What did you DIY today?

[usrifle]

Some 5 Foot Cedar Planter boxes, They should last awhile and cost less than half of buying them. The big win is it made Mama happy.

[RocketScott]

This was yesterday, close enough...

I got a coat of paint on the crane forks I picked up last month. Used paint stripper to get all the old paint off. It was some tough stuff

It would have taken too many rattle cans so I decided to try spraying it with a paint gun someone gave me a while ago. Used rustoleum safety red (I had a gallon already) thinned with acetone and added a paint hardener. First time doing something like this. Turned out easier than I thought and I'm happy with the results

I'll give it a few days to fully cure and then reassemble. Need to label the adjustment holes and might order some safety stickers to make it look factory (don't stick your fingers in the pinchy parts)

[PMB]

I got a coat of paint on the crane forks I picked up last month. Used paint stripper to get all the old paint off. It was some tough stuff

I've not used paint stripper in decades... Wouldn't even have considered it for something like this.
Was the process better than a grinder and a wire wheel?

When you say crane forks - I pictured a single item - lift point above the center of forks to pick pallets. Is that what this is? I have two of what I described... both are welded solid. Not sure what I am looking at, but great paint job!

[RocketScott]

I got a coat of paint on the crane forks I picked up last month. Used paint stripper to get all the old paint off. It was some tough stuff

I've not used paint stripper in decades... Wouldn't even have considered it for something like this.
Was the process better than a grinder and a wire wheel?

When you say crane forks - I pictured a single item - lift point above the center of forks to pick pallets. Is that what this is? I have two of what I described... both are welded solid. Not sure what I am looking at, but great paint job!

I tried a twisted wire cup on a grinder with no luck (after trying every other wire wheel I had in my shop). This stuff was rock hard. Chemical stripper was way easier but it still took a couple rounds of it

The forks are self leveling. There’s two long springs in the top. The carrier rides on six sealed ball bearing



This is what it looked like before:



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[PMB]

Self-leveling... Wowsa. Never heard the like.
Mine both have single lift points at ~4 points on the top bar. Self-leveling would be an excellent feature.

Thanks for the feedback... I'll try the chemical paint stripper next time I have a project like that.

[jukk0u]

Is there a "Stupid Sh!t You Did When You Were Young, but Didn't Die" thread?

THis talk of fork lifts reminds me of a job I had with a Canadian firm. I was a lowly laborer. Helped the lead carpenter, an old German guy named Werner, lay up a laminated post. We used 2x6's or 8's and ply wood, nails and lots of glue to make a corner post for some site fabricated scaffolding . Post reached to the top of four stories. It was built in the underground garage that was the first stage of the project and then we used a Hyster fork lift to drag it outside.

One end, the eventual lower end, was positioned at the corner of the building and the other trailed away from the building and ran down the street. We muscled the tip of that post up onto the tip of a fork and I stood out there on the tip of the fork as that post was then tilted up into place...

Once the top of the post and I were four stories up in the air, Werner handed out a 2 x6 from one side of the building and I nailed it to the post. Another was handed to me from the other face of the building. It was pretty difficult to get those sinkers hammered home while balancing on the fork.

No safety harness... nothing. Just a whole lot of DUMB.

[RocketScott]

Got a new ignition cylinder for my van. The key is designed to be cut to match the door cylinders (the door and ignition cylinders only use one common pin)

Since the only key I have is a poor copy of another copy I decided to cut the 5 notches on the new key by hand. The pins are spaced at 2.5mm and have five depths. I just went one by one, taking a little out at a time, till they all lined up

Now I can go to a locksmith and have them cut the other three sides (two sides of the other key and the other side of this key) to match the one I got perfect.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PMB]

Since the only key I have is a poor copy of another copy I decided to cut the 5 notches on the new key by hand. The pins are spaced at 2.5mm and have five depths. I just went one by one, taking a little out at a time, till they all lined up

Now I can go to a locksmith and have them cut the other three sides (two sides of the other key and the other side of this key) to match the one I got perfect.

Very cool!

[Selador]

Since the only key I have is a poor copy of another copy I decided to cut the 5 notches on the new key by hand. The pins are spaced at 2.5mm and have five depths. I just went one by one, taking a little out at a time, till they all lined up

Now I can go to a locksmith and have them cut the other three sides (two sides of the other key and the other side of this key) to match the one I got perfect.

Very cool!

+100!!!

[PMB]

I'm in the process of setting up to glue up a pretty big table top, and in my search for techniques that make as flat as possible (the slave driver that is whipping me for the big table required three 21" wide slabs! Oh, the humanity!) I came across this little gem :

workbench1.jpg

I admit that I experienced an uncomfortable condition that required me to stop thinking about making that ^ thickness of a table lest I pass a 4 hour threshold that apparently requires a trip to the doctor.

The table is nice... but the idea is nicer. He made it that thick because he was making a fairly small footprint table, and he wanted the weight.
I want to build a few big tables that thick.
Here's the build vid :

https://youtu.be/SyyiqyBFJEM

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[Massivedesign]

Back to work mike!

[Rix86]

Brakes on the other side of the mini semi

[Massivedesign]

Not sure if this counts, but I am DIY'ing a floor plan for a person to DIY Build...

[Selador]

Not sure if this counts, but I am DIY'ing a floor plan for a person to DIY Build...

As in, you are not an architect, and he is not a builder?

[Massivedesign]

As in, you are not an architect, and he is not a builder?

Sums it up nicely!