Hmm?

[oletimer]

I wear steel toe boots every day and this summer it's been 85-106 in CA. really don't notice any difference with the steel toe.

I do know I have a lot of large cuts and tears all the way down to the safety toe and no idea how I did it?

I'll keep wearing safety toe boots , most of them are composite now days anyway not steal any longer like the old days.

But you are working, Henry is "retired", and taking life easy! Ya, right.

 

Dick T

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Same here bronco, composite toe safety boots no matter how hot it is. Mine are pretty scared up as well.

[rickeieio]

So, why hi-jack a thread a little, when you can totally de-rail it?

 

It always amazes me to see folks (some of my relatives) who preach about safety toe work boots, but grind/weld/drill/torch without safety goggles.

[Pat & Pete]

So, why hi-jack a thread a little, when you can totally de-rail it?

 

It always amazes me to see folks (some of my relatives) who preach about safety toe work boots, but grind/weld/drill/torch without safety goggles.

 

Simply the nature of conversation .

[phoenix2013]

I don't poo-poo safety, in eight years two ET's were dropped. A lifting strap came off the hoist hook and 750 pounds ET landed on the shop floor about a foot away from my feet (in sandals). A month ago another was being lifted with a fork lift, the turkey didn't tip the forks back before lifting it, got it up about 3-4 feet and the lifting sling slid off the forks. The truck didn't care much for that load landing in the back of it from that height.

It's all about "managing risk", no different than pulling a 44 foot, 20K fifth with a pickup.

[Star Dreamer]

Sounds like you need a forklift jib so you don't get the lifting sling sliding off the forks. We had a job-site safety person saying it was a No-No to use a fork lift with straps on the forks so we had to go out and rent one. They look something like this:

 

 

Dave

[phoenix2013]

We replaced the hook with a ring, now the straps go through the ring and cannot come off.

We use three shipping companies, all have docksides two have ramps to bring the forklift down on the ground level and offload the hitch from the truck.

The third one has the crappiest terminal, no ramp, forklifts trapped up docksides only. They have to extend the fork over the truck bed, while we arrive with a lifting strap wound around the palette. Exciting. Drivers bitch about the cheap company which in 15 years couldn't find cash to build the ramp at this terminal. But they have the best shipping prices to many locations in the country so we use them.

[oletimer]

I guess this post will be a hi-jack also, but I'll keep it short.

After 35 years in the farm supply business working/owning, I retired young (almost 54). One of the main reasons I did was government, it certainly wasn't because I had "enough", whatever that is? I sold the business to my son, and later the real estate, of which one location is a small grain elevator. Monday OSHA inspected that elevator for the first time ever, which was constructed in 1965, and found 75K $ of infractions. No retail sales from this location, 1-2 employees, so the fine (bribe) was lowered to 20K $. THANKS OSHA!! I will not go into most of the stupid infractions, but I will say, there have been no claims in all the years of operation.

 

Believe it are not there are some things that can't be legislated, of which are MORALITY, CAUTION, and STUPID! Sorry for the hi-jack.

 

BTW, glad to see you are getting some "breathing room" Henry, now maybe that lady of yours won't have to feed us all while at the shop.

 

Dick T

[phoenix2013]

Dick, indeed "breathing room is nice. The hitch assembly area is already working, but will need shelves, lot more shelves (vertical storage always wins over horizontal storage).

 

 

Truck bodies area, "work in progress".

 

 

First bit of internal construction, "room with barn doors". Hmmmmm?

 

 

Inspired by the need of the welder. He declared that welding in Florida summer 93 degree weather was not acceptable and he needed a small space that was "acceptable". The idea was also "unacceptable to me". So I said "screw small space and lets make it 12 by 12".

 

 

The "acceptable space", ventilated and fully air-conditioned, will now be a multi-utility room, welding room, parts preparation and manufacturing room and final hitch assembly room. Garage was never air-conditioned but surely was good for building up character (particularly in July, August and September).

[Steve from SoCal]

Henry,

 

Your use of barn door track is amusing, that said, I hate them. I have two door sets on barn door track, I use my forklift to move them.

 

A quick bit about venting your room, argon is heaver than air, use a low mounted exhaust port. That small space could be like a tank where hypoxia creeps up insidiously.

 

Steve

[rpsinc]

Henry,

 

Your use of barn door track is amusing, that said, I hate them. I have two door sets on barn door track, I use my forklift to move them.

 

A quick bit about venting your room, argon is heaver than air, use a low mounted exhaust port. That small space could be like a tank where hypoxia creeps up insidiously.

 

Steve

X2. A fabricator who prefers to be hot or cold than suffocating or in bronchial distress. I have a 36" PortACool that runs when I weld. Cant be Too Safe!

[Broncohauler]

Henry your a smart guy that's for sure and as others have said please be very careful with ventilation.

My brother-in-law and my father-inlaw both worked for an aerospace company here. My brother-in-law welding,machining and his last position heat treating exotic metal. He died this year at age 43 with only three weeks notice of lung cancer.

My father-in-law Ran an automatic tig machine in an enclosed clean room without proper ventilation.

He also passed away this year from COPD and blood disease.

Argon and helium are some seriously bad stuff. Granted he was welding a lot with stainless and different aluminums but we lost them both way too young.

 

Shop looks great congratulations I hope it all works out for you and I'm sure it will.

[phoenix2013]

David was talking about proper ventilation before we even started things, but we'll discuss it further.

The hitches weld pretty efficiently now with all the jigs we have, only few days per month. I actually might be using the room more than David. When he gets going on truck conversions and truck bodies that welding will be mostly done in the open area.

Pollutants are a bad juju, I lost my father in six weeks to lung cancer, he was in his early 50s. He was not a welder, but he was a two packer per day Winston man (no filters although it probably didn't make much difference).

[Steve from SoCal]

Henry,

 

Reading your recent comments on your PT/OT in addition to getting a forklift ASAP, get some Uni-strut or small I bean as a monorail crane. I have cranes all over my shop and they are not a luxury but a necessity. You don't need a 5 ton bridge crane, your parts if limited to 220Lbs would be ideal for a HF electric hoist on a Unistrut rail. I just put this up over my surface grinder to lift 130lbs.

 

Steve

[RickW]

You might also consider a Gantry Crane/A-Frame.

 

When we sold our previous house and moved to our property I took our "portable" hot tub with us. It took 8 guys and a lot of grunting to get it on the back of the HDT. I had to get it off the truck last year to go to the rally but the final resting place for the tub was not ready. Knowing the manpower I needed to get it off then moving it again to get it to its final resting spot I started looking for solutions. Ended up with this gantry crane. I used two electric Warn come alongs and was able to lift the tub off the bed then pull the truck out from under it. Lower the tub to just an inch off the shop floor I was able to move the hot tub with ease. With the gantry I could have done it myself but a buddy did help. A lot easier and safer then using 8 guys and lot less sweat.

 

The original plan was to sell the gantry after I was done moving the hot tub around. Now a year later I have found other projects that the gantry was much better suited and safer than using the engine hoist or tractor bucked as I had done in the past. So I have decided I will keep it and invest in a trolly and proper electric hoist.

[phoenix2013]

Steve, I have a monorail crane (gantry) in my "service truck".

 

 

The rail comes out 5 feet and the 1 ton winch comes out to the end of it. Many an ET was field serviced, or installed (like this one) with this contraption. In the shop we use a beefed up engine hoist (you can see it "parked" against the room), if the truck bodies take off a fork lift is in the plans and possibly a gantry. There were two 50 feet long (1 ton and 5 ton) gantries available in an abandoned industrial building that needed to be cleared out. But the price quoted to us by the new building owner was into stupid money territory. We could build one for half the money. But he had somebody else who wanted it too, good luck to that moron.

[Steve from SoCal]

Henry,

 

My point was in your assembly area and work flow small cranes would greatly reduce stress. I have 4 bridge cranes, the longest craneway is 175' I am NOT suggesting bridge cranes, that shop is way to low anyway. Unistrut is rated at 450Lbs and would serve 95% of your material handling in the shop if your heaviest part is 220 pounds. A monorail crane works well in a linear assembly line. Unistrut is inexpensive, light weight and easy to work with. A small electric hoist from HF is a hundred bucks or so.

 

I am very familiar with engine hoist, comealongs and, other methods used in garages. I had my two car garage filled with machinery, not small Chinese stuff, my 13EE lathe weighs 3400, my little milling machine 4500, my band saw 2000 and, my welding table tips the scale at just over 8000lbs. I moved all that stuff with pipe and comealongs, I didn't even have room to use my pallet jack. I know you are practical and think we'll just use what worked. That is flawed, I have used forklift for a long time but, until I owned one and used it for stuff I did other ways before. Same thing with cranes, my shop has 3 jib cranes that cover most of my machines and fab area. My little lathe has small tooling I can lift in place. My bigger lathes have chucks that weigh 150Lbs. I am saying you don't know what you don't know. A forklift and cranes are essential tools for machine and, fab work. Personally I am not fond of portable gantry cranes, too many ways for things to go south. Monorail, bridge and, jib cranes don't have to be fancy or high capacity to make a big difference in reducing repetitive lifting injuries.

 

If you come to Hutch stop by I would be happy to show you the shop, I have converted two bridge cranes to wireless controls, even nicer.

 

Steve

[phoenix2013]

I plan to be in Hutch, I'm scheduled to give couple of seminars on Friday.

[sclord2002]

Henry, you absolutely HAVE TO go by and visit with Steve. You two both have great engineering minds and would really enjoy meeting each other. Both of you were pilots and who knows what else you have in common. Having been in both your shops, i know you two will hit it off. Wish I could be in Hutch to go with you. Be safe, Charlie

[phoenix2013]

The hitch assembly area is "almost" organized.

 

[lappir]

The hitch assembly area is "almost" organized.

 

Now I want a photo of Davena's Garage and the smile on her face when she can pull into it when it's raining .

 

Rod

[phoenix2013]

Now I want a photo of Davena's Garage and the smile on her face when she can pull into it when it's raining .

 

Rod

Actually it's in there when it's sunny, which is most of the time in Florida. And rainy and windy and overcast and at night, etc., etc.

 

 

Which also means that your's truly ET parts "transporter"gets to "enjoy the same weather" outside. DW did offer to share the interior space if "more stuff" still in the garage was transported to the new shop.

[phoenix2013]

In the meantime the air conditioned "multipurpose room" is fully in the multipurpose mode. Today, parts fabrication and prep was going on. Note the "clever use" of cardboard to prevent the hot slugs produced by the mag drill from melting through the plastic trash bag. The trash barrel is steel, "just in case".

 

 

Prepped parts are then "staged" to the welding area,

 

 

to be "ministered to" by our new acquisition from Hobart.

 

 

The used Miller 211 "had issues", particularly on 1/2 inch to 1/2 inch steel, hence this acquisition.

[Broncohauler]

Very cool

[Jack Mayer]