so waht ya doin today?

Intheshop

Banned
Human nature or,just dumb as rocks?

Since the late 1800's when srs. J Binks and Dr DeVillbiss got spray equipment pretty much figured out...... the complaint has been that the clears in use "yellowed" and basically looked like doo doo. Oh what we could accomplish with a true clear on furniture. Enter waterborne clears.... a few teething problems,mainly equipment/technique but once you get solvent purged from your brain and start to listen...... ehhh,easy peasy,shoot the heck out of it.

Then the inturdnet..... and all the experts talking smack about this clear vs that clear,woodly speaking. Now,it seems the complaint is waterborne clears are "plasticy" and don't have the warmth(yellow) of solvent clears? So..... it was with a snicker that when tinting WB clear this a.m. I added amber transtint along with 2% red mahogany and 4% walnut.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Bill, the ground here ranges from absolutely solid, quartz-crystalline limestone to softer ledge limestone to caliche to black clay packed with hard limestone rocks, so the safe bet with tee-posts is to pre-drill every hole with an SDS Max hammer drill and 1.5"x23" carbide bit. See post # 276 for photos of the bit I use. You never know what's under the ground even in the caliche areas and so far I think only three of the tee-posts could actually have been hammered in with a driver alone. I use a 30-lb hand driver just to pound the posts through the dust at the bottom of the holes and to sink the plates through the areas where the plates can be sunk. A Mansaver pneumatic tee-post driver is nice and can drive a post into softer rock, but they're heavy and require a little more air compressor than I can drag around. Where the solid rock is exposed on the surface or is a few inches down, I knock the plates off before trying to drive the posts into the drilled holes. The other ways to drill for tee-posts is an air drill (requires a HUGE air supply and heavy 1" hose run to location) or a "puffer bit" run in a hydraulic boring head on a machine. Neither are feasible for me, but I can drag a small, wheeled genset and giant hammer drill anywhere on the property so I use that.

For the main posts, I dig those any which way I can. The ideal way is with a backhoe and a large Belltec hydraulic boring head. Large skid-steer loaders can also be used. I have a 763 Bobcat but it doesn't have enough PTO volume or weight to run the caliber of Belltec carbide auger needed to drill the solid stuff, so I dig those with rock bars and a tuna can. Due to the steepness of the hillsides, large trees, and bad side-hill angles, it isn't feasible to get a large enough machine up there to drill the post holes, so renting one for the job isn't really an option either. Besides, it takes about 2-5 hours per hole to screech through and costs up to $100/hole in broken carbide teeth in the tough stuff. Basically a heavy power head and carbide augers, or by hand are the only two ways to do it. Those little piles of white stuff by the posts in the photos are powder from the 3.5' deep holes dug by hand. In the softer ground (hard caliche, softer limestone, and some of the clay) I was able to drill some of the holes with a rented Eager Beaver machine and 6" x 4' auger, but it does not work at all on even small rocks in the clay, tree roots, or anything harder than plaster of Paris.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
YIKES! That is a good bit worse than I even imagined. Well, those posts will be there for a few lifetimes,
for sure. "Rock bars and tuna cans" yeee-gadd, THAT sounds like hard, dirty work. Somebody needs to
invent the laser posthole digger. Charge up a capacitor bank then stand clear, flash goggles down, BOOM.
4 ft deep hole, glass lined. Don't hold your breath.

That is a serious drill bit in #276. Must have the adult sized hammer drill to go with it. I wonder how long
a HF cheapo would survive in that service. This probably calls for the Milwaukee or something like that,
REAL quality to survive very long.

Hmm. This one looks like it MIGHT survive a while. Aluminum housing for the gears and stuff.

https://www.harborfreight.com/105-a...o-variable-speed-rotary-hammer-kit-63441.html

Bill
 
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Ian

Notorious member
That's basically the hammer I use and it's holding up great. Actually, I have the 8.5-amp previous version. Story goes I ordered the one you linked out of a flyer but as it turned out it wasn't even in production yet and they sent me the old one with no apologies or options from customer non-service. My intent was to burn it to the ground and keep warrantying it, but I wasn't able to kill it in several afternoons of almost continuous use so now I take care of it with a bag of ice on top if running for very long in solid rock. It comes with a spare set of brushes and for the money, it's a tough thing to beat. DeWilt versions run over $700, so figure out how many HF units you could burn up and throw away on a job before you bought just one "name brand" and it's kind of a no-brainer.

The whole secret to making this system work is buying a TOP QUALITY cruciform masonry bit (about $200 for the one I needed). Chinese cheese-grade bits are a waste of money at any price, as are dual-point bits. The one I got will drill rose granite with ease.
 
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popper

Well-Known Member
As a kid I used a 90# air hammer to dig light post holes at the Prairie Village Y Parking lot. Isn't any fun. Down here the gumbo you can't dig in, wet or dry. Pour some water on it, wait a day or 2 and then dig. Use a demo bar to dig during the summer, goes through chalice pretty good till you hit a large chunk.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I am trying to get out of the pot of boiling water. Incident 1 I had to ask the better half to use a hundred $ of of household savings to order the lower for my AR10. Incident 2. 2 days after incident 1. I got notified by Mihec the the GB i was in. Was ready to be payed for. Once again i had to approach the banker and request funds.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Brad, how can you be bored when your suppose to be making the drawings ect for the flame thrower project you must be machining. I say must be because it seems like your go to solution for many challenges.

My wife is counting on you to help her cross "shoot a flamethrower" off her bucket list after the last video ya posted.
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
No plans for a flamethrower but I would gladly pay to get a chance to fire one.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Did that as a kid. We used spray paint for hairspray, never tried WD
 
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freebullet

Guest
never tried WD

If I hear about a flaming pharmacist tonight on the news I will know what went down?

My wife is gunna be bummed that your not on that. I'm afraid I'd be on the hook to pay for her chance too were it an option she learned of. I offered to buy her the harbor freight weed torch with electric ignition but it only got me dirty looks and parameters on her ideal flame thrower.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I know where to get the hose and connectors they use.
could come up with a pressure tank and regulator too.