2014 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

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

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi All

After looking back through pictures posted on Hammond 2013 I just have to ask Is Hammon Below or Above the Arctic Circle? Reason I asked is that I noticed that there seem to be a lot of photos from the Hammond Barn that either show snow or you guys dress up in your arctic suites. Counted and there are 62 photos with snow or cold weather gear and only 39 with no snow and or normal work cloths. There were also 5 photos with no indication of temperature. It would sort of seem that you have winter little over 60% of the time and spring summer fall only amount to just under 40% of the time.

Cheers and Stay Warm Phil

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.

[Phil Waterman]

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.

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

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.

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!

[RHClarke]

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!

[RHClarke]

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!

[RHClarke]

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

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Stuart Fedak

Quote

When I was working in Inuvik, NWT (which is above the arctic circle, just south of the Beaufort Sea), I would loose air pressure in my Jeep Cherokee Laredo tires. I had all the tires switched to steel rims before driving up the Dempster Highway from the Yukon, to Inuvik, NWT. ...

... They then remove the stems, and re-seal the the tires onto the rims. They had some low temperature sealant, as most of the truck work they did was for the trucks on the ice road in the McKenzie River ice road for the oil patch.

... A big problem was the compressed air would cool as it expanded. This would often freeze a stem valve. You could get compressed air in the tire, but the stem would not seal when the pressure was removed, as the ice had frozen the stem valve open.

...

Stuart

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

[Bob Carriere]

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

[RHClarke]

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.

[Grant Bowker]

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.

[Grant Bowker]

More images of the progress

[Grant Bowker]

More progress

[Grant Bowker]

Completed blocks

[8threcce]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

Completed blocks

Grant, do you have these blocks for sale ? sure could use some...