"SteveB" wrote in message
news
I bought two gates at a yard sale that I'm going to mount in the garden.
Got a great old office chair that needs a little MIG welding to stabilize
the base. I went through a little 1.2 hp Gamefisher motor I got with my
used fishing boat. I'm getting some steel ready to make window awnings,
and getting the sewing machine tuned up.

What's everyone up to? So much damn political talk going on, you can't
hear the jaybirds.

Well, may latest project has been to mill some commemorative coins out of
aluminum for an upcoming fishig event. I got mos tof it figured out, but I
have two problems. Cutting the coins out of the sheet withoutbreaking
cutters as it comes loose. Actually if I place a poker chip on top of the
coin and press down firmly with one hand and then the other (as the table
circles) I can get it to cut out ok, but I would like to be able to do it
unattended. Then my next problem is securing the coins to surface and
pocket the other side. So far I have been doing it by placing them in a
milled pocket in a block of wood, and then shooting washerhead screws in at
trhree points, but then I can not completely mill surface that side of the
coin.

Yesterday I ran into an issue with a low security access control gate. The
metal post and resin plug in the concrete has lifted up about a half inch
over the last ten years on one side. This caused the bolt to not always
positively engage the strike and lock up properly. After studying on the
problem for a while I went to HF and bought a porta power unit and a mini
ram. Then I didn't use the mini ram. The power wedge that came with the
pump was strong enough. I put it between the top cross bar and the free
side of the gate and bent the gate down. All is wonderful and when the gate
closes it locks again.

Thats about all the metal working I have done in the last 24 hours.