http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

--
Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds
are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her
tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the
existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of
the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Building machinery takes lots of time or money. I spent most of the
morning making one custom-sized split shaft clamp like this from
aluminum to support new guy lines on my antenna mast.
http://www.staffordmfg.com/Product-C...p-Type-Collars

--jsw

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:02:09 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Um, let's see. I have several hammers! :/

For metalworking, so far: a drill press, portable bandsaw (time to
make a base for it), several 4" angle grinders, disc/belt sander
combo, table saw (for aluminum and plastics), indicators and bases,
calipers and other measuring devices, 3" sine vise, angle plate,
v-blocks, tapping stand, grinder, buffer and 1/2 dozen compounds, TIG
welder w/ argon, various square tubing sizes, various chunks of delrin
and other plastics, etc. Not a whole lot of machine tools, but it's a
start.

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.


Building machinery takes lots of time or money. I spent most of the
morning making one custom-sized split shaft clamp like this from
aluminum to support new guy lines on my antenna mast.
http://www.staffordmfg.com/Product-C...p-Type-Collars

Alas, "I'd love to" and "I'm starting to" are two different things.
Funding -may- play some small part in this.

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:02:09 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little
beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Um, let's see. I have several hammers! :/

For metalworking, so far: a drill press, portable bandsaw (time to
make a base for it), several 4" angle grinders, disc/belt sander
combo, table saw (for aluminum and plastics), indicators and bases,
calipers and other measuring devices, 3" sine vise, angle plate,
v-blocks, tapping stand, grinder, buffer and 1/2 dozen compounds,
TIG
welder w/ argon, various square tubing sizes, various chunks of
delrin
and other plastics, etc. Not a whole lot of machine tools, but it's
a
start.

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.


Building machinery takes lots of time or money. I spent most of the
morning making one custom-sized split shaft clamp like this from
aluminum to support new guy lines on my antenna mast.
http://www.staffordmfg.com/Product-C...p-Type-Collars

Alas, "I'd love to" and "I'm starting to" are two different things.
Funding -may- play some small part in this.

You can build quite a lot with a bandsaw, drill press and welder if
you design the power transmission around $tock components.
http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=220003011

Most of my sawmill and a good fraction of my front end loader were
sawn and welded, and most of the parts I machined could have been
bought. The ones I made were considerably less bulky, being integrated
into the structures instead of bolted on.

http://store.cookssaw.com/sawmill-pa...-1-1-2-blades/
Having machine tools let me make them from bar stock and $5 of skate
bearings.

When I was estimating quotes to respond to RFQs for custom equipment I
had to quickly learn to decide between building or buying. I read many
catalogs of components.
http://www.wmberg.com/

http://www.actuate.com/download/whit...ild-vs-buy.pdf

I tend to build the first example of something new like this aluminum
shaft collar for the experience. I've been tinkering with adapting an
APC SU1400 pure-sine UPS to solar power and first learned how to make
the custom serial cable and reprogram it at low level with Hyperterm
before using the third-party applications apcupsd.exe and apcfix.exe:
http://www.apcupsd.org/
http://apc-fix.com/apcfix

--jsw

On 2/19/2016 1:09 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.


I've got a cherry BP for sale!

On Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 12:18:25 PM UTC-5, Larry Jaques wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.



For tracks you can use tires with the sidewall cut off. And use two air cooled engines instead of trying to find a differential. Or maybe use one engine driving a pump and two hydraulic motors.

Dan

wrote:
On Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 12:18:25 PM UTC-5, Larry Jaques
wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.



For tracks you can use tires with the sidewall cut off. And use two
air cooled engines instead of trying to find a differential. Or
maybe use one engine driving a pump and two hydraulic motors.

Dan

ISTR a truck tire that used tread replacement units , you deflated the
tire , swapped the band , and re-inflated . Bet those would work better , no
fish-hooks from the steel belt . Just can't remember what they were called -
Bandag maybe ?

--
Snag

On Friday, February 19, 2016 at 12:08:04 PM UTC-5, Terry Coombs wrote:


ISTR a truck tire that used tread replacement units , you deflated the
tire , swapped the band , and re-inflated . Bet those would work better , no
fish-hooks from the steel belt . Just can't remember what they were called -
Bandag maybe ?

--
Snag

I have tried it with regular tires. You can use a box knife and cut the side walls away. No problem from the steel belt. You do not have to cut close to the steel belt.

Dan

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 08:40:52 -0800 (PST)
" wrote:

On Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 12:18:25 PM UTC-5, Larry Jaques wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.



For tracks you can use tires with the sidewall cut off. And use two air cooled engines instead of trying to find a differential. Or maybe use one engine driving a pump and two hydraulic motors.

Dan

I would probably just start with an old scrapped out Jiger, Scrambler...
Then you just have to adapt the remote control to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibious_ATV

A much more useful device would be a remote controlled lawn/brush mower
or in my area snow blower...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On 2016-02-18, Larry Jaques wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.

Go ahead and do it, it is not super difficult. It will cost you a lot,
but it is fun.

i

Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

"Ignoramus23368" wrote in
message ...
On 2016-02-18, Larry Jaques
wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.

Go ahead and do it, it is not super difficult. It will cost you a
lot,
but it is fun.

i

Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.


There are Software Development Kits to customize WowWee robots:
http://wowwee.com/about/labs

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 07:39:19 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:02:09 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little
beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Um, let's see. I have several hammers! :/

For metalworking, so far: a drill press, portable bandsaw (time to
make a base for it), several 4" angle grinders, disc/belt sander
combo, table saw (for aluminum and plastics), indicators and bases,
calipers and other measuring devices, 3" sine vise, angle plate,
v-blocks, tapping stand, grinder, buffer and 1/2 dozen compounds,
TIG
welder w/ argon, various square tubing sizes, various chunks of
delrin
and other plastics, etc. Not a whole lot of machine tools, but it's
a
start.

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.


Building machinery takes lots of time or money. I spent most of the
morning making one custom-sized split shaft clamp like this from
aluminum to support new guy lines on my antenna mast.
http://www.staffordmfg.com/Product-C...p-Type-Collars

Alas, "I'd love to" and "I'm starting to" are two different things.
Funding -may- play some small part in this.

You can build quite a lot with a bandsaw, drill press and welder if
you design the power transmission around $tock components.
http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=220003011

I have a spare mandrel setup with good pillows on it, but something
like this looked interesting. I'd not abuse my files and hacksaws as
he does, though. And why didn't he use the bandsaw to cut the alum
block? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKdkAs482Po


Most of my sawmill and a good fraction of my front end loader were
sawn and welded, and most of the parts I machined could have been
bought. The ones I made were considerably less bulky, being integrated
into the structures instead of bolted on.

This is good!


http://store.cookssaw.com/sawmill-pa...-1-1-2-blades/
Having machine tools let me make them from bar stock and $5 of skate
bearings.

And they're 25x cheaper and probably last longer. That $5 got you a
10pk roll of bearings, right? I picked some up to make small machine
skates for the shop.


When I was estimating quotes to respond to RFQs for custom equipment I
had to quickly learn to decide between building or buying. I read many
catalogs of components.
http://www.wmberg.com/

Sounds familiar. I think they might have been one of the vendors when
I was doing QA work.


http://www.actuate.com/download/whit...ild-vs-buy.pdf

Will read, thanks.


I tend to build the first example of something new like this aluminum
shaft collar for the experience. I've been tinkering with adapting an
APC SU1400 pure-sine UPS to solar power and first learned how to make
the custom serial cable and reprogram it at low level with Hyperterm
before using the third-party applications apcupsd.exe and apcfix.exe:
http://www.apcupsd.org/
http://apc-fix.com/apcfix

I'll have to check those out. Every time I look at logging
controllers, I find something else to delve into before settling on
any one of them. Did you build your own MPPT controller, or just do
the logging communications with the computer?

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 09:17:14 -0500, Tom Gardner
wrote:

On 2/19/2016 1:09 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.


I've got a cherry BP for sale!

$5 and you'll walk it on over to my shop? GREAT!

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:08:31 -0600, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

wrote:
On Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 12:18:25 PM UTC-5, Larry Jaques
wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.



For tracks you can use tires with the sidewall cut off. And use two
air cooled engines instead of trying to find a differential. Or
maybe use one engine driving a pump and two hydraulic motors.

Dan

ISTR a truck tire that used tread replacement units , you deflated the
tire , swapped the band , and re-inflated . Bet those would work better , no
fish-hooks from the steel belt . Just can't remember what they were called -
Bandag maybe ?

Tanks, I'll googlit.

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 07:39:19 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:



I tend to build the first example of something new like this
aluminum
shaft collar for the experience. I've been tinkering with adapting
an
APC SU1400 pure-sine UPS to solar power and first learned how to
make
the custom serial cable and reprogram it at low level with Hyperterm
before using the third-party applications apcupsd.exe and
apcfix.exe:
http://www.apcupsd.org/
http://apc-fix.com/apcfix

I'll have to check those out. Every time I look at logging
controllers, I find something else to delve into before settling on
any one of them. Did you build your own MPPT controller, or just do
the logging communications with the computer?


Sometimes you find a UPS with swollen batteries very cheap. This one
was free. They are better for standby use than as daily solar power
inverters because their internal power consumption is high, 40W for
this one.

AFAICT, MPPT isn't cost-effective below 200W. I intend this small
system for power-outage backup and mainly use it to keep my battery
zoo well fed, for which a homebrew adjustable linear voltage regulator
with Volt & Amp meters works fine. I built a 10A 0-35V adjustable
power supply to handle any deep discharges.

At this moment I have one of these recording the discharge - recharge
calibration cycle of the APC's batteries:
http://www.amazon.com/UNI-T-Multimet.../dp/B007THZMWI

Normally the voltmeters on the batteries are enough to judge their
state of charge and tell when they need attention. The charge and
discharge of Lithiums is nearly 100% efficient and worth monitoring,
but lead-acids charge too inefficiently near full voltage to bother
with datalogging..

--jsw

On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:54:47 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 07:39:19 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:



I tend to build the first example of something new like this
aluminum
shaft collar for the experience. I've been tinkering with adapting
an
APC SU1400 pure-sine UPS to solar power and first learned how to
make
the custom serial cable and reprogram it at low level with Hyperterm
before using the third-party applications apcupsd.exe and
apcfix.exe:
http://www.apcupsd.org/
http://apc-fix.com/apcfix

I'll have to check those out. Every time I look at logging
controllers, I find something else to delve into before settling on
any one of them. Did you build your own MPPT controller, or just do
the logging communications with the computer?


Sometimes you find a UPS with swollen batteries very cheap. This one
was free. They are better for standby use than as daily solar power
inverters because their internal power consumption is high, 40W for
this one.

AFAICT, MPPT isn't cost-effective below 200W. I intend this small
system for power-outage backup and mainly use it to keep my battery
zoo well fed, for which a homebrew adjustable linear voltage regulator
with Volt & Amp meters works fine. I built a 10A 0-35V adjustable
power supply to handle any deep discharges.

Yes, I concur, both for sub 200w cost-effectiveness and keeping my
little zoo fully fed from the HF trash rack. But I recently invested
in an $11 "30A MPPT" controller from China, as a last-gasp backup. g
I'm curious to see how long the deep cycle marine battery from Wally
World lasts in this environment, too. Quarterly battery level checks
are now on my calendar, too.

My Bayite VA meter came yesterday, and I'll use it on the new solar
package (2kW, split 540w water heating/1620w household) once I
purchase and set it up. The solar water heater element will be run
through the AODE since I don't really need it on the HF setup. The
Bayite is a nice little meter. It comes with a 100A shunt, so a 50 is
on order for $5. It should give a bit more accuracy. An existing 20A
PWM controller will work fine for the water, but I want a good MPPT
controller for the larger array with the larger stack of batteries.
The 2kw of Sharp 180w panels is $1,550, a good controller $300-600,
and batteries likely another $500-1k. Eek, does it add up!


At this moment I have one of these recording the discharge - recharge
calibration cycle of the APC's batteries:
http://www.amazon.com/UNI-T-Multimet.../dp/B007THZMWI

Interesting. Did you write your own datalogging prog, or use someone
else's?

There are several kickaround HF multimeters here, but for a bit more
accuracy and versatility, I grabbed a Mastech 8209 about 7 years ago.
It has performed well. It has bells and whistles galore for $40. I've
used the LUX meter on LEDs, the C meter for the A/C start/run cap, the
thermocouple for oven temps, the dB meter for neighbor's dogs, etc.
'Tis a very handy little box.


Normally the voltmeters on the batteries are enough to judge their
state of charge and tell when they need attention. The charge and
discharge of Lithiums is nearly 100% efficient and worth monitoring,
but lead-acids charge too inefficiently near full voltage to bother
with datalogging..

I thought reviewed data logs might be able to show me signs that my
battery stack was aging in time to replace them before suffering
downtime.

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:54:47 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

....................
AFAICT, MPPT isn't cost-effective below 200W. I intend this small
system for power-outage backup and mainly use it to keep my battery
zoo well fed, for which a homebrew adjustable linear voltage
regulator
with Volt & Amp meters works fine. I built a 10A 0-35V adjustable
power supply to handle any deep discharges.

Yes, I concur, both for sub 200w cost-effectiveness and keeping my
little zoo fully fed from the HF trash rack. But I recently
invested
in an $11 "30A MPPT" controller from China, as a last-gasp backup.
g
I'm curious to see how long the deep cycle marine battery from Wally
World lasts in this environment, too. Quarterly battery level
checks
are now on my calendar, too.

My Bayite VA meter came yesterday, and I'll use it on the new solar
package (2kW, split 540w water heating/1620w household) once I
purchase and set it up. The solar water heater element will be run
through the AODE since I don't really need it on the HF setup. The
Bayite is a nice little meter. It comes with a 100A shunt, so a 50
is
on order for $5. It should give a bit more accuracy. An existing
20A
PWM controller will work fine for the water, but I want a good MPPT
controller for the larger array with the larger stack of batteries.
The 2kw of Sharp 180w panels is $1,550, a good controller $300-600,
and batteries likely another $500-1k. Eek, does it add up!

I put the shunt in a 1" PVC conduit tee like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Betts-E.../dp/B000KKVTJG
The leads to the display are in-line fuseholders coming out the center
opening. The power leads out the ends are an octopus of all the
various sized Anderson connectors in my system, so it also serves as
an adapter hub.

I tried swapping the sense leads with a DPDT switch to read in either
direction, but the meter's operating current drop in the low sense
lead affects the current readout too much. A 3PDT switch that swaps a
separate ground wire might work, at the risk of connecting a sense
lead before the ground and maybe ruining the meter. I haven't found a
comparable meter that reads current in both directions, which would
probably require isolated DC-DC converter power to raise the current
sense above meter ground.


At this moment I have one of these recording the discharge -
recharge
calibration cycle of the APC's batteries:
http://www.amazon.com/UNI-T-Multimet.../dp/B007THZMWI

Interesting. Did you write your own datalogging prog, or use someone
else's?

I wrote the core that reads the COM port and hashed the LCD segments
to numbers, based on the method shown here for a Digitek DT-9062.
http://www.franksteinberg.de/SOURCE/DT9062.BAS
My German isn't good enough to completely translate it. I think Ziffer
is Digit and Zahl is Number.

That is QBasic which integrates some structures from c, even pointers.
It runs best under DOS where you have better access to the hardware
ports than Windows allows. If you install Win2K or XP on a FAT32
partition, dual-booted with DOS, it can access the whole hard drive
and share files with Excel.

I could easily save the readings to a file but I haven't yet figured
out how I want to graph multiple readings on different scales in real
time, so I just run each meter's separate program and combine the logs
in Excel (or OpenOffice) by aligning their time stamps.

This is supposed to read multiple meters:
http://www.ultradmm.com/
I've gotten a few correct readings back in Test mode but can't
otherwise make it run.


Normally the voltmeters on the batteries are enough to judge their
state of charge and tell when they need attention. The charge and
discharge of Lithiums is nearly 100% efficient and worth monitoring,
but lead-acids charge too inefficiently near full voltage to bother
with datalogging..

I thought reviewed data logs might be able to show me signs that my
battery stack was aging in time to replace them before suffering
downtime.

Between R&D jobs I tested field-return medical Lithium batteries that
datalogged themselves. Initially the users would charge and discharge
them according to instructions, then after a few months recharging
apparently became random and opportunistic and the batteries' internal
model of their capacity would drift off. They needed a full discharge
cycle to recalibrate the "fuel gauge", but that decreases their life.

APC suggests fully cycling only older batteries for recalibration,
maybe yearly. I used the apcfix program to reset the cal to the
initial factory value (9A), from what the dead batteries it came with
left it at (4B).

My batteries are 5+ years old and this was their first full discharge.
The UPS is still set for sealed VRLAs that shouldn't be charged high
enough to gas, so after the rain I'll have to lug them outdoors and
top off the charge to the higher wet battery level, and confirm if the
table I downloaded of the gassing voltage threshold is correct for
them.

Since sitting partially discharged allows lead batteries to sulfate, I
think the answer is to keep them topped up to 100%, with grid power if
necessary. The cost in lost battery life may outweigh the savings in
electricity from waiting for a sunny day. Tesla's Powerwall Lithium
batteries should be more tolerant of partial charge. However they cost
10x as much.
https://www.teslamotors.com/powerwall

I'm not convinced that solar electricity is cheaper than grid power
when using lead batteries.

--jsw

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:09:21 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:02:09 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Um, let's see. I have several hammers! :/

For metalworking, so far: a drill press, portable bandsaw (time to
make a base for it), several 4" angle grinders, disc/belt sander
combo, table saw (for aluminum and plastics), indicators and bases,
calipers and other measuring devices, 3" sine vise, angle plate,
v-blocks, tapping stand, grinder, buffer and 1/2 dozen compounds, TIG
welder w/ argon, various square tubing sizes, various chunks of delrin
and other plastics, etc. Not a whole lot of machine tools, but it's a
start.

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.
Next time you come down, plan on bringing a trailer loaded with a
small milling machine, home with you. I think Im gonna give you the
Hales (Yamazon) mill in the back yard. You will however have to repair
the x axis nut. With luck, Glenn will be able to help you with it.



Building machinery takes lots of time or money. I spent most of the
morning making one custom-sized split shaft clamp like this from
aluminum to support new guy lines on my antenna mast.
http://www.staffordmfg.com/Product-C...p-Type-Collars

Alas, "I'd love to" and "I'm starting to" are two different things.
Funding -may- play some small part in this.

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 08:54:57 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:54:47 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

....................
AFAICT, MPPT isn't cost-effective below 200W. I intend this small
system for power-outage backup and mainly use it to keep my battery
zoo well fed, for which a homebrew adjustable linear voltage
regulator
with Volt & Amp meters works fine. I built a 10A 0-35V adjustable
power supply to handle any deep discharges.

Yes, I concur, both for sub 200w cost-effectiveness and keeping my
little zoo fully fed from the HF trash rack. But I recently
invested
in an $11 "30A MPPT" controller from China, as a last-gasp backup.
g
I'm curious to see how long the deep cycle marine battery from Wally
World lasts in this environment, too. Quarterly battery level
checks
are now on my calendar, too.

My Bayite VA meter came yesterday, and I'll use it on the new solar
package (2kW, split 540w water heating/1620w household) once I
purchase and set it up. The solar water heater element will be run
through the AODE since I don't really need it on the HF setup. The
Bayite is a nice little meter. It comes with a 100A shunt, so a 50
is
on order for $5. It should give a bit more accuracy. An existing
20A
PWM controller will work fine for the water, but I want a good MPPT
controller for the larger array with the larger stack of batteries.
The 2kw of Sharp 180w panels is $1,550, a good controller $300-600,
and batteries likely another $500-1k. Eek, does it add up!

I put the shunt in a 1" PVC conduit tee like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Betts-E.../dp/B000KKVTJG
The leads to the display are in-line fuseholders coming out the center
opening. The power leads out the ends are an octopus of all the
various sized Anderson connectors in my system, so it also serves as
an adapter hub.

Yeah, that could work!


I tried swapping the sense leads with a DPDT switch to read in either
direction, but the meter's operating current drop in the low sense
lead affects the current readout too much. A 3PDT switch that swaps a
separate ground wire might work, at the risk of connecting a sense
lead before the ground and maybe ruining the meter. I haven't found a

Make sure the switch is a BBM (break before make) design instead of
MBB.


comparable meter that reads current in both directions, which would
probably require isolated DC-DC converter power to raise the current
sense above meter ground.


At this moment I have one of these recording the discharge -
recharge
calibration cycle of the APC's batteries:
http://www.amazon.com/UNI-T-Multimet.../dp/B007THZMWI

Interesting. Did you write your own datalogging prog, or use someone
else's?

I wrote the core that reads the COM port and hashed the LCD segments
to numbers, based on the method shown here for a Digitek DT-9062.
http://www.franksteinberg.de/SOURCE/DT9062.BAS
My German isn't good enough to completely translate it. I think Ziffer
is Digit and Zahl is Number.

This is supposed to read multiple meters:
http://www.ultradmm.com/
I've gotten a few correct readings back in Test mode but can't
otherwise make it run.

My Mastech doesn't have a USB or RS232 port, so it rules me out.


Normally the voltmeters on the batteries are enough to judge their
state of charge and tell when they need attention. The charge and
discharge of Lithiums is nearly 100% efficient and worth monitoring,
but lead-acids charge too inefficiently near full voltage to bother
with datalogging..

I thought reviewed data logs might be able to show me signs that my
battery stack was aging in time to replace them before suffering
downtime.

Between R&D jobs I tested field-return medical Lithium batteries that
datalogged themselves. Initially the users would charge and discharge
them according to instructions, then after a few months recharging
apparently became random and opportunistic and the batteries' internal
model of their capacity would drift off. They needed a full discharge
cycle to recalibrate the "fuel gauge", but that decreases their life.

So much for Lithiums ending the old nicad shelf phenomenon, eh? They
appear somewhat as susceptible as NiCd (bad) and NiMh (better). I
suppose every battery technology has its own bothersome warts.

I'm still waiting for a Mr. Fusion, y'know?


APC suggests fully cycling only older batteries for recalibration,
maybe yearly. I used the apcfix program to reset the cal to the
initial factory value (9A), from what the dead batteries it came with
left it at (4B).

Sounds like a wee bit o' trrrrouble, all told.


My batteries are 5+ years old and this was their first full discharge.
The UPS is still set for sealed VRLAs that shouldn't be charged high
enough to gas, so after the rain I'll have to lug them outdoors and
top off the charge to the higher wet battery level, and confirm if the
table I downloaded of the gassing voltage threshold is correct for
them.

Since sitting partially discharged allows lead batteries to sulfate, I
think the answer is to keep them topped up to 100%, with grid power if
necessary. The cost in lost battery life may outweigh the savings in
electricity from waiting for a sunny day. Tesla's Powerwall Lithium
batteries should be more tolerant of partial charge. However they cost
10x as much.
https://www.teslamotors.com/powerwall

My birthday is in August and I'd love a couple. Thanks!


I'm not convinced that solar electricity is cheaper than grid power
when using lead batteries.

No, of course not, but it will be there when (not if) the grid goes
down. But it gets cheaper every year and is under a buck a watt now.
The problem is that battery prices are going up at a rate which
somewhat negates the drop in the solar panel prices. Ditto alum.
extrusions, copper wiring, and MPPT controllers. sigh

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:54:47 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

....................

My batteries are 5+ years old and this was their first full
discharge. The UPS is still set for sealed VRLAs that shouldn't be
charged high enough to gas, so after the rain I'll have to lug them
outdoors and top off the charge to the higher wet battery level, and
confirm if the table I downloaded of the gassing voltage threshold
is correct for them.


The gassing voltage threshold values I've seen on the Net run around
14.3V to 14.4V at room temperature. I think that is meant as the level
where the hydrogen generation rate becomes a safety concern.

At 60F these flooded deep-discharge batteries start gassing barely
noticeably around 13.8V and fizz like beer around 14.4V. Gas
generation increases rapidly as the voltage goes higher.

The VRLA settings on the APC and my solar controller limit the battery
voltage to 13.6V, where the electrolyte surface is smooth and
undisturbed.

--jsw

"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...
"Jim Wilkins" wrote in message
...
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 20:54:47 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:


This is what I'm trying to accomplish, with simple equipment:
http://www.evdl.org/pages/hartcharge.html

The key is knowing what the voltage and current are, and what they
should be, as the battery charges, and being able to adjust them.
--jsw

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:19:07 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:09:21 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:02:09 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Um, let's see. I have several hammers! :/

For metalworking, so far: a drill press, portable bandsaw (time to
make a base for it), several 4" angle grinders, disc/belt sander
combo, table saw (for aluminum and plastics), indicators and bases,
calipers and other measuring devices, 3" sine vise, angle plate,
v-blocks, tapping stand, grinder, buffer and 1/2 dozen compounds, TIG
welder w/ argon, various square tubing sizes, various chunks of delrin
and other plastics, etc. Not a whole lot of machine tools, but it's a
start.

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.
Next time you come down, plan on bringing a trailer loaded with a
small milling machine, home with you. I think Im gonna give you the
Hales (Yamazon) mill in the back yard. You will however have to repair
the x axis nut. With luck, Glenn will be able to help you with it.

Thanks! Is it like this one? http://tinyurl.com/zsasrlh It may be
too big for my shop, tho. And what does it weigh?

I'm putting up more shelving this month and rearranging all of it to
find more floor space than the _deer_path_ I've been squeezing through
for the past decade or so. sigh

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

On Sun, 21 Feb 2016 21:24:13 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:19:07 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:09:21 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:02:09 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
m...
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Um, let's see. I have several hammers! :/

For metalworking, so far: a drill press, portable bandsaw (time to
make a base for it), several 4" angle grinders, disc/belt sander
combo, table saw (for aluminum and plastics), indicators and bases,
calipers and other measuring devices, 3" sine vise, angle plate,
v-blocks, tapping stand, grinder, buffer and 1/2 dozen compounds, TIG
welder w/ argon, various square tubing sizes, various chunks of delrin
and other plastics, etc. Not a whole lot of machine tools, but it's a
start.

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.
Next time you come down, plan on bringing a trailer loaded with a
small milling machine, home with you. I think Im gonna give you the
Hales (Yamazon) mill in the back yard. You will however have to repair
the x axis nut. With luck, Glenn will be able to help you with it.

Thanks! Is it like this one? http://tinyurl.com/zsasrlh It may be
too big for my shop, tho. And what does it weigh?

Ayup...Ill be damned..first one Ive ever seen on Ebay. About 750-900
lbs at most. Horizontal AND vertical spindles. Its about 1/3 the size
of a BP. Very compact mill. No more than about 4' deep and 3' wide.
Put it in a corner and you will be good to go.
2hp vertical motor and 3hp horizontal motor.

You dont remember seeing it? Fit in the back of your pickup with no
issues. 220 3ph though..IRRC. We can do some work arounds if you dont
have an RPC


I'm putting up more shelving this month and rearranging all of it to
find more floor space than the _deer_path_ I've been squeezing through
for the past decade or so. sigh

I did a shop a month or so ago...we put up pallet racking and put his
machines UNDER the pallet racks, so much of his storage is overhead
and it provided good places for lighting above his machines.

Gunner

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:19:07 -0800, Gunner Asch

wrote:
..................

Thanks! Is it like this one? http://tinyurl.com/zsasrlh It may be
too big for my shop, tho. And what does it weigh?

I'm putting up more shelving this month and rearranging all of it to
find more floor space than the _deer_path_ I've been squeezing
through
for the past decade or so. sigh

I don't have room for a Bridgeport and bought a smaller Clausing knee
mill, which is very similar to this:
https://www.grizzly.com/products/6-x...orklight/G0801

I had an early 1990's Enco version of it in my model shop at Mitre. A
better-made one could be a nice milling machine for a space-limited
home shop. The Clausing disassembled into pieces light enough to move
down stairs on a handtruck.

--jsw

Gunner Asch wrote:
On Sun, 21 Feb 2016 21:24:13 -0800, Larry Jaques
My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.
Next time you come down, plan on bringing a trailer loaded with a
small milling machine, home with you. I think Im gonna give you the
Hales (Yamazon) mill in the back yard. You will however have to repair
the x axis nut. With luck, Glenn will be able to help you with it.
Thanks! Is it like this one? http://tinyurl.com/zsasrlh It may be
too big for my shop, tho. And what does it weigh?

Ayup...Ill be damned..first one Ive ever seen on Ebay. About 750-900
lbs at most. Horizontal AND vertical spindles. Its about 1/3 the size
of a BP. Very compact mill. No more than about 4' deep and 3' wide.
Put it in a corner and you will be good to go.
2hp vertical motor and 3hp horizontal motor.

You dont remember seeing it? Fit in the back of your pickup with no
issues. 220 3ph though..IRRC. We can do some work arounds if you dont
have an RPC

I'm putting up more shelving this month and rearranging all of it to
find more floor space than the _deer_path_ I've been squeezing through
for the past decade or so. sigh

I did a shop a month or so ago...we put up pallet racking and put his
machines UNDER the pallet racks, so much of his storage is overhead
and it provided good places for lighting above his machines.

Gunner

That would be a handy mill in a smaller shop. Would be great for a model
builder as you have more options. Shame you're on the other coast...

--
Steve W.

On 02/22/2016 12:20 AM, Gunner Asch wrote:
....

... 220 3ph though..IRRC. We can do some work arounds if you dont
have an RPC

....


Speaking of which, I just got a new 5hp, 220V/3ph w-working piece o'
gear and it seems any RPC of size to run it is 3X the cost of a
replacement single-phase motor. You got any sources, Gunner???

I'd be in the market for some other gear it had the facility to drive it
but didn't really want to spend a lot of $$$...

Talked to the local motor shop guy, he's got nothing on hand at the
moment...

--

On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 9:31:26 AM UTC-5, dpb wrote:


Speaking of which, I just got a new 5hp, 220V/3ph w-working piece o'
gear and it seems any RPC of size to run it is 3X the cost of a
replacement single-phase motor. You got any sources, Gunner???



What kind of gear is it? You can run some things by just adding some caps. Things with high starting loads will not work, but things like grinders can be essentially made into a combination rpc and grinder.

Dan

On 02/22/2016 9:18 AM, wrote:
On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 9:31:26 AM UTC-5, dpb wrote:


Speaking of which, I just got a new 5hp, 220V/3ph w-working piece o'
gear and it seems any RPC of size to run it is 3X the cost of a
replacement single-phase motor. You got any sources, Gunner???

What kind of gear is it? You can run some things by just adding
some caps. Things with high starting loads will not work, but things
like grinders can be essentially made into a combination rpc and
grinder.

It's a 20" planer so it'd be running awfully inefficiently (read hot)
that way...assuming it did start.

--

"dpb" wrote in message
...
On 02/22/2016 9:18 AM, wrote:
On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 9:31:26 AM UTC-5, dpb wrote:


Speaking of which, I just got a new 5hp, 220V/3ph w-working piece
o'
gear and it seems any RPC of size to run it is 3X the cost of a
replacement single-phase motor. You got any sources, Gunner???

What kind of gear is it? You can run some things by just adding
some caps. Things with high starting loads will not work, but
things
like grinders can be essentially made into a combination rpc and
grinder.

It's a 20" planer so it'd be running awfully inefficiently (read
hot) that way...assuming it did start.

--

I replaced the 3ph motors on my machines with 1ph TEFC Weg motors on
the assumption that they'd be easier to dispose of when I needed to,
when I'm too old to be using them or swapping motors anymore.

I have to let the lathe stop before reversing it, which is fine for a
threaded spindle.
--jsw

On 02/22/2016 12:26 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
....

I replaced the 3ph motors on my machines with 1ph TEFC Weg motors on
the assumption that they'd be easier to dispose of when I needed to,
when I'm too old to be using them or swapping motors anymore.
....

Yeah, that's the alternative--was thinking given what 3ph stuff can
often be had for that a RPC would be a reasonable objective; then could
have multiple and less wiring hassle...and I don't know, I might yet
just bite the bullet once...just thought mayhaps Gunner or somebody
else't here might have a better solution than what I've come up with so
far...

I've got a couple large 1ph motors from various other applications on
the farm here that aren't being used any longer but they're 1725 instead
of 3450 rpm so don't fit the application.

--

On Sun, 21 Feb 2016 22:20:18 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sun, 21 Feb 2016 21:24:13 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:19:07 -0800, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 22:09:21 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:02:09 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
om...
http://tinyurl.com/z56msjj

I'd love to build a scaled version of one of these little beauties.
Specs are outstanding. I wonder what diesel engine they're using.
Is this the first diesel hybrid plugin? I don't recall seeing one
before.

What did you say you had for machine tools?

Um, let's see. I have several hammers! :/

For metalworking, so far: a drill press, portable bandsaw (time to
make a base for it), several 4" angle grinders, disc/belt sander
combo, table saw (for aluminum and plastics), indicators and bases,
calipers and other measuring devices, 3" sine vise, angle plate,
v-blocks, tapping stand, grinder, buffer and 1/2 dozen compounds, TIG
welder w/ argon, various square tubing sizes, various chunks of delrin
and other plastics, etc. Not a whole lot of machine tools, but it's a
start.

My buddy, Gunner, refuses to find a $5 compact vertical mill for me,
but my buddy, Glenn, lets me use his gear head mill, lathe, and real
TIG when I need them. He's half an hour away.
Next time you come down, plan on bringing a trailer loaded with a
small milling machine, home with you. I think Im gonna give you the
Hales (Yamazon) mill in the back yard. You will however have to repair
the x axis nut. With luck, Glenn will be able to help you with it.

Thanks! Is it like this one? http://tinyurl.com/zsasrlh It may be
too big for my shop, tho. And what does it weigh?

Ayup...Ill be damned..first one Ive ever seen on Ebay. About 750-900
lbs at most. Horizontal AND vertical spindles. Its about 1/3 the size
of a BP. Very compact mill. No more than about 4' deep and 3' wide.
Put it in a corner and you will be good to go.
2hp vertical motor and 3hp horizontal motor.

You dont remember seeing it? Fit in the back of your pickup with no
issues. 220 3ph though..IRRC. We can do some work arounds if you dont
have an RPC

No, I don't recall seeing it. Lay it down in the bed on a sheet of
ply? Is the horizontal shaft removable for vertical milling? No, no
3ph here and no RPC, either. Got any spare 3hp VFDs? g



I'm putting up more shelving this month and rearranging all of it to
find more floor space than the _deer_path_ I've been squeezing through
for the past decade or so. sigh

I did a shop a month or so ago...we put up pallet racking and put his
machines UNDER the pallet racks, so much of his storage is overhead
and it provided good places for lighting above his machines.

This is a 2-car shop with overhead door. His shop likely had a few
more feet of headroom than mine.

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

On Mon, 22 Feb 2016 13:26:56 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"dpb" wrote in message
...
On 02/22/2016 9:18 AM, wrote:
On Monday, February 22, 2016 at 9:31:26 AM UTC-5, dpb wrote:


Speaking of which, I just got a new 5hp, 220V/3ph w-working piece
o'
gear and it seems any RPC of size to run it is 3X the cost of a
replacement single-phase motor. You got any sources, Gunner???

What kind of gear is it? You can run some things by just adding
some caps. Things with high starting loads will not work, but
things
like grinders can be essentially made into a combination rpc and
grinder.

It's a 20" planer so it'd be running awfully inefficiently (read
hot) that way...assuming it did start.

--

I replaced the 3ph motors on my machines with 1ph TEFC Weg motors on
the assumption that they'd be easier to dispose of when I needed to,
when I'm too old to be using them or swapping motors anymore.

I wonder if one of Gunner's old treadmill motors would work for the
vert motor...I still have one. 1.5hp 90vdc.


I have to let the lathe stop before reversing it, which is fine for a
threaded spindle.

It can be exciting otherwise, wot?

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

On Mon, 22 Feb 2016 07:07:35 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 20 Feb 2016 15:19:07 -0800, Gunner Asch

wrote:
..................

Thanks! Is it like this one? http://tinyurl.com/zsasrlh It may be
too big for my shop, tho. And what does it weigh?

I'm putting up more shelving this month and rearranging all of it to
find more floor space than the _deer_path_ I've been squeezing
through
for the past decade or so. sigh

I don't have room for a Bridgeport and bought a smaller Clausing knee
mill, which is very similar to this:
https://www.grizzly.com/products/6-x...orklight/G0801

I don't have room for it, but I'd love that Griz. Looks sweet. I'll
bet that Clausing is nice, too.


I had an early 1990's Enco version of it in my model shop at Mitre. A
better-made one could be a nice milling machine for a space-limited
home shop. The Clausing disassembled into pieces light enough to move
down stairs on a handtruck.

That was handy.

--
No greater wrong can ever be done than to put a good man at the mercy
of a bad, while telling him not to defend himself or his fellows;
in no way can the success of evil be made quicker or surer.
--Theodore Roosevelt

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 Feb 2016 07:07:35 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:


I don't have room for a Bridgeport and bought a smaller Clausing
knee
mill, which is very similar to this:
https://www.grizzly.com/products/6-x...orklight/G0801

I don't have room for it, but I'd love that Griz. Looks sweet.
I'll
bet that Clausing is nice, too.

I prefer it to a Bridgeport for milling small parts to scribed layout
lines, copied off the broken part I'm replacing. However they are old
(worn?), rare, fairly expensive and don't have R8 spindles.
http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threa...-import.15955/

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atlas-Clausi...item35f64d9772

The 8525 has a B&S 7 spindle taper that's difficult to find tooling
for.

--jsw