A friend who works for a roofing company brought out an old weather vane that had been damaged during the re-roofing process. Instead of removing the weather vane by unscrewing it, the roofers used a crowbar to peel the base off. A leg was broken off that wraps over the peak of the roof. It also looks as if they tossed it off the roof and broke one of the compass arms. The weather vane was built out of a cast pot aluminum.
First, Tom had to sandblast the weather vane until it was really clean. He then tig welded the weather vane back together. He re-profiled the weld so that it looked original. Finally, he re-sandblasted the weather vane and painted it. He had to grind down two screws on the compass arms because they were rusted and he couldn’t remove them. He had to tap two new holes for a couple of stainless steel screws and added them. The stainless steel screws will not rust like the old ones did.
The weather vane held sentimental value to the homeowner and the roofing company couldn’t find another one like it. Tom guessed that the weather vane might be around fifty to sixty years old.

Tom spent some time replacing a pump on the high ground of the irrigation system on the Laramie City Monolith Ranch site.
The irrigation pump that was previously there was no longer working. The engine had burned up.
First, Tom had to remove all of the existing piping. He then had to build new frame work to support the new shallow well turbine pump over the pump pit. He installed the pump and the motor. He used twelve inch piping to divert the water to the different gates.
He used about fifteen foot of twelve inch pipe and two weld l’s. He used schedule forty pipe so it won’t rust.
The new pump will be able to pump about twice the amount of water that the old one did.
Mark Wade from Electrical Solutions helped by upgrading all the wiring and the motor controller.
Some of the tool Tom used for this job included a cutting torch, arch welder, grinder, level, truck, trailer, forklift and skidsteer.

Hi Tom
My name is Steven and I am from Ireland. I’m a metal fabricator, not qualified though, but I have worked for 3 years with steel. The first place I worked was with a company making helicopter simulators for 2 years. The second job I had was making different things but I never made a handrail for a wheelchair ramp.
I just wanted to get your advice on a hand rail for a ramp. I wanted to know how I should measure the angle of the slope for the ramp? And also would I need to cut the posts each the same length that go inside of the handle part and the lower rail that will be above the ramp itself? How would I measure the length of the square tube at the angle for the post because each end cut will be cut at an angle so it can be welded to the upright posts at the start of the ramp and at the top if the ramp. I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind Regards
Steven

Steve from Ireland sent the above email full of questions concerning building a handicap ramp. I posted a short video of Tom giving a few tips on how to build a metal handrail for a sloped sidewalk or ramp. One thing to keep in mind is to contact a local building official to investigate any building codes that are required in your area. Another key is to make sure you start with a well poured ramp. Sometimes you have to deal with an existing concrete ramp, but if you are starting from ground zero, make sure the ramp is smooth and even to begin with. A good ramp will allow you to compute your metal handrail by rise and run method. You can actually take the measurement, duplicate the angle and draw out the handrail on your shop floor. If the ramp has a dip or two in it, use a strait two by four or a piece of square tube, lay it on the ramp, put an angle finder on it and find the exact angle. This gives you the angle of all the posts. All vertical metal posts should be level, or plumb. The top handrail can be made out of one piece of metal tube. The bottom bumper rails can be cut out to fit between the individual vertical metal posts. Additional guardrail should be added if local code dictates.

Thanks for the question Steve and best of luck with your project!

It is that time of year again when our attention turns to the outdoors and the curb appeal of our homes. One easy way to give your front porch a quick face lift is to add or replace an outdoor stair rail.
A few things to keep in mind, along with design, have to do with observing city and county codes.
Residential properties generally have to have at least one handrail along a flight of stairs. The height of the handrail should be mounted somewhere between 34″ and 38″ above all of the stair nosing.
The grip-able area of the handrail should measure between 1 1/4″ and 2 1/4″.
If the handrail is to be hung along an existing wall, like the example in the photos, a 1 1/2″ clearance between any projection in the wall and the handrail should be observed. Sometimes this gets a bit tricky if the wall has an uneven surface like stone.

Tom built this handrail to fit a new home. The handrail needed to bolt to a stone faced wall at the top and also bolt to a stone faced concrete planter at the bottom of the stairs. Tom used a lag screw that fit into the metal railing bracket and sunk it through the stone and wall behind. The bottom bracket was fastened using a concrete anchor through the stone into the concrete planter underneath. Tom used 1 1/2″ .109 wall E.W. round tubing bent using a Shop Outfitters Universal Fabricator.

Here is a common tire question I received from Dave in Colorado:

“The guy at the tire place said he can’t plug this tire because the
bolt is too close to the side. Is that true?”

It looks like he should be able to plug the tire it is not that close to the sidewall… The tire should be plugged to keep rocks/sand from getting into the tread, but after plugging, to fix correctly, a patch should be used on the inside of the tire to keep tread from delaminating from casing. Before patching the plug will need to be sanded off, inside the tire. If only a plug is used it is possible that the plug seals the tire at the tread, not in the casing, then air pressure is allowed to work between casing and the tread forming a bubble rendering the tire trash. This is not as big of a problem with radial tires (such as yours), as it is with older bias-ply and re-capped tires. Wow TMI. Hope this helps!
Tom

Tom likes to keep a close eye on all of the surplus auctions and sales that occur near the shop. The University of Wyoming usually has several items either up for bid or on sale several times a year. Tom looks for items that he can either use right away or transform into something usefull. Last winter a simple electric conveyor was offered through the surplus website. The electric conveyor was located in the basement of one of the buildings and served as a transport for books and other items from the storage area in the basement up to the main level of the building.
Tom picked up the electric conveyor for less than fifteen dollars, with the stipulation that he would remove it from the basement. The conveyor had to be removed shortly after the sale. Needless to say, Tom removed the long elevator with a little help from family.
With a little ingenuity, Tom transformed the electric conveyor into a wood elevator for use outside his metal and welding shop.
The first thing Tom did was to weld angle iron up the sides of the conveyor so that the wood could travel up the rubber belt with out falling over the edge. Tom used one inch by two inch steel angle iron.

The conveyor came equipped with a 208 three phase motor that needed to be converted to 110 single phase. The first step was to remove the 208 motor from the gear box. The gear box had a spline shaft so Tom had to take the 208 motor with a dual shaft and fit a shaft coupling on the output end to add the 110 motor onto the electrical conveyor belt. The 110 motor now runs through the dead 208 motor into the gear box to run the electric log elevator.
One other unique feature to the log elevator is its ability to raise either end for easy access to difficult locations.
The new log elevator now comes in handy when Tom is splitting and piling fire wood.

Tom ordered floor anchor pots from Auto Body Tool Mart. Normally, an anchor pot is installed into an existing concrete floor. If that is the case, the concrete needs to be core drilled before installing the floor anchor pot. This article will describe how Tom poured floor anchor pots into the concrete slab he formed for his new building addition.
Tom began by welding rebar onto the anchor pot. Tom then placed the anchor pots so they were flush with the finished grade of the concrete floor. Wet concrete was poured around the anchor pots to secure them into the floor. Blue tape was used to cover the anchor pot. The tape served to protect the anchor pot as well as aid in finding the pots after the concrete floor was dry.
Anchor pots are used regularly for chaining cars to the floor to help do body work. They can also be used to help straighten axles.

Tom had the opportunity to work on a turbo piston several weeks ago. On this particular piston the compression ratio needed to be lowered. Pistons are a basic part to all types of machinery that employ a reciprocating engine and are designed to work in harmony with the other components of the engine. Pistons sit in a cylinder and operate by transferring force to the crankshaft. If you have ever wondered why the tops of the pistons have an elevated ring around them, here is the answer.
The outside area of a piston is called the quench area. When machining a piston you need to be careful not to take to much of that outside area out. When the piston is in motion and going up under compression the quench area comes very close to the head and transfers a small amount of the heat out of the piston into the head in a matter of a split second. If the quench area has been machined down too much, it can cause the piston to over heat. This could lead to detonation. Sometimes this is the cause of an engine that has over heated.

It’s that time of year again when the roads get a little snowy. What inevitably comes with snow are the plow & sand trucks. Small pebbles of sand and rock are sometimes left on the interstates and highways. Cars and trucks passing by often shoot those pebbles and rock onto windshields causing cracks that could lead to further windshield damage. If this happens the best thing to do is to stop the crack from splintering by either having it repaired or repairing it yourself. Tom had this happen a few weeks ago on his way back from Colorado. Rather than take his Dodge pickup into a repair shop and spend around sixty dollars, Tom thought he would try a windshield repair kit that can be picked up from any local auto parts store for around fifteen dollars. Tom started by isolating the small pit by incorporating a stop drill technique using a dremel tool. Small holes are drilled into the ends of the cracks to limit the spread of the damage. A small LCD light can be placed on the inside dashboard for better viewing. Tom then used a Permatex Windshield Repair Kit to seal up the crack and hopefully prevent continued damage. The kit comes with a small syringe and plunger, a tube of repair compound, an adhesive disk,pedestal, curling strip, push pin, razor blade, an alcohol towelette, and a set of instructions. The entire process takes about an hour. Allow for a little longer curing time if it happens to be a cloudy day. Watch our short video for the simple steps it takes to repair your windshield yourself.