha, I have also seen videos of tractors snapping in half.

It does never cease to amaze me how much load little tractor front wheels will take!

@Maker_of_Things Frame or axle overload can happen as well as fatigue. But this tractor is built extremely strongly, you should've seen the loads it was wrestling when I pulled those concrete pylons out of the garden.

IIRC, the rear hitch on our Iseki is rated for lifting 800 kg. The Iseki rototiller it originally was sold with weighs 250 kg and it lifts that up like nothing. The rear hydraulics can't be overloaded, they have a pressure relief valve, it'll just not move when too heavy.

I'm only concerned about my welds snapping off, that's all :)

@yngmar
I am taking note.

Given we are clearing out and packing to move to a Welsh smallholding, this is research I can justify. 🙂

@Maker_of_Things Yeah, it sounds like you guys got a burst of spring energy as well 😁

@yngmar
Yes, I think it comes with the realisation that we could actually do this!

@Maker_of_Things @yngmar ooo when and where?

@JeniParsons
Not sure yet, we are looking in Ceredigion, but first we are clearing out stuff we don't want to take, and part packing, in advance of putting the house up for sale. We have had valuations but where will depend on how much we actually get.

We just know that it would take too long to clear and pack with a sale deadline, so we want to be ahead of the process as we might get a quick sale to an investor.

We've been looking and shortlisting based on suitability and price.
And we need to include a granny flat and wetroom.

@yngmar

@Maker_of_Things @yngmar yay hope it happens as soon as you’re ready 💐

@JeniParsons
Thank you. I am hoping that we have gotten most, if not all, the unwanted stuff out of the house and ready to list with an agent, by autumn.

We'll also be talking to agents in Ceredigion to get on their lists by then, and also looking at local storage down there, and maybe short term rentals.

@yngmar

@Maker_of_Things @yngmar looking forward to meeting you both at last irl!

@JeniParsons
And us meeting you , too.

@yngmar

Yes, it'll be great to meet up!

We've a long way to go clearing the house. We made the mistake of showing the estate agents the basement, so we can't just throw everything down there and brick up the door.....

@suearcher @Maker_of_Things 🤣🧱

@JeniParsons @suearcher
There is still the hole in the garden where we had to dig up and repair the drains..... 🤔
🕳️ 🔌 📷 📼 🪏

@Maker_of_Things @JeniParsons

Yeah, but that's not nearly big enough....

@suearcher @JeniParsons
It could be.....

@Maker_of_Things @JeniParsons

You are NOT buying a minidigger to make a bigger hole!

@suearcher @Maker_of_Things yay fight! My money is on…

I mean, I'd love a minidigger. But not now, not if we have to then move it to Wales!

@suearcher @Maker_of_Things charity shops…

Oh, we are inundating them with anything they'll take!

The thing is, Alfred's lived here for 30 yrs, I've been here nearly 12. But in between that, Alfred's Mum and Dad moved up here, and his Dad brought the contents of a small electrical wholesale shop with him (he refused to have a retirement sale). There's a limit to how many new-in-box, 30 year old extractor fans a charity shop will take. IE. none.

@suearcher @Maker_of_Things 🤣😳blimey I see some of the need for that mini digger

If we had the inclination, we could probably build our own house, entirely constructed from double socket plates, cooker switches, and extractor fans.

Uwe Mar 16

@yngmar 😂 👍🏼 @Maker_of_Things

KasTas Mar 16

@yngmar the president of pallet-forks. And not only in terms of the color :D

@KasTasMykolas I was careful not to get any on my face. Don't want to get invited to Epstein island.