metal WORKING today

I cranked out a duplicate of a semi prototype mold today.  The single cavity prototype worked, so I made a 4 cavity version yesterday, and a duplicate of it today.  It takes about 3 hours to machine.  I was going to run another prototype that will take about 3hrs at the same time on another machine, but I found I was out of the right size stock, and I certainly don't want to waste larger stock cutting it down.
While the job was running, in between tool changes (It has a quick change tool system, but no actual tool changer) I did some cleanup in the shop, and then I found a good pallet to stack boxes of wire on.
As you are probably aware I picked up a 40ft,  high cube shipping container recently.  It was some work, which I bragged about rather obnoxiously here, to get it placed where I wanted it behind the shop, and a bit more to get shelves down one side.
I already had a 20ft container out front filled will with assorted stuff, old computers from my wife's office, boxes and spools of wire of wire left over from my contracting business, and stuff left from my in-laws estate that my wife will not sort through or throw away.
I removed the hard drives for later disposal after destruction, threw away the old computers a while ago, and started stacking up tools from my dad's stuff on the shelves where the computers had been.  The plan is to sell of duplicates that I already have duplicates of and use the money to work on the buildings on their property or just give the cash to my mom as needed.  I needed more space, so I found a good pallet, and started stacking boxes of wire and cable spools up to be carried around back to go in the new container.
Since most of that wire and cable will get used rarely if ever it went all the way to the back of the container.  Sitting there on the tractor with the second load getting ready to set the pallet down in the container I thought... you know if I could get to my pallet jack and set it in the container I wouldn't have to haul all this wire one or two spools/boxes at a time all the way to the other end of the container by hand.  Then the front wheels lightly bumped up against the door sill I looked on either side and had enough room so I crawled the front of the tractor right up into the container.  "Okay, lets take it in as far it will go."  Then the back wheels bumped against the sill, and I just crawled right up into the container.  The rear wheels fit with a few inches to spare on either side.  As I set the pallet down just short of the shelf the stuff was going on I thought, "You know if I had sprung for the shelving on the other wall I wouldn't have been able to do this."
FYI:  Slip on bucket forks are really handy on a front loader.  If you only need them once in a while its no big deal to put them on and take them off, and they are pretty cheap.  They have a couple issues, but if you don't use them often you can live with it.  If you have a well used bucket where you put them affects how well they line up.  When you are lifting a pallet off a truck you you can't see the forks.  The bucket is right in the way.  A set of forks that replace the bucket are so much better.  I recently picked up a set.  I wasn't crazy about swapping the bucket and forks back and forth, but its crazy easy on the 300X loader on this tractor.  You remove two wire lock pins and then tilt the main bar out of the hooks on the bucket or forks.  Then you drive up to the other item, tilt it in, and get off the tractor to replace the pins. Its ten times easier than slip on bucket fork, puts the load a little closer to the tractor, and YOU CAN FREAKING SEE THE FORKS.
The slip on forks are pretty cheap.  You can find them on eBay for a couple hundred bucks or less and they are stronger than the load capacity of most compact loader buckets anyway.  The proper implement forks are about (or maybe a little more than) 4 times that.  Not cheap, but not outrageously expensive.  The proper forks are much better, and they are both faster and easier to change out than the slip on forks.
Somewhere in all of that I resealed one of the hydraulic cylinders on the loader.  (Week or two ago)  Took me about two hours to reseal. Piston and cap.  I think now that I know the weird snap ring method John Deere uses in the cap I could do it quite a bit quicker the next time. Probably in less than hour if I did it regularly.  Weird but elegant, and the the new seal kit comes with the disposable plastic tool to do the job.
Bonus.  A few months ago one of my neighbors stopped by and asked me where I got my slip on forks.  After I used them to unload my new forks I used the new forks to carry them over and dump them next to his tractor/loader.  I did call and make sure he wanted them first.  He's an older cancer survivor, and won't have the beef to help with a hard task, but he has a son who's young and strong.  LOL.  Meh.  Hopefully I can manage most things without asking.
I was going to try to go fishing this afternoon, but there is stuff in the back of my truck, and by he time I got unloaded and the boat out to the lake I wouldn't have much time left before dark.  I think I'll drive that pallet back around front, get the rest of the spools of wire out of the smaller container, and maybe start getting wire and cable off the shelves in the shop as well.
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Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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