Electromechanical / welding / generators / farm animals / agriculture / and old radio equipment. Bruce N Strnad 207 SW Spring High Gln. Lake City, FL 32024-2907 Home (no text): 386 754 0835 - Cell & Text: 386 466 9756
Date(s): 1 / 27 /16. Album by Bruce Strnad. Photos by Bruce & Sue. 1 - 503 of 503 Total. 93541 Visits.
1 The start of a wonderful life ....... Sue n Bruce, 1997
2 Sue and I during a riding vacation in the Smokey Mtns. a while back, Sue riding our dearly departed friend Gerald Shenkman's Moto Guzzi and I was on my BMW R100RT. Great times were had riding all those mountain roads.
3 My favorite little tube tester, The Sencore "Mighty Might."
4 A fantastic off grid inverter / split phase - auto transfer with grid loss - runs off solar panels - runs off battery bank when sun is gone - self charges battery bank off grid when no sun - and if that’s not enough - this thing is putting out a pure sign wave to run your house @ 120 / 240 volts. And wait - here’s more …. You can run your panels in series up to 300 VDC to cut down supply voltage wire size to the unit - and when sun is out it will run your house from the panels or the bank if no sun instead of the power grid. That will directly save you $$ cutting down on grid use, and that’s all done automatically - absolutely a fantastic unit giving you a pure sign wave full voltage to run your home - but wait again …… you can stack these units up to 16 to provide over 90 KW of power ! ! !
5 Here are some statistics for the EG4 6000XP
And you can find these along with excellent Tec support at 1-877-242-2792
6 Another tower project in the works.......
7 Up over the treetops .....
8 Our little mini Berkshire piggy, Spats, has found Billy the border collie's dinner.
9 The jig is up! Billy finds the culprit in the act.
10 Hey Mom! He's eating my food!
11 Our main gate at SW Spring High Glen on the 4th of July.
12 Service entrance gates being hung.
13 No, this is not a trombone, it is a two meter folded dipole antenna that works really great.
14 Emergency lighting for the shop here, using a reworked UPS ( computer power supply ) with larger AMG outboard battery with entrance light timer, and 4-100 watt daylight CFL bulbs that come on instantly with power line loss. A super simple system even a cave man could build ...... HA HA
15 Shop emergency CFL lamps hung ( over 8' high ), part of the cave man system .........
16 Here's a sixty's era Pioneer SR 202 Reverberation Amplifier, this reverb unit was made in Japan, I know, I brought one like this back in 67 from Yokosuka Japan where I was stationed. Someone lifted it from my shop a long time ago. So here's my replacement 40 yrs later. It has a unique sound all its own, and makes those old movies sound really great.
17 A whopper of a Variac. This one will handle 30 amps standing still.......ha ha....and it weighs in at about 30 lbs as well
18 Two matching 50 A Pyramid power supplies, I told Sue if we left them in the car trunk for a week, maybe they would have babies......
19 Spare 2N3771 output transistors for the power supply's ( just in case ).
20 These are really cheap insurance for your household apliences, TVs, Refrigerators, microwaves, and light bulbs. They are what is known as an MOV ( metallic oxide varistor ) and if put across your breaker in the electrical panel, they will absorb the spike of voltage when it happens and, after many events it will finally short out and trip the breaker. ( I use a 130V @ 10A version, pictured here ) And then just replace it with another. These can last years and years depending on how clean your utility service is from your provider. They do save you a lot of trouble and expense and in bulk are about 20 cents each on eBay. I mount mine on a screw type terminal strip for easy replacement.
21 Here's an easy application of the MOV to a home breaker panel. This one is custom fit for a panel with a MOV on the load side of each breaker trying to catch any spikes or surges before they hit the household appliances and they are cheap insurance !
22 Finally got the little MOV group installed. Great addition to surge protection for the home. This way all critical circuits are protected especially my radio equipment !
UPDATE : We got struck by lightning and the house circuit that got struck, tripped the breaker with the MOV on it and no issues with all my radio equipment ! The MOV took the spike to ground and tripped the breaker before any damage was done !!!
23 Even though it resembles part of "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory" it is my animal automated watering system for the different corals here, chickens, goats, big hog, little piggies, turkey & rooster pen. An inexpensive lawn sprinkler timer and a hand full of solenoid valves, Sue got tired of carrying the water around in a pail.
24 Billy is not liking sitting next to a goat!
25 Sue takes the boy for a ride.
26 Another baby Saanen Dairy goat.
27 One of the 275 gallon tanks for reserve water here.
28 All four tanks parked and ready for action. These have a strong galvanized metal tubing for reinforcement when full.
Now there will be an intense plumbing project to follow.
29 Simple living in the country. With the global warming, we needed to keep as much of the sunlight out of the interior to help keep the AC working well. Even the dark tint on the windows produced a 98 * temp. Now with these ultra simple cheap awnings we dropped another 6 * inside now down to 72 inside and 89 outside. They are working great for about 12.00 each.
30 The simple frame works fine as the metal roofing has ridges and gives plenty of rigidity to the awning. Pressure treated 1-1/2" X 3/4 " firring strips were used for the frame and held togetrer with 3/4" stainless steel #4 screws. The strut support is 18 ga galv metal drilled 3/16 " holes and bent 90 * , also using same screws to attach them.
31 A close up of the support bracket and stainless screws.
The support struts are made from 1/2" EMT with flattened ends, drilled and a 1/4 20 rivet nut installed for ease of attachment with a 1/4 20 X 3/4" stainless bolt.
32 A brass barrel bolt secures the awning to the wall brackets on the window frame. When you put them up, just extend each barrel bolt and secure the awning in place and easy to take down for any cleaning or maintainance. They are so simple and work so well.
33 Here is a close up of the 1/2" EMT used for the support strut. Flattened on one end and drilled with a rivet nut pressed in place. The angle brackets atttaches to the wall below the awning.
34 Another view of the 1/4 - 20 SS bolt attaching the angle bracket to the awning brace.
35 Hey, who let that horse loose !
36 A bath before skinning, using the "boom pole" Neighbor Hank and his nephew do all the hog prep.
"We gona eat good tonight I gar-on-tee" as dearly departed Cajun Chef Justin Wilson would say.
37 Taking the boy for a walk on a brisk winter day. I don't need a jacket here, I have all the insulation I need to keep warm.
38 Now here is a real "small" project. The mic from my old FT-2400 Yaesu 2 meter radio I listen to the local hams on. All the 5 electrolytics have been replaced and the 1 PF ceramic cap on the mic element.
39 A better view of the caps to be replaced.....
40 Now this was the hard part, sort of like microsurgery to get those two parts and the wires together and soldered......no place for fat fingers .....ha ha
41 Here you can see the match head is bigger then the 1 PF cap on the mic element.
Great audio reports on this job !
42 A very important item here, Gouda cheese wax. Now whats that to do with electronics anyway ? Well, it is excellent for getting the micro sized screws on the end of a screw driver and screwed back in place.
43 Hey what's this thing ? Well being with a marker pen that ran out of ink ...... in the middle of a job marking 400+ holes, .....and a quick experiment turned out quite well ! I used some printer ink and successfully was able to refill the marker and it worked perfect !
It's a bit of a challenge to get the glued on top section loose but it can be done. There is a wick cartridge in the front and it took the ink and was an easy fill with the syringe ink filler. Once you get off the glued on top, you can re fill it many times .........
for big savings....HA!
44 But wait ! This marker is even easier to refill with little effort ........
45 If you look at the tip of the marker you can see that it unscrews from the main barrel of the pen, may take a good grip to get it loose or a bit of wrangling with some channel lock water pump pliers.
46 Here you see the whole cartridge is now exposed and add some printer ink to the end till it's saturated and your old marker is ready for action again ..... good luck friends and be happy !
47 This is an easy project and works really well. The red led readout is easy to read across the room and the thermometers cost about 4.50 from eBay, one for inside and one for outside. Working great for about 4 years now off a wall wart. "You should do either a wal..." View Comments...
48 Here are my noise makers that go from a B-Flat to a jiga cycle. Both old B&K equipment and work well.
49 A Model 177 B&K VTVM also working well for it's age.
50 A nice old Micronta Model 22-025 VTVM and it as well is working fine for its age.
51 Here is an RCA WV-98C Senior Volt Ohmist and a real classic from the 60's and she works great. I have wanted one of these since I was a kid and saw the one Jack Newton had on his test bench in Delray at " Newton's TV Shop " Now it has a BNC connector that I use on all my test equipment here. It makes life easier to be able to interchange probes.
A big " HELLO TO JACK " where ever you are !!
52 My old faithful Simpson 260 VOM. This one has traveled all over with me on many troubleshooting jobs. It has the roll front case but I prefer it out of the case. Under bridges, to the airport, under here and there. Even broke out the meter glass once and replaced it. I have a Fluke 88 and use this more.
The digital meters are a real advancement but drive me crazy when there is a fluctuating signal and the digits jumping all around. I find the old analog meter much easier to read.
53 Another old gem, the Triplett Model 850 VTVM. And still in need of a new BNC connector.
54 What a cute couple they make ! Just got another Triplett 850 from my ham friend Carter and checked it out and with a little adjustment it's working like new. Both of them were fitted with BNC connectors to match my test leads here.
55 Here you can see this meter is made for 117 volts and made in the USA ! They are both neat old meters and almost a carbon copy of the RCA Senior Volt Ohmist. All meters here have any batteries removed until use on the bench.
56 Well, here is my daily driver, a Simpson Model 312 VTVM. Works like a charm and BNC installed here as well.
57 And back to the early 60's with this old Eico 232 VTVM, has her BNC installed and works good for an old relic.....
58 OK here's the end of the line for reliable meters, the Fluke model 88 ......but ..... every 4 years I have to remove the display glass and clean the contacts. Last time I used De Ox It, maybe that will keep it working longer. An excellent meter though a little pricy.
59 This is a neat unit, it will measure power factor which is an outstanding feature. It is sold by an up scale electronics suppler in Canada and made in Taiwan, NOT CHINA. The clamp meter works great and one of several clamp meters we have here.
60 Now we are going down hill here. I went to turn it on and it was dead. Took it apart and darn, the copper top battery was leaking at 4 years old. Uck, had to replace the battery connector in next picture.
61 New end cap leads all tinned and ready with heat shrink and all ready to solder. Went back together perfect and now powers up. Just another project here as things go.
62 Now were scraping the bottom of the barrel. We have a couple of these here and there and if the goat chews it up, no problem...Ha Ha !
63 But wait ....... almost forgot old crusty......
My ham friend Bill Sutton gave me this neat old nixie bulb meter, and it is working fine, she needs a little TLC and paint. This was made by the Heath Co in Benton Harbor Michigan ......
( many Heath Kits were built here over the years )
64 And here is more nostalgia from the past, a Heathkit SB-100 multi band ham transceiver, one catch, you need a ham licence to transmit on this old girl.
65 But wait ...... another SB-100 just flew in the door at 129.00 !
66 A perfect match for the Heath SB-100 radio at the left. It is a 1KW rated Heath Kit H-10 Warrior amplifier. Ham radio friend Frank KC4VFI donated it to my Heath collection, thanks Frank ! This back buster weighs in at an even 90 lbs ! More neat old Heath equipment for my radio shack and a big plus as these tube radios are almost a 100% EMP proof ........
67 Here's a pristine in perfect working order 2 KW "SA-2060A " Heath Kit antenna tuner. What a great find.
68 Hey what's this ! It's a MFJ SWR Meter and not quite a boat anchor as such but it does a Mighty Fine Job ! ....... HAR HAR !!
69 Heathkit ! yup another old simple no bones about it Heathkit. This Model IG-72 is a spare for the nice B&K audio generator I have and this works just fine, and simple to repair.
70 And another classic Heath Kit just arrived from ham friend in south Fla. A nice old Heath RF signal generator. All I need to do now is add some BNC jacks to accommodate my shop test leads.
71 Oh boy and another Heath old time Audio Signal tracer with a 6E5 " Cats Eye " indicator tube to boot ! I love these old Heath Kits ....
72 Someone mention old Heathkits....?
Well this is a real classic Capacitive Discharge unit for hopping up your spark at the plug. I just found this one on the eBay, and will use it on the MZ50 man lift along with a new high output coil to keep the plugs clean.
73 And here we have a nice old Auto Ranging frequency counter a Model 1252 Weston / Shlumberger a relative of the Famous Heathkit and more than likely made in the same factory. works great and is another spare around here.
74 And here is a Heath IO 4510 dual trace general purpose scope. These came out on the market in 1972. Ham friend Jim KJ4REV donated it to my collection .... With two sets of matching probes.
Many thanks Jim .....
75 My main scope.
76 My spare el-cheapo scope.
77 Look at this little guy ,,,,, it fits in your pocket ! The smallest scope I have ever seen and it has a nice clear display.
78 Absolutely fantastic small scope with many attributes. Oh yes ...... made in China.
79 This is one neat older solid unit for testing transmitters and receivers plus a lot more.
It is an IFR 1000 A Service Monitor and will let me do an upgrade from my old Lampkin Service Monitor. I got this from Jack K8XX down in Hudson Fl.
And NEXT ...... picture you can read all about it as written by K8XX ........
80 If you want to learn some about the Service Monitor back one space read this write up.
81 A model 74-C Capacitance bridge manufactured by Boonton Electronics in Boonton New Jersey. It uses High Frequency to to test various capacitors and extremely accurate. Now these are made in China to fit in the palm of your hand.
82 Here is the mate to the Heath CD unit. These together are made to put out 60KV to the pugs in short duration spark with no ringing voltage to eat up the points. The MZ-50's VG4 Wisconsin will run smooth and reliable and cut down on plug fouling.
83 And now some old Eico equipment, a Model 955 Capacitor tester, new and still in the original box from Eico. It uses a turquoise fluorescent tube for the indicator ... and upgrade from the old 6E5 green "cat's eye" tube.
84 The 955 is an upgrade from the old 950B that had the 6E5 tube and this one is more compact and fancy looking. I reformed a lot of old electrolytics on the old 950B back in the day when a customer didn't want to spend much on a new part... I used to tell them I could "regurgitate" their old capacitor for a dollar instead of 6 dollars for the new one.....it worked great back in the day. Used to do the old picture tubes also burning off the cathode, giving another year of service for 5 bucks.
85 This one just sneaked in the back door ! Ha A neat little tester and an upgrade from my Heathkit transistor tester I put together back in the late 60's ....... good quality test equipment made in the USA
86 One more Eico, a Model 1171 ..... a decade resistance box and really handy working on new circuits.
87 This is an old Eico Model 147-A signal tracer that will work great on the old radios I restore. ( this is one fantastic unit, will test components for noise generation, and at "1 MA" That's incredible! ) Here it is being brought up up line voltage slowly to restore it and resume operation from a long storage time.
88 And the first thing I do is remove the old style connectors and put in a BNC connector so all my test leads will fit.
89 What's this thing ?
A GRID ALARM ...
and it works quite well and so simple. This is used while running of your generator during a power outage. When you are running your generator, and you have S1 closed, this little thing will scream and let you know the main power comes back on. I use it all the time when we have an outage.
Here are the parts:
S1 5A switch TX a 12 volt TX ( actually you could use an old wall wart) D - A 1A / 100 PIV diode. PL - a pilot lamp if you keep S1 open you can still see when power returns without the noise. A - is an alligator clip attached to the line side of the main breaker. B - is hooked to the neutral.
90 A picture of the super simple " Grid Alarm " another project not yet approved buy UL ....Ha
91 Another neat little meter from Shina.
It shows line voltage and CPS and extra handy when running off generator power here. Find them on on eBay for 9.00.
92 Well most people will say ...... what the heck is that thing ! OK ..... it is a phase rotation meter, push the white button and the little wheel rotates CW or CC indicating phase rotation for hooking up 3 phase equipment so your motor turns the right way.
93 Hey here are some pickled miniature tubes, this stuff is great for cleaning all the old corrosion off the pins of old tubes and cleaning the glass perfect without removing the print. It will take overnight, and just rinse with plain cold water.
94 Grandpa always said " A clean tube is a happy tube "
95 Ride em cowboy !
Yippy Yi Yay .... Cow Patty.........
Yea, you bet-cha Cow Patty would like to ride this one! An other bit of classic stuff here...... A...... 5 wheel John Deere Gator model AMT-600 and rated for a half ton on the payload ! And powered by a reliable Japanese " Cowa - Saki " 14 hp electric start single cylinder engine.
96 Hard to make out in all the clutter but there is a band saw blade welder, 3/16ths plate sheer, and below it a Hosfeild Bender that will bend eyelets in 5/8 rebar cold, it will do the same on 3/4 but needs a little help from the " rose bud " . This bending machine is so simple and does so many things it's incredible!
97 A new bird cage for our African Grey parrot " Woody " we found the cage and play stand for $30.00 !
98 Here is " Big Bertha " my 1945 Le Blond " Reagal " ....... She has a 19 inch swing and 48" between centers. Powered by a 5 HP single phase 240 volt electric motor.
99 Quality Starrett measurement tools used here on our projects.
100 This is no match for my J head Bridgeport but will do a lot of general purpose milling and drilling on uncomplicated projects.
101 This is an old Whal infrared temperature gun, tells the temp of the surface of what ever you point it at. Now, I'm checking all my thermometers !
It's old but works great and found it at a local hamfest at the outrageous price of $4.00 !
And comes with a really nice carrying case.
102 This ........ Is a super cheap version of the big old Whal IR gun to the left. This was 10.00 and free shipping from eBay and works like a charm. Great for measuring hot spots on a circuit board or your truck engine, AC home or in a vehicle. It has a lazer beam for pointing to what you want to measure.
103 It even has an option of a back lit screen and the same with the lazor pointer as an option. You can choose between C and F for temp readings. It uses 2 AAA batteries. And for the three weeks of relentless use, it still has good batteries. Get one, you will love this little thing !
104 1945 West Bend drip type coffee maker.
I procured this one after reading about it at " The Coffee Geek " ( on the Internet ) and he mentioned the "best coffee ever" came from this easy to clean wonderful coffee maker his grand mother had when he was a youngster. So, bacteria and fungi gets to incubating and multiplying in automatic coffee makers in their drip heads and internal tubing. After cleaning my Bunn coffee maker and finding some pink slime in there ( Oooooowww bad bad bad ! ) I did the research on the perculator type coffee makers.
THIS ONE CAN BE CLEANED PERFECTLY TO AVOID ANY BACTERIAL OR FUNGAL ISSUES. I HAVE NEVER TASTED SUCH GOOD TASTING COFFEE, SO HELP ME GOD !!! "I agree, the best coffee e..." View Comments...
105 A week's supply of coffee and tea being made here ( 18 cups in each ) with dual Kwik Drip pots..... and tops tilted to get the last drop.
106 A good way to organize all my rivets & clecos.
They were in containers all along the shelves in the shop and a pain to get to. This great 24 draw cabinet now houses all my solid, blind, shoulder, round head, countersink, aluminum, steel, stainless steel, brass, aircraft nut plates, T nuts, plus nuts, riv nuts, Hi locks, and nylon rivets. There are about 15,000 of the little things! Now so much easier to find things fast, in fact, there's even a draw for " Gromits" brass and nickle plated.
107 So what are these things? Well they are Cleco's used to hold sheet metal in place while riveting. You will notice them on large aircraft being assembled and they look like all little pins sticking out of the aluminum sheet metal used on the skin of the aircraft.
They also go into the rivet cabinet. They are great for assorted metal projects here in the metal shop.
108 Here is the best deal I have found on brand new panels made in the USA and the cells are made in Germany / not China. A quality panel in my opinion after buying many panels in the past. Call 1-408-583-8101 and ask for Scott. These folks will answer all your solar panel related questions in their Tec Dept., get em before they disappear !
109 These little guys are blocking diodes to keep the little electrons from running back up the wire into the solar panel when the darkness after sunset happens. Without the diode, your battery bank would discharge overnight in a " reverse charging " process into the panels.
110 A couple 120 watt Kyosera panels for the array here. A good panel but not as good as the Infinium panel.
111 This is a used inverter I picked up really cheap off eBay. It is rather large as you can see by the comparison to the beer can. Reviews give it a thumbs up so we have it in addition to the other inverters on hand for any EMP or CME down the road. They are stored in a big faraday cage that's locked and alarmed so they can't escape ......HA HA !
112 Another medium output inverter for a spare, just incase, there are two of these now. A lot smaller than the 5KW one but has a lot lower idle current drain on the battery bank.
There is one more here that's an 8,000 /16,000 watt but it is a Chinese import and maybe able to do 5,000 / 10,000 also and it will be taken apart to check all solder joints before it ever sees any action. The Cobra is second down the list for best and most reliable inverters.
YOU HAVE TO FEED THEM WITH HEAVY WIRE 1/0 or 3/0 FOR THEM TO WORK RIGHT AND BE AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO THE BATTERY !
113 A used single phase 20 KW UPS from a hospital.
114 AGM batteries ready for the battery bank for the 20 KW.
115 More batteries for the solar panel battery bank. They are 80 and 100 lb AGM batteries. You can get cross eyed lifting these bad boys !
116 Battery hook ups can be deceiving !
After reading a fantastic article about battery hookups, here's what I found. This is really telling for a lot of people hooking up their first time battery bank. Hope this will help someone get it right. When the batteries are all in parallel the first battery gets used and abused and the rest get unequal attention as far as charging and discharging. The first battery will be the first one to fail.
117
118 And here are more switching ideas. A heavy duty knife switch can be made from 3/4 copper water pipe flattened and made into the switch. ( plans to follow ) .....
119 Here is a chart of how to keep your battery charged and when it is really discharged.
120 Holy Cow! What's this going on here ? Actually when your toaster breaks this will do in a pinch with company over for breakfast. Just make sure you have a clean burner and set it on low.
YES IT WORKS FINE
" this is not a joke " trust me .... HA !
121 While we are talking about batteries, if you don't have a meter handy, an 1157 car bulb will tell you if that 9V battery has any guts left. No light - a bad battery. A crude test but it works ..........
122 So here is a tried and true solution to restore wet cell lead acid batteries that have gotten sulfated and no longer want to charge up. 1 cup of Epsom Salts, 1 cup of distilled water. Then .....
123 in a stainless pan, stir together on low heat from stove.......
124 Soon you will have this clear mixture and remove from heat and cool to room temp.
125 You need about a shot glass of this formula in each battery cell or use one of these battery fillers to add the solution. The amount is not very critical just make sure there is about a shot glass. I became a believer when a totally dead battery I put this in, AND, after a month had a charge on it enough to run my portable 12 volt air compressor and top off 8 big truck tires ..... so help me God!
It won't work on all dead batteries but most and weak or recently deceased .....HA !
126 Putting the solution in our main golf cart here to give the batteries more capacity and longevity ......... they are 4 years old at this point. ( 11 / 9 / 16 )
127 Overnight and crystals already forming in the magnesium sulfate & water.
128 The day after adding the epsin salts, the golf cart had twice the get up and go and nothing other than adding the solution was done. This absolutely works well and will keep your batteries alive longer.
129 The proof is in the pudding.....Epsom salts added when battery was brand new, ...here is the battery test done on the battery in my old Dodge pickup and the battery then was 7 years old ! ..... and had more cranking amps than a new battery's rated cranking amps.
The man doing the test said he had never seen anything like this from a 7 yr old battery.
130 Now here is another battery thing. It's a battery desulphator and it works as I have done quite a few old batteries with a two units I have here. It all depends like the Epsom Salts treatment how bad the battery is. If the sides are bulged out, restoration is not likely. As far as I know about this unit, it produces 10,000 cycles that is at the resonant frequency of the sulfate crystals on the battery plates. When this frequency is applied to the battery, the crystals dissolve back into the battery acid solution and let the plates have their near original surface area back again = rejuvenated battery. The unit is almost ten years old and there are plenty on eBay to be had.
131 No, it's not snack time........but the best ever for rubbing off the sticky gummy glue on plastic and glass bottles we use for parts here. Leave the peanut butter on the goo glue for a half hour, ( better yet overnight ) and then run some hot water on it and rub it right off for a perfectly clean bottle.
132 Sinus Flush ..... best thing ever happened to my plugged up nose and chest cough. The Xylitol is an anti microbial, anti bacterial substance used for a sugar substitute. The Alkalol is a mixture of many ingredients, and it with some warm water mixed with, xylitol work so well for me and almost always stop a cold in its tracks. I find the Alkalol at Walmart, and the xylitol and the little neti pot at the health food store here in Lake City Fl. ( the Nutrition Center, and see Bill ) Opens my head after mixing feed for the animals and dust from the tractor in the garden and the belt sander in the shop.Tried the dust mask, never works for me. I would not pass this along if I didn't find it a great help to me and my sinus issues.
So here's my mixture : 1/4 tablespoon xylitol 2 tablespoons Alkalol Add warm water - fill the pot and dissolve the xylitol. For a cold starting flush every 1/2 hour in AM for 2 hours, and once before bedtime. Use ... as needed... Feel better my friends!
133 After getting the flu and having it settle in our lungs and next step is the pneumonia settling in and that is a life threatening situation. We both were so sick with the flu we took this brand of Amoxicillin to clear out our lungs from the fluid. It worked great and other folks told me about it and after a bunch of reasearching it is the same stuff the medical profession prescribes to you. Do the reasearch and you will see what I found........ this may have saved our lives !
At 500 MG capsules 3 times a day / 12 days and we got rid of the fluid and breath clear now.
134 This is by far the best jam up fantastic stuff I ever came across!
We had the horse here rip open his shoulder requiring stitches, the vet was out of town to a vet convention. We sprayed three times a day on the 6" rip in the shoulder area and three weeks it was looking like nothing had happened. Sue and I use this all the time. I cut myself in the shop, was going to get stitches, soaked gauze in this Vetericyn and some good ole vet wrap over it ... 3 days the wound had closed. It ain't cheap but well worth having some on hand. You need to keep it in the fridge.
135 Holy Cow ! You can make the Hypochlourus acid right at home ! ... and after doing some reading on the subject : it is as powerful as bleach for killing bacteria. The human body makes the acid and it is carried by white blood cells to any area that has been injured on your body !
Amazing and you can buy units to make the acid at home. This one pictured is priced about $40 bucks and the next picture has one of higher quality. Your own batch of Hypochlourus Acid can be made from a teaspoon of un iodized salt + a teaspoon of vinegar + 8 oz of distilled water ( that's all it takes ! ) you need a unit to electrolyze the mixture that will make the acid ... so easy!
THIS STUFF MAY SAVE A LIFE
136 So here's a bit pricier one and I have this one here on the homestead. Bleach has a rather short shelf life even if never opened it will go flat in a year or less as I read. Vinegar and salt have an indefinite shelf life. So when things get hard to find - the Hypochlourus Acid unit will provide a disinfectant and wound treatment like no other. I save the old Vetracine bottles and re use them for my own batches of the wonderful healing disinfectant ........ good luck folks !
137 What the heck is going on here ?
Well it is a muffin fan blowing air on some vacuum sealed frozen turkey from the freezer. It is the fastest way to defrost stuff ever. And so simple even a cave man could do it. The military uses the same system on a much larger scale.
138 If you have well water and use one of these, you know how much of an issue it is when ants invade the pressure switch and crawl between the contacts and shut down your water supply. Yes them little ants used to drive us crazy and we tried a variety of things but none ever worked as "well" as the plain old moth ball.
139 Just place a moth ball in the switch compartment and roaches, ants and any other little pests won't make it their home for a good six months or more. I use these moth balls scattered around in my storage trailer and they keep it free from mice, rats, squirrels, roaches and ants.
BUT WAIT ! Advion roach bait works even better on roaches and ants that cause big trouble with pump controllers .......... look what just happened ..... next picture >
140 A result of ants getting between the contacts and burning up the contacts from the arking and dangerous result. What a mess !
141 Heres the answer to a fly problem ...... the container below the Advion. It is Golden Malrin and it works on the flys like crazy !
142 Here is the product that's excellent for flys ... our baby goats spill food make poops and pee so they attract flys ..... next pix shows results.
143 Flys killed by the hundreds and a new customer already on the left side of the pan.
Got flys - get Golden Malrin .........
144 Now this is the " cat's meow " as dearly departed friend Lee - K4LJP would say, a superior protective and conductive coating. Great for rifle barrels, antenna tower bolts and the like.
145 On the subject of things that really work good here, here is another great item I have used on many occasions for repairs to plastic radio parts, wood and a lot of other things. It is by far the best glue I have ever used. Read the advice from Mark who sells the stuff on the next column ..... eBay website is where to find it, look for " rubberized CA glue " he has a wide variety of the CA glue .
Well worth the money you will spend !
146 A description of the attributes of this glue by the seller.
147 This is an excellent wood glue. Sets up in 30 min and if you leave it clamped overnight ( 24 hrs ) it makes one excellent bond. Great stuff for wood repairs and projects.
BUT WAIT ! ....... it's also water proof ! And easy clean up with a wet rag minutes after glueing the joint ...... what a great glue !!!
148 A transverse 90* angle made from 3/4 conduit. Needed this for a new mount of rear view mirror on one of the golf carts here.
149 Another odd thing.....by happenstance I found these miniature side cutting pliers made by Kobalt are the best ever for trimming your nails.
A lot easier to hold than any flimsy chrome nail cutter! You can find them at Lowe's in the tool dept.
150 Now this is raw basic technology...... No diodes, no ripple filters, no regulation ! It is a motor generator that will run straight off 24 volts of battery power. Very inefficient but so simple for 120 / 240 AC @ ( we hope 60 cps ) ...........and if memory serves me correctly, it is 450 watts of power. A lot of old radio equipment had these for their high voltage supply's ( much smaller ) and worked well way back then when I wore diapers to the dinner table .....HA !!
151 Another old boat anchor ......... But this one is an original Kenwood TS-520 and its big brother the TS-530 are excellent old ham radios. They were the precursor to the new digital equipment with so may features you can spend a day reading the manual. It's been said, when your using this radio .....
Your flying by the seat of your pants.... HA HA "I have a Kenwood TS-830S a..." View Comments...
152 TS-120 by Kenwood, my spare a plane Jane radio, filling in for it's big brother TS-520, now in sick bay ..... HA
153 And here is a spare TS-120 for the spare ! Most of these radios go on the bench, brought back to life and stored in a huge Fariday Cage, a 48' metal semi trailer.
154 Another Kenwood, the TS-600 an all mode six meter ham transceiver. It will run off 120 VAC, 12 VDC, and go from 0 to 150 MHZ in 3 seconds ...........
155 Another view of the neat old transistor radio, no menus, another fly by the seat of your pants rig.
156 And another Kenwood addion to the shop. This is a station SM 220 Monitor to check signals on the ham bands. To be added to the Kenwood collection.
157 Kenwood TS-520 has been in long time storage. Have to bring her up to voltage slow with my old variac and reform the electrolytics and breath some life back into her. A great classic radio with " no menus " or digital issues.
158 But wait ! ........ there's more ....... a nice old Kenwood TS830s " Gold Edition " and the gold edition baffles many as it seems to be a basic 830 ........ ?? A neat addition to the other Kenwoods that live here ........
159 OH NO ! Another pristine Kenwood TS-520 that arrived from my ham friend Mike KT4ZV in Port Orange Fl. Mike replaced all the capacitors before he sold it to me. A great radio, looking like it is brand new. Thanks Mike !
160 Hey ! Who let this Kenmore TS-820s sneak in here @160 bucks ........ ? What a deal.
161 And here is the latest Kenmore to fly in the door ...... a TS-940s in all it's splendor. Lots of bells and whistles but really ...... no menus to be found anywhere. Rock solid dual VFO's and a little voice ( sounds like "Olive Oil" Popeyes girl friend ) ha ha ! She tells you perfectly what frequency she is on ......... more fun and ha ha's ....... a super fine old radio and about $ 2,500.00 Back in the 80's . This came from ham friend Mike over in Daytona KT4ZV .... Thanks Mike
162 What a mess ! All these radios will move into my new ham shack when I get around to finishing it. Most of the equipment is anteque Kenwood equipment. Stuff you can work on at home if it breaks. All the latest radios on the market with micro circuit components are hard to work on for old tube people like me ....... old radios are a lot of fun here.
163 Here's the inner workings of a MFJ 969 roller inductor antenna tuner. This has a blown meter lamp, and being checked for all solder joint integrity, and general cleaning.
Rated 300 watts ( ha ha ) and will run from 160 to 6 meters at the twist of a wrist.
164 New Amber led lamp installed in meter housing.
165 Another little 300 watt ant tuner for a spare rig out in the shop here. "I have the same MFJ-948 Ve..." View Comments...
166 And another MFJ tuner that sneaked in the back door while we were in town .......
167 Here my healthy spice mix recipe I have been using since 2010 I try and get some every day.
168 GOUT : OUCH !! This stuff worked as well as my gout medication ( Indomethicine) and no groggy after affects and it tastes great. Two raw eggs whipped up good and added to a big cup of boiling water - a good sized table spoon of turmeric + 10 % fine ground black pepper ( for absorption ) a good sized lump of butter, about a 1/2 a shot glass of heavy cream, and a heaping teaspoon of " Better Than Bouillon ) "grilled chicken flavor " stir in the eggs, turmeric, chicken flavor add a little sprinkle of regular black pepper and in one day my gout subsided ! ( and that was taken twice a day for the gout ) This is a good kick start to getting your morning going .......
169
170 And now to the food corner....
For the cold windy chilly nights here 6 gallons of my favorite split pea soup. It is all frozen now, vacuum sealed, and in the freezer ready to go in quart size amounts.
171 Batch #2 with more smoked neck bones, ham hocks, and pig knuckles. What excellent flavor here !
172 Well, this is the 3rd and final winter time batch of the split pea soup for the freezer. So lots of split peas used here, 30 lbs ( for all the three batches ). 12 lbs carrots, 15 lbs yellow onions, 3 lbs of low salt chicken stock and a lot of other stuff.
Great for a quick snack or light dinner with a grilled cheese sandwich.
173 Oh boy ! Fresh meat balls first batch ready....for the freezer. Then after freezing they are vacuum sealed and back in the freezer for up to 2 years of sub zero storage.
174 Home made pizza for dinner here
175 So ...... If you like garlic, this is the way to buy it. Actually really cheap to buy in bulk. When you get the little bottle at the grocery store it would be over a hundred or more dollars to purchase this amount in those little bottles. If memory serves me right this was 19.00 / free shipping on eBay. We use a lot of the stuff with all the soups and things we make here.
176 An excellent towel rack by Prodyne found on eBay from nowcooking. Stainless steel, rubber grip balls, ..... No cheap department store plastic junk. Absolutely the best you will ever find. Towel sheets tear off without the whole roll unwrapping when pulled with one hand. The price was 17.00 US dollars and well worth it. Super operation with Bounty paper towels !
177 A batch of oatmeal to vacuum seal for the food locker here.
178 Here are some of the sealed packs estimated to make it twenty years or more. We will be able to feed the chickens here if things get rough ........ HA
179 Mmmmmm yum !
180 Here is batch of the oats mix flopped out of the bowl it was cooked in and then browned in a toaster oven ............ this is good stuff !
181 After cooling the cake in the frig overnight, you can slice it dice it, heat it in a bowl with a little butter milk & brown sugar ....... this stuff is great !
182 This oatmeal cake slices up nicely and a great between meal snack for keeping your metabolisium and energy up. A little bit goes a long way .........
183 Now we go to the " Jungle Mode " this has been used by me for the past 30 years. The drums last about 6 years till they are rusted out. Half an hour and you have a new drum ready to grill ( after the paint is burned off ) ....PU !
184 Firing up the grill.....
185 Here's what I mean, Nettles saussage and chicken wings slow cooked over oak logs at low temp 2 hours for delishious smoke flavored food.
186 Now it's lunch time with chicken on the BBQ. These are cooked over an oak fire for great smoked chicken with mouth watering flavor.
187 The Nettle's brand sausage are almost done.
188 Bought this nice little griddle and it was ok but would not really get hot enough to cook a hamburger in ten minutes. Had a really wimpy flame. Tried a new tank then a new regulator and last but not least did some re sizing on the jets on the burner controls.
189 Well now we are all apart and controls jets exposed for re work.
190 Here you can see the jet on the left has been bored out from 032 to 064 and not to hard to do this for the average bear ......
191 Now we are cooking with some heat ..... working much better for sure and them burgers sizzle when you lay them down on the grill. The high setting is now about medium and just about off is low. Now it is working excellent and a great griddle !!
192 Well off the grill and to the kitchen with this ten pound tube of ground beef. After washing the tube off good with a little bleach & water it is ready to make a perfect size burger with. We got this from Save a Lot in town for $ 19.90 a tube.
193 With a big bread knife really sharp ..... I am getting about 34 burgers out of a tube = right at 58 cents a burger ! Most places you go to charge more than $5.00 a burger now........ what an economic success !!!
194 Burgers are at a perfect size are stacked in our kitchen freezer with parchment paper between each and frozen. Then taken out in a solid state and vacuum sealed 4 burgers in each pack .....for up to two years in the deep freeze at -12* ........ this works great here and so economical.
195 WOW ! Now what's this ?? Yes it is a new way to eat a sausage on a slice of pumpernickel bread. Don't laugh .... it works good for me and Sue here. Corn holders offer a clean way to eat a hot sausage without the bread falling off, no mustard or catsup on your fingers. Just switch ends every couple bites ...... Sue is always thinking up something new here and the sausage along with killler potato salad and baked beans was nothing short of excellent .... thanks Sue !
196 Slow smoked with seasoned oak, on the old 55 gallon drum grill the pork loin is done to perfection. It is so tender and juicy with a wonderful taste ! There are some chicken thighs in the batch as well.
197 Here is the first ten pounds of thin sliced pork loin.
198 And the second 12 lbs including a pork shoulder in the batch. Making a total of 22lbs of the thin sliced pork and all going to the vacuum sealer and into the deep freeze for a couple years worth of good eating !
Yes we eat pork here ! And have five huge pigs on the property ..........
199 Our little toy slicer, one day we may have a nice commercial Hobart.
200 A vacuum sealed 1/2 lb bag of the pork going into the freezer. I leave extra room when sealing to get more than one use of a bag.
201 Hobart too spensive Lucy ! Here we have a reasonable supliment at one tenth the cost and it is a VEVOR made in Shina and built like a tank. All machined aluminum base and other stainless parts. Weighing in at 56 lbs and not something you move around with ease. Those are 2 liter soda bottles beside it.
202 Another view of the beast.
203 Shaved Ham about 15 thousands thick. What a great slicer. The little one we have could never handle this ham so well. This slicer is semi automatic and a dream to operate.
204 One foot in the door of heaven with this meal. Sue's coconut shrimp and it is extreamly tasty when dipped in her honey / agave / mustard dip. WOW !
205 Well here's my dinner tonight, and there won't be any left overs I garuntee as Justin Wilson would say.
206 From dearly departed friend Charles Conklin, I collected 10 gallons of prime pecans....I had two of the 5 gallon buckets full with pecans to crack, now I'm down to one ....Whew !
207 Now the nuts are put in vacuum seal bags, sealed and then frozen. They will last a long time that way at sub zero temps.
208 Chicken yard right next door provides plenty of fertilizer for these bananas to really grow. This variety is the " Saba " banana from the Philippines ....... and they made it all the way over here ...... HA !
209 Some of our banana crop here.
Ready for some banana cream pie ? "Or Banana bread...yum yum" View Comments...
210 Our friend Kelly taking a bunch of our bananas back to Minisota. Plenty of banana pudding and banana cream pies ......
211 Here are some blood oranges from one of our trees. Pretty sweet.
212 An easier way to eat Ruby Red grapefruit.......
213 Slice down the middle with a SHARP KNIFE in thin slices as seen in next picture.
214 Here is the easy way to eat a delishious grapefruit with ease ..... no digging it out with a small spoon. See the slice started to be peeled, just hold the peel with one hand and pull loose the fruit with your teeth and enjoy. Great for a snack cooled down in the fridge and enjoyed by all ..... most of the pits just drop off when slicing the fruit.
215 Now if this don't beat all ! It's the heart of the banana plant that made fruit and I was chopping it down and feeding it to the hogs. After watching them I noticed they pealed open the trunk and ate the heart. Sliced in 1/2" chips, in the microwave for 1 minute, it has a pleasent taste to it like that of a summer squash, and a little butter and salt it tastes great. I found a new use for the plant trunk ! ( Sue says " now you take food from the pigs ? )
216 And another bunch of the delishious bananas..
217 So, with so many bananas we dehydrate them making banana chips and then vacuum seal them and into the freezer.
218 It takes about a day to do a big batch of the banana chips.
219 Our little key lime tree. Loaded with limes. They make excellent Key lime pie.
220 Key Limes from our tree imported from South Florida and is now putting out about 80 limes a year.
221 Here's what we squeeze juice with here, and really faster than the electric juicer. If any of you have one of these, you may notice the top section becomes loose after a lot of squeezing. Look and see the cure with a section of beer can aluminum .003" thick and used as a shim for making the shaft and plunger housing a tight fit. Then use some blue " lock tight " on the threads of the lock down screw, and you will solve that problem. This thing is cheap on eBay and ten times faster for me than the electric juicer. Scissors will cut the can no problem .......... happy jucin......
222 Here are all the chicks in the end of the chicken yard trying to escape the roosters.
223 Oh my goodness ! Them chickens are wearing us out with eggs. How do I stop them ? Where's the off switch ?????
224 Here's a recipe for running one or two LEDs right from 120 VAC super simple super cheap. Great for panel lamps in the old boat anchor radios.
225 A quick note on single led's for proper polarity hookup. Excuse the sloppy diagram !
226 And here is an old line voltage meter retrofitted with the LEDs.
227 Front view of old meter.
228 Here are some of our goat kids.
229 Powerful antioxidant! This is one of the best if not the best fuel preservers for gas and diesel fuel. This is a two pound bag and will treat many hundreds of gallons of fuel for many years. Other fuel stabilizers tend to gum up your carburetors after being the fuel for a year or more. This will not. This has been used by large oil companies to keep their tank farms of fuel fresh for distribution.
When mixed in Deisel fuel, add a pint of methanol ( wood grain alcohol ) to 50 gallons and this will kill off any future bacteria in the fuel. A great thing to have on hand for emergency backup generator fuel storage. This has been known to keep fuel fresh for more than ten years / a couple table spoons per 50 gallons each year will do the trick !
230 Here's a pix of the newly arrived pack of the BHT. It has the zip lock top to it and sealed for the long haul. Good stuff !
231 Ooooooow ! Here's is a book not many people have seen. It gives a lot of microbiology theory and can save you in a jam when the power goes off for a long while and no water is available to flush your house toilet. It will be a serious thing in a prolonged disaster with no toilet facilities ....... this book shows what and how to do it and keep things sanitary. Oh boy !
232 Old standby 5 KW Onan CCK twin opposed piston. She purrs like a kitten. Went through multiple hurricanes and used this reliable old generator for back up till my compadres at FPL got the lines back up. I hired on at FPL 7/27/67 when I was a young kid. My first job was like boot camp...... Forman FJ Harris gave me a shovel and told me to dig a 6' X 6' X 6' deep hole !
They didn't use backhoes back then !!!
233 Got a shorted line some where and can't find it ? blowing a fuse each time you test it? Well this will help find the short. An old fuse case, wired to a receptacle in a PVC pipe. Screw in the pipe to the circuit that has the fault, and plug in a portable radio, alarm, sonalert, or a lamp and they will work until you find and remove the fault. Good for when there is no helper with you.
234 A simple thing to make to work with old type fuse panels, and all parts carefully epoxied into place. You may only use it one time in your life but be happy when the fault is found.
235 So stupid simple ....The best ever simple excellent shoe horn and all it is... is a plastic horse sweat scraper, think this was 4.50 when I got it.
236 They told me I could not do it, yeah right!
I have a lot of aviation fuel tank repairs under my belt.
237 Water manifold with solenoid valves attached and ready to be installed.
238 Watering the front lawn.
239 And all the collards in the garden.
240 OOooow a baby horse !
241 Mother and two day old baby girl.
242 This beats all I have ever used here with the pigs, goats and horses. Absolutely the best of the best there ever was. It produces a fat 1/2" spark and @ 30,000 volts to the inch in open air ..... that = a full 15,000 Volts and what a whalup it puts out to any critter trying to breach the fence line. Every other fence charger is really wimpy compaired to this one. This is my pride and joy and it is .....MADE RIGHT HERE IN THE USA !!
And they offer quick shipping and tec support if you ever need it. I am so impressed ....... USA ! YES !!
243 And they even put in some Tootsie Rolls.....what a deal!
244 Who's this guy ?
245 Chester takes driving lessons.....
246 This is a serious addition to the shop here. A 35 ton press with two speed manual pump and an air over hydrolic pump that is operated by a foot controlled peddle.
247 Fixing a loose wiring connection to the starter circuit. This is one bad machine with root rake and grapple.
248 This looks like part of a clown act but it is another long range project for the garden. It has a twin opposed Kohler engine for a power plant and hydrolic drive motors.
249 Grandpa always said
" dont fix it till it breaks "
My friend Ronnie's stump grinder.
250 Oh no ..... bad bearings in the gear box and had to be replaced.
251 And here is another one of the equipment issues I ran across here on the stump grinder. They complained this connection was smoking when they tried to start the engine ........ Life in the country !
252 Here's one of my wild buying trips for a Clark Fork Lift and a golf cart. All is chained down and ready to roll.
253 Well we made it back and all still on the trailer.
254 Here is the little fork lift helping with the new gates for the Service entrance.
255 Here's my battery charger and maintainer. It is a bunch of scrap parts and an old part of a disposed of telephone booth ( blue metal ) worked for twenty + years till a shot of lightning got it. Now rebuilt with upgraded componants it continues to keep our house hold emergency system battery bank ready for action.
256 This side shows the charge leavel pot and the SCR's and 30A diodes...... All scramble wired........
257 And this side shows the power tx and SPDT 30 A relay that provides " instant on " for the emergency lighting. I really need to do some dusting here after about 36 yrs ....... Ha
258 Here's my chicken scratch attempt at the stupid simple charger schematic diagram. All you need is a box to mount it all in.
259 Our emergency lighting system, the 600 w inverter took a hit from lightning as did the blue battery maintainer / charger. A new 1,500 W inverter and some new SCR's and all is back working well.
260 Super simple emergency lighting, ultra bright LED automotive driving lamp that only draws 6 watts ! They are on our house battery bank and activated instantly, from power line loss.
261 Plenty of light in an instant balackout from the simple LED 12 V driving lamp. Rated at 6 watts ....... Yes, that's right, only 6 watts at 12 VDC. You can't beat that with a stick, off a large deep cycle marine battery that would run for a long long time.
This picture is at an actual power failure.
262 We have two LED driving lights that are sold for automotive use and mounted on our golf cart. They were pretty bright for us at night around the property and cost about $ 30.00 for two. A little experiment showed in the dark of night ...... only one of the LED lamps ( that I use here inside the house for emergency lighting in all rooms ) and that cost about $1.00 each was actually twice as bright as the two automotive ones combined ! ! ! Not bad for a $1.00 lamp and free shipping.
263 Here is one of the compact light controller units for instant light in your home or office when the power fails in a storm etc. it is equipped with a photo eye so that it is not coming on during daylight hours and wasting you battery amp hours.
264 Here again is the unit along with most of the parts needed to make it with the exception of the battery, #18 stranded speaker wire, two pop rivets, fuse, the NTC is an upgrade and is not shown here, and battery maintainer. All are cheap on eBay and every room can be lit in your home with this ultra simple unit when there is a power failure.
265 This is the final revision of the Ultrasimple Emergency lighting Circuit. An outboard trickle circuit is applied to the battery and can be solar, line voltage, or wind power. This leaves open different charging options. @ a draw of 6 watts or .5 amps on 12 volt battery ...10 of the led lamps will pull 5 amps from your battery. The latest switch version is to have both S1 & S2 in a single switch to disable the photo eye and turn on the lights for testing or temporary use to light your rooms. The smaller 20 AH battery will keep a single lamp running for 20 hours down to the 50% discharge level. And a deep cycle marine battery of 150 amp hours will keep your 10 lamps going 7 hours to 50% discharge of the battery. Have fun......W2BTC
266 Best price I have found for these simple super bright driving lamps. They have a self stick backing with double sided stick tape on the back ....... as of 5 years now mine have not came loose from where I stuck them ........ and have a good twenty hours of use and no problems ....... be careful when hooking them up as the red and black wires ar very thin .... about 24 gauge wire ..... I soldered the joints and that has worked well.
267 Here's a group of the light boxes being assembled and a lot of wire striping and tinning going on here. Mounting the fuse holders and other parts to,the box. I have gone to the larger 4X4 box for more room than the 2X4 box. Just easier to mount everything.
268 This looks like a junker but it is a 1971 Harley Davidson two stoke gas golf cart another project in the works here.
269 Looks like an ice cream wagon from the back and if you notice there is no steering wheel, just a tiller. And that's the way it was back then.
270 Here's another vintage golf cart, and it's a Melex from Poland and my truck driving friend Franky Guccioni tells me it looks like something from the Flintstones.......
271 And here is a really old parts Melex that will come in handy, and already used front wheel bearings from it.
272 Now this one is a EZGO model Sue uses around the property. ( I get to use the real junky one ! )
273 Here comes Sue on her buggy......
274 This one is a EZGO gas model. And runs good........ Looks like junk but a new one these days is about 6,000 clams.
275 An antique Harley Davidson golf cart. This is a battery powered one and has no steering wheel just like the other gas version we have. It uses a sort of tiller handle to steer with and that works well.
276 This is an old Railroad stove made in Tennesee and was one of the most economical heaters for the railway station until they removed the station. The mans wife wanted it gone and we arrived at a mutual price......loaded her up on the truck with the engine hoist I brought with me. This little buster is heavy !
277 Here she is with a restored finish getting ready to " burn in " the 1,200 degree paint. No need for a flue pipe, just getting her hot !
278 Where there's smoke there's fire .........
279 Billy the Border Collie loves the warmth from the stove when 20* outside. Opps ... forgot my cinnamon roll pan on the stove.
280 This is a model # 27 all cast iron, made by the Atlanta Stove Co. All ready to be restored to like new condition.
281 This little wood burning stove is from my neighbor Dennis. It belonged to his father in law Keith, who I knew since we were teenagers. He passed away last year and we always used this in the winter to keep warm out on the patio Sunday mornings when we got together for coffee and talking about the old days. "You LUCKY Old Dog. Super j..." View Comments...
282 Here is a real antique for sure. It's a simple thin cardboard folded over pop gun. You just hold the end of the gun and swing it sharply and what a bang it makes. Really amazing 1950's fun technology for kids.
283 And here is the other side of this neat old pop gun. You can see the popper has been popped and the folded paper is out from the gun. HA HA what a neat old thing. That's what I say every morning when I look in the mirror ......... ha ! Have a good day ...... !!
284 Boy! Some guys will do anything to get a picture with the town mayor ...... hi hi
285 Another blast from the past, it's my Hamerlund HQ-170 ham radio receiver. It works great listening to the hams on different nets and it is even pretty much EMP proof.
286 An old Hallicrafters SX-130 shortwave receiver, re capped, tuned up, and working well.
287 Oh mercy where did this thing come from ?
Well, it's my old Hallicrafters Sky Buddy shortwave receiver I got when I was a kid. It's about as old as me, but at least I don't have any rust spots ( yet ) HA HA. IT WAS MADE IN THE LATE 40's and BELEIVE it or not, it don't smoke ! Still working last I checked.
288 A wonderful example of American workmanship. The " S-40 " Though it does need a bath this one was working but I think that may not be the case now. I think these came out in the mid 50's and there are several of them here in the collection.
289 Old faithful number one Hallicrafters SX-110.
290 This is a little Dentron GLA1000B ham amplifier. A pretty simple little unit with 4 - 6LQ6 output tubes and supposed to deliver 1000 watts of RF power ( maybe 500 tops ) Anyway it is a neat colectors item for me.
291 Another addition to the collection with this little Ameritron AL-811 RF amplifier. It got to ride home in the back of our Sonoma farm truck with a good cushion of bread for the pigs here. It can go from 0 to 600 watts in half a second with 3 - 811A triodes at 1,700 volts D.C. !! A nice compact unit for ham use.
292 A 1951 5R34-A Hallicrafters " Continental " am / shortwave radio. This is an early version with octal tubes. It is what it is and works just fine as it did back in the days of radio. It was a golden era back when Radio ruled the air waves and you visually imagined what you heard was happening.
293 An old Hallicrafters SX-101 in pristine condition ready for a tune up.
294 My old number two favorite SX110, a really a great general coverage receiver back in the day but like a model T compared to the new digital radios with high tech filtering .
295 This classic Drake R4B receiver is one of Drakes first all transitor ham receivers.
296
297 More quality Drake ham equipment. A 2KW antenna tuner on top of a TR4-C tranceiver.
298 Now this is a nice old piece of test equipment ...... A .....B & K transistor, FET SCR and diode tester.
299 A pristine old Sencore TF-17 FET and Transistor tester. She is in great shape for her age, plus comes with all her manuals....etc.
300 No these are not little rats, they are a cross of Lop Eared and Alltex rabbits. A day old and growing fast.
301 Now a over a week old.
302 A white wabbit......
303 And a bwoun wabbit.
304 This came in to the shop here like this. I call it dare devil wiring!
305 Another view of the oddity. I'll bet this was not UL approved ....HA!
306 A neat old Lafayette "Air Master" made in 1958 and sold for 19.98, and had the latest thing in electronics ( 10 transistors ) at that time. It works well for what it is and another bit of nostalgia.
307 Look, another air band radio and it is an old tube type. Made by Nova Tech and named " Air-O-Ear" and there are a couple of them here.
308 Here is an easy fool proof way to connect the MOV to the T 103 Timer
309 This is one of our timers on the property. The wire in the motor coil is as fine as your hair and a burst of line voltage will blow it out like a fuse. The yellow disc that looks like a ceramic capacitor is actually an mov and rated at 130 volts. So it will take the excess spike in line voltage and preserve the clock motor. An " MOV " is a Metalic Oxide Varistor and made from aluminum oxide and they work well.
310 My temporary electronics repair station for stuff around here. I do not have a radar or X-ray endorsement. ....... Ha ha but manage to get things done around the property.
311 Jerry, Ed, and me at Lantana Airport in South Palm Beach County. What a dream these Wacos are to fly, like a feather with a motor.
312 Piper Cherokee 6 owned by friend Tec Shuemate. We flew this plane to Beaver Island in upper Michigan, and back to Lantana Fl.
313 Tec at the controls, leaving Clewiston air port and my son Brett looking at the scenery.
314 A pristine restoration of a piper super cub.
315 My old shop is down there ( in Boynton Beach ) Fl
316 Me and my Ham radio friend Bobby ( N4UVC )..... AKA .. Fungus ha ha ..... what a neat guy. A lot of ham guys are really crazy funny and smarter than the average bear !
317 So look at this before my diet, I'm almost as big as this granddaddy oak at the rear of our property.
318 Billy checks out the smell of this 1.4 KW pure sine wave inverter just acquired. Pure sine wave is a lot better for induction type motors, such as clocks, refrigerators, and wall warts.
Transformers, and induction motors are not as efficient working off a composite wave the cheaper type inverters produce, and they can tend to heat appliances, and can create a buzzing sound from fans with loose laminations, etc. Nasty stuff happens with radio equipment run off composite waves ........you bet cha !
319 Getting ready for
" Girls Night Out " here's where all the chicks are hanging out........ HA HA !!
There are 100 + chickens here now.
320 A bunch of eggs for a bunch of hams ..... ha ha ! We took all these farm fresh eggs down to " The Old Goats " lunch in Alatchua to pass out to our ham friends there. ( 17 doz here )
321 Billy the Border Collie watches the new batch of 30 chicks that are two days old, and will be added to our flock.
322 All happy and content with heat, water and plenty of " chick starter " feed.
323 Six weeks old and look at them chickens grow. Time to refill the feeder and Billy's favorite thing to do, watch the " Chicken Show " ........... Think he may want some fresh chicken dinner ?
324 Way up there is my next banana cream pie !
Actually they are about 14 ft high here. They grow so profusely because the chicken pen is right next door and plenty of hot fertilizer runs off when the daily sprinkler and over flow from chicken water trough drains to the banana plants.
325 It's a bird....it's a plane..... It's Shelby our rat Terrier girl after a squirrel..".......
326 An uplifting experience for this old classic Gravely lawn tractor / garden / tiller and what ever else it will do. A Gem in its time.
327 A close up of the air lift.....
328 Workin on a " Pete " at the shop.
329 Making our new front pedestrian entry gate.
330 Big oaks removed and fill added for new addition to the shop.
331 Our entrance road when we arrived here....
332 And then we planted the corn.....
333 New fence, but still old entrance road.
334 And then we put the new road in, all done with my little two cylinder diesel Kubota tractor and a used box blade.
335 Another view of the new road.
336 A new gate for the new road.
337 The road takes a turn....
338 And a continuation of the road to the residence.
339 Golf cart "path" to the residence before the new road.....
340 Here is our antique Roscoe pavement roller. And it works great. Has a forward and reverse top speed of about 5 mph.
341 What a great old machine. It is powered by a Briggs & Stratton 8 Hp with a reduction gear and no power steering on the old boy.
342 Kind of ugly right now but it works ! Sue wants me to paint it pink ....... I'm thinking Catapillar yellow. I think it would explode if it were pained pink !
343 Golf cart new road to the residence.
344 Another curve in the road past the old trailers down front.
345 And more road work......
346 More used concrete plant " yard scrapings " ........ if I did this by shovel, it would take two years or more !
347 Lavern loves banana peels.
348 Here's a horse of a different color.....
349 Billy the Border Collie
350 Just having a little snack.
351 How can that work!
Well it does and well at that, just like pushing a plane back in the hanger with the front wheel dolly.
352 Here's the guy who caused the problem .... HA ! They are eating down what's left of the spring garden.
353 My girl Pearl, a sweet tame milk goat.
354 Now here's fresh goat milk ready to be had from one of our Saanen dairy goats here. We have had some of them produce right at a gallon a day.
355 After bringing the six gallons of milk up to 195* we add the fresh squeezed lemon Juice to the milk and wait for the curd to form....
356 Making the goat cheese....
Cheese cloth ready for the cheese curds to be ladled in and drained.
357 Here's a part the cheese, and that's just a small part of the batch....
358 The start of my cheese press for goat cheese.........
359 My home brew weather vane.
360 Look how fast the corn grew and lots of other green stuff.
361 Some of the corn picked that the squirrels didn't get yet !
362 And here is the weed crunching machine being unloaded from our farm truck with the help of the little jib crane on our cargo trailer.
363 Now there is a weed problem here but soon to be solved........
364 Weeds be gone!
Now we can see the onions growing here. The roto tiller made quick work of those weeds.
365 Garden doing well.
366 Starting the spring garden.
367 Soil prepared for a new planting. Onion crop in the back rows.
368 Sweet Vidalia onions right from the garden, so sweet you can eat it like an apple! And that's the whole truth. And are they ever good in fresh homemade salsa.
369 A crop of black eyed peas growing profusely.
370 Fresh from the garden all the black eyed peas you can eat MMmmm good stuff.
371 Now to the processing plant with the "Pea Sheller" .... Makes life a lot easier, I used to just about get blisters from hand shelling.
372 Hear are two of the ten - gallon bags we filled this spring from our little 100'X 100' garden.
373 And fresh broccoli from the garden.
374 A new baby Nubian buck.
375 Look at that weird looking chicken........HA !
376 A classic 1995 Roper small garden tractor with three speeds forward, reverse, and a high and low range. Heavy duty steel spring for the seat ........even I don't bottom it out.
377 So I kept smelling gas as I drove this little tractor around.....took out the tank and on the bottom - well the fuel line looked like a shredded noodle. New line added, and all is well.
378 A twin opposed Briggs and Stratton 16 HP engine powers the little tractor and runs very quiet and smooth as a top.
379 So simple a cave man could operate this little tractor ! We took out the old rusty sometimes working ignition switch and replaced it with two push buttons. Push red to start.......push black to stop ! And the switches are waterproof marine grade. No more lost key !
380 And here is where I found the Old International 404 farm tractor, at Billy Pope's scrap yard.
Sue say's I'm not allowed to go back there any more .... wonder why?
381 So why do we need another tractor " say's Sue"
382 Oh NO ! another tractor..... Sue say's whose tractor is that ? I told her I'm fixing it for my friend Hank ( in the picture with me ) Sooo the repair is still going on after 4 years ....Ha Ha !
383 It was hard to sneak this one in and I got caught coming in at the main gate ....HA HA
384 And a side view of the of the little Yanmar.....
385 The breaks were locked up...will find out soon what's up here...
386 Well no wonder they were locked up ! this is nasty bad, have to go into the reverse electrolysis de-rust tank...
387 Here is my MZ-50 man lift fully extended.
388 Way up there ...... makes me dizzy!
389 High enough to mount my antennas.....
390 The MZ-50 full extend.
391 No, not the master oscillator ... it's the master cylinder.
392 The hairy part of the operation to deliver the beast, ( I was holding my breath on this one ! ) she weighs in at 25,000 pounds.
393 I sneaked this one in......ha ha. it's a 6KW "works in a draw" Onan RV gen set, and needs a little tlc.
394 Another view of the onan.
395 I got this one in before the embargo .... a P & H welder with 4 cylinder Waukesha gas engine, got her running, but needs a set of rings.
396 A good project with the side panels off engine compartment at this point.
397 Got this old fat guy to build the new chicken shed that used to be a horse shelter, but since completion it has been used for a feed shed. Them chickens are too dirty to put in the nice shed that was built.!!
398 Farm special exhaust system, had to be removed for safety reasons.
399 This little guy is pull start only. It came with govt issue pull cord and wood handle....HA
400 This little military gen set is a real screamin thing, so loud and yet so little, only 1.5KW. But it will put out 120ac / 240ac / 12 & 24 VDC
401 A new carb, manual and exhaust parts will put the gen set back in order.
402 Control panel for operation.
403 Now this is a different story....An Onan 3 phase 4KW unit that runs like a top.
404 And it has it's own tank for fuel.
405 Oh mercy, not another generator !
My friend gave me this nice little 4KW Onan, cleaned points, re set them, flushed out the carb bowl and she runs like a top.
406 Most important of all ...... the addition of Lucas HD oil stabilizer. It's close to STP for reducing friction and extending engine life. This unit is wired for 120 single phase and rated 33 amps max ....... but wait ..... these Onans are capable of more than the name plate rating. This one will probably do 5.5 KW no problem ..... in a jam. I have friends tell me of 5KW Onans out performing 8KW single cylinder big box store units. Opposed piston engines are used in many quality systems and go way back to the 20's .........
407 Another Onan 4 KW gen set.
408 This is only a 3KW but handy in a blackout for sure. Labels are missing but looks to be an old Winco. A healthy Briggs n Stratton engine and old stoc rope start. Not for old goats.....HA !
409 Another view of the little thing. I once had a 67KW generator but it drank 2.5 gallons while running for an hour with absolutely no load on it. Very costly for the average joe to operate a week or two.
410 A nice old 1990 4KW continuous duty / 5.5KW surge gen set. Made by Generac for the Dayton Co, with a brushless generator head. Found this at a bargain store and for only 150.00. But wait, it was Veterans Day and I got a military discount and it came to a whopping $112.50 for the sale. The oil is so clean I think it may have very few hours on it. Starts right up and runs like a top.
411 Thank God they finally make a plastic " no rust " fuel tank for these things. Plus a handy fuel gauge like a marine tank.
412 Here's the business end of the little gen set. Has oil so clean it looks new, no old stinky brown stuff. Will add a little Lucas Heavy duty oil stabilizer to make it run a lot longer before it needs rings etc.
413 So nice not to worry about the rust factor and has a nice fuel cut off so you can run the carb dry and not have it gum up.
414 Oh no ! Not another one. Well, Sue gave me a pass on this one as we had our power go off for 8 hours and really strained the 5 KW Onan running 4 freezers, 2 friges, the AC, well pump, TV and computer. So this one has two more KW and a powerful 23 HP twin cylender Kohler opposed piston engine. This came out of a huge RV and for only 350 ! The man swore it had under 100 hours, and the clean oil conferms this is so. Most small generators have 2 HP per KW generated this one has more that 3HP per KW.
415 We have to build a stand to mount this generator with fuel tank and battery rack. Then add the power outlets to supply the power. The RV generators are a great backup for power outages, last way longer than the single cylender version from the local hardware store, and relatively cheap. Most RV generators have low hours on them as " shore " power is the way to go if you want to sleep at night and keep all the other campers from giving you dirty looks in the morning ....... HA HA
And for the wealthy folk, well, just have a 50KW Caterpillar installed. I once had a 67KW that drank 2.5 gallons of fuel running with no load for 1 hour .... Very inefficient as I see it.
416 The 7KW Kohler spec tag .......
417 Another Kholer generator, 3KW single cylinder from an old RV. And even has an old fashion rope start on the side. We will use this one for the mother in laws cottage ..... HA !
418 Ridge pole bracket being put together.
419 Do it yourself canopy brackets. No rust with these guys so they will last a long time.
420 Here's an end pole bracket tack welded before the final weld.
421 And here they are in use.
422 Tower work done by my son Brett hooking up another speed dome camera. "That was a fun day!" View Comments...
423 Nothing like a good ole roll over to rewire this trailer.
424 Now we can get at the rat nest of wiring. All went well and we flopped the big boy back over.
425 A good book to have if you want to build a wind generator.
426 Another spare lawn tractor without the mower deck.
427 Now this is really a project ! It is a Cushman turf truckster with hydraulic tilt bed, power steering, and an actual PTO on the rear. Top speed is 45 MPH.
428 Under the seat is the power plant, a three cylinder Suzuki engine and the same one used in the Geo Metro cars on the highway. I was told it just had an electrical issue. That is true, when I got it home, I discovered the governor, starter, starter solenoid and coil were missing. Life in the country. You would think Mr Haney was the salesman!
429 Looks like a hunk of junk but it is a little Lister SR-1 diesel.
430 Another look at the dirty little thing.
431 And to boot, this little guy has a Borg Warner clutch attached to it. It will eventually be used for backup charging the battery bank here with a 200 amp bus alternator.
432 Very simple and strong roof trusses with 1/2 inch truss plates waterproof glue and plenty of screws.
433 All trusses up and ready for the final mounting with purlins and roof metal.
434 This will keep the horses out of the rain and stop any rain rot.
435 Here is the horse and goat shed roof going up.
436 Ouch ! What's this nasty looking thing on my wrist ? ...... one of the simplest handy things I ever owned. It's for putting screws in. You can load about 50 - 1 5/8 wood screws in at once and makes the screw installation go rapid compared to pulling them out of a box or nail apron on a ladder. Quick as you can put the screw in, grab another and reload your driver ( with magnetic bit helps a lot )
437 Here's the little wrist band with Velcro and it wraps right on your wrist easy on and easy off. What a great item for wood building.
438 Billy finds true puppy love.... "Billy is a beautiful dog." View Comments...
439 Billy plays the part of the wolf in our Little Red Riding Hood photo shoot.....
440 A simple addition to reverse incoming phone lines and cut them off during thunderstorms.
441 Friend Everett delivering some "Yard Scrapings" for the roads here.
442 Load # 3 for the day.
443 Belts Belts Belts, and more. This picture shows about 1/4 of the belts. By happenstance I acquired about 600 V belts, assorted radiator hoses, serpentine belts, and spline belts.... all new and for 35.00 total !
444 Anyone needing to measure V belts will appreciate this nice Dayco measuring device.
445 These are all made in the US and all brand names. May take me a week to sort them all out and hang them.
446 A good friend made this sign for me ....... don't laugh... its true.
447 Welding in my shop. "That looks like fun! Do y..." View Comments...
448 Here's a great find, a porta band saw. From back when things were made to last. It is made in the US and I used one back when I was a cable splicer with the Florida Power and Light Company. Many moons ago.
449 Made by the Rockwell Corporation. These are really great for cutting copper cable up to 3 - 4 inches in diameter, unistrut for racks in power vaults. A real handy on the spot band saw.
450 Here's another helpful item, a post war Geiger counter and in perfect working order. You never know when you will need one of these in today's world. I dug it out of storage to test the water supply here as a deep sink hole swallowed up a bunch of radio active water that may combine with the FL acquifer feeding water systems in north central sections of the state. But of corse, they say there is no chance people could ever be exposed. What do you think ?
451 Nothin like a sneck around your neck.
452 Hey, here's real deal. A heavy duty Craftsman 10" table saw with 2 HP 220 volt motor. The darn thing must weigh 200 lbs. It has some rust on the wings and main table, ... but built like a brick .... wall. Now the deal part.... it got sold to me for 15.00 .... !!
453 Part of my " Old Tube " collection, tested and boxed. Mostly for antique radios.
454 This beats climbing a tree or cranking up the beast of a manlift. A cheap 6 dollar Wally World spinning reel, a Whamo slingshot, and a flat section of steel bent 90* and all taped together. Works great for me putting up antennas around here .... I use a big lead split shot for my projectile.
455 Well, I gave up on the toy sling shot and went to a commercial type with this rig. They claim it would shoot a weight to 200'. 80' will do it around here. It is really accurate but .". You have to be a man to pull this monster sling shot back !
456 Anyone see the wiring error I found on this old receiver ? "Why are both side of the y..." View Comments...
457 An old oil filled cap with dermatitis ..... internal arcing ate a nice hole in the case.
And that's what made grandpa's radio make all that hissing noise and killed " the Rest of The Story with Paul Harvey "
458 Don't Laugh! It works ..... from a bad octal to a good mini in ten minutes.
459 Bad IF transformer removed from it's shielding can.
460 Shorted out internal cap in this Hallicrafters IF transformer had to be removed and repaired as they quit making these IF replacements.
461 Outboard caps added but need to be shielded now to prevent motor boating .....ha !
462 My solder sucker, cheap and works well.
463 Our little cattle hauler, actually it's for the pigs to go to market. They usually are sold to the Nettles Sausage Company here in Columbia County in the town of " Watermelon " !!
464 A nice old Miller AEAD welder / 250 AMP AC & 200 AMP DC for the weld mode and 5KW 120 / 240 AC @ 60 CPS for power. Needs a lot of TLC. Somebody did a lot of jack leg stuff to this old girl.
465 Wiring laid up against the exhaust and making intermittent connection to ground.
466 Oh what's this ? An unfinished weld so water can get into the exhaust valves and cripple the engine.
467 Next we have a toilet seat at 45 degrees so more water can enter the exhaust manifold.
468 So It's time to go back to welding school......
469 This must have been done with a propane torch from the hardware store.
470 Here is Lilly, Sue's 1960 Plymouth Fury. "Now this is a cool looking..." View Comments...
471 Here we see a Swedish lathe. As small as it is it weighs about 300 lbs ! Another 50.00 deal ....
472 Found this on Craigs list and the man said he didn't know if it worked. And, for 50.00 I brought it into my shop and made a new 1/2" x 14 TPI - .035 blade and would you know, it worked like new.
473 Nice commercial grade Hose reels found at the bargain store 25.00 FOR BOTH !
474 Here is my home brew water heater timer. I have used this one for more than 30' years and that ...... = A huge power bill savings ! It also equals 87,600 twists over ten years ! The timers seem to last about ten years.
The relay, a 30 amp street light relay ( that's likely 40 years old ) from a junk pile at FPL.
The box is from an old Intermatic pool pump timer and the twist timer is a fairly new one.
475 This is another simple thing to save you $ on your water heater bill. I have used mine for over 35 years now and still going strong. When I was with FPL we tested a water heater and found it wasted a lot of energy all day long cycling on and off. Back then a lot of people went to timers on the heater, but when they went on vacation, they had to remove the timer trips or turn off the breaker.... with this, you just turn on water when you need it and forget it when you go away. The timer came from Lowe's and the $10.99 relay has 30A dual contacts with a 120 vac coil ( pn 32886 RL ) from Marlin P Jones & Associates @ 561 848 8236 and ask for barbara. Happy water heating....
476 Magnacraft Dual 30A ( DPDT ) contact relay with 120 VAC coil, for water heater project. You can parallel the contacts and have a 60 A capacity.
Marlin P Jones in West Palm Fl, had these in stock at one time and may still have some left.
477 You have reached the end of my projects page. This page is constantly being updated with new information, more off grid and self reliant information to come.
Sincerely, Bruce N Strnad - W2BTC brucenorman73@gmail.com
WOW Bruce. Some folks have a little bit of somethings, but you have a lot of everything. I really enjoy going through all your pictures and of course I learn a lot from your years of experience. Best to you and Sue. Jim K1ISV - Jim, Fri, 31 Jul 2020 6:10AM
Holy Cow, Bruce!! You are into everything.
May I buy a few banana trees from you? I have the perfect spot for them with full time water supply.
Amazing collection! - KD6STU, Sat, 12 May 2018 5:49PM
Cool Stuff Bruce, A man after my own heart. Hope you enjoy using the monitor. You probably better invest in a manual to figure out how everything works. You will be happy to have this tool. - jack | http://webpages.charter.net/k8xx/k8xx.html, Thu, 5 Apr 2018 10:40AM
Bruce....GREAT collection of projects!!! - Mike N3QIG, Wed, 20 Dec 2017 4:23PM
Bruce I was on your web site, all I can say is...WOW! - Don KG3M | http://kg3m.com, Mon, 13 Mar 2017 6:01AM
Yup, you do have a problem. LOL I also do alot of the same thing. Thanks for sharing. - Eddie Holbrook, Fri, 13 Jan 2017 12:28PM
Love the pics and info. Thanks for sharing! - John Misinec | n/a, Fri, 2 Dec 2016 10:02PM
I enjoyed the picture tour very much. some pic brought back great memories. Looking foward to a personal tour. Colen, WA5RKR - Colen Boutwell, Wed, 24 Aug 2016 7:42AM
Hi Bruce n sue its chuck how have y'all been doing - chuckmimm, Mon, 23 May 2016 1:26AM
