What Projects Are You Considering This Winter?

[BMW Rider]

Well, not a winter project, but working on an aluminum luggage plate for my motorcycle. Also will be working on swapping out the plastic fuel cell in my Mustang for an aluminum one with a welded steel mounting cage.

Most of my major winter projects are woodworking ones. I hope to get started building a Morris chair and matching footstool. And then there's the honey-do list to pick away at.

 

[DavidR8]

What I want to know is when you’re flying out to help

I’d be a reasonable lackey to be sure.
Well actually I can turn a wrench not too badly.
Everything is metric on your new truck right?


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[francist]

But, if you have any suggested reading or care to elaborate I’m all ears on why you feel it was important enough to you to make the trellis

You know, to be completely honest I’m not sure.

I’m 57 now, so in 2001 I was 38 years old and at work when it occurred. Or when we got the first news, put it that way. The first building had been hit by a plane, etc etc, we all know the story. Then a short time later, the second building fell. By this time we had erected a portable television on our upper floor for any American patrons who may have been visiting that day (my work is in a museum/heritage attraction). And a short time after that, during lunch to be precise, the word that an estimated 400 firefighters had died in their efforts to save people. Four, hundred, firefighters.

I was stunned, literally stunned, that so many good could have fallen so quickly during a response that was not war. And the world went silent.

Victoria is not a big city, maybe 400,000 people I don’t actually know anymore, but it was still. There was no movement in the skies, no sound of an airplane, anywhere. My nephew was in his helicopter at the time flying hydro lines or something up coast and his control operator came over the radio and just simply said “..get out of the sky, now”. It was raining, as I recall. My partner called out to book a routine appointment to have our boilers cleaned and I could hear him on the phone ... yes, yes, yes it is very terrible... before he quietly hung up the receiver. I looked at him, “she was crying”, he said, and walked away.

For the next days, weeks, months even all that filled the news was the images over an over and over again of the fallen piles and twisted steel. The long lines of emergency crews, dump trucks from all across the country responding to the call, and always the pictures of melted fire rigs and broken helmets. The bodies like sacks of wheat hitting the pavement. Who jumps like that?

I suspect for me, and this is probably why felt so driven to acknowledge it, it was the sheer power of the imagery. I am a very visual person and to be inundated with those raw and wrenching photographs was overpowering. It has nothing to do with politics or religions but everything to do with bravery and sacrifice from the innocent. On a day when they, like me, just went to work.

I’m still stirred when I think of it, and it’s a long time already. My parents did not feel anything of the kind even though they were returning from a vacation and got stranded in Newfoundland when the skies closed. My dad just said “nope, won’t affect my life at all what happened..”, and it didn’t. But I couldn’t get out from under it until I built something. Every time I turned around or caught myself doodling it was always the same vertical lines and tilted floors until finally I said ‘enough!’ and started laying it out. And here we are.

 

[DavidR8]

You know, to be completely honest I’m not sure.

I’m 57 now, so in 2001 I was 38 years old and at work when it occurred. Or when we got the first news, put it that way. The first building had been hit by a plane, etc etc, we all know the story. Then a short time later, the second building fell. By this time we had erected a portable television on our upper floor for any American patrons who may have been visiting that day (my work is in a museum/heritage attraction). And a short time after that, during lunch to be precise, the word that an estimated 400 firefighters had died in their efforts to save people. Four, hundred, firefighters.

I was stunned, literally stunned, that so many good could have fallen so quickly during a response that was not war. And the world went silent.

Victoria is not a big city, maybe 400,000 people I don’t actually know anymore, but it was still. There was no movement in the skies, no sound of an airplane, anywhere. My nephew was in his helicopter at the time flying hydro lines or something up coast and his control operator came over the radio and just simply said “..get out of the sky, now”. It was raining, as I recall. My partner called out to book a routine appointment to have our boilers cleaned and I could hear him on the phone ... yes, yes, yes it is very terrible... before he quietly hung up the receiver. I looked at him, “she was crying”, he said, and walked away.

For the next days, weeks, months even all that filled the news was the images over an over and over again of the fallen piles and twisted steel. The long lines of emergency crews, dump trucks from all across the country responding to the call, and always the pictures of melted fire rigs and broken helmets. The bodies like sacks of wheat hitting the pavement. Who jumps like that?

I suspect for me, and this is probably why felt so driven to acknowledge it, it was the sheer power of the imagery. I am a very visual person and to be inundated with those raw and wrenching photographs was overpowering. It has nothing to do with politics or religions but everything to do with bravery and sacrifice from the innocent. On a day when they, like me, just went to work.

I’m still stirred when I think of it, and it’s a long time already. My parents did not feel anything of the kind even though they were returning from a vacation and got stranded in Newfoundland when the skies closed. My dad just said “nope, won’t affect my life at all what happened..”, and it didn’t. But I couldn’t get out from under it until I built something. Every time I turned around or caught myself doodling it was always the same vertical lines and tilted floors until finally I said ‘enough!’ and started laying it out. And here we are.

View attachment 11160

I too remember that day like it was yesterday. I got a job offer that morning and my future boss andI I talked about the offer for 30 seconds and spent the next hour talking about the evolving situation.

I had just returned on July 1 from three years of work in the US where I enjoyed easy travel. As we know everything changed after 9/11.

I visited the site both before and after. I bought clothes from the Brooks Brothers store across from the WTC. I recall seeing footage of the storefront after the towers fell and being struck by the familiarity of the scene.


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[kevin.decelles]

You know, that’s one thing I keep meaning to read more about
I get the general gist of the importance of the event, but I would’ve been about 17 years old at the time it happened.
But, if you have any suggested reading or care to elaborate I’m all ears on why you feel it was important enough to you to make the trellis
Seriously, please elaborate, sir

I too remember it vividly. I work for a trucking company, about 1500 trucks on the road across North America. Phone lines were saturated, couldn’t make calls, everything kept ringing busy.

But we found that the in-truck computers could still be used to communicate with the drivers and we started to get messages from drivers to relay to their families. Some were in the vicinity and the messages were pretty surreal.

Long day. All drivers accounted for and safe


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[YYCHM]

You know, that’s one thing I keep meaning to read more about

This pretty much sums it up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks

Proved to the world that North America is NOT untouchable. We have all been looking over our shoulders ever since. What next, Where?

 

[YYCHM]

Well.....seeing as I bought a project truck....
But I’m torn if I want to slam that together and get it on the road ASAP or build it over the winter. It needs a headache rack, saddle boxes, possibly work lights, beacons, bunk heater, probably the CB coax replaced, FM radio and speakers, Teltek gauges for pyro and axle weights, and that’s not even what it needs for safety.

Stacks gotta get cut down. Probably a new mattress. Maybe a power inverter. Plus a full service, and oil samples taken. It’ll need all the rigging put on too. It’ll need to get all the badging put on too

And that’s only what I can think of now. I’m tired just thinking about this

What??? No flat screen TV, satellite antenna, microwave and beer fridge? Your priorities are just wrong, wrong, wrong LOL.

 

[Chicken lights]

I’d be a reasonable lackey to be sure.
Well actually I can turn a wrench not too badly.
Everything is metric on your new truck right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nope, motor side is mostly metric. Chassis is gonna be imperial

Bet you can hold an imperial wrench just as well as a metric one

 

[Chicken lights]

You know, to be completely honest I’m not sure.

I’m 57 now, so in 2001 I was 38 years old and at work when it occurred. Or when we got the first news, put it that way. The first building had been hit by a plane, etc etc, we all know the story. Then a short time later, the second building fell. By this time we had erected a portable television on our upper floor for any American patrons who may have been visiting that day (my work is in a museum/heritage attraction). And a short time after that, during lunch to be precise, the word that an estimated 400 firefighters had died in their efforts to save people. Four, hundred, firefighters.

I was stunned, literally stunned, that so many good could have fallen so quickly during a response that was not war. And the world went silent.

Victoria is not a big city, maybe 400,000 people I don’t actually know anymore, but it was still. There was no movement in the skies, no sound of an airplane, anywhere. My nephew was in his helicopter at the time flying hydro lines or something up coast and his control operator came over the radio and just simply said “..get out of the sky, now”. It was raining, as I recall. My partner called out to book a routine appointment to have our boilers cleaned and I could hear him on the phone ... yes, yes, yes it is very terrible... before he quietly hung up the receiver. I looked at him, “she was crying”, he said, and walked away.

For the next days, weeks, months even all that filled the news was the images over an over and over again of the fallen piles and twisted steel. The long lines of emergency crews, dump trucks from all across the country responding to the call, and always the pictures of melted fire rigs and broken helmets. The bodies like sacks of wheat hitting the pavement. Who jumps like that?

I suspect for me, and this is probably why felt so driven to acknowledge it, it was the sheer power of the imagery. I am a very visual person and to be inundated with those raw and wrenching photographs was overpowering. It has nothing to do with politics or religions but everything to do with bravery and sacrifice from the innocent. On a day when they, like me, just went to work.

I’m still stirred when I think of it, and it’s a long time already. My parents did not feel anything of the kind even though they were returning from a vacation and got stranded in Newfoundland when the skies closed. My dad just said “nope, won’t affect my life at all what happened..”, and it didn’t. But I couldn’t get out from under it until I built something. Every time I turned around or caught myself doodling it was always the same vertical lines and tilted floors until finally I said ‘enough!’ and started laying it out. And here we are.

View attachment 11160

I have to figure out where I was that day. It’s come up before and I might have days mixed up

I very clearly remember stopping to eat dinner at work, in the bush, summer was fading. Someone said to turn on the radio in one of the trucks and we listened to the news for a half hour, then it was time to get back to work.

I remember it so vividly and that’s why I want to say that was the day, but the men I was working with didn’t seem to be impacted by it

But it would have been very rare to turn a truck radio on to listen to the news, that was unheard of back then. That’s why I want to say I think that was the day, because the pieces fit

I’ve seen videos and pictures and it’s heartwrenching, all the first responders that gave their everything, I can’t imagine how awful it was

 

[Chicken lights]

You know, to be completely honest I’m not sure.

I’m 57 now, so in 2001 I was 38 years old and at work when it occurred. Or when we got the first news, put it that way. The first building had been hit by a plane, etc etc, we all know the story. Then a short time later, the second building fell. By this time we had erected a portable television on our upper floor for any American patrons who may have been visiting that day (my work is in a museum/heritage attraction). And a short time after that, during lunch to be precise, the word that an estimated 400 firefighters had died in their efforts to save people. Four, hundred, firefighters.

I was stunned, literally stunned, that so many good could have fallen so quickly during a response that was not war. And the world went silent.

Victoria is not a big city, maybe 400,000 people I don’t actually know anymore, but it was still. There was no movement in the skies, no sound of an airplane, anywhere. My nephew was in his helicopter at the time flying hydro lines or something up coast and his control operator came over the radio and just simply said “..get out of the sky, now”. It was raining, as I recall. My partner called out to book a routine appointment to have our boilers cleaned and I could hear him on the phone ... yes, yes, yes it is very terrible... before he quietly hung up the receiver. I looked at him, “she was crying”, he said, and walked away.

For the next days, weeks, months even all that filled the news was the images over an over and over again of the fallen piles and twisted steel. The long lines of emergency crews, dump trucks from all across the country responding to the call, and always the pictures of melted fire rigs and broken helmets. The bodies like sacks of wheat hitting the pavement. Who jumps like that?

I suspect for me, and this is probably why felt so driven to acknowledge it, it was the sheer power of the imagery. I am a very visual person and to be inundated with those raw and wrenching photographs was overpowering. It has nothing to do with politics or religions but everything to do with bravery and sacrifice from the innocent. On a day when they, like me, just went to work.

I’m still stirred when I think of it, and it’s a long time already. My parents did not feel anything of the kind even though they were returning from a vacation and got stranded in Newfoundland when the skies closed. My dad just said “nope, won’t affect my life at all what happened..”, and it didn’t. But I couldn’t get out from under it until I built something. Every time I turned around or caught myself doodling it was always the same vertical lines and tilted floors until finally I said ‘enough!’ and started laying it out. And here we are.

View attachment 11160

Also, went back a couple times to re-read this post. It’s a very emotional post with a lot of good inflection about how people were influenced directly at the time

Thank you for that

 

[Chicken lights]

Long day. All drivers accounted for and safe

You’re a good man. Drivers need good people like you to check their 10-20
We’ll take all the help we can get

 

[trlvn]

I very clearly remember stopping to eat dinner at work, in the bush, summer was fading. Someone said to turn on the radio in one of the trucks and we listened to the news for a half hour, then it was time to get back to work.

Early that day, my brother had just started a solo canoe camping trip. When he came out of the bush a week later, he had real trouble finding out what exactly had occurred. The media was no longer recapping the basic facts--the stories of the aftermath had pushed that aside.

I think 9/11 affected many of us deeply because it was relatively close to home. My wife was working in First Canadian Place in downtown Toronto. After the second plane hit the WTC, it was suddenly crystal clear that this was deliberate; not some horrible accident. Within minutes of that, her company decided to exit the building. No one knew how many more highjacked planes were in the air and were they might be headed.

After 9/11, a family moved into our neighbourhood with kids the same age as ours. We became friends the way you do when kids are going back and forth to birthdays, soccer, hockey and whatnot. It wasn't until some time later that we found out that the mom of the family had worked at the World Trade Centre. She would have been high up in one of the towers on 9/11 except for the fact that one of the kids was starting school that day.

All too close to home.

Craig

 

[DavidR8]

Super simple...all 1/16" square wall tubing.

1" for frame, the interior is a mix of 3/4" and 1/2" square.

Pete, how did you make the bends on square tubular stock? I have a small ring roller that will work on 1/4" round and 3/16" flat but nothing that will deal with 1/2" -->1" stock.

 

[BMW Rider]

You know, to be completely honest I’m not sure.

I’m 57 now, so in 2001 I was 38 years old and at work when it occurred. Or when we got the first news, put it that way. The first building had been hit by a plane, etc etc, we all know the story. Then a short time later, the second building fell. By this time we had erected a portable television on our upper floor for any American patrons who may have been visiting that day (my work is in a museum/heritage attraction). And a short time after that, during lunch to be precise, the word that an estimated 400 firefighters had died in their efforts to save people. Four, hundred, firefighters.

I was stunned, literally stunned, that so many good could have fallen so quickly during a response that was not war. And the world went silent.

Victoria is not a big city, maybe 400,000 people I don’t actually know anymore, but it was still. There was no movement in the skies, no sound of an airplane, anywhere. My nephew was in his helicopter at the time flying hydro lines or something up coast and his control operator came over the radio and just simply said “..get out of the sky, now”. It was raining, as I recall. My partner called out to book a routine appointment to have our boilers cleaned and I could hear him on the phone ... yes, yes, yes it is very terrible... before he quietly hung up the receiver. I looked at him, “she was crying”, he said, and walked away.

For the next days, weeks, months even all that filled the news was the images over an over and over again of the fallen piles and twisted steel. The long lines of emergency crews, dump trucks from all across the country responding to the call, and always the pictures of melted fire rigs and broken helmets. The bodies like sacks of wheat hitting the pavement. Who jumps like that?

I suspect for me, and this is probably why felt so driven to acknowledge it, it was the sheer power of the imagery. I am a very visual person and to be inundated with those raw and wrenching photographs was overpowering. It has nothing to do with politics or religions but everything to do with bravery and sacrifice from the innocent. On a day when they, like me, just went to work.

I’m still stirred when I think of it, and it’s a long time already. My parents did not feel anything of the kind even though they were returning from a vacation and got stranded in Newfoundland when the skies closed. My dad just said “nope, won’t affect my life at all what happened..”, and it didn’t. But I couldn’t get out from under it until I built something. Every time I turned around or caught myself doodling it was always the same vertical lines and tilted floors until finally I said ‘enough!’ and started laying it out. And here we are.

View attachment 11160

For me the situation was deeply personal. I was at work just finishing a night shift when it happened. We all sat at the kitchen table in the station, both outgoing and incoming shifts, stunned at the news coverage we were seeing and knowing the efforts and challenges that our brothers in New York were experiencing. At some point we made the decision to pry ourselves away and go home. By the time I'd driven home and turned on the news again, the towers had both fallen. I knew what that meant for the hundreds of firefighters and others who were in them.

Ten years later when I was in New York, it was unquestionable that I had to visit the site and memorials. It was deeply moving and very emotional. We were there again later when the full memorial and museum was completed and again, emotions were hard to contain.

Your small memorial trellis is an amazing tribute to all the lives lost that day and since as a result of the exposures to the toxins during the cleanup. Thank you.

 

[CalgaryPT]

Pete, how did you make the bends on square tubular stock? I have a small ring roller that will work on 1/4" round and 3/16" flat but nothing that will deal with 1/2" -->1" stock.

It's just what you might expect David—a BIGGER ring roller

The grey one (see pics) has knurled rollers and works great on square tubing up to 1.5". I've used it for 1/8" wall just fine. I love this machine; it's lots of fun. It's really intended for flat bar, but the knurling means nothing slips, so the feedback to the operator is perfect. I got the idea for it from American Chopper, where Paul Junior uses one on his custom choppers. I tracked down the company and had one shipped here. It must be 20 years old now.

The black and green one is a devoted tubing roller with special dies for both square and round tubing. When I originally bought it from SWAG OffRoad I bought the power drive kit for it as well (basically a power pipe threader like plumbers use with a specialized hub that replaces the crank). It also has a DRO to make repeatable curves. Interestingly enough I disliked the motorized version so much I went back to manual. What I discovered was that ring rolling is a bit of an art, and the motor takes away the feedback loop from the operator. I ruined lots of material when it was motorized, probably because you can't "feel" the pressure or how much the tube is bending. To this day I still have odd off-cuts that weren't curved right, but I incorporate them into other stuff so as not to waste them. The curved piece in my small sofa table was one of these.

Both these machines have a hand pumped hydraulic jack in them to provide a few tons of pressure to the tubing, so this is a big advantage over smaller models. If you look closely both machines allow you to splay out the bottom two (called rest) rollers. This allows you to do really long pieces or thick pieces of tubing and creep up on the curve by moving the rollers inward as the radius gets smaller. This avoids the dents you get from being overly aggressive with long or thicker walled tubing—a nice feature to have.

A last note on these larger ring rollers: I learned in a hobby environment it's critical to have them on wheeled bases. The reason is that in a residential garage, ring rolling a 12 foot length of tubing isn't possible without hitting the ceiling of your shop. So both these machines get wheeled out onto the driveway when used. This way I have clearance to roll large circles.

I have mini ring roller like you as well (PA I think). Super useful as I'm sure you know. They make an ordinary project look professional and on par with commercial efforts.

 

[CalgaryPT]

You know, that’s one thing I keep meaning to read more about
I get the general gist of the importance of the event, but I would’ve been about 17 years old at the time it happened.
But, if you have any suggested reading or care to elaborate I’m all ears on why you feel it was important enough to you to make the trellis
Seriously, please elaborate, sir

I think what @francist did is great. And seeing as I just mentioned American Chopper in another post to @David_R8, I found this pic of something they did to acknowledge 911 as well. They built a NYC Fire Chopper to remember fallen firefighters, and if you look closely (I added an arrow) they attached an actual bolt from one of the fallen I beams from the World Trade Center into the design. Pretty classy I think, regardless of what you thought of the show itself. In Calgary after the big flood I remember woodworkers using fallen trees to make art. I like when people far more talented than me do stuff like that.

 

[Chicken lights]

I really didn’t mean to jack this thread, I was just curious

But it seems nobody minds, so I guess no harm done

Out of the ashes we will rise

Thanks all for sharing

 

[Chris Cramer]

I recently found some great deals on Amazon for cnc parts. I Also enjoy working with electronics like arduino boards, so I plan on building a homemade CNC mill with arduino's professional cnc kit, as well as some ball screws, a high powered spindle, linear bearings, and a 24V power supply.
Lots of people have done this with wood, and a dremel, but since I can weld, and have access to a plasma table, I have decided to take the design to the next level by making it all out of metal.

 

[CalgaryPT]

I recently found some great deals on Amazon for cnc parts. I Also enjoy working with electronics like arduino boards, so I plan on building a homemade CNC mill with arduino's professional cnc kit, as well as some ball screws, a high powered spindle, linear bearings, and a 24V power supply.
Lots of people have done this with wood, and a dremel, but since I can weld, and have access to a plasma table, I have decided to take the design to the next level by making it all out of metal.

I've looked at that (and similar kits) for years. I got away from CNC quite a while ago because I got fed up with proprietary software and incompatibility issues plaguing the two systems I had. In the end I spent more time de-bugging than CNC'ing. However, if I were to get back into it, I'd go the same route you are thinking about. Once you invest the time to understand the code, you can fix things yourself and not have to rely on others. So...good for you.

WRT plasma, are you thinking mechanical torch and another axis to adjust torch height?

 

[Chris Cramer]

my plasma table came with a z axis, and I decided to purchase a THC along with it. The THC realy helps level the cutting height over uneven surfaces, and reduces the wear on consumables by separating the pierce height from the cutting height.
I'm debating whether I should go for a 3d printer instead of a rigid metal mill, because I'm not all that familiar with the requirements of the spindle, and axis to properly shape metal rather than wood or plastic.