The Gustavus Thread

[gustavus]

Thats an awsome looking rig Gus. Hope it works well for you.

It's not quite what I wanted but for most jobs it will be alright. I figure by backing the trailer into ditch I'll be able to load and off load my small loader. The truck drivers will still be on firm ground to tug her out of the ditch or whatever low spot I'm able to spot her into.

I'm debating if I should put barn doors on the back end or one large wide door that can be swung onto one side then latched for dumping.

[gustavus]

Time for some side frames on that hauling truck you have. Crush it with a bobcat flat and load it up and haul it in. You might only get three tons at a time though.

Another member said something of goodwill, there's a guy on the Res that has his own backhoe and it hit me yesterday that I should hire him to load me up. Since the white goods are free for the taking this would work out especially if he is a decent operator not running around in circles burning fuel.

I think that the hoe has a 4 in 1 bucket which would compact the appliances a bit.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

hopefully he has a thumb on that bucket take it pick it up crush it with the front bucket and load it up or better yet call the yard and get a 80 yard container or trailer dropped off and load it up. So what if it costs you 200 to have it swapped out at least you are getting your moneys worth out of free metal. I have never heard any better word in my life then FREE. I would never ever pass up anything that is free and metal.

[gustavus]

hopefully he has a thumb on that bucket take it pick it up crush it with the front bucket and load it up or better yet call the yard and get a 80 yard container or trailer dropped off and load it up. So what if it costs you 200 to have it swapped out at least you are getting your moneys worth out of free metal. I have never heard any better word in my life then FREE. I would never ever pass up anything that is free and metal.

Containers that size would be a 4 hour trip one way, no money for the yards traveling that far and none of the yards in Winnipeg have self loaders and all I have in a dinky toy loader.

Put sides on the truck then have that back hoe load both up, I figure he should be able to do that in an hour. Hundred out looks good to me and he gets to pay his own flats.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

Just a question gus how many tons do you guesstimate are there?

[gustavus]

Just a question gus how many tons do you guesstimate are there?

Tough questions you ask, its a 50/50 mix of older and newer appliances with the older stuff made from heavier sheet metal the older freezers would have fiber glass insulation which would hold moisture the newer stuff foam filled. There's 3 piles previously burned and pushed into heaps, I'm guessing 40 ton.

There is some old RR rail scattered around the site which will probably go around 30/35lb to the ft. The name embossed into the rail is not something I recognize the short piece of rail I have at home the first letter is obscured and I'm unable to make out the name. There is a possibility that there is some collector value just for the bit of rail cut out with the name of the manufacture.

As a matter of interest to to our forum members there is a market for used rail, the company I have linked to re-heats the rail billets re-rolling and forming it into new products. Unfortunately I do not have enough to worry about and mine will go as scrap http://www.jssteel.com/

[forwardlookguy]

So why exactly are they burning appliances? It looks to me that it just makes a mess on that beautiful landscape you have up there! I'd rather see a pile of white appliances than a burnt up metal pile that's rusty and covered in ash.

[gustavus]

So why exactly are they burning appliances? It looks to me that it just makes a mess on that beautiful landscape you have up there! I'd rather see a pile of white appliances than a burnt up metal pile that's rusty and covered in ash.

The prairie is a tinder box waiting to explode in flames, to protect our houses and outbuildings from unexpected fies most of us will do controlled burns in the early spring while the tall grass is still reasonably wet. A few years back I seen a canola crop ready for harvest which was in a field alongside the railway go up in flames the fire was started by the train passing.

The landfill is not close to any buildings so they let her rip, appliances and tires all get burnt. The RM landfill is managed, they sell of the metal pile twice a year, you may recall from my earlier post that this RM is run by the dumbest people on earth they will not let the Indians use our dump.

[PistoneScrapProcessing]

Gus I just cut 120 estimated ton of two foot rail last week. I would never sell for reroll it usually takes six months min. to get paid for your load. I had all kinds of old Carnegie rail from back in the day I never have thought about rail enthusiasts wanting to buy it. Heck I haven't even saved a piece. I do love anything railroad related though. 40 tons of shredd should be three loads to the yard if you can get big containers and load it with a bobcat. Heck I would even stage the material and live load the truck. What are they paying for shredd right now where you haul your scrap to. Keep in mind the market is gonna tumble next month.

[gustavus]

Gus I just cut 120 estimated ton of two foot rail last week. I would never sell for reroll it usually takes six months min. to get paid for your load. I had all kinds of old Carnegie rail from back in the day I never have thought about rail enthusiasts wanting to buy it. Heck I haven't even saved a piece. I do love anything railroad related though. 40 tons of shredd should be three loads to the yard if you can get big containers and load it with a bobcat. Heck I would even stage the material and live load the truck. What are they paying for shredd right now where you haul your scrap to. Keep in mind the market is gonna tumble next month.

I could well imagine that you could satisfy every rail enthusiasts needs and flood the market with your next load of Carnegie rail, not my favorite cut I'm not fond of the weird angles you have to deal with to many torch movements. But I will say this though rail steel does cut nice and the weight sure adds up fast.

I'm only getting $150.00 Canadian a ton, the US and Can dollar are so close at the moment the dollar does not make any difference its the mileage that I am from any major port or mill that make the low prices. I have to deal in volume to make any profit.

The reason I hesitate on this white goods pile even though its free is that I'm after cars for catalytic converters and the aluminum for my winter project, home foundry. After I have dealt with making my morning coffee will post a few pictures of my foundry product.

[gustavus]

Some of things I cast from my home foundry, inside the core box I have placed patterns for a rosette, downrigger weight and scuba weight mold.

My preference of scrap aluminum is automotive, most of my patterns are counterfeit, in other words reworked items that I had purchased. If you look closely at the downrigger and scuba mold you will see the rework done using Bondo the famous autobody filler.

By casting my scrap aluminum into a product that sells, I'm averaging $19.00 a lb instead of $0.70. there's a good forum on backyard foundry for those who care to learn more on the subject.

Anyone with a sharp eye can tell that the pattens or rather the sprue is located on the wrong side of the patterns which means if there was any floaters in my molten aluminum they would have found their position on the inside of the scuba and down rigger molds were the surface area should be free of debris.

Pouring from the other side of the pattern would assure that the floaters would be on the backside were they could be easily removed with out causing any blemishes to the inside of the finished mold. Sometime even the inexperienced foundry-man gets lucky this pour tuned out perfect with out any imperfections inside to molds.

The ebayer started his backyard foundry about the same time I did and often found myself bidding against him for the same item ( pattern ) to add to our product line. http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-LB-Downrig...item2570ef162c

There you have it Foundry 101 in a nutshell.

[gustavus]

Trailer hoist is now operational using that spare spool valve from the cranes control bank, just need to secure the hydraulic lines.

[Mechanic688]

I have a feeling that the trailer is going to be more important than you know right now. Kinda like a 3rd hand. With dual wheels that thing has a heavy payload potential. And you have the truck to control it. Good deal,,,

[gustavus]

Often you'll come across large nuts rather than torch the nut and bolt I just split the nut in halves then use a cold chisel to knock the halves off then drive the bolt out. The nuts is this example are in a bad location and I want to save the gear case from that old skid steer going for scrap so I decided to split instead of cut the whole bolt and thought this would be a good show n tell.

This really works well for very large nuts, saves on oxygen.

Coming in from the side of the nut you can actually torch the nut off without harming the threads on the bolt.` I use this method when saving large U-Bolts.

[Hypoman]

Aww man Gus, I would do jobs like that reserve every day of my life man, but I understand your dilemma. It sure was pretty though!

[gustavus]

Finally the septic tank truck is ready to travel that last mile, made this tow bar from scrap. Cut the top of the tank open letting the pieces fall inside, then filled it with more scrap.

[wescrapmetal]

sweet should weigh a pretty penny

[freonjoe]

Are you going to be able to reach the new trailer with your crane?

[gustavus]

Are you going to be able to reach the new trailer with your crane?

I had always intended to use the loader it's much more mobile and faster to load that smaller stuff. Yes the crane will load the trailer by jackknifing it I'm able to reach the back end. By the time the crane has been fully extended the lifting capacity is diminished rather quickly to something like 500 lbs.

On one of my crane trucks I had an old Hiab that I had screwed in the pressure relief valve to increase the lifting capacity which worked great for loading cars, then one day I went up to the Shuswap to help a buddy move a bunch of his toys from one property to another. Nick loaded something very heavy with the 955 track loader then on the other end I went to lift it off the truck.

While pushing on the hydraulic controls to lift, nothing appeared to be happening then pretty soon I noticed that the whole crane was now tilting forward and the trucks frame was bent. So theres good reason why you should not increase the hydraulic oil pressure above the factory setting.

[gustavus]

Finally the septic tank truck is ready to travel that last mile, made this tow bar from scrap. Cut the top of the tank open letting the pieces fall inside, then filled it with more scrap.

Just got home from Jacks the trip went well, the other end of Mountain Rd is a fairly steep and long hill. I put the septic truck into 2nd gear to help with braking.

The Septic truck weighed in at 15,080 lbs, with both trucks on the scale the combined weight was 34.080 lbs.