Shoptalk Sunday: Sheet Goods, Pop Rivets, Cleco’s

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:

raised bed scrap parts

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:

dc pressujre pump for small dc installation

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!”

solar panel wiring

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:

pop ri

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.

closeup of pop rivet expansion

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

19 thoughts on “Shoptalk Sunday: Sheet Goods, Pop Rivets, Cleco’s”

  1. Have you tried those Bok Choy grilled? Next to a nice rare steak and some grilled green onions. Don’t need any taters with that.

    • Taters are bad (which I hate to say, loving deep golden air fried Yukons and all…)( but I will do some of the Bok boys on the girlz…

      • Bok Choy is nearly a staple here. All the filipino vegetable stands have it, and the stores. Local grown. I love it. Guess I need to plant some, now that you’ve made me hungry.

      • OH boy are you missing something.. tators.. onions peppers carrots and cheese.. put it in a pan.. melt some butter over it.. on the griddle it is even better.. yum.. and some seasoning.. slow grill it.. I like famous daves barbeque seasoning..
        then BAD BOYs.. Jalapeno peppers take the seeds out.. split it.. then take a little chicken breast.. and cream cheese.. ( you can use almost any kind of cheese) wrap bacon around it.. put a tooth pick in it and then grill them puppies..
        ..

    • Dam good idea.. I have never tried Bok Choy grilled.. I like to dip it in ranch

  2. I tried out what I think may turn out to be my best electric tool to date – an Echo 18″ bar 56V model with a 5 ah battery. I took down a 16″ or so hackberry which was about to take a fence down. After processing the tree, I still had more than 3/4 charge (the battery has four bars on the charge indicator). I’ll probably need to resharpen more often than I recharge. This is definitely a farm grade tool. I haven’t looked into extra batteries yet. If I need to saw enough for that to be an issue, I will probably need to get a couple of gasoline-fired models going anyway.

  3. Hmm one of the kids brought up my alcohol stove.. and wick…
    there are a few different ways to do it.. but a really good one is.. take about two foot of 1/4 inch soft copper.. a piece of straight wire.. you can either use one that is real thin.. and bend it over.. and twist it.. at the end use cotton string or an old sock this is the wick.. at the end tap it so that you can put a jet.. or a cap and then drill a very small hole in the center.. now twist the copper around a piece of 3/4 inch pvc.. leaving the one end out to put the fuel source on the other end with the cap or jet bend under it and up into the coil.. take a cat food or tuna can.. and this is your striker.. and mount.. drill a hole in it to let the feed tube come out.. and solder or jb weld that into place.. on the feed side you can now run a fuel line and container .. to ignite it.. put alcohol in fuel container.. and put a little bit in the cat food can.. ( place this in your stove container.. could be an old ammo can or a small paint can etc.. on top you can put either your pot to cook or a chimney T.. light up the alcohol it will heat up the coil vaporizing the alcohol to make it into a flame on the jet or cap .. as the heat increases so does the flame.. on one sense you can put in an adjustment knob.. but that you would have to have a threaded end and a T with the jet on.. similar to camp stoves.. then grind down the end of the bolt to make a needle valve..
    almost all simple alcohol stoves are made this way.. this is one design.. super simple easy to make using a number ten can bottom.. and a hole saw.. https://youtu.be/5ZsPBc2SUcU
    the pipe is ridgid quarter inch copper.. ( use tubing for lamps) about ten inches.. and a ten inch wick a soda bottle will work good for the alcohol.. https://youtu.be/UJPbDqgSEm4
    almost all stoves and gas lamps are made the same way.. using either an air pump.. like my coleman camp stove and lantern.. to mix the air and fuel.. once they get going the heat increases the pressure.. the one I described is the jet heater stove.. lasts a long time and will heat a small room easily.. I prefer having the needle valve control..
    like the camp stove.. use two soda can bottoms to make the burner or two cat food cans.. you can also prime the can burner to.. once the pressure is up it goes like heck..

    • Oh my .. found a video of someone that makes them like I do…. super easy.. great flame.. on mine I put a T in the center and then the needle valve.. but you get the idea.. put this mounted in a cat food or tuna can.. then mount that inside your ammo can or paint can with a door slot.. for lighting it..
      https://youtu.be/sS5yx1KyNQ8
      a six ounce bottle of alcohol will last a long time..
      well not quite like I make mine LOL.. this one is closer to how I make mine.. except I like to put a T in the center then the jet going up.. on the other side the needle valve with the tuna can as the prime dish mounted in whatever you want.. a tin can etc.. on top you put your burner for the pots etc..
      https://youtu.be/aeWJyh0dWyg
      Like I mentioned before.. all camp stoves are about the same.. like making a small biofuel camp stove..
      easy enough.. but it takes ten days to get the gas to use for cooking..
      you can also make cengas by using a double bubbler technique.. a two litre bottle of gasoline alcohol etc.. can give you enough gas for a day..

  4. Since it’s makers Sunday,, I ran on to this video,, I saw it a couple of years ago.. Has it been linked here before?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djB9oK6pkbA

    It’s about the 1751 machine that made everything.. our modern world of interchangeable parts.. that led to exponential wealth growth.. and ironically may lead to our demise.. ???

  5. “Country Boys Can Survive,” eh, Hank?
    LOL! And that was a clever way to ‘weave’ some ham radio stuff into the gardening project.
    As a master tool slut, you will be happy to know I purchased a new power tool! Small electric power washer. Just the ticket for moss and mold removal in this tropical climate. It actually makes cleaning fun! Somehow, this all has to be your fault.

      • I never listened to country music… couldn’t stand it. But strangely, I was once the chief engineer of a major FM station, “The Country of Wisconsin”. Standing routine was for the jocks to turn off the speakers when I (rarely) entered the control room. But the program director won awards in Nashville for breaking new country artists yearly. I remember seeing Crystal Gayle in a local small bar when she was promoting her first record, before anyone knew who she was. We helped make her a superstar. But I can’t listen to country… even though I grew up in it.

        • Strtangely when KOL became KMPS in Sept 75 I instantly loved country music.

          Or, should I say, I loved Barbi Benton….who Manning Slater (the owner_) hired for a couple of wereks of “promotional work” in seattle. Which mostly involved being drop dead gorgeous.

          Even knew her real name (long ago) and where here Kiwi farm was…going from memory…long, long time back.

          Other than Linda Ronstadt at the Palamino (yee-haw!) my interest in country was limited to 1 minutes before ther news and 10 second after. The rest? I figured I did the news for free and they paid me $47k (1980, right?) to put up with the music.

      • “Or, should I say, I loved Barbi Benton….who Manning Slater (the owner_) hired for a couple of wereks of “promotional work” in seattle. Which mostly involved being drop dead gorgeous.”

        Classic understatement…

    • I love that song.. Ran into him once at a truck stop.. LOL Didn’t even know who it was.. he was in the diner part and the wife was the one to recognize him.. I didn’t believe her when we left there was his bus.. LOL

      https://youtu.be/4WwzYhVL5Sc

  6. 79???!!!
    NOT possible, oh wait one.
    You must be measuring her age in Metric, so her actual age is 49!

    Ahhh, that’s the ticket!!
    Cheers

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