What are you currently working on??
- Thread starter backwoods
- Start date
Somehow the hood from the Deere 166 got cracked and pretty bad. I have this hot air plastic welder that I bought for another project some years ago, I found out elsewhere online exactly what type of plastic they made those hoods from. It's polycarbonate, yeah like lexan. Wow the filler rod for polycarbonate is expensive. Yet the company I found it from themselves put a blurb on their site that it's also available from Amazon with direct link to it. From this factory the rod I needed was $42 plus 10 shipping. Amazon was $36 with free shipping. This hot me 30 ft of filler rod, I figured I'd use 2 feet. But that was the smallest quantity I could get.
It didn't go well. I clamped it lightly to a table and when I got close with the heat I added more cracks in a semi circle around the clamps. So I fixed them. Then I was dressing them with a Dremel and I heard a pop. Another crack on the opposite end of the hood from where I was working. It's ugly but back in one piece.
It didn't go well. I clamped it lightly to a table and when I got close with the heat I added more cracks in a semi circle around the clamps. So I fixed them. Then I was dressing them with a Dremel and I heard a pop. Another crack on the opposite end of the hood from where I was working. It's ugly but back in one piece.
I’ve been wanting to try this it sounds interesting. I’m wondering if there is a heat issue concerning the areas around the damage area that are still cooler. I have a early 80’s JD 318 that has a damaged hood it looks like it’s fiberglass. I’ve worked with that several times but some of the newer plastic like you mentioned can get complicated.
I doubt it's fiberglass. I've seen people use fiberglass resin on other plastics, sometimes it won't even stick, other times it will hold for a while and then lose its grip , delaminate and peel off like a band aid
That is what I have run into also. One fix is to drill holes in the top and put the fiberglass with cloth inside and let the resin come through the holes for a gripping place. If there is much vibration that won't always work either. Also have to paint the outside of the hood afterwords.
hood is pretty solid now, just don't understand the further cracking as each original crack was fixed. and none were inline with or a continuation of a previous crack. each new crack is way away from what part I was working on at the time. also I had V'd the original crack, didn't with any subsequent crack. and looking at the top side either side of most cracks (besides the original) sticks up vs the same part of the panel but "across the crack".
Its 1 solid piece again, its going back on the machine as is at least for now, I'll decide what if anything to do with it later..... this machine is intended as a flip, so a replacement (better shape) hood would have to come cheap. I can get a brand new one for ~mid $90s, and would consider it if this was planned as a keeper
2nd round of leaf harvest today, barely got front and side yard done and it was dark. haven't touched the back yard yet, did other (bigger) side yard when I did 1st round, about a week ago. 1st leaf fire of year. needed the light from fire to help see to run the Billy goat sucker machine/// well the fire light, plus holding a flashlight in my mouth as I pushed on with the Billy goat..... got 3 B.G. loads smoldering right now in the gravel driveway.
I got home at 4:10 and didn't even have a 1/2 an hour of daylight to work in... damn. I hate gettin up in the dark (that's been almost 2 months now) and I hate barely having daylight to work in when I get home..... not wanting to burn vacation days to be able to get things done outside in daylight....
been damp, rainy, cold, raw, and blah alot outside lately when I have been home during daylight..... didn't do a damn thing this past Saturday or Sunday because of that, either.....
Its 1 solid piece again, its going back on the machine as is at least for now, I'll decide what if anything to do with it later..... this machine is intended as a flip, so a replacement (better shape) hood would have to come cheap. I can get a brand new one for ~mid $90s, and would consider it if this was planned as a keeper
2nd round of leaf harvest today, barely got front and side yard done and it was dark. haven't touched the back yard yet, did other (bigger) side yard when I did 1st round, about a week ago. 1st leaf fire of year. needed the light from fire to help see to run the Billy goat sucker machine/// well the fire light, plus holding a flashlight in my mouth as I pushed on with the Billy goat..... got 3 B.G. loads smoldering right now in the gravel driveway.
I got home at 4:10 and didn't even have a 1/2 an hour of daylight to work in... damn. I hate gettin up in the dark (that's been almost 2 months now) and I hate barely having daylight to work in when I get home..... not wanting to burn vacation days to be able to get things done outside in daylight....
been damp, rainy, cold, raw, and blah alot outside lately when I have been home during daylight..... didn't do a damn thing this past Saturday or Sunday because of that, either.....
well yesterday, I got about 1/2 the leaves burned.... wind picked up, and switched, blowing right towards my front door... crap. That usually doesnt happen. Go spread the pile as thin as I could, trying to get it to go out for now..... usually I leave em smolder all night and by morning nothing but a pile of ash,.,,,, not this time. Had to carry water from inside the house and put it out since I have the outside water shut off for the season........even though this was yesterday, it still smells like burnt leaves in the house today.
just got done taking an online test I was supposed to do at work on the clock.... We're a "private" lane for DOT truck inspections/ we can only do "our own" (state owned) but it was renewal time. Last year (just before covid scamdemic, no less) they did it different/ I wish they'd have done it this year the same way. Last year to renew, the rep came out, and I had to have a truck heavy enough to have air brakes in the shop and run thru an inspection, while I explained to the rep, what I was looking for as I went along...... the written testing is strict/ as in you can't miss more than 10% and pass. Flunk, and go thru the whole process again as a brand new inspector would have to do, when first signing up to become a certified tester..... and being I'm the only one there, the shop couldn't do any inspections, til I went thru the "F.N.G." process again. I have trucks from 6 IDOT yards that I have to test, whenever they come due. so I had a window of 5 questions I could miss.... no wiggle room.
Boss came out in the shop and asked if I'd done mine yet, has to be done by last day of month. Our supervisor-rep had called, cuz he didn't see my name pop up as having done it yet. Let it run out, and have to go thru the newbie crap again..... and he proceeded to tell my boss that he had had several flunk that were previously certified, in his territory.. great sense of confidence.
Its open book but many answers have to be assumed as in, well, if it's not in the book, it doesn't apply. I had the biggest hassle with administrative parts that really do not pertain to me. and the fact that I might have to look in the book on page 59 for one question, then back to page 8 for the next, and page 27-ish for the next, then page 64 then page 5, etc....no "flow" on the questions that made any sense.
One of the questions pertained to when the last weeks truck testing results, have to be turned in by...... I don't deal with that, the boss does.
and another on filling in blank number so and so, when dealing with interstate trucks (ones that drive out of state and back) I don't deal with any of those, either. I don't know how they can count those sort of questions against me..... they don't pertain to me. or why they were even included on the test.
also, I started the test and got thru question 16 or so of the 50..... then while I looked in the book for the next answer (worded funny, had to look for "their" terminology) my screen went blank, and back to square one. It said something about a "training mode" (practice test? I dunno what they meant by that-- definitely not a "study guide") when I first started.
only about half the questions I had answered in the 1st go round, were within the 1st 16, on the 2nd go round. there's 2-1/2 hours I won't get paid back for..... I tried for an hour today at work to do it there/ and the link they sent me kept coming up as "404... not found" on work's computer.... like they gave me a bad link....... boss wasn't there this afternoon and wanted me to do this test while I was there and he wasn't.... I had talked to him about such questions that hung me up this time because they were similar to questions thet screwed me up in the past and he said to ask him or we'd "call the rep" but he wasn't there to either ask him what he thought, or to get me the rep's number...... lotta good that did me while at work, anyhow. I got thru it with missing 3. One was "question 42", which I was really stumped on, (the one about when last week's test results, had to be turned in by) and I'd left it blank, thinking I would come back to it.....,well I got to question #50 I forgot about it and the computer let me know it was blank and it wouldn't take my results, until I answered it somehow...... it was a true/false and I got it wrong.
just got done taking an online test I was supposed to do at work on the clock.... We're a "private" lane for DOT truck inspections/ we can only do "our own" (state owned) but it was renewal time. Last year (just before covid scamdemic, no less) they did it different/ I wish they'd have done it this year the same way. Last year to renew, the rep came out, and I had to have a truck heavy enough to have air brakes in the shop and run thru an inspection, while I explained to the rep, what I was looking for as I went along...... the written testing is strict/ as in you can't miss more than 10% and pass. Flunk, and go thru the whole process again as a brand new inspector would have to do, when first signing up to become a certified tester..... and being I'm the only one there, the shop couldn't do any inspections, til I went thru the "F.N.G." process again. I have trucks from 6 IDOT yards that I have to test, whenever they come due. so I had a window of 5 questions I could miss.... no wiggle room.
Boss came out in the shop and asked if I'd done mine yet, has to be done by last day of month. Our supervisor-rep had called, cuz he didn't see my name pop up as having done it yet. Let it run out, and have to go thru the newbie crap again..... and he proceeded to tell my boss that he had had several flunk that were previously certified, in his territory.. great sense of confidence.
Its open book but many answers have to be assumed as in, well, if it's not in the book, it doesn't apply. I had the biggest hassle with administrative parts that really do not pertain to me. and the fact that I might have to look in the book on page 59 for one question, then back to page 8 for the next, and page 27-ish for the next, then page 64 then page 5, etc....no "flow" on the questions that made any sense.
One of the questions pertained to when the last weeks truck testing results, have to be turned in by...... I don't deal with that, the boss does.
and another on filling in blank number so and so, when dealing with interstate trucks (ones that drive out of state and back) I don't deal with any of those, either. I don't know how they can count those sort of questions against me..... they don't pertain to me. or why they were even included on the test.
also, I started the test and got thru question 16 or so of the 50..... then while I looked in the book for the next answer (worded funny, had to look for "their" terminology) my screen went blank, and back to square one. It said something about a "training mode" (practice test? I dunno what they meant by that-- definitely not a "study guide") when I first started.
only about half the questions I had answered in the 1st go round, were within the 1st 16, on the 2nd go round. there's 2-1/2 hours I won't get paid back for..... I tried for an hour today at work to do it there/ and the link they sent me kept coming up as "404... not found" on work's computer.... like they gave me a bad link....... boss wasn't there this afternoon and wanted me to do this test while I was there and he wasn't.... I had talked to him about such questions that hung me up this time because they were similar to questions thet screwed me up in the past and he said to ask him or we'd "call the rep" but he wasn't there to either ask him what he thought, or to get me the rep's number...... lotta good that did me while at work, anyhow. I got thru it with missing 3. One was "question 42", which I was really stumped on, (the one about when last week's test results, had to be turned in by) and I'd left it blank, thinking I would come back to it.....,well I got to question #50 I forgot about it and the computer let me know it was blank and it wouldn't take my results, until I answered it somehow...... it was a true/false and I got it wrong.
Been going to work all week but today is the first day I had energy enough to come out to the shop for a while after work. SLOWLY healing up! Right eye still has some fits now and then, and an occasional headaches coming and going along with it. Haven't done anything productive since Sunday yet. I will probably be cutting some stickers for a lady over the weekend so probably no tractor or truck work.
Thanks for the well wishes!
DAC
Thanks for the well wishes!
DAC
Not tractor work but a close cousin. Wife was tied up with work issues and I had the day off so I decided to do some year end maintenance to my Echo string trimmer and hedge trimmer. Drained the fuel systems, gave the spark arrester a cleaning. Blow all the dust and dirt in general off of them. 
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Spent the second half of the week welding wear rods onto a dozer blade. Took 30 hours to do the whole cutting edge and wings. Used on a dozer pushing cleaned coal into the bins for loading onto the river barges.
I was sitting there with my ear buds in listening to music and happy as can be. A guy in the shop said you drew the short stick for a boring job and I said sure beats sitting in a classroom 8 hours a day!!!
On vacation next week. They gave me all 5 weeks up front so I'm gonna burn 1 week next week. Then the last 2 weeks of December then take 2 weeks as pay after Jan 1st.
I was sitting there with my ear buds in listening to music and happy as can be. A guy in the shop said you drew the short stick for a boring job and I said sure beats sitting in a classroom 8 hours a day!!!
On vacation next week. They gave me all 5 weeks up front so I'm gonna burn 1 week next week. Then the last 2 weeks of December then take 2 weeks as pay after Jan 1st.
I was mainly cutting stickers for a customer this weekend, but I did play with the cutter for a bit of tractor related fun too!
Several weeks ago I had ordered a couple of steering wheel spinners for the MF8E and the MF1450. Never really felt the need for one mowing with the MF12G. Of course I had to be a little nostalgic and order ones that looked like I remembered as a kid with the girly pictures in them. Probably wont last, but I couldn't help myself.
I converted a couple of MF logos i found online and cut them mainly as a test. Then I tried to unscrew the plastic clear cap that is supposed to come off. Nope they just spin like the threads are stripped out. I'm sure they are the finest quality Chinese money can buy---LOL! Was going to put MF logos in them. May end up scarring them some getting the cap off then also might have to super glue them back on. Didn't get carried away removing the cap yet.
The MF12G is my only tractor with an intact logo and the top triangle is just black with no tractor in it but I kinda like the tractor with the plow on it anyway. The other one was for fun---LOL!
DAC
Several weeks ago I had ordered a couple of steering wheel spinners for the MF8E and the MF1450. Never really felt the need for one mowing with the MF12G. Of course I had to be a little nostalgic and order ones that looked like I remembered as a kid with the girly pictures in them. Probably wont last, but I couldn't help myself.
I converted a couple of MF logos i found online and cut them mainly as a test. Then I tried to unscrew the plastic clear cap that is supposed to come off. Nope they just spin like the threads are stripped out. I'm sure they are the finest quality Chinese money can buy---LOL! Was going to put MF logos in them. May end up scarring them some getting the cap off then also might have to super glue them back on. Didn't get carried away removing the cap yet.
The MF12G is my only tractor with an intact logo and the top triangle is just black with no tractor in it but I kinda like the tractor with the plow on it anyway. The other one was for fun---LOL!
DAC
Need to work on my forced air heater this morning. Would not even turn on the other day when I tried it. The oldere smaller unit hasn't been run in 2 yewars and it fired right off, just isn't big enough for the space I want to take the chill off of.
I removed the moldboard plows off of two of my garden tractors. Then I put the snow blades on both of them.
That along with the bucket on the John Deere 140 should last me for the winter. For now the 140 has a pair of temporary arms on it . I need them to move some wrought iron fence panels for the local cemetery.
That along with the bucket on the John Deere 140 should last me for the winter. For now the 140 has a pair of temporary arms on it . I need them to move some wrought iron fence panels for the local cemetery.
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I managed to salvage the electric lift cylinder off of a Bruno mobility scooter lift. Don't know yet what I'll do with it.
26" center to center on the mounting holes, and it extends 18". Weight capacity was listed at 350 pounds.
26" center to center on the mounting holes, and it extends 18". Weight capacity was listed at 350 pounds.
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That’s a good looking winter fleet