# Greetings from Paris Ontario



## Matthew (Oct 26, 2021)

Greetings all. I am new to the hobby. I turned my first project recently a clevis pin for the tractor on a lathe older than I am. And it amazingly fitted the tractor first time. The hardest skill to learn so far has been learning to read and understand a micrometer. Not to mention all the other things I don't even know I don't know yet.


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## Chip Maker (Oct 26, 2021)

Welcome and hello from Peterborough Ontario


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## Canadium (Oct 26, 2021)

Hello from Hamilton ON!


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## CalgaryPT (Oct 26, 2021)

Welcome from Calgary. Because I am more on the fabrication side of the hobby, and do little machining, I often forget how to read mine as well. Here's the video I always go back to (if you don't already know about it):


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## Susquatch (Oct 26, 2021)

Hello from farmland south of Chatham.

Nobody knows what they don't know. But I do know that the more you know the more you know you don't know.

I think maybe there is an Ontario epidemic of new members. Gotta watch that those Prairie guys don't get jealous or institute some social distancing to cramp our style.

Can't picture this clevis pin you made on your lathe. How about a photo? With the tractor!


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## CalgaryPT (Oct 26, 2021)

Susquatch said:


> Gotta watch that those Prairie guys don't get jealous or institute some social distancing to cramp our style.


Don't make us cut off your beef supply.


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## trlvn (Oct 26, 2021)

Welcome from Oakville.  What kind of lathe are you using?  How about some photos of it, too?

Craig


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## 6.5 Fan (Oct 26, 2021)

Welcome from SK.


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## YYCHM (Oct 26, 2021)

CalgaryPT said:


> Welcome from Calgary. Because I am more on the fabrication side of the hobby, and do little machining, I often forget how to read mine as well. Here's the video I always go back to (if you don't already know about it):



You too eh.  Every time I dig mine out I have to read the instructions LOL.


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## DPittman (Oct 26, 2021)

YYCHM said:


> You too eh.  Every time I dig mine out I have to read the instructions LOL.


I've got micrometers that have different graduations on them and so I get use to one and then switch to another and get goofy measurements.  Then my hardest to read micrometer is a metric inside micrometer, man that is confusing for the first 5 minutes every time I pick it up.
Oh ya welcome Matthew! Nice to have you here.  Old tractors are a great reason to do some machining or fabricating.


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## Susquatch (Oct 27, 2021)

I must have been born with a vernier scale between my ears. I love them. I've never had problems reading any mechanical scale. 

Might be part of the reason why I don't trust digital scales. Or maybe it's a case of familiarity breeds contempt. 

Sorry for the rant.


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## gmihovics (Oct 27, 2021)

Welcome from London, ON


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## Matthew (Oct 27, 2021)

CalgaryPT said:


> Welcome from Calgary. Because I am more on the fabrication side of the hobby, and do little machining, I often forget how to read mine as well. Here's the video I always go back to (if you don't already know about it):


That is the same video i keep rewatching to figure it out. Now to remember what I see for longer than a day would be a nice improvement.


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## Matthew (Oct 27, 2021)

Susquatch said:


> Hello from farmland south of Chatham.
> 
> Nobody knows what they don't know. But I do know that the more you know the more you know you don't know.
> 
> ...


its a chunk of steel about 40mm wide with a head on one end a taper at the other end and a whole for a pin. I think mild steel was a bad choice because its rusted already and only been on the tractor a month it is used to hitch a trailer to the tractor.


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## Matthew (Oct 27, 2021)

trlvn said:


> Welcome from Oakville.  What kind of lathe are you using?  How about some photos of it, too?
> 
> Craig


I have a working Myford Super 7. I acquired it in pieces and thus a giant puzzle especially since I had never touched a lathe before in my life. Thank goodness for the internet and a youtuber by the name of Geoffrey Croker its all working again. Sadly the lathe bug has bitten. And now I also have a marvelous monarch 16cy machine that could use a little TLC. And will hopefully keep me busy this winter when I get over the sheer intimidation factor of the beast


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## Susquatch (Oct 27, 2021)

Matthew said:


> its a chunk of steel about 40mm wide with a head on one end a taper at the other end and a whole for a pin. I think mild steel was a bad choice because its rusted already and only been on the tractor a month it is used to hitch a trailer to the tractor.



Some harder steels used as hitch pins don't rust as badly, but unpainted they all end up looking a lot like that.

Paint it orange or yellow so it's easy to find when you drop it in the grass. Paint the lynch pin the same color.

Most of the pins I have are forged steel given the safety risk and the potential to damage expensive equipment. I usually buy them as an assortment in a box at farm auctions. I've never paid more than the scrap value.

Given very low wear on your pin, I'd guess it will last forever without any worries.

Ps - Nice looking pin!


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## Susquatch (Oct 27, 2021)

Matthew said:


> And now I also have a marvelous monarch 16cy machine that could use a little TLC. And will hopefully keep me busy this winter when I get over the sheer intimidation factor of the beast



The MyFord is beautiful! 

The Monarch,...... Well.....  she is an Amazon! I'd be intimidated too. 

What's the attachment at the back of your tractor?


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## DPittman (Oct 27, 2021)

Matthew said:


> its a chunk of steel about 40mm wide with a head on one end a taper at the other end and a whole for a pin. I think mild steel was a bad choice because its rusted already and only been on the tractor a month it is used to hitch a trailer to the tractor.


So I've been told that you don't want to use a hardened material for a hitch pin because you want the pin to wear instead of the hole on the hitch.


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## Susquatch (Oct 27, 2021)

DPittman said:


> So I've been told that you don't want to use a hardened material for a hitch pin because you want the pin to wear instead of the hole on the hitch.



I've heard that too. And on first blush it seems to make sense. But I'm not always a fan of "that's the way it was always done" or "that's what my grandpa did". Sometime you just have to stand back and look at the whole picture through fresh eyes. 

As far as I have seen, all the commercial hitch pins are hardened, and all the tow bars and commercial clevis hitches are hardened too. The most expensive ones are even forged. 

I've never analysed it, but I guess I prefer to go with what the OEM's recommend.

FWIW, without any analysis, my instincts also side with the OEM's. As a pin wears, it's cross section goes down, much more quickly than the hitch does - exactly as your sources suggest. But there is a problem with that. As the pin cross section goes down it gets exponentially weaker. On the flip side, most hitch bars wear into an elongated hole which retains the original cross section and therefore retains the original strength (which coincidently makes it easier to install and remove the pin). My Deere planter was actually built with an elongated pin hole. 

Anyway, that's just my two cents on the matter. I frankly doubt that pulling a wagon like you do is gunna wear or break anything. On the other hand, try pulling a row of furrow ploughs or a 30 ft set of disks or a gang of rippers. That will test your hitch to its limits much more so than any wagon.


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## darrin1200 (Oct 28, 2021)

Welcome aboard, from another machining newbie, from Eastern Ontario.


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## Dabbler (Oct 29, 2021)

Welcome from Calgary

I grew up in Brantford, so 'hi neighbour'!

You missed out on a -sweet- deal:  a year or 2 ago there was a nice durface grinder for sale in Paris for $175, and I almost drove back to buy it!  Good sense then finally overwhelmed me, and I decided to skip it.

Enjoy the forum!


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