2017 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

'Twas -26C early this AM........ was -22C at 10:30 when I lite Lucifer.....

........ twas so cold..... I had to warm up the wooden matches in my hands before I could light them..... then the smoke was so cold it was packing up in the chimney.

Nonetheless, Grant and I set out to finish the modification to an Industrial sewing machine. The machine is a "walking foot" Singer 211G156. It came with a 3500 rpm motor that requires much skill and practice to sew s-l-o-w-l-y that the first time I tries a short piece of canvass it took off the sewing table and embedded itself in the plywood wall covering of the barn.

First move was to change the motor for a 1750 rpm which reduced its velocity to half but still exceeded my abilities..... so we designed a jack shaft which now looks like the pictures attached. First I scored a 1.5 inch pulley for the motor in 15mm shaft size......... belted to a 5 inch pulley twinned to a 2 inch pulley that drives the 3 inch pulley on the sewing head....

We basically researched EBay for ready made speed reducer at $160 US dollars and with several model in mind adapted to what material and pillow blocks we had..... final results is around 350 rpm flat out with lots of torque while slipping the clutch at lower speed. It will be slow and I can speed it up by using larger pulleys on the motor if I ever become proficient at the sewing skills.

I am not new to sewing as I grew up with a grandmother who insisted that I learn how to sew n an old threadle Singer machine. In fact I help my wife sew a pair of PIAZZO pants on Sunday for when she goes to Mexico.

The first pictures are not set up ONLY for viewing in Australia.... we simply inverted the whole table on the workbench for ease of access.

I have not done any actual sewing on it yet as we ran out of time but it worked fine and is as designed.....slow and very manageable.

Next I need to make patterns from worn out CMP seats covers and try our hands at using a heavy weight unbleached white canvass...... then debug and move on to real OD fabric. I do have a set of NOS covers from Dirk but would prefer to keep them as such and use repros for everyday use. I also have to remove the dried up Monsanto clear windows from my NOS side windows and replace the plastic with modern clear vinyl.

Well by the time the afternoon rolled over it was a balmy 55F in the barn.... sad to let the fire die out but happy to go in the house where it is nice and warm.

Cheers

PS... once we finish making frilly skirts, I need to work on the roof.... removing the dings, holes and reskinning the bottom half of the top rear panel and then reproduce the 2B1 box.......

[Bob Carriere]

Well we dug up the top of my cab 11 and as much as it is the best I have to work with it has a lot of twist, bumps and holes from former roof lights. Will be designing a jig to hold it steady while we replace the bottom 10 inches back section of the cab vertical section. Will need to refine my butt weld techniques to produce a seamless connection/joint. Will record our experience and post accordingly.

Grant and I were distracted today trying to reproduce the grill guards for his 19 set. I know the odd grill comes up for sale every once in a while and now appreciate better why the asking price is high.


Cheers

[Keith Webb]

Really enjoying your posts as I'm sure a lot of others are as well. The coldness of your Canadian winters is almost impossible to imagine to most of my countrymen here in Australia - I see minus 26 a couple of weeks ago... we're going for a top of plus 35C here today!

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the Cab 11 roof.

[Bob Carriere]

Had to split the Massey in two lasy week to replace the PTO clutch.......

......was so cold one morning..... when I entered the barn I could hear metalic noise coming from the tool chest..... at first I though it might be squirrels.... but to my surprise when opened a drawer...... the pliers were all huddled in a corner and their jaws chattering loudly........
\
Some days it gets so cold...so cold that we have frost on MicroSoft's Windows.

Once Lucifer gets fired up we can get it up to a balmy 60 degrees F and even see the odd pet mosquitoe that flys around.......

Stay tuned for some before pictures......

Cheers

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

Really enjoying your posts as I'm sure a lot of others are as well. The coldness of your Canadian winters is almost impossible to imagine to most of my countrymen here in Australia - I see minus 26 a couple of weeks ago... we're going for a top of plus 35C here today!

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the Cab 11 roof.

The impressive thing is how productive we can be in spite of the wretched weather. I'm reading a story by a modern day explorer who canoed down a never-before recorded river in Northern Ontario. It was too isolated and black fly infested for normal people to attempt, and because it lies across the Ontario/Quebec border, I presume every surveyor expected it had been done by someone else.

We cannot imagine living in such abject dryness or in a place where everything either wants to sting you or start a fistfight. (The Youtube video of the fellow right jab punching the buck kangaroo got everyone's attention here!)

[rob love]

Personally I have just about had it with winters, and in particular this one.

With the limitations being put on immigration into the US right now, it seems Manitoba is experiencing a bit of a migration from the US. The news reported that Manitoba had 22 refugees sneak across the border on the weekend alone and had this quote from one refugee:

"Farhan Ahmed says he couldn't feel his fingers or his toes as he walked about 12 kilometres along a road."

Get used to that Farhan...that is life in Manitoba. Heck, it was only -20°C out....what is he going to do when it gets cold out.

[Bob Carriere]

.........but Spring is around the corner, most of the snow has turned to mud and will get worst once the ground thaws out and the mud turns to chocolate cake icing.

Positive signs are........ first...

Phil Waterman, lives about 400miles from here, was contacted by someone wishing to save some CMPs from the scrappy....... happens to be just an hours drive from the Barn........ nice how the system works. One Chev, One Ford and one M43 radio truck....... all put away soaking wet many years ago but still they are a source for parts. Plans are to visit soon with a camera and make an offer so we can truck them home.

Second sign of Spring .....

Was referred by Jim Fraser...... a new CMP hobbyist, recently bitten, has brought home what seems to be an early Chev cab 11...... with circular air vents but no marker lights on the front fenders and sporting a woven Ford grill just like mine. Truck was found on a farm North of Toronto....... parked for over 40 years but very complete.....as usual the cargo box was replaced with some other late 30 box but has a 261 engine installed. I will be posting some of his needs pending his membership being approved by MLU moderators.

Third sign of Springs......

...... I am looking forward to returning to the barn for active duty.

I had an unexpected urgent quadruple by-pass on February 16th and so far I am still vertical. Happened so fast had no time to think or get scared.

Getting your breast bone cut open with tin snips, plumbing repaired then sown together with stainless steel wire is an experience. I vaguely remember lying under a Xmas tree holding over 12 tubes all connected to me........ best one is I could pee anytime and not have to get up. Still quite sore but according to the surgeon mending quite well. For a week I hugged a pillow affectionately called "your teddy" ........ no jokes....laughing is a pain..... coughing really gets to you, sneezing unexpectedly like child birth and vomiting.... well would rather not remember. Been over 6 weeks which is about half way but true recovery probably by next Fall in time for felling trees for firewood.

But all this is in the past. The post surgery medication was possibly worst than the operation with all the side effects and that to is gradually improving.

Plans for this year are to finish or refinish and install the roof on my truck..... needs some skin surgery and possibly start repro/reverse engineering a 2B1 cargo box.

Cheers

[Peter Duggan]

Bob,

I was wondering about the low profile from the Hammond garage gang. The joys of our 'golden age'. Glad to hear that you are vertical once again. Hope to see you at some of the events.

Speedy recovery, Peter