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Farm 50 Projects and How I Hide From My Family

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freudianfloyd

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I have been here for a while, but have never had an all in one project thread. I have been doing several projects lately, so figured now would be a good time to make one.

I will start with the most recent project I finished up.

Blackhawk Nugget Toolbox - I picked up this box (actually my wife picked it up while I was at work) from a yardsale a few years ago. I think she paid $5.
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It was in pretty rough shape, and missing the handle, but otherwise solid.

I attempted a restoration a year or so ago, and must have used bad paint. It orange peeled instantly on all surfaces.

I am having a hard time finding my old pictures of it, but here it is after it orange peeled and I started to re-sand it. Then we began the process of moving to our new farm, and it sat where it collected quite a bit of dust...
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After getting my new to me sandblaster (which was a project in itself that I will post next), I removed all of the old finish and gave it a new paint job with Rust oleum Sunrise Red.
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After wet sanding, I got impatient and did a terrible job of applying the decals. The one on the inside had several wrinkles in it, and the one on the front was crooked.

I decided I had to order a second set of decals and put some actual effort into it. I then added the silver stripes (don't look at them too hard, I'm not as steady as I used to be).


Much better....
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I also had to polish the wheels and figure out what to do about the missing handle.

So working from pictures online and scaling them the best I could, I was able to make a model of the handle, and after some convincing, and a long wait, I was able to get one of the machinists at work to knock it out for me. When I walked in today, he had it ready for me. I am beyond happy with it.
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freudianfloyd

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After doing a bit of polishing to the handle and smoothing the edges a bit, it is finished!
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I don't know why the handle looks fake in this picture, I promise it is real.
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*ignore the screws, they were the only ones I had on hand at the time.
 
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freudianfloyd

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My next project, which technically came before the torpedo toolbox, and was actually instrumental in restoring said toolbox.

I have been wanting a blast cabinet for years. I am lucky to have one at work I can sneak things in before anybody shows up, but ive used it enough to justify having one for myself.

However, and air compressor upgrade was required first.

So when this popped up for sale, I jumped on it. 5 hp, 240V, 80 gallon, made in U.S.A. for $475 near me. Seemed too good to be true. And I might have been.

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*ignore the ugly garage walls, we bought the old family farm and I am in the process of trying to get myself a shop built. For the time being I am stuck in this little dark garage.

Anyway, when looking at the compressor, I opened the drain and nothing came out. That got me excited. I then loaded it up on the back of my dad's rollback and brought it home.

After unloading it, I noticed a sloshing sound from inside. Yep, water, ugh! I was told this compressor had been sitting in storage for years, so years of water in the tank made me sick to my stomach.

I figured pretty quickly the drain was just clogged, and there were several gallons of chocolate covered water inside.

Maybe the metal was fine though? Uh, no...

I made a tool that i could insert into the tank that had a chain on the end, i then proceeded to spin it with a drill and knock loose any crust inside to see what inwas actually working with. After several flushes eith clean water, this is what I found.
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So after thinking it over i decided if im going to use it, I need to feel safe with it. So im going to pressure test it and check the thickness of the metal.

I dont have pictures of the pressure tested, but the videos are all over YouTube. Anyway, I tested it to 1.5 times the tanks rating and it passed. I also ordered an ultrasonic metal thickness tester and lucky for me, these old tank were built heavy. There was still a considerable amount of metal everywhere I checked, and I tested it everywhere!

So, with that said, I hooked it up where my old compressor was, added an auto drain (which scares the **** out of me every 45 minutes) and got to work on this....

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I picked it up for $250 which seemed like a good deal to me, but it did need quite a bit of work. All hoses were bad, glass broken, pedal was homemade, the previous owner added pneumatic cylinders to the lid to open and close it. They were junk. Basically everything but the shell needed work.

Oh and he drilled holes in both sides to allow for more airflow because he wasnt using the recirculator properly and made is own dust collection system. Seen below.
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However, it did come with an extra gun, and 3 5 gallon buckets of media.
 
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freudianfloyd

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More before pics.

*before unloading it, while it was on its back, I added casters so I could move it around my shop as needed. One big bonus, the casters raised the cabinet up to a height i dont have to bend over at all to use, since my back always hurts and im pretty tall, this is now perfect.
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freudianfloyd

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First order of business was removing old gloves, hoses, regulator, pneumatic, and all the unnecessary and broken parts. And then filling in all the holes.

I want to preface this by saying, im not a body guy, or even pretend to be one, but, I never expected this thing to look new anyway, i was happy with a 50 footer.
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And after a bunch of grinding and cleaning, I had to decide what color I was going to use.

I originally planned on orange since Im a big fan of my Kubota tractor and Husqvarna chainsaws, or possibly blue. My wife wanted me to go green. So I went with....Grey. it was on clearance. Rustoleum Dark Grey, which on the can looked the same color as my truck, on the cabinet, not so much.

Since the surface of this cabinet was far from smooth, I decided rolling it on would be fine.

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Oh and in case anybody is wondering who made this cabinet here is the nameplate. A Peterson Machine Tool "Cleaning Machine".
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freudianfloyd

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OccupantRJ said:
Good going! Can you post a pic of the cyclone outlet port area?
Click to expand...
I am at work so I can only post things when nobody is looking but I will see what I can do.

Edit - I looked through my pictures and do not have any good ones that show that. I will try to get some when I get home.
 
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freudianfloyd

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Next up was to order some new parts.

I upgraded all hoses to the largest I could. I also used high flow fittings at every connection. The original hoses were 1/4" and 3/8" for the most part. I upgraded everything to 1/2".

I also replaced the old regulator and with a newer higher quality unit. (I will try to get better pictures later).

The gloves were also beyond their life, so I ordered a set. They were ok, but wothout a liner and it being 90+ in my garage, I could not slide my sweaty arms into them. So I ordered a second pair that had a lining.

I also needed to get a pedal. Luckily for me, I have some connections and was given a pedal that works perfectly for this cabinet.
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Lastly, I needed new glass. I taped up the old glass to keep it in one piece and then removed it from the rubber seal.
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I am fortunate that my father-in-law does high end glass work, and he was able to cut me a few pieces to match.

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And then did some investigating on how to protect the glass. I settled on a very fine stainless steel mesh and attached it with magnets to the inside of the lid. So far it is working way better than the clean mylar sheets typically used.
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And with that, other than adding a new line directly from the air compressor, that is basically all that needed to be done.

And here is my first finished test piece.
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For the price these go for new, this turned out to be well worth the work. I will gets lots of use out of this thing.

Also, dimensions are roughly 48" wide by 32" deep, so a very good size unit.
 
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freudianfloyd

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This is the only picture I have currently showing the dust collection bag. It is a bit short for my unit so I have it sitting on top of a bucket.
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freudianfloyd

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jabberwoki said:
For the love of god pls finish that drywall.....
Nice work on the resto
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This is just how my grandpa left it. It still has all his notes written on it like what pil filters his truck needed, and phone numbers of possible guns or tractors for sale. 😃

I agree though, once I get my new shop, this one will be refinished on the inside and used for parking. But there is no finishing this drywall. It all needs removed. My grandpa did great construction for everybody else, but when it came to his stuff, he did what was quick and cheap.

There are squares cut out of the drywall all over where he ran electric. It is also not insulated anywhere so its not much fun to work in here on those cold Ohio winters.

It is amazing how much light those walls absorb. I have three very bright led light fixtures in the garage, and even in the day time I cant see anything.
 
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Model A Fan

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Where did you find the piece of steel for over the glass? What is that called? I'd like to get one for my Skat Blast. Do you mind sharing the source for your hoses as well? Mine are pretty old (2nd hand unit).
 
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freudianfloyd

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Model A Fan said:
Where did you find the piece of steel for over the glass? What is that called? I'd like to get one for my Skat Blast. Do you mind sharing the source for your hoses as well? Mine are pretty old (2nd hand unit).
Click to expand...
I will post some links. Both came from Amazon.

Hose

Wire Mesh

The hose is very thick and hard to work with, but should last for a long time. The wore mesh is held on by magnets. Its a little hard to see through until the light is on but works good.
 
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freudianfloyd

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Found my next project today. The swap meet was a bust but a yardsale on the way home provided some gold.

A Kalamazoo belt sander with Baldor motor. Works, and runs smooth and quiet, but needs a new wheel. Paid $5.
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loganb

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freudianfloyd said:
Found my next project today. The swap meet was a bust but a yardsale on the way home provided some gold.

A Kalamazoo belt sander with Baldor motor. Works, and runs smooth and quiet, but needs a new wheel. Paid $5.
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Click to expand...
Classic You ****....well done! Once you use a belt sander for metal work you'll never want to go back to a disc grinder
 
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freudianfloyd

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Do we have any Kalamazoo experts on here? I cannot find a drive wheel that looks anything like the one from my sander. I am not even sure the model number of the sander or the wheel size when all one piece.

Here are the remains of the drive wheel.

The center measure 1 1/8" ID and the OD is currently 4 1/2".
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Model A Fan

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freudianfloyd said:
Do we have any Kalamazoo experts on here? I cannot find a drive wheel that looks anything like the one from my sander. I am not even sure the model number of the sander or the wheel size when all one piece.

Here are the remains of the drive wheel.

The center measure 1 1/8" ID and the OD is currently 4 1/2".
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Click to expand...
Did the wheel "shed" the rubber portion? It looks like there is a piece of wheel that didn't fall off that is the original thickness. Can you measure that, double it, and then add the OD of the plastic portion to it to get a rough overall size?
 
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no704

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freudianfloyd said:
Found my next project today. The swap meet was a bust but a yardsale on the way home provided some gold.

A Kalamazoo belt sander with Baldor motor. Works, and runs smooth and quiet, but needs a new wheel. Paid $5.
1000017554.jpg
Click to expand...
Have the same unit. It is wonderful!
 
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freudianfloyd

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Model A Fan said:
Did the wheel "shed" the rubber portion? It looks like there is a piece of wheel that didn't fall off that is the original thickness. Can you measure that, double it, and then add the OD of the plastic portion to it to get a rough overall size?
Click to expand...
I found one. I was going to order through Kalamazoo, but they wanted $75 shipped so I found one with similar specs from a different manufacturer for $19.
 
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freudianfloyd

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Made a bit of progress. I never intended to restore the machine, just get it looking better and actually working, plus it gave me a chance to use my blast cabinet. So after blasting everything but the motor itself, I did a quick spray job. The yellow paint is terrible. It wouldnt cover well at all and is still tacky several hours later. One piece was so bad I had to reblast it and then paint it again.

The grey went on good and is already dry to the touch.
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I also ordered the drive wheel and some sanding belts. Hopefully the yellow dries by tomorrow and I can start reassembly.
 
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OccupantRJ

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freudianfloyd said:
Made a bit of progress. I never intended to restore the machine, just get it looking better and actually working, plus it gave me a chance to use my blast cabinet. So after blasting everything but the motor itself, I did a quick spray job. The yellow paint is terrible. It wouldnt cover well at all and is still tacky several hours later. One piece was so bad I had to reblast it and then paint it again.

The grey went on good and is already dry to the touch.
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I also ordered the drive wheel and some sanding belts. Hopefully the yellow dries by tomorrow and I can start reassembly.
Click to expand...
I do a lot of refurbish work. Yellow takes at least 3 coats to not look thin and washed out. It is the worst color about coverage that I deal with.
 
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Model A Fan

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This would be the time to get a powder coating setup to have more toys to play with! :drink:

I bought one off Eastwood for $99 or so shipped on a promo. Haven't used it yet :ROFLMAO:. But it seems to be a better alternative after sandblasting than spray painting.
 
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