Backpackin' with Tony

The heartbeat of America...Chevy truck

I'm just not sure how to react to this truck.
Here was an older (early 70's late 60's) truck, in not especially good shape with this elaborately crafted rear end.  Literally everything back of the cab and over the frame was wood.  The bed, the fenders, the bumper, the tool box, everything.
I mean whoever did it obviously had some woodworking skills, but really, this was just odd looking.  I wish the photo was better but all  I had was my phone.  Anyway you get the idea.

Junkasaurus

What do you get if you combine a broken shovel, a broken rake, 4 plow blades, some old chain, a few old bolts, some motorcycle handlebars, and some sprockets from an old bike?

Junkasaurus

after a few finishing touches...finish the tail, reposition the head and give it some ribs to make it look more skeletal...

Cast off Direct TV Dish Becomes Yard Art

Some things can become other things if you just think outside the box.  When my son had a new roof put on his house the dish left behind by the previous dwellers was removed in favor of cable (even at the risk of winding up in a roadside ditch.)
When he asked me if I wanted the dish (it was metal, and my new favorite paastime is welding junk into different junk) I said sure, not knowing what I would do with it but surely I could think of something. 

I originally thought I'd find a use for everything but the dish...then it rained, and the rest as they say is history.

I mean what is a birdbath besides a shallow dish on a pedestal.  Add a custom paint job to appease the wifey and...

How 1 day I set out to clean my shed and wound up with a Tandem.

So one day I was shuffling things around in and out of the shed and when I saw this:

One thing led to another and pretty soon I had a project: Why not build a tandem bike?  This is pretty much a step-by-step pictorial essay of that process



Just getting a feel for things, and getting the frames and parts
cleaned up



First cut.

Checking alignment.

Need a way to be sure the sprockets are going to line up. 

The boards were bolted though the crank holes on either side to keep them
aligned while I welded the top of the frames together.

At this point I was somewhat concerned about how
high the front crank was

Finally starting to get it together.

Two sections of steel tubing welded between crank hubs
for strength.

I finally decided not to cut off those cool curved pieces and
heated them and bent them down and in.  Probably not any
added strength, I just liked the way they looked.

At this point I put some wheels on and bounced around a
little just to make sure the welds weren't going to
break as soon as the bike got a little weight on it.

Add a little color...

At this point I still wasn't sure about how to get rear handlebars
on the thing but we had a little test run just to see if there were
any unforeseen problems.  That front crank is 14" off the  ground
and if it were any higher it would be a problem because that front
seat is about as low as it can go and at 6' I just can get a foot
down when stopped.

After a lot of thought I came up with this.  It's made from 2 of those rear carriers
that clamp on the seat post.  I cut about 4" off each and welded them together.
Worked great but, you need a heavier than normal goose neck or it won't fit.  The
good news is that because of the way the clamping mechanism on those carriers works
you basically have a "quick-disconnect" for the rear bars which means you can take them
off to make the mount and dismount easier for the front rider.

This is where it stands today, functional and enjoyable.

I think it turned out pretty well for my first attempt, and really my first welding project where the strength of the weld actually matters.  It's not finished though...I want fenders (there are some nice chrome ones on my wife's Schwinn but she won't give them up.) I also would like a chain guard, and probably need an idler sprocket to keep tension on the front chain, but I'm looking to change sprockets if I can find two that are compatible, and better brakes.

This is a conglomeration of parts from 5 different bikes.  All were scavenged at no cost except that aqua-colored one that makes up the rear end and the front fork, and that one has been mostly un-ridden for 15 years. (It was a present to my daughter on her 11th birthday, so that cost has been pretty well written off.)

So the total cost of the project:  

 $8.00 - new chain

$12.00- long cables for gears and rear brakes

 $9.00- 2 cans of spray paint

 $3.00- master links

$32.00

As I said...this is a composite of 5 bikes...that means there are a ton of bike parts that didn't make the cut for this project, so.............

My sister-in-law wanted a girl

Eyelashes are tedious, and shovels imitate life in that girl shovels are more trouble than boy (or asexual) shovels.

Handlebar moustache

In dash MP3 holder

I like taking my MP3 player in the car, especially on long trips.  The problem is there isn't really a good place for it and I don't especially like it laying on the dash on the rubber mat that it came with.  I've tried a couple of those holders but just haven't found one that suits me.  Either the player doesn't fit or there isn't a good mounting system.  I've seen one that I like but can't find it in the stores.

I bought one the other day and I acutally liked the way the player fit in it. Problem was it had 3 different mounting systems. 2 of them were the vent clip type and that's not what I want. The other was a "T" shaped piece of metal with double backed adhesive, but I didn't want to stick it on the dash and there wasn't really anyplace else for it.

There is a recessed place in the dash of the car, and what I really wanted was something that would fit that hole and have a place to mount the MP3 player on the front of it between the AC vents.

I just thought that would be the best place.  Passenger and driver could both see it plainly, and it would be convenient enough that you actually might be able to work it some while driving without having to hold it, and still keep your eyes on the road because you dind't have to look down, but there wasn't anything I could find that even came close to doing what I wanted.  Plus I wanted something that wasn't permanent, and wouldn't damage the dash, yet fit tightly enough that it wouldn't vibrate, move around or fall out...like something that was under tension like a spring.

So I started looking around to see if I could find anything that might...

And I found this stuff:

Which looked like it had some potential.

So I made a few changes.

(p.s. springs are tricky to weld as they tend to burn up pretty easily and require a lower setting and this is not something I learned from the book)

and came up with the (above) which fit the hole (below)

Which left somehow getting the bracket attached.  Double sided, padded tape was an option, and I thought I had some but I couldn't find it and didn't want to buy something I thought I had.  Velcro was another option but again I thought I had some.....

Anyway the bracket came apart and after some thoughtful drilling and some black paint...

there was this:

Which all translates into this:

and this:

I think that's just what I had in mind when I started, and that is a good thing.

One for the "Yo' momma so po'" archives

Recently person S2 asked me to frame a mirror which person T had made for person S1.  I said that wouldn't be a problem.  When I got around to starting this project yesterday I thought to myself; there are a lot of frames in the attic...
Now, I knew I didn't have a frame that would fit said mirror because the mirror was an unusual size but I thought maybe I could rework one of those home-made frames from years ago that were not hanging, and not especially well made anyway and save a trip to Home Depot.
(That's not the "he so po'" part)
As I said, the frame was home-made and rather amateurishly made at that.  The miter joints weren't exactly perfect fits, and in order to hold everything together there was a piece of 1/8" plywood nailed to the back to firm everything up, hold the picture in, and keep the corners somewhat closed.
When I took this backing off I noticed that the nails holding it on were not pointy as nails should be.  Evidently, when I made the frame, the only nails I had were too long, and rather than go buy new nails I cut them off to the length I needed...
So...
Was I too poor to buy the right nail, too tight to buy the right nail, too lazy to drive to the hardware store, or just too danged resourceful?
You can make that call.
Anyway the job turned out OK, if still a little amateurish.

I wonder if I ever had to go buy nails the size of the ones I cut down because all the ones I had were too short.

I got a welder for Christmas

Once my dad told me not to throw metal stuff away because you might need it one day for something.  So I had an old cooler in the garage and I'd throw pieces of metal in it when I had some.  Now I'm finally getting to take some of that junk out of the cooler (which by-the-by has overflowed into a box and a crate and some buckets.)
I still have a lot of junk metal, now it's just stuck to other pieces of junk metal.

this was first.

then this guy.

the peace sign

Hook 'em Horns