[TheForge] Re: air hammer

[Mike Spencer]

> I don't see a factor for the Auto drive unit...

The Cavalier (how appropriate!) Power Plat didn't cost any money, just
many hours of jiggering and tinkering with old stuff I had lying
around.

> ...or is that the "gas engine that didn't work"?

Nope.  That was a 20HP Wisconsin air-cooled in nearly perfect
condition.  Only $100 because the owner thought it needed to have some
very expensive machine work on the flywheel, crank shaft or both.  A
new hand-fitted woodruff key fixed it right up.

> Personally I felt that drive system had more artistic appeal than
> anything I've seen outside the Red Green show.

Me too.  But see, Frosty, people my age are reputed to start
developing, gradually, a debilitating fear of death.  So far, I'm okay
with (eventual) death.  But I have a growing fear of Bother.  And that
Cavalier Power Plant clearly held the promise of a *lot* of Bother.
To put this in terms Steve Howell has just illustated, a well-set
rivet is good for a hundred years. Do it once and forget it.  A bolt
is a promise of Bother.  It can chafe, threads may sag after only 50
years, it loosens and when you take it up on the implied promise that
you can just re-tighten or unscrew it, it's rusted up or even
cold-welded solid: Bother, y'know?  :-)



- Mike

-- 

Gravity is a real PITA.  What we need around here is more levity.