Any new Hobbies or Interests?

[Henry W]

At times throughout the year I run into something that catches my interest and I get involved to learn more about it. And, this might also spark an interest in others to learn about it and possibly get involved.

If anyone has hobbies or interests that they would like to share, please do. If this topic takes off we might be able to make a section on this forum to post them.

Henry

[mobile_bob]

as soon as it warms up a bit, and i get caught up as mayor
i want to finish my 4 band vertical ham radio antenna project
and get on the air.

that and the "cycle kart" hobby sure fascinates the daylights out of me!

i want one to drive around town

bob g

[Henry W]

Bob, the Cycle Carts sure grabbed my attention.

Here is a forum I've found. https://www.cyclekartclub.com/forum/

Spent some time on the forum and there is lots of info about building one. What a great time it would be to get involved building and getting out with others to drive them. An affordable racing sport for us older folks.

[vdubnut62]

Wow, you guys have 'way too much time on your hands.
I just gave in and exchanged my two Honda 400 ranchers for a Kawasaki Mule.
Ron

[vdubnut62]

Well, here is what I have been up to. I finally have the woodshed/generator shed up and sort of running. The Tarm is making heat and the 500 gallon propane tank is playing like a "heat battery" like it's supposed to do. I have had great success in heating the house , garage, and hot water with this thing. I do however, have another 3 inches or so of insulation to install on the tank, and I expect great gains in efficiency when that comes to fruition.
  The next phase is to get the Changafa genset running in "cogen" fashion. If the power goes out here, I want heat and power from the genset instead of just burning fuel for power
and wasting the heat from the exhaust and cooling system.
The next thing on the agenda after that is to build some sort of efficient waste oil water heater to get rid of the 350-400 gallons of waste oil that I have accumulated over the years, plus oil changes for the various vehicles in the stable. I am still looking for ideas on a water heating oil burner that is some kind of "cleanish" burning, without too much of a hit on ease of use. No Babingtons, or compressed air burners will fit my bill. Oh well I may be delusional, but I'm still looking for "naturally aspirated' burners in the order of 50-70,000 btu an hour. That is .of course ,is in heated water. And it must be adjustable. Not too much to ask for?!
     I do have an Army surplus multifuel tent heater that is simply awesome! That thing will heat an unsulated pole barn that you can see through the cracks to the outside, to a comfortable level without too much trouble. It's probably on the order of several million BTU's an hour.  But it does use a LOT of fuel. Waste motor oil burns pretty clean, but it is too thick to pass through the " carburetor", so a manual control valve must be used with it  and it has to be babysat constantly, and has no water heating provision.
I do have pictures, but being Computer Challenged and admittedly lazy, I will attempt to post a few if anyone wants me to.
Ron.

[Tom Reed]

Well, I've pretty much finished my BBQ pellet production line and am trying to build the market for the product. The Witte BD has an absolutely worn out IP element so I'm on the search for one of those. When that's running reliable, I'll use the Witte to power an upgraded dust collection system for the pellet plant.

The Listeroid co-gen system is working great, when I get to use it. The purchase of a nice set of LiFePo batteries and lots of sun during the drought have really cut into the number of hours that get put on the generator.

[Dualfuel]

I decided to make the foray into welding together 18650 Li-ion cells to make banks of different voltages. I am learning about battery management systems, charging, and S&P architecture.
We also are using some LiFePO4 cells as well.

[playdiesel]

Still collecting old engines of all sorts. Hit miss, diesels etc. Have added on twice to the engine shed and its full once more. The shop is busier than ever with 8 slow speed diesels waiting in line. 5 are Bamfords which take much more time to rebuild than a Lister due to  no parts availability and the need to machine new parts in the shop.

Retirement has me about worn out!

[Mad_Labs]

Haven't posted in a while. I do stop by occasionally and see what has been happening. So lesse, what have I been up to?

Converted the hardest working golf cart in America to lithium ion. Works great.

Got a bunch of 280aH LFP cells to switch my off grid house from lead. My brother in law got the bright idea that he would turn up the power supply while we were top balancing the cells to speed up the process. Trashed $2500 of cells.

Got a van and converted it to 4WD and have been having fun in the desert and mountains.

Still messing around with ham stuff and old equipment. I got a 1958 Philco Predicta TV and restored it. Really fun to watch old stuff on.

Oh, and got a generator with a Lister TS2! It needed a little work but I have it running pretty good and it is my main generator.