It’s finished.

(first part posted https://idostuff.co.uk/blogs/2010/two-wheel-tractor-intermediate-technology/)

The tractor couples up to the trailer with a tow ball. I had to extend the trailer towing arm to give my a bit more room to stand.

A brace stops it from bending down at the joint but with a ball joint at one and hinge at the other it allows flexibility in all other directions.

The only other addition to the trailer is a small platform.

HERE IT IS WORKING…

It’s heavy on the steering but I expected that as there is no differential.  The next trial will be up at the woods with a load of  logs in the trailer.

This is post 2 of this build post 1 of the Two Wheel tractor project is here

Another couple of nights later and I had cut the swinging arm in half and extended it with some tube. Now I could see how it would all go together:

First view how the two wheel tractor will come together

Looks all right to me so I raided my pile of rusty steel bar, tube and angle  to connect the bike frame to the wheels.  The critical addition connects the headstock and front down tube to the wheels.

The finished tractor frame, with the bits that make it go

OK the picture skips forward a bit. I took this after its maiden trip up and down the back lane.  Thankfully the after about 13 years the engine started, once I got the fuel running and unblocked the air filter.  So skipping back, there where lots of fiddly bits to sort out:

THE DRIVE

An Extra 3:1 reduction cobbled together

From the Engine to the original rear wheel sprocket. Welded to some bar, through a good fitting tube, connected to the CB550 engine sprocket. And I got all technical by adding a grease nipple to the tube.  The tube is on a hinged plate fitted with an adjuster to tension the chain to the engine. the final drive chain is tensioned using the original adjusters on the swinging arm. 

THE CLUTCH

I splashed out some time here on a ” safety feature” . Reversing the operation of the clutch so that pulling the handlebar lever engages the clutch.  Letting the lever go acts as a “Dead Man” . this also means I can change gear  by hand.

reversed clutch set up, fully adjustable

The spring, I think, was from the original back brake lever. This pulls the the clutch arm like the normal cable would so the clutch is disengaged. The clutch cable now pulls the arm in the opposite direction when the handlebar lever is pulled, hence engaging the clutch.

THE BRAKES

I thought brakes might come in handy especial going down hill with loaded trailer. 

Simple adaptation to operate via original front brake lever

The original drum brake, control arm and pull rod fitted straight on. The trick was to connect the pull rod to the front brake cable.  Small thought, Little action and it works.

GEAR CHANGE

Hand controlled gear change lever

A tube held on the foot lever with jubilee clip, connects to a short hand lever. The lever is sprung loaded to centre itself.  It’s surprisingly easy to select gears and find neutral afterwards.

THE ELECTRICARY

Down to almost the bare minimum.  Almost minimum? Well an on / off switch is a luxury I can cope with.  

Starting at the beginning:  Alternator – two wires to rectifier – Negative out to frame – positive up to the headlamp switch – switch to coil – coil to condenser and points – HT to spark plug.  Keep it simple!

KICK START

Kick start where I can get to it

The bottom joint welded up and “T” piece on the top. Fits nicely between the frame and gives almost the full swing.

THE EXHAUST

For that proper tractor feel, the exhaust sticks straight up

 Only one curve adjustment on the down pipe, or should that now be up-pipe.  And A bit of angle welded to the frame give some extra support to the silencer.

CHUG CHUG CHUG

It looks the part, especially when you now what “the part” is.  More importantly in runs, bags of torque and I’m sure I’ll get used to the handling.   It needs a few bits ‘n’ bobs tidying, tightening , cleaning and greasing. Then some thought going in to the trailer hitch.

  Keep an eye out for some video… IT’S  HERE

This is one of those projects born out a few cans of beer.  Briefly I need to be able to tow a trailer in and out of the woods and to tow logs about.

I had thought of a salvaged four wheel drive car, but its more than I need and too big to get everywhere in the woods.  A small tractor would be nice but even second hand they aren’t cheap. I came across the two wheel tractor concept, basically a rotovator without the tines, I’ve been bidding on ebay for months but the prices or distance to collect have been silly.

So lateral thinking kicked in. Make my own. Two off road wheels powered by a bike engine. I’d got the bike, my old CB 100 N that I passed my test on. But not the wheels. Right, how can I make it Scrap heap Challenge style, scavenging from my own or friends personal stocks of bits. The wheels, I decided can be the bike wheels with low ground pressure, wooden treads 

So the plan, no drawings, no messing about, as quick as I can.  I’ve not clearly thought how I can drive it but it will have plenty of torque, using a half shaft to lower the gear ratio and wood treads fixed to bike wheel rims. It’s a shame I can’t think of an easy way of reversing it but hey-ho, as Dave pointed out ” you can push it”.

So here’s the donor bike –

My first bike, sat in various garages for years, I knew it would come in for something

Stripped down to what I need. Anyone need some vintage motorbike bits?

The bare essentials for the power unit

I checked the Haynes book of lies, I should only the need the power from the alternator, rectifier and coil to run the engine. If I think on maybe a switch would be good idea, Safety first and all that.

Next bit took some thinking about, connecting the wheels. Easy with a solid shaft but that would mean a set bearings I’ve not got spare.  So I made a shaft from tube and welded the wheel nuts in each end. That means I can use the existing wheel bearings and use the existing wheel bolt to fix them to a much modified no longer “Swing arm” and have the chain adjusters in place.

Wheels joined in line, almost

Next is to attach a new drive sprocket. The original drive sprocket will be on one end of the half shaft to match the pitch of the engine sprocket.  The new sprocket comes from a CB550 wheel and I’ve got a engine sprocket to match for the other end of the half shaft.

The CB550 sprocket is modified with four nuts welded on to CB100 wheel

Drive bodging sprocket to wheel - sprocket to drive shaft

To take the drive over to other wheel, I’ve got a piece of tube going over the connector tube. This locates on the drive sprocket with four bolts on bits of bar.

Start of the drive shaft to brake disc connection

The other end of the drive shaft will connect to brake disc. Two bits of square section welded to shaft and two bits of angle welded to the disc. This will need a bit slop in it to account for the wobbly wheel connection.

That’s it so far, two evenings playing with welder and angle grinder.

Next part of build – PART  2 now UP

If one of the reasons for buying the woods was for me to get some extra exercise, it’s working!

Some time in the last month one of our Oaks has fallen. This is from a combination of wind, poor rooting, and the ground going to mush.

Root of the fallen oak

The problem is Water logged ground. The ground is clay with a layer of soil and leaf mould. The water seeping out of the hillside gathers in a boggy area. This should be drained off by a series of ditches. Over time these have been blocked up and now the bog is spreading.

I don’t want to lose anymore trees so it was time to accelerate my ditch digging and clearing. This is where the exercise comes in. The ground is too wet support a mini digger and apart from that there are no rides (clear tracks) to get to the heart of the woods. So I’ve spent a few hours every-time we go up, Digging.

Ditch cleared under fallen tree

The first ditch, I had already started work on.  The picture shows the most extreme type of ditch blockage. A tree had fallen across, eventually sticks and leaves catching under it and then back up the whole ditch.  For a ” quick” solution I dug under the tree.

25m of ditch cleared by hand

I then had to clear about 25m back from the blockage. All with just a shovel and spade. The stuff I’ve dug out is saturated leaf mould, I’m wondering if it will make good compost. I’ve eventually got it dug down to the clay layer but it does need widening. The rest of this stretch, 150 m, needs some attention as well.

This section feeds in to the bog. With it clear the extra flow might have exacerbated the problem of the bog expanding.  The next bit was to contain the bog/ marsh with two new ditches.

Small ditch to contain boggy area

This small ditch and another at the other side of the bog cuts through the layer of leaf mould. stopping the leaf mould farther down from becoming drenched.

The bog eventually drains, forming a small stream or brook.  I dug up from the stream following the course of the original ditch to meet the new ditches.  This digging took me almost 3 feet down through the leaf-mould and some clay to a layer of stones.  I’m wondering if this layer of stones was the original stream bed?

That phase is now complete, the bog is contained.  Last time up, we started clearing the stream of blockages caused my fallen branches and sticks, then tried clearing some of the silt and leaves that are getting washed down.

My couple of assistants had a fine time.

Rule three of the woods, getting mucky is compulsary

There’s plenty more that needs clearing and I’ll be chipping away at it as time goes by. THE EXERCISE WILL DO ME GOOD!

 It will be interesting monitor what happens as weather turns wetter.

It’s about time I started recording what’s happening with our woods.  I’ll be jotting down things as they happen here on the blog. At some point various bits and activities might go up on the website in a more structured way.

The Our Woodland Story so Far

We bought the woods at Auction back in April 2010. Why? Well we both fancied the idea and it was coming up for Wendy’s Birthday.  So best Birthday presy ever. The Kids get somewhere to play pretty much unsupervised, away from computers and telly etc. I get to play with chainsaws, and indulge my “getting back to nature” side and my interest in ancient crafts.  It will also give us a lifetime supply of timber for the wood burning stove.

We’ve been getting up there as often as we can, it’s only a couple of miles away. But not as often as I’d like, ther’s been so much going recently it’s sometimes hard to get away. We’ve camped a couple of times and really we’ve just start to get to know the place.  The Kids and their friends love it, rope swing, seesaw, bows and arrows, tree house building and just getting muddy. It great that pester us to go and never want to back in the evenings.

The Current State of the Woods

Some of it is ancient, some developing from scrub,  the bulk was clear felled and replanted 50 years ago. It mainly Beech, Sycamore and Oak with larch nurses. Its been left to fend for it’s sell for many years and in need of some serious attention.  We knew this when we bought it, but thought well there’s no real rush we can take it steady.

The Larch have done their job and need taking out. Some have fallen and I’ve started clearing them. The hardwo0od needs thinning so it can start to bulk out and there’s plenty of self sets to sort.  I’ve started mapping all 7 1/4 acres with view to writing up a management plan.

We’re getting to know the wildlife  and other vegetation. There’s badgers, foxes,  hares that we like and the squirrels that we don’t, they are attacking some of the trees nearly to point of fully ring barking.  The bird life is getting use to us being around, Buzzards, Owls, Wood peckers, Wrens and loads more. I’ll ask Wendy to write up the list as well as auditing the other flora and forna. 

The drainage has been neglected along with everything else. We have “issues” yes that is what they are called. The woodland is on a hillside, some of it is an escarpment, water drains out between layers of soil stone and clay.  This gathers at one point in a marshy area, another habitat I want to preserve. However the neglected drainage is causing the are to spread.  So that leads me nicely to first specific job I’ve been working on. – Woodland Ditch Digging–

Apart from that we need to get some logs out for the winter burning season. That’s thrown up another project that I desperately need to sort. – Woodland Access Vehicle–

My dad was confined to home whilst his leg is on the mend. The only reason being, he needs to use a zimmer frame to get around. 

There was no reason why he can’t use the zimmer frame outside, it just the steps out of the house he can’t manage safely.  They aren’t deep enough to fit the legs of the zimmer frame and one step  was too high.

After some thought we came up with a quick and easy solution.

Simple home made steps for zimmer frame mobility

This simple step adaptor took an evening to build and 15 minutes to fit.  A cheap, temporary access solution to overcome the only obstacle to getting out and about.

More details are here – Zimmer Steps.

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

Ok I know this some what different from the normal stuff I write about but it’s part of what I do for living.  There are some articles from way back under the category I do Digital Marketing Stuff, these point out some of learning process I went through that started as I began this site. (I really need to do some updates). Anyway I now earn some of my income providing digital marketing services to companies within industies  I feel I have something to contribute.

I wrote the  article, ” Rotational Moulding – Hydraulic Tank Design”  in a slightly different version, as unique content for one of my client’s websites.  I’ve reproduced it on the iDoStuff site to give them a good link and to see how well it works as SEO. It also gives you an insight to the kind of stuff I do for regular living, including commercial photography.

One image from a photoshoot of Hydraulic and other tanks. A fun challenge photographing white products on a white background

If you’ve found the article and this blog post because you have an interest in Hydraulic tank design, then WELCOME. I hope you found it interesting and possibly inspirational. I would love to hear any comments you may have, see below. Cheers.

(Posting date changed from 2012, this post doesn’t need to be date relative!)

As we are doing up our house on a budget, we have to take advantage of opportunities as they turn up. About a year ago the chapel up the road was being demolished. For modest sum we acquired enough of the original Victorian Cast Iron Railings to fit in front of our house. I reclaimed some Oak Panelling for our living room as well. I’m kicking myself for missing out on some of the Stained glass windows that would have been fantastic for the conservatory.

Victorian Cast Iron Railings reclaimed and refitted

After a year wrapped up in, hidden from the prying eyes of scrap gatherers, I final got round to fitting the railings. It’s involved a fair bit of learning, discovering how they where originally assembled and fitted. It’s not nearly as simple as fitting wrought iron railings with bolts etc.

Its been worth it, buying direct from the demolition site was a lot cheap than going to a reclamation yard or architecture antique dealers. Fitting it myself has got to have saved a small fortune over using a specialist, I don’t think many regular builders would have had the patience or skills to do a good job.

 The results make an amazing difference to the look of house. The neighbours are impressed and it gives me more of nudge to get cracking on with the rest of front of the house.

Full details of how I’ve fitted these can be seen here – Reclaimed Antique Cast Iron Railings

Please leave me a comment if this info is useful, your reclamation, restoration railings worked out differently or you have any suggestions.

 Thanks, Andy

J9M23WA6FGXT

We’ve gone out and bought ourselves a Wood!

The most common reaction to this news is WHAT?

Answer:  Just over 7 acres of woodland.  Close to where we live.

Followed by WHY?

Answer:  Think about it … did you ever what to have your own woods? 

It was only when I realised it is possible to buy a wood, that I remembered it as a fantasy from my childhood. Wendy felt the same way too. As it happened, she had just seen in the local paper,one was up for Auction!

In a bit of a dreamy state, I thought this is possible, we could do it. Then reality kicks in, it’s got to be financed, it’s got to be worth it.  Not just in pure financial terms (although the figures do add up) but we need to get lasting pleasure from it. 

Compared to a Mid-Life crisis kind of purchase, like a flashy sports car, I think it’s a great choice.  So that was it, decision made (After due diligence and all that.)

We love it and so do the kids. I just need to sort my time out so we can be there more often for the pure pleasure of it.

On top of that, I’ll have the logs for the wood burner. Timber for my woodworking and a host of other ideas that keep popping up.

Bee Keeping, Woodland crafts, Low Impact Living (28days per year), coppicing, mushroom growing, etc.  

Drop us a comment if you can add to the list.

I’ll keep posting what we’re up to, anything really informative I’ll put on the website.

In the mean time, this is something of what its all about:

Click on the photo for more pictures

Get in touch or comment below if you fancy a print of any of the pictures.

Or if you want to know more about how buying a woodland happens.

Does this mumbo jumbo stuff; Law of Attraction, Visualisation, Mind Mapping, Nuro-linguistic Programing Stuff actually Work?

I’m a Skeptic when it actually comes down to shelling out my hard earned money for programs, e-books, seminars and like. But! there is something in it, I’m sure of it, I’m going to try and convince you.

I can’t pin down when I started using an unconscious version of these sort of techniques. I think It was probably just the way I was brought up. So I have a lot to thank my parents and the adults in my early life for. If I wasn’t surrounded by people, parents, family, surrogate “uncle and aunties” positive teachers through my formative years, things could have turned out differently. Over the years I just absorbed fairly positive attitudes that became part of my nature.

It wasn’t all sweetness and light, plenty of times I messed up, got thing seriously wrong and I struggled getting through. I guess I had enough programmed in to me to eventually work things out, learn and move on.

For me, there was no “one big thing” no Eureka moment just a gentle drip feed. Bits of knowledge, wisdom and experiences that sort of made sense and stuck in my head somewhere. I’ve not really thought about it in a structured way until recent years. It’s just been a 44 year process that’s got me to where I am.

This brings me back to the title “Unexpected Results from the Law of Attraction and Visualization”. I’ve only just asked myself “Do these kind of techniques Work?”. Now I can look back at my life so far and say Yes! Even though I didn’t know I was using the fundamentals of these techniques.

Unexpected – Well I certainly didn’t expect to find a proof, but in my perception of my life, I’ve got the Results. Thinking back, so many of the twists and turns of my life have ended up going in a direction that have worked out well. I don’t believe in luck or fate. As a child, the course I was set on was a manifestation of the thoughts involved with the nurture I received.

 What if Your Mind Hasn’t been Wired That Way.

What about those people who didn’t get set on a positive path? Or those who have been “re-programmed” in adult life. Those who’s negative subconscious is preventing them from moving towards any form of solid contentment.

Advertising, TV, Politics, Marketing, Society, Herd Mentality are working on the subconscious from an early age. If you haven’t been given or built up your defenses, the subconscious will have a powerful negative bias to desire what you don’t have.

If your subconscious mind is programed for desire “I want, I want” then there’s no space for appreciating what you have. If you can’t appreciate what you have, then “I want MORE” kicks in. This spiral of desire leads to constant frustration. The frustration is projected externally “It’s some one else’s fault”. As it’s someone else’s fault, the real causes (lack of appreciation), is never cured.

When you believe that someone else has do something to make you feel better, give you satisfaction, you’re stuck! Stuck in a deep rut .

The programs available to buy in to and sign up for, should be able to help you re-program your subconscious but there is a dichotomy. You sign up because you expect someone else to provide the answers. They are often sold as a way for you to get what you want. They are marketed to your negative “I want” brain. Can you see the conflict?

Of course, if they don’t work, It’s not your fault! It’s someone else’s fault. Never mind you can always buy another book, course, set of DVD’s, seminar because you still want what you don’t have. At the moment this is a highly profitable industry based on desire.

I can envisage the Gurus peddling these systems will realise the dichotomy. The psychological processes that underpin the systems do work verses the exploitation of this reality being self defeating for majority customers. 

A New Way To Make a Massive Difference to the World We Live In

If the Gurus truly believe in what they say they should promote their systems totally for FREE. A radical proposition but it should work. The systems are based around a psychology I believe in, “My Unexpected Results”. When I appreciate what I have, I end up doing well. I’m Grateful for that.

If the skills were given to me by a stranger, I would feel grateful to the point of Generosity towards them. I would also be inclined to evangelize their system of thinking. Financial or otherwise the giver would be richer. The world would have many more positive, generous people in it.

If the knowledge, insights and techniques are freely given, then received in the right spirit, they will work. We will all reap the benefits for generation to come.

PS. I sat down to write about the woodland we now enjoy. Somehow the thoughts went elsewhere. I don’t quite know how or why but it seemed worth allowing the change of direction. Here’s the picture that was going to accompany it.

A strange change of thoughts starting with a Image