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Tonight's Feature Your Best Project Ever Big or Small

J

John B.

Well-known Member
This is the 3rd little steam engine I've built using old discarded hydraulic wheel cylinders and their pistons. No machining was required, but I did have to drill and tap some holes in the aluminum piston to attach the rods. Oh yes I did have the flywheel machined to true it up. It was originally a wheel off of an old feed cart from a grain elevator.
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There use to be a furniture store in Belleville IL on East Main. Every year they gave out free cloth calendars. My mom had saved up 12 of them over the years. She once said, "I don't know what I'm gonna do with them", I suggested to her "Why don't you make a quilt out of them"? So she did. She was an avid quilt maker any way. Every winter she had a quilt in the frame. She later gave this quilt to me and it stayed on the shelf of our walk in closet for 15 years. Then one day thru the love of old tractors we ran into another couple. Her dad had been the owner of the furniture store that the calendars were from. When I showed the calendar to her she cried. Her parents were divorced when she was little. She had nothing from the store her dad had owned. Her husband later contacted me and wanted to know if I would sell the quilt and what I wanted for it? I checked with my mom and she said it was ok with her if I sold it. So we sold it to the husband and he gave it to her for a Christmas gift. She was overwhelmed by it and has it on a bed in the extra bedroom in their house. I feel it's where it belongs rather than sitting on the shelf in my closet. This is my mom's best project ever.
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This was my 2nd steam engine & my best one. I built it for a maintenance man at work for a retirement gift, when I worked in St. Louis at Nooter Boilermakers in St. Louis, Mo. This was a two cylinder and we had it running at his retirement party in the shop. It ran about 120 rpms. I was able to buy some small tools to decorate it with and a co-worker stole the little tool box from his daughter's doll house. Many said this was one of the best gifts they've seen given to a retiree thru the years. All the retirees got a gift made from the men they work with. Many neat gifts were given, sun dials, plaques with names on them, etc.
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My house, built entirely from scratch with a lot of recycled materials, made all the trim and cabinets, took over 4 years to do with some trim still to finish. Photo from the back with my "Ta-da!!!" moment when the shingles were done, and the finished product from the front.
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My largest project yet has been building my house from scratch, I even quarried the stone!
My favourite (other than working on tractors!) was making this rocking horse for my children from left-over wood from my house project.
And the project that took most practice to get right, was the most enjoyable to make and has been the most rewarding?.....Our 3 children in the last photo!!!!
Sam
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I'm not a lic builder, but have built two homes, 6 barns, two shops. Working on third site, and the next one (4th) will be my last. Photo is of number 1, and yes I even put up the steel building in the foreground. Large and Small Projects
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Use to build some of these This was my son's .. He and I spent many hours on it. Did well too 4th overall (Stock) the first season.
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This Count?
The Daughter's first tractor pull in a small town and one proud Dad!
Just to keep it tractor related
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It is not finished yet, Jim! I am a.....Well, I don't really know what my profession is. I used to milk 130 cows and do custom work for other farms and restore tractors...Now I do custom hedge-cutting and tractor restoring/repairing...I like building and woodwork!
Sam
 
Steam engine? Awwww- when I first saw it, I was sure it was a perpetual motion machine!

Still pretty cool, though-
 
I've done alot of fabrication over the years but the biggest project has to be the one I did last year that makes little square bales of wheat straw and turns them into little ones. The two conveyor/tables were basically premade and had been used on a failed project years before that had been dismantled. I had to modify them, within the constraints of what I had to work with, to make them work with the main part of the project which was the power unit. Given the time and funds I would have loved to have been able to fabricate them from scratch as well, but I did what I could with what I had to work with.

The power unit is basically a tractor with no wheels. It's a one off, stationary power unit comprised of a 4-53 Detroit with a Rockford clutch belt driving a 540 RPM, splined, PTO shaft assembly. The PTO haft, in turn, is mounted to a stand that mimics the rear hitch of a tractor. The bailer hooks to it through a cushion hitch that absorbs the plunger action of the bailer.

Past the belt pulley, the end of the clutch shaft then drives a 20 plus GPM piston pump that supplies power to the two conveyors and the ripper and fluffer assemblies.

The operator sits in heat and air conditioned comfort in a cab that came off of a JD 9930 cotton picker. Everything in the cab was removed but the instrument panel and as many of the factory guages as possible were used. I then fabricated a custom stand for all of the switches to turn the functions on and off, as well as a joystick control switch that controls the fwd and reverse movement of the conveyor on the ripper table.

Consertivatively, I had nearly 400 hours in it from start to finish. Not to bad for one man to basically design, and custom build a tractor, even if it doesn't have tires...
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Trolley I made a few years ago from scratch from the ground up. Built it for someone else. I did not do the graphics or the stained glass. Jim
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I really shouldn't be posting these, as they are obviously unfinished---more of a comment on my lack of accomplishment. I started them many years ago, but life got in the way before I could finish them. Even now that I'm retired there always seems to be something that has to be done first. They're now sitting on my workbench, though, and one of these days.....just hope I have the eyesight and steadyness of hand to complete them.

Every piece of these was made from scratch. My primary tools were pocket knife, scrapers and sandpaper, along with small Dremel drills. For whatever reason I used both red oak and maple.
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May not compare to some on here but here it is. To give you an idea of what it originally looked like consider I paid the grand sum of $ 1500.00 for it back in '81. Every nut, bolt, gear,frame/suspension part, engine/driveline , brakes and interior were all meticulously restored by myself. Only thing farmed out was head resurfacing. Took me 20 yrs as I raised a family on my income alone (wife was stay at home mom) and I was self employed auto body/paint tech. Needless to say time/money went to family first. Wonder I ever got it done. Better and faster than new. Factory tri-powered , 4 spd and posi-trac car. !966. Also couldn't leave out one of my Grandaughters.
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My biggest by far is building my house and farm. It took 4 winters, but I kept the bank out of it and did a lot of custom work. Too bad the taxes are so high, I will never "own" it.....

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Since it doesn't have to be tractor related. Here is my 1936 Indian four cylinder project I have been working on since around 1985.Stan
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Beautiful job and scenic setting , Eldon! Does your last name start with a "C" and did you ever live in MI ???
 
(quoted from post at 20:04:07 02/14/13) Beautiful job and scenic setting , Eldon! Does your last name start with a "C" and did you ever live in MI ???
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My last name is Jons......but I did live in MI near Eaton Rapids when I worked as a mechanical engineer in Lansing '85-91. My wife is from the Fowlerville/Morris area.
 
Not who I was thinking of but it is a small world after all. Old friend of mine havn't seen in over 25 yrs is in building const/carpentry and lives in WA now and his name is Eldon also. Oh well , never know..
 
That is a good looking house. With the hills in the back ground it could be in California, but I know it isn't, too green. Where you located? stan
 
Hard to say, we built the house ourselves, restored the army Jeep from the frame up, restored the tractors the same way.
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(quoted from post at 20:22:02 02/14/13) That is a good looking house. With the hills in the back ground it could be in California, but I know it isn't, too green. Where you located? stan
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I am in the Spokane Valley...it is green here because we live over an aquifer and irrigate. Those hills are brown from July to November....actually that is Mica Peak in the distance. Mt Spokane is to the north of us.
 
This one is special to me, as it was for my son-in-laws uncle. He just celebrated his 12th year clean of drugs! His wife contacted me and gave some vague perameters of what she wanted. Can't buy one for the 12 coins they give, nor could I find a picture of one! This is what my SIL and I came up with for a design-she provided the coins, he did the 'plaque' writing at the bottom!

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nice goat!!,, the bar tailites were my favorite yr. ,b -man ,Ya Done REAL GOOD,and took CARE of YOUR FAMILY!! .. for every positive comment you gget there are 50 more who are speechleesly in awe ...
 
Beautiful place you have there Eldon, you did a
great job. Also, Thanks Again for hauling my
Tractair down from Coeur d'Alene to Pahrump, NV.

Doc
 
Not sure I really think it's my BEST project ever - but - overall - one that I'm glad I spent time to do right. Or the one that's paid for itself the most.

I've had chickens in makeshift shelters for quite a while and it's always a battle with predators, difficulty cleaning, etc.

So I built this one just to keep about 8 layers.
Just enough to provide us with just the right amount of eggs.

It's worked out very well.

Laying boxes are accessible from the side. The bottom of the coop slides right out for very easy cleaning. I made the door wide enough to get a wheel barrow in there.

I didn't work off any plans, I just bought a pile of wood and framed it up one day. I'm happy with how it turned out.

(only picture I have - it's incomplete - and waiting to be shingled)
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I have to agree with some of the other posters. There's a lot of talent and persistence on these pages. I'd like to see more. Jim
 
My sister was single and working when she bought a new 1966 Le Mans the same color 2 door hardtop with a 326 cu. in. V8. She got married and put the car up for sale but I didn't have enough to buy it as I was still in high school. So that picture brings back memories.
 
Wow! Fantastic projects EVERYONE! Lots of talent here...so much so, that I don't even want to comment on any one particular item. Awesome stuff!

My latest projects are always photo related or working in my rust garden in the summer. Posted pics before - but here is Miss May from my husband"s shop calendar and a couple shots of my rust garden.

Used to do some woodworking in high school - but don't have the furniture any longer. It was black walnut and I have come to prefer oak.
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ugg - I cringe when I see wooden ship models.

My great-grandfather was the seriff of our county - he ran the jail in the city.

A prisoner had made him a couple of wooden ship models - every single piece carved by hand - all the rigging complete - just so complicated and beautifully done. They looked real.

... when I was about 8, my older brother and I decided to use them with our "army men"...

We got a little carried away and destroyed them - it started with an accidental breaking of a mast... followed by more intentional damage that grew to a fever pitch...

uggg -

We still have one of the destroyed ships for some reason - I guess as a monument to my stupidity.
 
Very nice Stan!--my very first bike at the age of 15 was a 1947 Indian Scout--sure wish I had a picture of it as it was stolen after only about 5 years of ownership
 
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