What did you do today?

[Oldskool 6,644]

5 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

The high school robotics team I am mentoring left today for their first competition in Oklahoma.  I'll be able to watch them compete on line.  For that matter, you folks can watch, too.  PM me if you are interested, and I'll send you information.

When will that be? Is this like the robot wars type of competition?

[Ed Kennell 38,171]

1 hour ago, Oldskool said:

Is this like the robot wars type of competition?

https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc

[8ntruck 7,003]

12 hours ago, Oldskool said:

When will that be? Is this like the robot wars type of competition?

Nope.  Nothing like the robot wars competition. 

 

It is a game played by a red alliance against a blue alliance.  Each alliance is made up of three teams.  Each year the game is different, requiring the students to design and build a robot for the conditions of the game.

 

This year's game has the robots picking up and shooting balls about 8" in diameter at two goals and for extra points at the end of the game, the robots climb 4 horizontal bars at increasing heights - the higher the bar, more points are awarded.  The first 15 seconds of each 3 minute match require the robots to operate on a pre-programmed routine.  Points are awarded on the robots moving a certain distance and for shooting the balls into the goals.  The remaining portion of the match, the robots are operated by remote control.

 

The meet has two phases - qualification matches and an 8 alliance elimination to determine the overall winning alliance.  The qualification matches will go all day on Friday and part of the day on Saturday.  The elimination matches will be on Saturday afternoon.

 

During the qualification matches, the alliances are pre assigned. After the qualification matches are over, the top 8 teams become an alliance captain and are able to pick 2 more teams to form alliances for the elimination rounds.

 

We are playing at the Oklahoma Regional this week.  You can watch matches on thebluealliance.com.  Click on the events tab, then click on the Oklahoma Regional box.

 

There will be live streaming on the site, and there will be videos of the matches to view at a later date/time.  If the text is blue, it is clickable.

[Oldskool 6,644]

Thats awesome. I'll check it out.

[19richie66 17,508]

5 minutes ago, Oldskool said:

Thats awesome. I'll check it out.

Me too. Sounds interesting 

[Gregor 4,846]

I have mentioned before that my garage has a basement. It's where all my tractors and mowers are stored. It's really nice to have that extra space, but it does make for a very cold concrete floor up in my garage, even though I keep my garage heated to 70. I always thought it would be nice to have a lift table, to eliminate crawling around on the floor, but I don't have the space for one. I said in an earlier post that I built a wood rack to store extra wood. It is operated up and down by a winch. I already had a winch in my garage, but I got to thinking what I could do with 2 winches, so I ordered another. They are not very expensive at all. Then I built a cradle to fit under a tractor, got a little chain, and now I have a tractor lift, if not a lift table. In these pics the tractor is 20" off the floor. Not stand up working height, but at least it's not crawling around on that cold floor. Now I have a question about winches. According to the instructions, the lift capacity of the winch is doubled by adding a ****** block in the cable. While 400# on each winch is plenty for lifting a Wheel Horse, that's not enough for my Masseys. Will the winch capacity double again, if I add another ****** block?

[ebinmaine 67,492]

40 minutes ago, Gregor said:

Will the winch capacity double again, if I add another ****** block?

IIFF the pivot points and blocks are set up correctly, yes.

 

Remember that for every division by half that you do you also need to pull in twice as much cable.  

 

To get that 20" lift you'll need an 80" winch cable if you divide twice. 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,557]

Pretty cool!

 

Does it swing around much as you work on it?

[Gregor 4,846]

1 hour ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Pretty cool!

 

Does it swing around much as you work on it?

No, it swings very little. Actually, having it rotate in a circle may not be all bad. OH WAIT ! It does now. Did I mention I built a folding table? A rather stout folding table. The lift cradle is also quite stout. I tend to over build things. That being said, the things I build, generally stay built. So I still don't have a lift table, but I do have a table, and I do have a lift, hmmmmm.

It was the next logical step.

If you saw the pictures of the table in the previous post, you may have noticed the legs bowed outward slightly. This was by design. Now I can put ratchet straps between them to hold them from going further. With them bowed out, I believe there is very little chance they could ever fold in on themselves. The table will roll and spin around, but it would do it much easier I believe with larger, slightly harder casters.  I built the cradle originally for a wheel base of 43.5". I don't know where i came up with that figure, but it was wrong. I had to add a short piece to each side to spread it some. That may be a blessing in disguise, as I can drill a series of holes in these short pieces to adjust to the wheel base of different tractors.

My wifes only comment was, " I am getting you a "Life Alert" button. Oh Ye of little faith. I would not be afraid to sit in the seat of this tractor while up on the table.

I have a couple of things to do for finishing touches on the cradle, but when it's done and not in use, it will store nicely, leaning against the wall,  behind my rolling tool boxes.

This afternoon I will be starting on the long put off expeirmental modification to the 125. It's about time !

[EB-80/8inPA 1,641]

9 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

IIFF the pivot points and blocks are set up correctly, yes.

 

Remember that for every division by half that you do you also need to pull in twice as much cable.  

 

To get that 20" lift you'll need an 80" winch cable if you divide twice. 

I knew there had to be a good reason for them keeping you around here!

[ebinmaine 67,492]

16 minutes ago, EB-80/8inPA said:

I knew there had to be a good reason for them keeping you around here!

That wasn't it. 

The Mods tolerate me cuz Trina's nice.  

 

[Handy Don 12,222]

9 hours ago, Gregor said:

I would not be afraid to sit in the seat of this tractor

Hmmm. The Life Alert is sounding like a good idea to me.

That the legs could collapse inward (yes, I know they have braces but how strong and well locked are they?) and that the middle leg is unbraced is concerning. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that thing if you are rolling it around.

[Lee1977 6,659]

Burned brush all day. Even haul in a couple of loads.

[8ntruck 7,003]

@Gregor what is up on the ceiling that is carrying the load of your tractor crane?

 

The robotics team had an OK day today.  We are currently rated 6th when evaluated in alliance competition, and 3rd when evaluated in individual performance.  There are 44 teams in this competition.  We have 7 more qualification matches tomorrow before elimination alliances are chosen.

Edited March 12, 2022 by 8ntruck

[Gregor 4,846]

6 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

@Gregor what is up on the ceiling that is carrying the load of your tractor crane?

 

The winches are held p by 3 3/8" hooks screwed into the 2X4 W trusses. Remember back to my construction days I recall my boss and I both standing on trusses. He was about 250, I was probably around 210 at the time. I figured if they held us, it would hold half of a tractor. I once lifted the front of my 656 with the snow blowers on with one winch. The total weight was 398#, and it handled that ok. I figure each truss should handle half of a 125, which according to Tractor Data, is 300#.

[ebinmaine 67,492]

10 hours ago, Lee1977 said:

Burned brush all day. Even haul in a couple of loads.

 

 

 

Haven't burned brush in a few years here. I've been chipping it instead. 

Takes up a whole day but I do enjoy the hard work. 

Brings me back to when we used to go to my grandparents house and help them do it.  

 

 

We do have quite a large pile out behind the outdoor workshop that'll be burned sometime soon. 

All the sticks from the clearing of land we've been doing.  

We're going to move the whole thing to the new garden site area so that soil gets the benefit of the ashes. 

 

[8ntruck 7,003]

  I've always burned yard trash in the garden, then turned the ashes under.

 

Been watching the robotics meet on the computer.  Sure is a lot more comfortable watching from home instead of packed in a set of folding bleachers.

 

Oh yeah.  WE WON!

We were also awarded the Excellence in Engineering award.

Edited March 13, 2022 by 8ntruck

[Ed Kennell 38,171]

10 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

We're going to move the whole thing to the new garden site area so that soil gets the benefit of the ashes. 

Hard wood ashes supply lime and potassium, both good for most garden plants.   Soft woods are not so good.  The salt in the ashes will discourage pests, but too much salt will be harmful to the plants.   It may be best to store the ashes on a mulch pile to allow the salts to drain out.

[ebinmaine 67,492]

Been working on installing a ceiling fan in the dining area this afternoon. 

We had to remove the old plastic loosely mounted box in favor of a metal "fan rated" one. 

Trina went up in the attic. 

I stayed in the dining area. 

We got that all fastened in and are working on finishing up the blades and lights.  

 

Kinda before. Started dismantling the light and remembered to get a pic.  

 

 

Mid way through. 

 

 

The box we used.  

Screws to the truss.  

 

 

 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,557]

What’s hangin’ on the wall there waiting on varmits?

 

Couple Daisy Red Riders? 

 

[ebinmaine 67,492]

17 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

What’s hangin’ on the wall there waiting on varmits?

 

Couple Daisy Red Riders? 

 

You're close. 

Top one is a .22 pellet rifle. 

Lower one is a .22 long. 

 

Above the window is an English long bow. Handmade of red oak FOR an Englishman, BY an Englishman. (Not me). 

 

I was lucky enough to be the next Englishman to steward that for awhile. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

 

 

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

@ebinmaine… did you get those 2 eagles with the.22’s ?… your taxidermist does get work !

[ebinmaine 67,492]

22 minutes ago, Horse Newbie said:

@ebinmaine… did you get those 2 eagles with the.22’s ?… your taxidermist does get work !

Those are a couple of Trina's MANY Martial Arts trophies.  

 

[ebinmaine 67,492]

Fan is all up and going.  

 

 

 

 

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

3 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Those are a couple of Trina's MANY Martial Arts trophies.  

 

BBT…