Machine Builders Network+ Forums Machine Builders Network General Discussion What odd jobs did you do today?

still diggin on the tile line and trying to mow the waterwaus. Right track jumped off the ex again yesterday. new machine is junk from chimna, but I kinda figured that when I bought it!

A friend of mine has one of the 'chimna' micro excavators, a full size American guy can BARELY fit inside the cab..the engine is a gas one cylinder, and when you run it for a while the compression drops and is terribly hard to restart..kinda like you just are better off leaving it running until you are done using it..the tolerances in the engine manufacturing are so loose as it gets hot the cylinder expands so much the compression drops. IF you put a real B+S or Kohler on it it might be usable. We just dug footers with it and what a struggle to master the controls of the unit, so jerky and almost violent to use..we spent so much time trying to get it restarted after an hour of use that we just left it running and moved it away from our work area..they need more weight on the rear to counter the digging forces,the whole thing is built as cheaply and lightweight to save on shipping and manufacturing costs..Ritchie Bros. auctions are flooded with them, they have at least 15 of them for sale at every auction here in the northeast,they average $5k plus taxes and fees

I want to put a flow control valve in the main line to slow everything down when digging then turn it on full flow to track down the line. Controls will toss you right off the seat. No cab on my L-12 and a great little machine for my use,---just needs the bucket sharper on the edges,----been grinding the shit out of the edges and that did wonderous for power!
My motor restarts decent, ( lucky there), but loses out after an hour of digging,---gas boils in the tank and vapor locks I think so I got the idea of about half diesel fuel mixed in and that solved the boil problem.
Hyd. cooler has a fan on it but that adds more heat to the motor which is already starved for air. The seat dont get hot but the metal around it gets hot enough to put blisters on you and your feet start to burn! lol!
Martin auction here has 75 or more of them BUT no L-12's and I wouldnt have one of the other models since you cant get to anything around the motor in them! The L-12 has a hood on the back that raises up so you can work on shit!
Price here is $ 3,800 up depending on the model, cab no cab, cab fan or ac in them and I dont want any of that shit on one of these!
I gave $4,250 for mine a year ago when they were selling for $6,500 here. Price now is down since the market is flooded with them so they moved to mini skidloaders and other stuff that are hot selling items now.

finished mowing the roadsides at the farm then started diggin again trying to find a tile and got stopped by the pipeline company! Well their pipe better be deeper than 4 feet cause I am going thru to replace a plugged line with a new 4" plastic one! Hate dealing with them dickheads! ( long story there) !
anyway I need to contact the wind turbine people and see where their power line crosses the waterway at and how deep it is.

got pipeline companys attention finally and got dig #'s for the rest of the diggin I am doing on the farm, windfarm people gotta mark their line out that crosses 2 waterways yet.
Today pipeline guy coming down to watch me dig across the line.

Next up, we have a simple fence tool. The next section that needs to be replaced is stockade rather than dog-ear boards. The narrower pickets usually only have 2 nails, often not much more than an inch apart. So there is one benefit to this style: You don't need to step them up slopes, you can "rack" them. This is easier if you use a come-along.

I made a couple of jigs (anchors?) to attach a come-along to a fence panel. If you need to slope your panels in both directions you will need two sets, one "left" handed and one right.

It's going to be a bit before I can get to this, my to-do list got preempted. Not too sure I will use the panels shown stacked under the one in the picture, they're awfully thin. Live and learn.

lookin good! Ya slopes and fences are a bitch to handle!

Just realized you can make both "hands" in one jig with just one more piece of angle, the small one, and put them back to back (or with the hook loop between them) more centered on the larger piece. Not going to change these, it's what I need.

makes the job a lot easier if you can use the same stuff and get both sides done without going thru a whole different setup! Sometimes you can stop , look, and think and come up with great ideas! lol!

yes stop and analyze..relax,light a smoke,crack a cold beer or sip a cup of hot coffee and look at the issue for a spell..take a look from different angles and make decisions then move ahead..with the prices of all materials-(wood,steel,etc) way up you have to stop and look for a while before you make mistakes that will waste materials and cost you dearly..not to mention re-work time as well..Ive learned to slow down