Machine Builders Network+ Forums Thread Like Summary - Been busy and havelt been on for a while

I have been busy this year and not on here much. I did stop by once in a while just to read the comments, etc. Sold my property and henceforth had to sell my tractor project. Made money on property, but lost on the tractor. Still messing around with welding and stuff. I Bought one of the Chinese Vevor 270 amp mig/tig/stick welders just for shits and giggles. Haven't done much but run a few test welds to see what it can do. Surprisingly it is a hot little welder even on 120v. It is 120/240 with adapter. I need to mess with it more to be able to use it proficiently with flux core wire. I'll post some photos and more opinions on it when I get a chance. I kept my Miller thunderbolt that I converted to AC/DC just in case this rice burner didn't work out. Hope everyone is doing OK and staying healthy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Here is a photo of the tractor project when I got it done. Was a 22hp Rhino International 2224 4x4 with 4' loader.

Not that I recall, but I don't have a mind like a steel trap anymore....never was very good...

My last project prior to tractor was a concrete curbing machine utilizing an auger to pack semi damp sand and cement mix through a curb form. Concrete curbing is pretty popular here in Florida and I designed and built one from scratch. Used a HF motor, fabed a hopper and frame, gear reducer, 3 1/2" auger and extruded through a home formed flower bed curb shaped form. It worked pretty well and me and neighbor formed about 150' of curbing with curves and circles around trees. I had videos and photos of it in action but got new phone and most didn't transfer to new phone. I sold it for what I had in it.

Most of the curbing was broken within a few months by the landscape guy I had hired during the summer months while we were gone up north. He claimed his wife ran over it when he had her filling in. I couldn't get a dime out of the guy and threatened small claims court but he didn't come up with a penny. I put out a FB notice on him and showed photos of the damage but he didn't give a damn. Bodily harm came to mind. I tell everyone around the neighborhood about the worthless bastard so hope he has lost some business over it. The unit pushed itself along and stopped when you stopped shoveling mix in the hopper. You basically just guided it along with the handle bars. The concrete curbing guys get about 7-9 bucks a foot for the curbing, and our cost was about .35 cents a foot for raw materials and fiber. I might build another using the packing method rather than auger. It was a good project for this old guy to exercise his brain. Ill see if I can dig up some photos of the unit and curbing.