Tuff Shed, Wimpy Truck

We need storage space. We should probably just throw out a bunch of the stuff we have but instead decided to buy a "Tuff Shed" as extra storage space. I could have built a shed for much less money, however I'm not much of a carpenter and it would have taken me weeks if not months to get one made. We tried to order one through the local Home Depot and failed as they couldn't process an order after a half an hour of trying. So I called "Tuff Shed" directly and ordered a 10' x 12' shed.

The two guys they sent out worked hard and paid attention to detail.

Max was inspired to a work as well.

The "finished" shed. The window is missing because I wanted to put in an insulated one. I'll be insulating the inside for condensation free storage (in theory).

It rained hard for about a half an hour, causing their truck to sink 8" into the ground. We spent a while (I helped them out) trying to jack it up onto traction increasing materials to no avail. The big problem was that their tires were almost completely bald.

So they called a tow truck - goodbye profit! Then again they probably make a chunk of money on the sheds.

It took almost an hour to drag the truck around to the road. As I said nice guys and they handled it well. One had moved down to Eugene from Alaska for the exciting life in a big city.

Now I have to finish the shed, it will probably be done by 2008.

I decided I've been too airgun obsessed here, so I put my latest up on my site instead:
Making a Replacement Breech Bolt Screw for a Crosman 150 CO2 Pistol

Some links:
My Aunt Joan's webpage

Stock Stippling

Don't Shoot Your Eye Out

O-ring design data

Static Gland design

South Bend Lathe Videos

Taig Lathe with Servo Drives video

Miro open source video player

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Custom Ring

I finally finished what I hope will be the last custom job of the year, as things generally get too busy to take on extra work during the holidays.

6.022 x 10^23=

=Avogadro?

number?

=1 mol?

Yes, it's a size 11, 316 stainless steel ring engraved with Avogadro's number

I could have used one in chemistry class.

A Muzzle Brake for My Slavia 631

I told you I was getting a bit airgun crazy again, didn't I?

Five or six years ago I bought a Slavia 631 spring piston air rifle at the Rickreal flea market. I only gave $40 for it, as I am a shrewd negotiator. It came with a Simmons scope but no iron sights.

The rifle looks too short because a couple of inches of barrel is missing. The previous owner must have had a problem removing the front sight., or dented it, or something. So he removed an inch or two...

Really, it's just too short.

I turned some random aluminum alloy down at the end on the South Bend and drilled it to fit the barrel. I was going to bore it exactly to size, but the drill I used cut just right at the diameter I was aiming for (which is technically a mistake, but it actually didn't matter).

Turning the OD (it's scrap so it was dinged and had spots of oxidation), grasped by the short section I turned previously and supported by the live center so as not to stress the thin tube section it's chucked by.

I moved the work over to the Jet 920, which has a DRO for cutting the grooves.

Groovy.

I drilled and tapped for some #10-32 set screws on the underside, but I should have used something like a 4-48, as I only got about two threads engagement, and the setscrews had to be ground down to about 1/8" of length. Poor planning just like the drilling, but it was a "for fun" project so I just winged it and it holds fine.

Now the rifle looks pretty, which was the whole point. I took it out and shot it a bit and the muzzle brake makes it easier to use, the longer barrel giving more leverage when cocking.

Here's the .pdf of the Slavia 631 manual
A Czech airgun forum
A Slavia 631 Tuneup

Lamest Candy Ever!

Looking over Henry's candy from Halloween, I discovered the lamest candy ever.

Candy Sticks? You mean poorly extruded cylinders of pure sugar? What connection do they have with Spiderman? Couldn't they have at least made an effort? At first I thought they were relabeled candy cigarettes, but they're even lamer than that. Did Stan Lee sign off on this?

They have a larger size (yes, I Googled it) that comes with a temporary tattoo, which is probably the reason anyone ever buys them, but this 2 pack doesn't even come with that.

I just hope they're contaminated with radioactive spider juice or something.