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Welcome to Westwood Metalworks, What is he building in there?

We have a ground hog under our shed again. They seem somewhat benign in our garden, somewhat not completely. She usually has 3 little ones. Then Mrs. Fox comes along and shortly after Mrs. Ground hog and the little ones are no more and the fox takes up residence, usually with 3 or so little ones of her own. Incredible cute. Mommy fox just one eyed sleeps on the lawn while the little ones play for hours, getting up once and a while to check on them and sometimes leaving to catch a squirrel which doesn't take her long.
 
slow-poke said:
and sometimes leaving to catch a squirrel which doesn't take her long.
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I think that's wonderful!

I wish that would happen here. It's a perfect destiny for the problem critters in my opinion, and a great way to control the thousands of squirrels we have too.

But we have a huge forest with lots of better places for foxes and coyotes to live. They are there and we see them from time to time, but not like yours, nor nearly as effective on the squirrels and ground hogs.

Great story! So glad you shared!
 
Life lesson #2307. If at any point you suspect you have a skunk problem, and set a live trap to deal with said skunk problem and a Groundhog appears, and convinces you that it was a groundhog problem, you should still expect to see a skunk in said live trap..... On a plus note. Looks like both problems solved as my groundhog appears to have moved on too. Those loose ends wrapped up, I finally got to head into the barn and deal with the racoon mess from last fall......

But first, another hurdle to get over. Nature does not want me in here apparently.....
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Not what I had in my to do list for tonight, but it was a big job that needed done, and now I can chip away at getting my wood tools setup again into a working shop over the summer.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
But first, another hurdle to get over. Nature does not want me in here apparently.....
Click to expand...

I usually move them. Skewer them with a sturdy enough branch, carve them off with a sheet of aluminium on a long pole, and then relocate.

This can he done in one go, but it's infinitely easier if done over several days. Day 1 - skewer. Day 2 - release one side. Day 3 - release another side. Day 4 - relocate.

When winter comes, I often relocate them inside. Together with wasp sounds on a small speaker, they make for great entertainment.

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@Dabbler didn't blink an eye.
 
I usually spray after dark, but by the time I got in there and seen this one I'd grown very tired of the multi day pest quests I've been on lately..... so I just jabbed a rake in the side of it and hauled it outside to dispose of. I had zero patience for jacking around and dragging this out for any longer at this point. Only one solitary very lethargic wasp came out. I would have thought it too late to still be hibernating? I wasn't really expecting any, as I figured this one was too big to have been from this year already.

There are a couple smaller ones in the back, but it'll take another weekend or so before I can excavate enough junk to get to them......maybe I might even get back to some machining and fabricating stuff........who knows.....
 
Metalworking content?

If anybody remembers that far back.....I've been building a 2x72 belt grinder of my own design. Inspired by Jeremy shmidts brilliant design, but with my own twist and take on it. I made some great progress initially. In fact the entire body and frame of the grinder has been finished for months. Taking up space on my welding table....All that remains are the wheels and axles. Unfortunately life got in the way for a bit, and a few other things.. For a couple of the parts left, there was no direct path to victory, I had to make a tool, to make a tool....you know the drill.....i also had some issues casting the drive wheel. Still have not recast it again (3rd time), but I have the pattern done ready to go...

Anyway....one of those things holding me back were simple teenuts to hold the 4" contact wheel to a faceplate so I can bore for bearings.....I made the clamping ring a while back. But just tonight got around to finishing the teenuts...

Sorry, at this rate, you'll probably have to wait another 3-4 months to see the grinder.....

But in the meantime here's a picture of my little nuts
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Tapped 1/4"-20 with my lovely new to me starrett tap wrench of course....20250614_212116.jpg

One of my trade school shop projects this term was a tap wrench. I really wanted to make a larger copy of the Starrett, but sadly I had to follow the print i was given 🙁. Hopefully I'll get it back on Tuesday to post here.

And heres the setup.
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Have not dialed it in yet, that will be the first job for my new rotating tip dti I just picked up. After I make a holder for it of course......that's just how it goes....
 
The entire first couple paragraphs were purely just a setup for that punchline 😀. Sadly not much metalworking content lately, so I had to have some fun with it 😀

My apologies if a picture of my little nuts caused any trauma.
 

Had some time after lunch and before golf to get some work done. Dialed in the contact wheel, then bored it out for bearings. Tried to cut the snap ring groove, but didn't have a toolbit that would work and reach properly, and had to run to catch my tee time. Will have to grind up a toolbit some day this week. No pics, sorry. Very happy with the results though. 3 more pieces left to make....
 
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