This was a really busy week, around the old “trailer in the Outback.”  So, before we get into the nibbins of actually making, a quick photo tour of what we were up to this week.

For one, we managed to get the leftovers (tin scrap) turned into a reasonable raised bed garden.  Going from this:

Aided, of course by the anti-aging miracle herself (Shhh! You-know-who will be 79 in a couple of weeks! We should all be so genetically blessed.)

This was followed with G2’s run in the pickup to Tyler for the Raised Bed with compost premium mix from Texas Organics, while I filled-in the lower quarter of the bed with deadfall and a bucket, or two, of partly decomposed leaves.

The addition or top rails got it all set for planting, once the “square foot gardening” grid was laid in using waxed radio equipment nylon cable-lacing (which is like really fat dental floss, and is similarly waxed, though I haven’t seen it in flavors…).  No idea where the damn garden twine ran off to. But, “Country Boys Can Survive,” eh, Hank?

The seeding layer – top 3-inches – got a 5% dose of our ground hardwood charcoal (no additives, except fertilizer) and 10-scoops of pearlite to keep everyone “happy.”

The “final mix” of the soil – before adding the string planting grid was done with that nifty drill-powered very small tiller.  Which delivered a lesson on tools:  M y Skil PowrCore 12V drill does a really crappy job of driving the tiller.  The Hitachi (18V) does a much better job.

Two reasons:  First, the Skil tool has what feels like a “smart” trigger electronics board.  It doesn’t do a smooth “start under heavy load.”  The Hitachi is much smoother with the torque curve.  Plus, that tool has a high speed and low speed gear change.

This is the kind of thing that becomes really important when your “smart electronics” go from zero RPM to face full of dirt. Don’t get me wrong:  The Skil is a lighter tool, fine for drilling most holes, but if you’re using an after-market tool with high torque, there are better choices.

DC Standalone Power

Also running like a champ is the DC backed-up rainwater catchment and distro system.  This is nothing more than a 12-volt marine washdown pump, with the automatic pressure switch in it:

The battery – a small end-of-life lawnmower starting battery – can be directly wired to the pump.  Because it doesn’t draw any current until the hose pressure drops.

There’s a fair bit left on this project to go:  The 100-watt 12-volt solar panel and a cheapskate small MPTP charge controller, DC floodlights, and switching panel needs to go in.  Not “done-done” but getting there.

Shake? Thin and Trim

Here’s the vegetable gardener’s version of “shake.”  (Yellow basket was locally printed on our CR-10…)

Even following directions that come with any of the good square foot gardening templates, you’re still going to waste a fair bit of seed by getting 2-3 small seeds (like lettuce) down into holes.

Plenty of videos on Youtube on how to thin them out.  But the main idea is you want to plant far enough apart so the root systems don’t compete with each other for space (meaning nutrients in the soil and water, of course)

Easiest way to get the spacing worked out is to consider the “mature plant.”  Pretend you are shining a light down from directly above (sun and high noon kinda thing).  The shadow will give you a reasonable idea of root ball spacing.

Big spread-out plants like, oh, cauliflower, will have a much bigger shadow than say carrots for example.  Nice and logical.

The radishes in the hanging containers are doing OK and ought to be ready for cocktail snacks in about 2-3 weeks now.  Front planter carrots are coming in OK and the Bok Choi (which I’m crazy-nuts for) is just getting into the big growth range.

Outside, the solar panel is muttering “finish me!”

Just have to wait patiently in the to-do list with everything else.

Organized Sheet Goods Thinking

Organized thinking makes projects roll quickly.  We assume you know there are only 5-steps to any project, right?

1. Planning and materials
2. Measure
3. Cut
4. Join
5. Finish

Any project breaks down into sequential applications of these five basic operations.

When you frame-up a building, for example.  Or, when you go back as I did this week and found a couple of “air gaps” in my clear plastic corrugated Lexan on the garden room.

The answer to this problem was a “pop rivet.”  Small and almost invisible, pop rivets are the “right answer” to a lot of sheet goods problems.

Not photographing especially well, this pop rivet only took a few seconds to install.

1. Plan and materials:  Close air gap with pop rivet.
2. Measure (eyeballing was fine)
3. Cut (a drilling operation in this case.  Drill diameter just a tiny-tiny bit larger than the rivet head.
4. Join by pressing the sheets together, insert pop rivet, squeeze, and when the rivet “pops” off the shaft, the join is done.
5. Finish by scouting out some beer after the tools are put back.

Pop Rivets 101

There are two styles (generally) of pop rivet “guns” – the one-handed and two-handed versions.  One-handed are good for tight spaces, two-handed can give you more power.  Trade off.

Here’s a typical pop rivet (two handle variety) getting ready for work on the air gap project:

This particular riveter has five dies.  You pick the one that gives the snuggest fit around the long part of the pop rivet.

Fitting into the machine, you can see how when the riveter is squeezed, the pop rivet “squishes out” and forms a rivet head that’s wider than your pilot hole.

As the head expands, it presses the sheet goods closer together.

So the process goes like this:

• Open your pop riveter all the way, making sure the ring on the pop rivet is well seated against the die.
• Align sheet goods and insert the rivet.
• Then squeeze once or twice – until the rewarding pop.
• Whereupon the shaft of the pop rivet is cut and flies off.  The sheet goods are joined.

A CLECO fastener is a lot different, but the “expanding head” idea is intact.  Say you’re building a light aircraft kit and you need to join sheet goods (like wing covering, for example).

A CLECO works the same way as the pop rivet, except it re-expands so the holding power is removed and the sheet goods are not joined.

Pop rivets are not terribly strong.  Don’t use where human life or limb depend on the rivet holding!

A reasonable one-handed pop riveter is less than $25 bucks.  Like this “Rivet Gun, GIANTISAN Pop Rivet Tool Kit with 200 Rivets and 4 Drill Bits, Manual Hand Riveter Kit with Rugged Carrying Case” for a few cents less than $22.

Cleco’s ain’t cheap. And it’s easy to dump $150 into a set like this one.  Smart tip here is to buy used on eBay…  Cleco’s are the Cat’s Meow for sheet metal work, though.  Can’t go to George Barris school, without ’em!  Barris’ company built t5he Batmobile and he designed and built the Munster Koach among many eye popping designs.

See, there’s two general schools on car customizing:  The Bondo School and the Real Sheet Metal School.

TIG Welder Arrives

I haven’t dared to open the damn thing yet, but one of the YesWelder 205 HF Tig welders showed up, along with a Klutch welding table with fixturing gear.

Normally, I would not have purchased a TIG rig (having a Lincoln 135 MIG, an acetylene gas rig, and an awful cheap stick welding buzz box.  But there was a $40 off coupon (which was still there today) and since I got taxes done, I’m giving myself a little piece of the refund to play with.

Next week, we’ll see if I can get the “small tools workstation” put together before I dare to unbox any of the new distractions.

All made necessary because I found (researching sheet metal welding) that this is a FORMULA for how to set TIG amperage when welding thin sheet steel.

FORMULA TO KNOW:  One amp per one-thousandth of an Inch.

So, say you want to weld 18-gauge sheet steel.  1/20th of an inch.  Mean means 0.050 inches thick, so a reasonable starting power is 50 amps on the TIG rig.

If you were welding something half as thick – which 24 gauge happens to be, that’s 0.025 inches, so your first test beads before getting on the real workpiece would run about 25 amps.  Maybe start down around 20 with some test beads if you’re really worried about burn-through.

But that was a dandy rule to learn this week (filed in the wetware).  Along with some of the major vegetable spacings to observe when thinning out the veggies.

Who said this being old stuff wasn’t way cool and fun?  Of course, none of it will come into the house and hang out at the couch…which, near as I can tell is where Death likes to hang out.  Proposition being? Avoid the couch, avoid the Dead part.

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net