granary

Granary progress

Steve HardinLeave a comment

Well the granary situation has improved dramatically. It was going to cost almost $700 in sheet metal and welding wire to make another 5x5x5’ bin and one of the nephews sent me a link for a local person selling two large upright bins! I did not need both of them despite their willingness to sell me both. So for $750 they delivered it to the house on Friday. I had cleared a spot and dropped a bunch of gravel in place but after looking at the container I think I need to level the area and then drill five holes in the ground, add some wire and fill them up with concrete. I can take a piece of all thread and put it into the concrete when it’s wet. I don’t think I will try and line up the holes with the grain bin. I will just weld some plates and bolt them in place.

I also managed to get some paint sprayed on the finished bin I repaired and got the slider door installed. Of course when I used a chain to roll the bin I bent the brand new door. I crawled inside and beat it back into shape with a hammer. It works now, it’s a little stiff but that is not a bad thing as I want opening the door to be an intentional act. It looks like the bin has a ladder built into its side so someone can climb the bin and open the top when filling it. This is a good thing as long as you are not scared of heights. I will have to get the cap removal process down before we lift it into the air. I would like to stand on the ground while learning, not holding onto the ladder with one arm 25’ into the air while fighting the lid with the other.

The Naked Gardener called on Thursday to say that he thinks his field is ready to cut again. I swung by on Friday and he is right, it is ready. So I spent most of the day Friday tearing the baler apart. I figured out that it is a lot easier to work on if you remove the front arms and some extra pieces. It took about an hour to disassemble the front but it was a lot easier getting to everything else. There was one guide piece I could not remove but I just worked around it. I was going to have to grind the nuts off and it is just not necessary as I am not replacing it. I replaced about 1/3 of the pickups and tubes. Anything that was bent got tossed in the trash. I have about an hour left to get the races lined up and then I can spend another hour putting the front all back together. I also need to replace a hydraulic hose. The entire thing is covered in hydraulic fluid. It needs a wash down.

Unfortunately, I am on a timer now. I went over and cut the field this evening. So the new tractor “Juicy” has had a flat tire for two weeks in the upper field, I had to go up and remove the tire tonight so it can be fixed. The hay turner is on the back and it needs about 45 minutes of TLC before I can go turn the hay. Once that is done then I will need to spend three hours with the baler to get it up and running so I can bale the hay!

I also will need to install the two new gates on our stairs to prevent the grandchild from crawling up and falling down from the bottom or falling down the stairs from the top. This is what happens when your grandparents work in the hospital and see bad stuff all the time.

The new chickens area settling in nicely. All of them are staying out of the yard which is good for them as being a play toy for the dog tends to an eventual slow death.

We now have three kittens living under the old house porch. We have installed a temporary fence to keep Mouse away from them as he is a definite kitten killer. He only comes on weekends with the kids. Of course, the kittens don’t know this so they were going through the fence as they are now starting to become very active. So we now have a plastic chicken netting zip tied to the fence so the kittens cannot get through the fence. Milo likes the kittens so we will work on socializing him to them. He still does not like their mother and barks at her whenever he sees her.

Granary repair

Steve HardinLeave a comment

I was given an old granary this year. It was from a very old combine and had been converted to hold grain for chickens. It had not been used in a very long time and the entire bottom had rusted out. It still had the old pto motor for an auger on the front. It was trashed but it was still there. I have finally gotten around to repairing it. The problem is I have never really attempted a metal project this big before. My one quarter at BMCC with the welding class to learn stick welding did not cover this. Especially since the Gingerman changed the welder to a wire feed system. I have been trying to teach myself to wire weld. It is not quite the same as stick welding.

I have spent a couple weekends cutting out the bottom with a disc cutting wheel on my DeWalt 60v grinder. I have accepted that to work with metal I do actually need to wear some protective gear. I am wearing long pants, long sleeve shirt, leather gloves and eye goggles when I grind or cut anything. I switch out the goggles with a welding helmet and welding gloves when I use the welder. I get popped on the arm or face every once in a while but the important stuff is protected. I needed to buy some sheet metal and when I went to Packy’s the only type they carry is 14 g. I do not have a sheet metal brake. I needed to bend an angle into the sheet metal, both sides. I cut the piece then tried to bend it with a hammer and some clamps. No go. So I then tried to bend it over a piece of angle iron with one piece under and over the bend and beat on it with a heavy hammer. No go. So then I ground. Groove on the bend line and tried again. No go. I then proceeded to cut two inch grooves along the crease line about every six inches, so I cut out about 25% of the material along the bend. I then put it in place, welded one side down and then started to beat on it with a hammer, jump on it and used the forks on the tractor to bend it to my will!! I still ended up with 1/4” air gap in a few places that was painful to fill in with the wire welder. It would have gone faster if I had used the stick welder. But who wants to do the conversion again and then convert it back? I am too lazy for that much swapping around.

I was able to get the first half welded on and welded the gate holder in place. I marked the drill holes for the gate but I think they are wrong. One side looks good but the other looks like I let it slip while I was marking holes. I will just drill one hole. Put the gate on, mark and drill a second hole, insert bolt then I can get the other four in the correct spot. It will most likely be the very last thing I attach and I am going to bolt it on instead of weld it on. I bought a grain gate just for this purpose.

A full sheet of 14 g sheet metal cost roughly $110. So I think I can make it all with this one full sheet, if I piece the other side together. It will be close. I want a second granary, five feet on each side and five feet high. I have been looking to see if there is one out there available. The reason I want that size is I can fill it with the bucket of my tractor. If I get a real tall one I will have to use a grain auger. At this point I may have all the structural material in scrap and would only need maybe 2 pieces of angle iron for the lid and all of the sheet metal. Each side could be done with a full sheet of sheet metal, I would need one for the bottom and one for the top, six full sheets plus the grain door and it would cost $700 in materials, plus $100 in welding wire. I am thinking that this is the way to go to get a second one. An old water tank would be the bomb! I may keep looking, if I mounted the tank on a downhill angle I could just put the gate on the low side, a fill lid on the high side and I would be set!

My welds are improving as the project progresses. I have had to lower the voltage to minimize burn through and I have had to increase the speed of the wire. I had turned it down but had to adjust it faster on three separate occasions. I will need to move over a couple of railroad ties to set it on. Slow and steady progress. Eventually, I would like to have enough storage to be able to go get our wheat truck filled with 3-4 types of grain/peas and then store it on the farm. One wheat truck full would get us through the winter for the sheep and the year for the chickens.