2014 at the Hammond Barn
 

Why not? Maybe this year we will get some better weather...

Maybe not. Hi Phil, Yes we are below the Arctic Circle but you wouldn't know it last week. Today we are at plus 3oC with some rain falling. This afternoon the temp will drop and all of the water laying about will form into impromptu hockey rinks.

We are indeed at the whims of Mother Nature, and in 2013 she was a right bitch. Here's hoping for better weather in '14.

I was looking forward th the 2014 @ The Hammond Barn
 

Hi Guys

I was looking forward to the new season of 2014 @ The Hammond Barn, you guys really should make a reality TV series out of the adventures At Hammond Barn would probably be far more interesting than some of the TV shows they have down here in the States, but that probably would not work on American TV, Hammond Barn would be way to educational to survive on TV.

Cheers Phil

PS Our high this morning was 14C to nights low will be -15C.

TV at the Barn
 

Phil, if we did have live action video at the barn, there probably wouldn't be a 2014 "season". Without the cameras we can hide our mistrakes and show the results without all the drama that unfolds behind the scenes. I know it would be interesting to tune into Bob's double-entrendre and pun filled dialog, and his craftsmanship, or watching Grant striving for perfection in his handiwork, or my never ending fight with the welding learning curve, but we do have to leave somethings for the imagination.

For the time being, MLUers will have to find their video fixes on YouTube - and there are more and more CMP videos showing up all the time!

As Cold As...
 

Stuart's plaint brought back fond memories for me of living in northern BC and northern Ontario as a kid. We used to joke about the cold and then revel in it by playing hockey from after breakfast til supper time. If we were lucky there was a rink shack nearby where we could warm our feet up every few hours. Most of the time we were on a frozen lake and had to start a fire to keep warm during the day. Fortunately back then (60s-70s), no one got their panties in a knot if we took down a tree and built a fire.

As for the cold temperatures, I remember some of the comparisons:

It was as cold as a witch's tit - got the giggles going when I was a kid.

...as cold as the ex-wife's heart - still annoys me - cause it was true!

These were followed by:
- It was so cold out that you had to chip the dog off the hydrant.
- It was so cold that the Liberals had their hands in their own pockets for once.

These days, I am with Stuart - I think I will wait til Spring before taking on any major out of doors work. Time for a nice hot cuppa!

Barn weather report
 

Wet, wet and more wet. It was -1oC and raining when I got to the barn this morning and it was raining when I left the barn this evening. Most of the activity was inside the barn. Grant was busy at home, as was Bob. Our first task of the day was to break through the ice that had built up near the stream that runs under the road to the barn. It clogs up some times, so Bob dumped a load of road salt onto the top layer. We managed to break through three layers of ice, but the water level had not dropped off when we left it. Bob headed out for more domestic chores. He had to move a mountain of cat crap so he headed off with the trusty tractor to do so. I headed to the barn as the temperature broke into the postive value zone.

After lunch, Bob joined me at the barn to work on an old snowblower that was giving me some trouble. Bob and Grant repaired the broken shear pin and adjusted the drive train so that both wheels turned when in gear. Today's project was to repair the "fuel pump" - a plastic housing with three hose ports and a diaphram inside. There are replacements available, but we like to get max value out of our machinery, so we did a small repair on the housing. It was left to dry off near Lucifer and we will test it at a later date.

We had two visitors this afternoon. Bob's neighbour Bruce, stopped in with a friend to see if Bob could press out some bushings from a set of lower control arms. While Bob played with the press, I worked on my Pilot Model HUP running boards - see the new post under the Pilot Model Resto thread. This took up the afternoon, and as the day darkened, I splashed my way home. When this stuff freezes tonight, there are going to be problems. I am keeping my fingers crosssed.

Photos:
1 - Hammond weather report - ignore the days indicated - the forecast is the same for the remaining days of the week.
2 - Ice has formed on top of everything.
3 - The barnyard is a skating rink.
4 - Bob inspecting my welding - passed this time!

Driven Indoors
 

This weekend was a bit different. Bob decided that he would invite anyone who was interested in WS19 sets to join him on Saturday in the firing up of his radio set, and to talk about related issues.

The attendance was sparce, but those who did show up were treated to a very interesting session. And of course, when Bob hosts an event, he does it right. We had snacks throughout the afternoon and a few brown pops.

Stuart F, Grant, and I were treated to a tube testing session where Bob made good use of his test kit. Once a tube was identified, Bob went to the guide in the test kit and made the requiste switch settings. Most of the tubes tested were usable, but a few had deteriorated.

Following the tube testing, Bob fired up his WS19 set and tested the mic and earphones. There were some technical issues that were sorted out thanks to Stuart's original pocket guide checklist. Having a licensed radio operator handy ensured that we were not doing anything untoward with the spectrum. Other issues were beyond our capabilities. However, it was pleasant way to spend a snowy afternoon at the Hammond Barn.

Photos
1 - Bob holding court at Chateau Hammond in his newly appointed radio shack
2 - Tubes for testing - the big tube was not tested
3 - Stuart waxing eloquent on things tubular
4 - Grant eagerly awaiting Bob's first call
5 - The tube test set can be seen in the background

2. the big tube, more properly referred to as a valve...why didn't you test it?

It's only an 807.

Valve testing......
 

Hi Jon

Now I get it..... the big tube was the beer bottle behind the tube set... I mean the valve set.....

Wish we had your expertise closer to us..... do you make house calls.

I recently acquired a military Hickok TV 7 A/U ........ circa late 40s specifically to use on the old army radios. Similar model were used in Canada sold by Starke but made by Hickok.

It has been recently calibrated and tested with special calibration tubes I purchased seperately ... 6L6 and 12XA7.

The only component I cannot, yet, test is the little red can EF50 which I can find in my data sheets.... in fact not sure if it is proper to call it a "valve".

Found some NOS E1148 in TO with the box marked as for WS 19 sets....

Every tube/valve from the WS 19 sets are still available on EBay..... a lot of ot is still made fresh from Serbia, Russia, Lituania..... but I am limiting myself to US/CDN made new old stock.

All and any advice is welcome...... now I wished I had listened more attentively when you gave a presentation on the 19 sets at one of the Convoy gathering.

Bob C.

Proof of Life!
 

Just a quick note to say that we spotted the elusive Carriere in his natural habitat yesterday. It is alive!

As it starts to feel as if the never-ending winter might be coming to an end here are a few photos. The snow splitter on the barn roof seems to have worked, the collar around the stovepipe stayed in place in spite of the snow loads and freeze/melt cycles with snow alternately building up and sliding off the roof. Recovery season is on the way (I think) and there are already a couple of parts trucks lined up to pick up so the trailers have been more or less dug out. One good thing about the snow buldup, it makes it easier to get to the roofs of the containers without ladders.

Rifle butt supports
 

One of the things I've done (but not reported on) was create a batch of rifle butt support blocks. Starting from the drawing in Marc Montgomery's Convoy magazine (PDF attached), the drawing by Jacques Reed at http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...t=rifle+socket and a NOS block loaned by Bob (noted that there were differences in all three dimension sources, presumably the originals varied or the different blocks measured had behaved differently over time) I did the following:
1. cut blanks, the stock I was working from just happened to yield 9
2. made jigs to ease boring the sloped base and rounding the ends
3. laid out and drilled the bolt holes in the base and drain hole in the end
4. laid out and bored the bulk of the hollow using a forstener bit. 2 of the centering pont marks fell in the previously drilled bolt holes, the 3rd and the lip marks were filled later as I was planning to paint them.
5. jigged the blank to support one end and complete the boring of the holes to the sloped bottom (the photo of the block in this jig is inaccurate, this was done while the blocks were still rectangular)
6. chiseled the edges of the bore to complete the interior
7. bandsawed the corners off before using the second jig and belt sander to round the ends
8. countersunk for the mounting screws
9. sanded, filled, primed and painted.

More images of the progress

More progress

Completed blocks

Two great ideas
 

Hi Grant

Couple of good ideas in your last post, like the snow splitter, my furnace stacks on the garage and barn are located about two feet from the peak and for the first time the ice and snow mix formed a solid collar around them and when the snow started to creep of the metal roofs it tried to pull them off. Will have to follow the idea in the spring and add a splitter.

The second great idea is the giant beer coolers, put a couple of sheets of 2" Styrofoam insulation over the snow, and the beer should stay cool through the end of July.

Cheers Phil

Cleaver set up
 

Hi Again Grant

Very cleaver way of getting the slant in the bottom of the rifle but supports.

Cheers Phil

Front axle pivot pin removal and installation tools
 

Using the info from service bulletin "Item 195" (attached), which gives a revised process for adjusting the pivot bearings on all 4x4 and 6x6 CMP vehicles, tools were made to drive in the pivot pins for both large and samll axle ends and 3 sleves were made to use when pulling the pins out. The 3 extraction sleeves were made as I didn't have a long enough fully threaded bolt to hand so had to make the pull in stages limited by the length of the threaded part of the bolts.

Odd....
 

I used to do this with my dear ol' Dad many years ago. We'd take a whack of tubes to the corner store, use every trick to find the serial numbers, cross reference to the catalogue, set the machine, test the tube, label and pack them away.

fond memory - thanks

Jeez Stuart, you know how to make a fellow feel glad for global warming!

Barn roof..... and tubes testers....
 

Hi Phil

After replacing two $75 aluminum chimney flashings I decided to build a fake "fake dormer" roof section much like the prow of a boat.

Every year the snow/ice buildup would melt on the roof and exert enough pressure to rip the crimped very light gauge aluminum sheeting.

We set up a dummy roof section with the same pitch as the barn roof....... a wooden under structure with 22 gauge galvanized sheeting. Then took it apart and re/erected the whole thing on the roof....... braced the existing sheet metal roof with plywood between the joist to provide a solid area to screw in the roofing screws. Has certainly worked well this Winter with all the snow we have had.

Hi Charlie

I scored a couple of USA military tube testers late 1945 to early 1955 ...... they can handle all old tubes from the 30s - 40s - 50s and some peanuts from the ealry 60s. Far more accurate than the Drug store machines...... comes in handy when you need to test WS 19 tubes.

There is still a large market on the web (ie Ebay) for NOS and used tested good old tubes.... and new stock still being manufactured in Europe in the former USSR like Romania, Lituania, etc...

Interesting to note ...... the going prices for a complete box of WS 19 set of spare tubes is hovering around the $100 mark...... which sounds expensive. BUT if one was to buy off Ebay each tubes individually it would total slightly over $250 US incl. shipping.

Cheers

Bob C

Boob Tube
 

Hi Bob,

How are things going? Your fake dormer did indeed work as you planned. Hopefully, we will see you this coming weekend. I should be out on Sunday for some quality time with the welder.

Sunday it is.....
 

....with sparks flying......

Not feeling too bad ...I just can't breath with out my 50 foot hose......

Will manage.

Bob C

Grant,

Excellent work on the wooden rifle blocks! I never noticed the drain hole. Just last week I tried saving the one left in my C8 cab, but sadly it fell apart after years of neglect. Your pictures should come in handy when I come round to making a set for my truck.

Alex

Sure Signs of Spring!
 

The glaciers have receded, and the sun is shining! There still are reminders of this past harsh winter deep in the trees and along Bob’s creek bed, but it looks like Old Man Winter has departed (fingers crossed). The warm days have turned the road to the barn into a bit of a quagmire and some sink holes have developed in front of the barn doors. Nonetheless, the sure signs of spring at the Hammond Barn (as seen below) bring with them a renewed sense of optimism (until the Mosquitos arrive).

Today, we spent the morning in cleaning up around and in the barn. After lunch, Bob and Grant did some maintenance on the ride on lawn mower, while I sorted the reusable metal bins in the barn. Bob remembered that the stores were closed tomorrow, so he scooted off to the local beer store to stock up. Grant kept the home fires burning, while I headed for home to tackle the “honey-do” list. Some day we will get back to working on CMPs…

Photo 1 – Sure sign of spring (SSS) 1 – the snow blower is off the tractor – FINALLY!
Photo 2 – SSS 2 – lawn equipment maintenance
Photo 3 – The boys enjoy working close together…

You think CMP have heavy components....
 

Dpoing a brake job on the MF 245 takes a whole different meaning.

The brakes are inboard near the rear end.
so the tire or tyre with the cast iron center plus the calcium loading in the tire weights near a ton.....

Then one half of the cast axle has to be undone from the rear end.

Now I know why they have overhead steel beams with wheeled devices to lift and move parts around.

The short 1 inch + thick short axle must be near 500 pounds. Job is done on one side but I am short one O ring about 1/8 by 14 inch dia. I am improving by moving from the worn out dry brake to multi plate wet brake system.

Tractor was made in the UK....hoping it will not leak like a BSA after the job is done.

Need to get the job done as the tractor is the unofficial tow truck for the CMPs.

Greasy and oily but happy.

Cheers

Happy I'm cheep, I have a Belarus and it takes two hours to change the six brake discs in the foot and park brake drums and out in the paddock I still use an air ratchet with the on board compressor and tank. :D

Cheep and good too Robert. Got one myself earlier this year. A model 572 with 1400 hrs on it.

............................
 

.........just bought a 60's DEXTA "Ether Baby" with a bucket for the same reason. As I do some of the usual maint (that should have been done by the owner) it seems to be getting better.

Seasonal Update from the Barn
 

It has been a dog's age since our last update, so here is what we have been doing at the barn since the "good" weather hit:

Bob and Grant rearranged the upstairs of the barn so that we can now store engines inside - this meant a lot of engine movement and shuffling;

Bob did a complete tear down and replacement of the brakes on his tractor;

Bob replaced the fenders of the tractor with a refurbished set;

Bob and I picked up a nice 235 engine;

We gathered up the tires laying about the property for eventual disposal;

Did the same with the scrap iron;

Bob and Grant built battery boxes to fit their trucks;

We removed the dump body from one of my trucks (on Kijiji if you want to see pics - http://www.kijiji.ca/v-heavy-equipme...ationFlag=true );

We removed downed branches and trees from around Bob's property;

We did a brake job on the 45 HUP;

A lot of yard work as per usual;

Shored up the "bridge" over the creek along the barn access road with rock picked up from a friend's house;

Picked up a few loads of maple fire wood;

Bob and his neighbour split a few cord of wood;

Grant and Bob pruned trees along the small field;

Bob rototilled the road to the small field;

I put in four piers for my next sea container;

A lot of sandblasting and welding on things CMP;

Bob repaired his ride on mower;

A hockey sock of other tasks that the boys may add later on;

We fed the mosquitoes, black flies, horse flies, deer flies, gnats and other creepy crawly blood-sucking insects found at the barn; and

We drank a few beers, told a few lies and enjoyed the hobby as best we could.

Photos

1- Brake repairs on the tractor
2- Sea can number 2 site prepped
3- The new "engine bay" in the attic of the barn
4- Blurry pic of the pump on the dump body
5- Non original CMP dump body finally off the Kemptville Chev

Sounds Like My To Do List
 

Hi Guys

Glad to hear you are keeping busy, was going to suggest you could come down to New Hampshire and do many of the same things down here.

Which 235 did you pickup early or late?

Being able to store engines in the loft is great way to get them off the shop floor. Hope you have got well sealed up to keep the critters out of exhaust, intake, water jacket etc.

Cheers Phil