What did you do today

[Indiana Rambler]

So I couldn’t find a 1 1/4 router guide, and I ordered one months ago, only to be refunded my money, I decided to make one at work.

Now THAT was a good idea. Lathe I assume?

Tony

Yes sir! I’ve poured over the internet and made a few calls to buy one, to no avail. Not sure why Porter Cable has discontinued this or why anyone else hasn’t reproduced it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dbhosttexas]

I am still working on shop remodelling as it got to be a disaster, but it is definately MUCH better now.

Started workign on the water heater / shower kit box. The concept is simple, Pelican type boxes are either too small, or WAY too expensive for the Camplux 5L with the quick connects fitted and they certainly won't allow room to attach / detach the hoses. I considered a cedar / epoxy box as I am itching to use my box joint jig for something, but honestly, settling on a PMF build for the box as it will give me experience doing PMF on something...

The box setup will allow the mounting of the water heater, and gas hose with the steak saver installed. It will have a lipped and gasketed lid, and a french cleat on the back for hanging from the side of the camper. And of course a heat shield to keep the exhaust from melting / burning the box.

So while not necessarily camper directly related, indirectly I have a LOT of progress going on...

[mtbikernate]

Finished putting hatches to better access the storage space under this shelf in my Hiker trailer. Ever since I put a fridge in the galley, that fridge blocked access to a lot of useful storage. You can see my fridge slide through the ports underneath. Those ports weren't quite good enough to access all of the space in there.

[gudmund]

I have to say - that is the "nicest" looking galley I have ever seen in a Hiker trailer.............

[mtbikernate]

I have to say - that is the "nicest" looking galley I have ever seen in a Hiker trailer.............

the "galley" is on the other side of the wall. this picture is inside the sleeping compartment.

my "galley" is about as barebones as it gets. just a couple shelves. I moved the lower shelf up a bit to fit my fridge and slide underneath. otherwise I just treat it as storage space for my gear. bins, totes, etc. I have some footman loops so I can strap things down to keep them from moving.

I personally don't think the squaredrop shape really lends itself well to a true galley that you can actually work out of. Though I have seen some folks' custom work where they built slideouts for their stove and other work spaces and that looks like it works well.

[gudmund]

guess that is my point, Hiker trailers have usually 'just' a basic and neutral look to them = plain -which this is, but the fit and finish of what I see here just looks so much better than what I have ever seen in the others I have looked at before. Whether Inside or outside galley, they have always been just the basics = which I have always been fine with - it's some of 'their' finish work that I have seen that has been a bit rough here and there before. Take care ........

[mtbikernate]

guess that is my point, Hiker trailers have usually 'just' a basic and neutral look to them = plain -which this is, but the fit and finish of what I see here just looks so much better than what I have ever seen in the others I have looked at before. Whether Inside or outside galley, they have always been just the basics = which I have always been fine with - it's some of 'their' finish work that I have seen that has been a bit rough here and there before. Take care ........

I dunno if date or build location matters for that. Mine is a late 2016/early 2017 Indiana build (from just before their popularity really exploded). The Indiana location is in a different place and run by different people now than when they built mine. Mine also is a little different structurally than many others built before and after. They were in the process of making some running changes to address different things. Plus I got a heavier duty axle due to supply issues. They offered a lot fewer options back when mine was built. Their extreme off-road model was brand new.

My own work on the hatches is a whole lot sloppier than anything Hiker ever did when they built the trailer.

[Staryder61]

Living out in the country now. I've missed having a pick up for awhile. Always ready to go to haul this or that. Not having to hook up a trailer for a quick run to the big yellow box store will be a benefit too. So just traded our Denali SUV for an older 2003 Dodge 1500 Ram. Nice older version, no frills. Needs some TLC here and there. But will make for a nice runner beater truck.

[bdosborn]

I've got a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 with 250K miles on it. They'll go for awhile but be prepared to work on them.
Bruce

[Staryder61]

I've got a 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 with 250K miles on it. They'll go for awhile but be prepared to work on them.
Bruce

This ones showing 258K on the mileage, engine has been replaced, not sure how many miles on this engine, was my sons and daughters truck. They needed a nicer vehicle, so I decided to trade to help them out. It will work for us. I really like driving this dodge. I haven't had a dodge truck for over 40 years.
Front bumper's in bad shape, so just ordered a new bumper assembly for it from amazon. I'll spend a little on it here and there. Get moneys worth out of it.

[Tom&Shelly]

Today we hired someone to take care of our rodent problem



Hope he works out better than the last guy. That snake only caught one or two a month!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Finally got around to re-wiring the lights in our shop.

As the basement slowly became a wood shop, I'd buy hanging florescent fixtures and mount them where I'd need them. But they only have 5 foot cords, and no switches on their own, so I would usually use extension cords to run them down to surge protectors which I'd mount creatively on the walls



When we built the teardrop, the first exercise in the morning and last in the evening was running around the shop switching on/off all the lights. It was unsightly, inconvenient, and possibly a slight fire hazard.

Spent some time thinking about how to fix this in the least expensive manner that was reasonable. The workshop was originally a garage and my builder insisted we needed dry wall to meet the fire code. I don't want to rip it out, and it seemed like a lot of work and aggravation to try and run Romex behind it. Running Romex in front of drywall evidently isn't the most code worthy practice, so I finally settled on using conduit and THHN wire. Used flexible PVC cable, which is easy and not too expensive, although the connectors are.



Ah well! For flexibility, I ran 7 columns of 3 outlets each (left, middle, right). I ran them into the existing florescent light fixtures in the ceiling, so now, they are all on one circuit. I left one off over the wood bin, so now I have 20 duplex outlets on a single 15 amp circuit.

"Isn't that illegal," I hear you ask.

"No," I politely answer. "An ill eagle is a sick bird," this is unlawful!"



Actually, although there are recommendations, there is nothing in the NEC about how many outlets can exist on a single circuit. Since I replaced all of the florescent tubes with LEDs, and I replaced the three 300 watt incandescent bulbs in the back room with 33 watt LEDs, I get away with this, and can even add a few more LED lights to the shop (which I plan to do, eventually). This wouldn't have worked when I first built the cabin--the florescents and incandescents would have exceeded 15 amps. I don't fill all of the outlets, but there will always be at least one for anyplace I want to add or move a light fixture.

I made a nifty helper to hold the spools of 14 gauge wire as I ran them through the conduit.



Turned out to be reasonably easy to do, since I had all straight runs. Curiously, I just ran out of the 100 feet of wire, but still have 40 feet of the 100 foot roll of conduit left over. Either the wire guys shorted me, or the conduit guys gave me extra.

Anyway, now the area lighting is all on one circuit. There are two more 15 amp circuits in the room, one for the outlets on the left and the other for the right side. We will, of course, have task lighting plugged into those, along with some of the tools. When the cabin was built, I asked the electrician to give me one 20 amp circuit in the garage, which he did, although since we didn't know where to run it, he just added a single outlet under the breaker box.

So, now, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to extend that across the shop for the table saw (a Sawstop contractor saw draws 14 amps, by spec, so it exceeds the 80% rule for a 15 amp circuit), bandsaw, mitre saw, and drill press (which used to dim the lights when started). Naturally, we wouldn't generally run more than one, or at most two, of those at any one time. I'm already thinking, with anticipation, of running the 12 gauge wire through the conduit...

With all this shop improvement, we're also thinking it might be nice to spring for some of those magic boxes that automatically turns on a shop vac when you turn on each saw. Well, the shop vac I want to dedicate to the table saw claims to require 9 amps. (I'm hoping that's only on start-up but I haven't measured it yet.) If so, I need one of those magic boxes that lets you plug into separate circuits for the saw and shop vac. iVac works that way, some others don't.

In another year or so we'll have this shop set up just the way we want it. Then, I guess we'll have to find something to build!

Tom

[bdosborn]

So, now, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to extend that across the shop for the table saw (a Sawstop contractor saw draws 14 amps, by spec, so it exceeds the 80% rule for a 15 amp circuit), bandsaw, mitre saw, and drill press (which used to dim the lights when started).

The 80% rule for a branch circuit is required when you are supplying a continuous load, defined as anything that operates for 3 hours or longer. So you can technically run a 14A load on a 15A wire for 179 minutes. However, circuit breakers are derated to 80% when you put them in a panelboard (heat buildup from adjacent breakers causes nuisance tripping). So you can use the 14 awg wire but your 15A breaker might get warm and trip. Happens all the time in my garage.
Bruce

[Tom&Shelly]

So, now, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to extend that across the shop for the table saw (a Sawstop contractor saw draws 14 amps, by spec, so it exceeds the 80% rule for a 15 amp circuit), bandsaw, mitre saw, and drill press (which used to dim the lights when started).

The 80% rule for a branch circuit is required when you are supplying a continuous load, defined as anything that operates for 3 hours or longer. So you can technically run a 14A load on a 15A wire for 179 minutes. However, circuit breakers are derated to 80% when you put them in a panelboard (heat buildup from adjacent breakers causes nuisance tripping). So you can use the 14 awg wire but your 15A breaker might get warm and trip. Happens all the time in my garage.
Bruce

Thank you Bruce. That seems like a good reason to extend the 20 amp circuit. I'll pay a little extra and put J boxes at the turns, so all the pulls are straight. And once they're in, they're in forever!

(Of course, that's what my Dad and I figured when we did some electrical work on the house I grew up in, in the 70's. One of my chores this coming Summer will be to upgrade some of the electrical matters with that house...)

Tom

[twisted lines]

Ordered 1000lb rubber stubs