Redneck/SF Engineering

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Bill Harsey

Now that's redneck. This has me looking at the windshield washer on my ol' pickup.

I've often thought (but would never, EVER, consider doing ) about routing a small diameter line out to the rear bumper of my rig and and have it hooked up to an electric fuel pump and small waste oil tank. The switch would be within reach of the operator while driving.

This might be for "helping" tailgaters.

Mr. Harsey, you are a regular Redneck James Bond.

Maybe we will call you Jim Bob Bond?

TR

[BulletcatchR]

Frontsite,
Alittle bit of heat shrink tubing on the ends of your wires should handle low dryer heat.Leave it alittle long and throw a stitch thru the 'tab' when your sewing up.

Bill's BOI on welding carbon steel sounds alot like welding cast iron.

I've got a cold blooded CJ-5 and made a 'hatch' in my air cleaner cover to administer starting fluid.



Great thread.

bulletcatchR

[vsvo]

Originally Posted by Bill Harsey

Most folks here know I grew up logging, spent years at it.

Mr. Harsey, we read a case last night about a fellerbuncher gone bad (it wasn't Torts class, so no freak, fatal injuries). I thought about you as soon as I read that it was a logging case. It also reminded me about this thread, namely for the apparent lack of such engineering. The logger was operating a fellerbuncher when it suddenly lost power. Unable to restart it, he went to his truck to radio for help. He returned to find the machine on fire.

[BMT (RIP)]

My first WAG about the fellerbuncher that caught on fire. Dirty air cleaner,they will catch on fire if dirty.

BMT

[vsvo]

Originally Posted by BMT

My first WAG about the fellerbuncher that caught on fire. Dirty air cleaner,they will catch on fire if dirty.

BMT

Good tip BMT. In this particular case, the company argued that a short circuit caused the power failure and fire. The manufacturer disputed that, and claimed that the operator should have turned off the master switch before walking away. After an investigation, the manufacturer found worn insulation around the throttle cable, and suggested in an internal memo that it should send a letter advising customers to reroute the cable. The fight was over the admissibility of that memo in the trial.

[Squidly]

Many years ago I remember reading some short stories that were based on engineering solutions to some real life problems. They were written in a humorous fashion with dashing, intelligent characters (the engineers), beautiful ladies (the women that loved them) and so on. The collection was large and in several volumes dating back to at least the World War 2.

I remember one story where a jungle mining operation lost their source of compressed air and they solved the problem by diverting a stream into a cave. The air entrained in the stream water as it cascaded into the cave released and built up enough pressure in a cavity to operate the necessary equipment when the air was routed from the cavity with a hose.

There was another story where a merchant ship was torpedoed and the ship's de-gaussing equipment was modified to serve as a welder to make repairs.

These stories told you exactly how the problem was solved and were entertaining to boot. Has anybody heard of or seen these stories? I would like to get my hands on some if I could.

[Bill Harsey]

This may be the correct thread for this question.

Any of you have any experience with water dowsing?
Does this work?

Jack Moroney is excused from answering as I have already received his very clear opinion on this topic.

[The Reaper]

I watched my Grandfather do it, and there was water where he dug, but I would not bet on it working at any given place and time.

TR

[Peregrino]

Originally Posted by Bill Harsey

This may be the correct thread for this question.

Any of you have any experience with water dowsing?
Does this work?

Jack Moroney is excused from answering as I have already received his very clear opinion on this topic.

Bill - It's a pretty solid folk tradition and still fairly common in parts of Appalachia. I've seen it work with water using everything from the traditional forked branch to pieces of coathanger. Some practicioners claim to be able to find minerals but I've never seen that. In the Illinois oil fields where my father grew up information provided by dowsers was considered reliable enough to drill with (looking for "sweet" water). I haven't even thought about it in years though. FWIW - Peregrino

[Air.177]

+1 to what TR said, I saw my grandfather do this multiple times and he always hit water, but I would not rely too heavily on it.

[longtab]

We had a family friend who was a missionary to Alaska before we lived in Alaska. He was hunting way up on the Koyakuk River about 400 NW of Fairbanks. When the pilot flew in to pick them up he had to leave the plane on the sand bar and hike in a few hundred meters to help the hunting party hump their kit back to the plane. When they got back to the sand bar they discovered a grizzly bear had decided to rip the wing skin off of the wing as a "joke" or something. To recover the bare wing they cut their canvas wall tent into strips, soaked it it the river, wrapped it around the wing frame, used liberal amounts of 100mph tape, and waited for the canvas to freeze. Once it "set" the pilot was able to fly the plane, but not the normal payload. They all got out after a couple trips and with the help of another airplane from the air service.

[Bill Harsey]

Originally Posted by longtab

We had a family friend who was a missionary to Alaska before we lived in Alaska. He was hunting way up on the Koyakuk River about 400 NW of Fairbanks. When the pilot flew in to pick them up he had to leave the plane on the sand bar and hike in a few hundred meters to help the hunting party hump their kit back to the plane. When they got back to the sand bar they discovered a grizzly bear had decided to rip the wing skin off of the wing as a "joke" or something. To recover the bare wing they cut their canvas wall tent into strips, soaked it it the river, wrapped it around the wing frame, used liberal amounts of 100mph tape, and waited for the canvas to freeze. Once it "set" the pilot was able to fly the plane, but not the normal payload. They all got out after a couple trips and with the help of another airplane from the air service.

That's some impressive "outback" engineering!

[Sten]

Originally Posted by longtab

We had a family friend who was a missionary to Alaska before we lived in Alaska. He was hunting way up on the Koyakuk River about 400 NW of Fairbanks. When the pilot flew in to pick them up he had to leave the plane on the sand bar and hike in a few hundred meters to help the hunting party hump their kit back to the plane. When they got back to the sand bar they discovered a grizzly bear had decided to rip the wing skin off of the wing as a "joke" or something. To recover the bare wing they cut their canvas wall tent into strips, soaked it it the river, wrapped it around the wing frame, used liberal amounts of 100mph tape, and waited for the canvas to freeze. Once it "set" the pilot was able to fly the plane, but not the normal payload. They all got out after a couple trips and with the help of another airplane from the air service.

I will bet he had a few converts after that day!

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Peregrino

Bill - It's a pretty solid folk tradition and still fairly common in parts of Appalachia.

So is marrying ones sister and placing your hand in a bag of live rattle snakes......

I'd stick to real science.....

TS

[VelociMorte]

I used to be a sign erector/crane operator in my younger, pre-military days. I once had a sign that was to be mounted on an existing 75' pipe that was 24'' in diameter at the base and got progressively smaller until the top 20 feet or so was 12'' in diameter.There was a perpendicular 4’’ pipe running through the main pipe about 20’ from the top where another sign had hung. It was at an old strip-mall, and the 12’’ pipe had been open at the top for a number of years. Pigeons had filled the top 15 feet or so with hard-packed nests and their own carcasses. To meet code, the wire to power the sign had to run through the pipe. There was no way to run the wire through the pipe as long as it was blocked. Among other things, I tried forcing rigid conduit through the blockage, and I tried burning it out, without success. My four hour job was turning into an eight hour job. Finally, the light in my head came on. I like things that go "boom", so I had experimented with fuel-air explosions before. I thought this might be a good place for one. I cut a one inch hole at the base of the pipe, (edited by knifemaker for safety reasons) inserted the torch tip into the hole I had cut, and waited about ten minutes. I figured ten minutes would allow enough cutting gas to fill the base of the pipe. It must have filled most of the pipe. I removed the torch, lit it with a striker, and inserted it into the hole. The resulting explosion propelled a 15 to 20 foot long by 12 inch diameter column of hard-packed bird nests and carcasses about 250 feet into the air, driving through itself, disintegrating as it flew higher and higher. The explosion rattled windows, set off alarms, and scared the hell out of people for blocks. The debris rained down on the parking lot and the six lanes of traffic passing by. Not only did it clear the blockage, but it also cleaned all the rust scale and dirt out, and the inside of the pipe was spotless. Shortly afterward, numerous police officers pulled up and wanted to know the cause of the loud explosion. As I explained the entire sequence of events to the officers, they started laughing. One of them stated that he wished he’d been there to see my 75’ long cannon go off. They left, and an hour later, the sign was welded, the power run, and the job was done.