neohic

I know what you're thinking. "Next Greatest Thread on CC?!" And you might be right! Don't get me wrong... there's some real heavy hitters here: What Did You Do To Your MJ Today?, Counting With Pictures, Crazy Mad Flex... the list goes on. Granted, these threads are all located in the Popular Threads section and this maybe should've been posted there. However, this is not a popular thread... YET!!! Will it happen? We'll soon find out. The thought behind this is that while many of us love wheeling, not all of us have the opportunity to take out our trucks and enjoy them for one reason or another. How about we get a little creative? Here's how it works: What did you wheel today? Any special features of this machine? Pictures... because everybody likes pictures. For example... Craftsman LTX 1000 21.5hp Briggs V-Twin, 42" cutting deck, 15x6.00 front / 20x10.00 rear tires, mild body damage... but chicks dig body damage anyway. Poser shot to check for binding clearances: Easy trail riding: Flexing out: Even did some rock crawling: There you have it. Could this be the next greatest thread on CC? Let's see what you've been wheeling today and we'll find out.

I've said it a few times before, but I teach at a Technical College. School has been out for a couple of weeks now, and I usually have about a month off during the summer. Not so much this year. I had a week off, then the school decided that it would be a good idea to bring me back for a couple weeks to take care of a project that has been on the back burner for the past couple years. Here's the back story: I went to school eight years ago now and we had this amazing CNC plasma table that nobody seemed to know how to use or what to do with. Well, that just wasn't good at all! It was me and another student that took it upon ourselves to stick around after class and figure things out. We did. We made some cool stuff. Then we graduated. Fast forward a few years and I take on a job at the same school I went to. The thing is, class sizes kept growing and space was limited in the shop... and the table was taken apart and put into storage. Mega bummer! A couple years later and we expanded the shop. A couple years later again and it's now time to put it back into service! Just set it up, right? Wrong... Originally, there was no ventilation for the table and it was just grandfathered from year to year. So even if we were to set everything back up exactly where it was, we would have to add a $20k air cleaner and a way to feed said air cleaner from the table. Enter a side-draft table! I went around to a few local shops to see how their tables were set up. Being that we're a school, most shops love to let me in and poke around and be nosey! I found one that I liked and it had a simple design... simple in terms of moving parts and easy of fabrication, anyhow. Pictures!!!... crappy cell phone pictures, but pictures none the less... Air cleaner and frame: Now, originally, the frame and plasma were bought but the slat table was built here. It had good bones, so I decided to strip it down and use it for its frame. Here's how it's going to work: As the gantry moves back and forth with the plasma head, there will be a torpedo shaped suction head that moves with it. This side of the table was totally cut off and I cut out the new side with these windows. The suction torpedo then extends down into a tube. The plan is to put some rubber belting on each side of the opening of the top of the tube. As the torpedo travels back and forth, the rubber will open and close around it keeping the suction localized through the head. In the end, there will be vertical slats for the material being cut to sit on to keep it up and off the table. Those slats will run in line with the line with the head to keep the suction right where the material is being cut. See? I said it was easy! More pictures... Everything is adjustable both up and down and left and right. Originally, there were all kinds of legs on the table. Being that I cut off two of them to make room for the suction tube along the frame, I had to get creative to at least put one back for some support. Let's make it a table! One sheet one... ... two sheet two... Had to make up a run off bumper also. Being that the head is centered to the cutting head, some of it will always be farther further than everything else. This was made up to keep the suction on the table and not from the rest of the room. Added some expanded metal to the windows to keep smaller debris from entering the suction tube. Then the ventilation guys came over and had a look at things. Ideally, the suction tube should have as gentle of a curve as possible for the best flow and performance. Being that everything had to be close to the wall to save space, this could not happen. Fortunately, our air cleaner is way bigger than it needs to be. Hopefully I can open this up a little more once I know how the rubber belting will go. Obligatory close up of tube fit up... even if it is 10" tube... Obligatory close up of weld... While this was happening, I had already brought the table out to paint everything. Might as well make it match the $20k air cleaner and $45k plasma cutter! I try and think about the future too with projects like this. For the ease of moving it around, should it ever need to move, I added a lug at one end. Keep in mind that this all happened over this week. I was hoping to get further along, but things are always more difficult than they should be when one is working by themselves on a project like this. Next week will include fire brick to line the bottom of the table. At the end of the day, our electrician got done with his portion too. Very happily, and after over six years of sitting, a breaker was flipped and a green led display came back to life! Incredibly excited to get this up and running! I'm already thinking of all the cool stuff I could do with it!... granted, all while keeping things education oriented. :D Stay tuned for more next week.

Some good stuff happening here. I have a couple weeks before I'll be ready to cover everything back up. Leaning towards some of Jay's suggestions along with some CC gear. Probably make up something cool out of stainless to drop in there too. Not sure what just yet, but probably something cool anyhow.

http://duluth.craigslist.org/cto/3955359325.html 1987 Jeep Comanche Pickup -Low Miles- - $2250 (Two Harbors, MN) 87 Jeep Comanche pickup, 72,000 original miles, 2.5L 4 cylinder, 4 speed trans, new clutch and exhaust. Nice shape, drives great. Please email me if you are interested.

Just wait until you get another!... and another... then another... and so on...

Can't get over how awesome this truck always looks. Totally worth the 1st place!

My schedule had to get rearranged this week so that put me with another day to try and figure something to do. I decided that it was a good enough as any time to start the paint. The beauty part of a rattle can paint job is that you can quit and come back whenever you want! I got the roof, rear of the cab, and cab sides done... with minimal rework and runs to chase out later. Oh! So many colors this truck has already been! Found some filler too. ... and then a bug landed right in the middle of the roof. :fs2:

Had a little bit of time I needed to fill today so I thought what better way than to put some attention to this. I got the headliner done along with most of the interior trim pieces. The seat out of the '91 was in super bad shape. I had a good seat around from another truck that had a rotten frame. So? Move the cover from the back rest from the good seat over to the '91 frame for the head rests, and move the bottom cushion over to the '91 frame. Done!... for today anyway.

I guess another questions would be, what would you use as the time capsule vessel itself that would last?

It's that time again. The time of year where I have some time off from work. In the past, I used to fill this time with fun things like throwing large amounts of time at cool projects and pounding them out quickly. For the last couple years, it has been filled with house work... this year keeps the theme going. While it's nowhere near as much work as last year's renovation that included a larger garage, this year's project is just about as important! This year I'm being required to hook up to city sewer. So today was all kinds of fun. Next week is the start of the digging outside so that means I need to make room in the basement for the new plumbing. Just like any other project, there's a few things that I'm doing in the basement... while I'm in there. Going to stub in for a bathroom, and I'm doing drain tile along the back wall. It all starts with this: Which leads me to my question for everyone. I'm one that likes to find things hidden away like treasures that were intentionally placed there. It's kind of lame, but anytime I start into a project like this, I like the idea of stumbling on something that was put under a floor or stuffed in a wall. Today was no different. With ever scoop of the shovel and every smack of the hammer, I was just waiting to find something... anything!... under the floor. Hmm... no dice. Being that the floor is open, I think it's the perfect time to make up a time capsule! So? What should I put in there? Or, if you had the opportunity, what would you put in one?

^Love it!!! :rock on:

:needpics:

You know you're doing something right when there's an evil laugh involved!

Thanks, dude! Swing through whenever... we're always open. I got off from work a little early so I came home to get the transfer case shifter done. Probably just put a boot over everything to jazz it up some. ... and I desperately need to clean up the carpet. :doh:

Robyn: "What would you like to do this year for our anniversary?" :dunno: Ben: "How about a road trip to Duluth?" . :MJ 1: . Robyn: "Yeah! Sounds like fun! We could cruise up to the lighthouse and hit up the museums and find the local restaurants..." :) Ben: "Yup... we could do all that stuff... maybe stop in at Archer's..." :idea: Robyn: "What was that?" :bs: Ben: "I said that sounds great!... and I could work in a stop at Archer's..." :roll: Robyn: :shake: Ben: :crossfingers: Robyn: :rant: Ben: :peek: Robyn: "Fine... but only if we don't end up leaving with some old truck part!" :thwak: She's very supportive!... and understanding. :thumbsup:

It was a long night thinking about putting that rusty truck out to pasture. Well... it's time to move on and keep going. Had a big day getting the floor taken care of. Pretty textbook repair in the left foot well. Then came a nice, heavy couple coats of bedliner. I was having so much fun I decided to polish off the can of bedliner on the rear frame. I started on the shift linkage for the transfer case also. All I have is the shifter itself so I'm simplifying everything and just making up my own linkage. More on that later.

Did they let you keep it?!

It was a sad day. :( I've never had to scrap a Comanche before, but after digging into this poor truck I quickly found that this was really the best thing for it. I have a tow bar for my VWs that I made up an adapter to dispose of the truck. My wife is ecstatic that I have a convenient way of pulling home more trucks. :shake: Scrap day... Like I said, this thing was bad. Time to go. :cry: The end. Can't be said enough how sad it is to thin the herd. This being done, it leaves my attention on getting the donor on the road. ... and then there were three... and a half.

I like that... kind of like some sort of knighthood. I'd wear my suit of rust with pride!

Can anybody else watch this and oddly see themselves? I've been on a big TED kick lately to where that's what I do for hours at a time. It's like YouTube where one thing leads to another... and another... and another... and so on. :nuts:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/cto/3922221707.html 87 jeep comamche - $1000 (cannon falls) I have a 87 jeep comanche for sale. The truck is ruff on the inside and fair on the outside. It has tje bigger 4.0 and I have removed the box. Was gonna make into a trail truck bit don't have the time. It does need a fuel tank and pump. It does run and will need tires. It also comes with a 98 ford explore rear end . If u have any questions feel free to contact me. Thank you 507-589-8055. Really surprised with this truck. It obviously needs rockers but the box sides really don't look all that bad... if you can see past the dents anyway. That bright yellow might be hiding a bit though. Still, I'd call at least out of curiosity if I was on the market.

Totally diggin' the topper! :rock on:

I love that gasket. I've done a couple of them recently and every time I go in to get a gasket I have to argue with the parts store jockey that I do indeed want to spend $40 on a gasket instead of $10 for the cork. :shake: Never had any issues with leaking and they're reusable. :thumbsup:

Sorry to hear that, Pete. Any kind of strict diet is no fun at all. :( Good luck with everything. :thumbsup:

... and now it moves!!! I should probably make it stop too. :idea: Working on removing the rest of the parts from the '91 now. No sense in having two dumpy looking trucks kickin' around the yard and dropping the resale value of the neighborhood!