Miscellaneous Developments

Last week I bolted on a stiffener plate to the Bolens 1250 and I inserted a D-ring onto the bar of the hoist I installed.  The D-ring allows me to hang a puller or hoist from it.  Last night I saw a "cable hoist" for sale on craigslist.org in south Austin for $ 25.00.  It is brand new and holds up to 2 tons.  I went down today, checked it out and brought it back.  It looks like it will lift whatever needs lifting.  This is the setup I am going to use to suspend the 1250 rail-mower frame while we position the motorcar trailer under it to bolt them together.  Here's a photo:

I have plenty of chain to wrap around whatever needs lifting and hook onto that bottom hook.  The cable hoist uses wire cable, as opposed to rope, and is American-made, so I think it will last quite a while.  Of course, I will bring it in when it rains so it doesn't rust.

Not rail-mower related, but an RPI project nonetheless, when I went down to Austin today I hooked up my 4x6 utility trailer and I went over to this cement mix facility in east Austin where I got a length of conveyor belt several weeks ago.  I sought out the guy who gave it to me for free and asked him for the rest of the roll, since he had indicated before they were looking to just get rid of it.  He checked with his boss and it was "10-4" to give me the whole thing.  He wrapped some chain around a forklift's bars and lifted the roll up and set it down right in the middle of the trailer.  I asked if they have ever had an Operation Lifesaver presentation for their drivers and he gave me the number for their Safety Director so I can offer to run some for the company.  That would be a nice way to pay them back for the belt.

This conveyor belt material is 3/8" thick, with some sort of reinforcement inside it, so it is pretty darn strong.  It comes in maximum six foot long lengths of 29.5" wide.  I must have sixty or more feet.  That would make an awful lot of railsweeps.  But it can also be used to create rubber mats for motorcars to keep heavy tools from banging up the metal floors.  I measured my M-19's floor pans and they are 14.5 inches wide by about five feet long, so one segment could make floor mats for one motorcar.  Here's a photo of this treasure:

 
My small engine guy called me up this evening and said he should be able to come over next Monday or Tuesday evening to put together the Bolens 1455 mower deck.  That's one job I don't have the experience for.  Once it is finished, I will begin taking apart the Bolens 1250 mower deck so it can (hopefully) be renovated and actually serve as the rail-mower deck.  In theory the 1455 deck could be used on the rail-mower since they are the same decks, but I do not want to have to switch that deck between the 1455 and the rail-mower.  It is really heavy, probably the reason it has survived for 40 years or more.

Progress continues and, God willing and the creek don't rise, things will get to the point where we can test the rail-mower.  But that's likely another two-three months down the road.