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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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R.C.M and Mailboxes (Insert manaical cackle here)
Our rural-style curbside single mailbox got visited by the Mailbox
Fairy last night (AKA the $#%^=&%(^!! local teenagers...) First time in about 10 years. Finally finished off the redwood 4X4 that I set in concrete when I was still in High School - it dried out and shattered at the cross-arm dovetail cut. I patched the box back onto the stump of the old post temporarily with 3/4" plywood, but it's time to Do It Once, and Do It Right. Anyone have a line on some cheap 4" extra heavy wall steel tubing in Los Angeles? Nothing TOO heavy, I only have a Miller Challenger MIG and oxy-acetylene with B and 50CF tanks, so the really big stuff like railroad track and 4" bar stock is out. (Nuts.) Unless I use Thermite... (Muahahahaha!!) The wicked part being that I want to duplicate the silhouette of the old post and cross-arm with brace, paint it wood brown with fake graining so they think it's still an easy mark, put a plate-steel rural mailbox at the top, and aim a camera at it - I could use sucker rod or well casing for the post, but that would be far too obvious... I should probably make some sort of break-away shear mount at the base, with a chain so it doesn't go bouncing too far. And a twist breakaway for the arm (preferably one rigged to let the arm swing all the way around if smacked at speed...) Just so the lawyers for the decedent can't say I was creating "an attractive hazard" - I believe in the principle behind the Darwin Awards (letting fools self-cleanse the gene pool) but for some unknown reason the District Attorney and local Tort Lawyers do not. Anyone seen one of the heavy plate steel "oversize" rural mailboxes with a second inner locking door and drop slot? Haven't seen both features on the same pre-made box, I might have to make an inner door. After that, I have to find a big steel box suitable for making into a package drop locker. But first things first. -- Bruce -- -- Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700 5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545 Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net. |