Rookie wanna-be weldor starting to make some cool things!

Yeah, I'm going to have a little trouble getting a tent to use. I am accustomed to sleeping in garages though. I'll just take the trash inside and sleep in the trash can cage with a tarp over it in case of rain, that should be bear-proof enough! Have a flare gun just in case?

P.s., is it humid and hot in the summer up there like central n.c.?

I can see you huddled in there now.


My wife had a pretty awesome idea...


Put you up in the camper. Heat, AC, fridge, shower, hot water, electricity, wifi, and a large window for bear watching.

I have a pretty good wife, huh?

Yes. Yes , you do. I always like when people appropriate their resources efficiently .

Kirk, I know hinges have been discussed a couple of times in the thread but my search-fu is weak. I have a set of paniers (bought before you ramped up production, unfortunately) that has lift-off lids with latches on both ends. I'd like to retrofit them with a hinge on one end instead. The lids fully overlap the box so I'm assuming I need some kind of offset hinge. Could you point me to what you've used?

Sure thing...

When I use a piano hinge on an overhanging lid, I add 3/8" clearance; 1/8" on each end, and an extra 1/8" for the hinge itself.

I have used a straight hinge successfully, but have learned to use a 2 1/2" wide piano hinge and bend a kick in one side with my sheet metal brake. All the offset hinges I've researched have all been the wrong size or thickness somehow.

I found a guy on ebay selling 2 1/2" x .070" thick al. hinges, and they are USA made. I don't know if he's drop-shipping or what, but they all have Grainger stickers on the back. I hope this helps.

Alright, in between gigs with a small amount of down time. The non-operational gantry has been bugging me. Let's pop the cover and see what's up.



Thank goodness it's an easy fix. The plungers on both contactors are corroded and hanging up. Some PB Blaster, sandpaper, a fine file and a rag makes it all good in the neighborhood.

I clean all the contacts, scrape off the old gasket on the cover mating surfaces, and button everything up after some blue silicone gasket is applied. The plastic bushing on the upper strain-relief connector was a little sloppy, which allowed some moisture to enter. I spooge some gasket maker in there as well. Good! That should take care of things.

I also flush and refill the gearcase with some tranny fluid. Now I can leave it outside and neglect it some more.




I think there is just enough lift to get it out of the bed of the truck. This 330 cubic foot cylinder clocks in around 175 lbs, so the gantry will be a nice backsaver.

Happy, happy, joy, joy. I actually fixed something.

I wish everything was that easy to fix.

Im loving my Rescued Spanco. Some friends came over this morning to borrow my trailer and I had the 500lb shelf unit I bought sitting in the trailer. They were impressed with the Spanco when they saw it, and really impressed when they saw it lift the shelves without me breaking a sweat.

Nice addition/extension to yours. That will make extending it easier.

You and me both! Seems like by time I have one thing fixed, 3 more things are broken.

Pretty fun tool to play with, isn't it? More useful than you could ever imagine and it allows you to tackle big jobs with ease.

I was REALLY bummed out the other day when Dave stopped by and I couldn't post pics of his V-Strom hoisted in the air while performing a swingarm repair. We had to use a come-along on the beam instead of the hoist. I guess I could have snapped some pics still, but it just wasn't the same. HaHa!

I'm glad it's fixed now!

Oh yeah. Not straining my back is worth every penny I've invested.

I keep looking for a nice Budgit or CM electric hoist, but none have turned up on CL. I may just buy one from Northern Tool. They have a decent 2,000 lb unit for about $300. Not a great duty cycle, but it would get done what I need to get done.

You might wanna talk to your local welding supply house about picking up
cyljnder by the cap.

Pretty sure thats a pretty safe way to do it...

edit- maybe not, but the guys that drop the tanks off at my school pick 'em up by the caps all the time.

Yeah, it's actually a good call saying lifting the cylinder by the cap is a big no-no. My buddy at work who used to be a welding instructor told me the very same thing today.

Thanks for the heads-up! I would like to see my kids grow up. And now I and others know.


Now I need to fab something with a lifting eye that the cylinder can sit atop and strap to. Time to roll out the MIG.

Some sort of sling maybe?

Lay it out in the truck bed, roll the cylinder into the middle then hook some loops from the corners or something.

One of the outfits that sew up nylon chokers makes a sling for a single bottle, it meets OHSA and it's spendy. A choker that is long enough to allow 3 bites on the bottle, One close to the bottom, the second about 1/2 way up and the third about 18" from the top will work if someone can land the bottle and set it uprite and make sure it is stable.

I'm not able to post pics but if you have a fax# I could send a drawing of
a bottle carrage for use with a crane.

I do have a nice assortment of slings and chokers, but that would require more work to use. I think I will make a dolly of some sort.

Thank you very much for your offer, but I don't have a fax here. I think I will build a cylinder dolly complete with wheels and a lifting eye. I will also be able to use it for UPS runs. My old package dolly is a bit long in the tooth and needs a replacement anyway. I can kill two birds with one stone that way.

I'll bend it out of DOM tube and give it a nice, solid foot. That's why my old dolly is so rickety - from overloading it.

It's always nice to have a decent project to look forward to!

I finally made it up here! I spent 6 or 7 hours on the road getting here from central NC. He lives in the most beautiful, scenic parts of Virginia I rode through. I knew he was cool but was even cooler than I expected. He lifted me up on the gantry crane by one of the pre-fabbed BR Moto pannier loops I brought, with a big dumb grin on my face, and it only got more fun from there. Now I've got those in their first stage of mock-up on my bike with all 4 mounting points started: tabs of flat bar cut and drilled, bolted to the rack. 2 pieces of tube on the passenger peg mounts cut to length and bolted on with longer bolts. Two pieces of tube mitre cut and tacked to the upper tabs and to the pannier loops symmetrically, square with the ground after we leveled the bike on the stand. Just need to get the proper longer hardware to mount this and the removae crossbar tomorrow and I'll knock it out with the greatest of ease. Photos to come. Couldn't help but write a teaser. Sux for the viewers right now but we should all be asleep now anyway. Just winding down.