I need some tubing to make a dolly for the new to me Sheldon lathe. I got a good drawing to go off of. I've been looking for some stock to use, but I don't have enough of the stuff I need. We have a scrap yard just north of town. I'd gotten some stuff there in the past, so I decided to see if they had anything that would work for me.
Wow. Lots of oilfield cast offs there now. Tons of it. I found an old pump jack gear box, but it probably was 10 feet tall, and had the counter weights on it. I guessed 10 tons of weight, easy. An old Massey Ferguson 185 tractor, John Deere round bailer, and multiple piles of wire rope. Loads of pipe, but little to none rectangular or square tubing. I don't know how many pounds of 3/4 inch bolts were laying around. Gobs of them. The caliche had been pounded into powder and it was like walking in baby powder.
I found a much smaller pump jack gear box with a seized electric motor. The gear box moves smoothly. I snagged that. And a 5 gallon safety gas can. I started thinking about the uses of the gear box. Giant power hack saw? Huge tree saw? Monster Pharaoh fan? I don't know, but that thing was too cool to just leave. $26.00 out the door....
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| Ha! time to dig up the patent drawing* |
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| about 3 feet tall |
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| Well, I have a choice looks like |
Reminded me of a story.....
Seems my uncle showed up one day with a chain hanging off his rear bumper. He was just dragging that thing all over the county when he was driving down the road. Being a little kid, I couldn't just ask him right out. I had to be seen but not heard... But that was just intriguing. Dad was talking and it didn't seem like they would ever finish. I bent over and just stared at it. Finally, my uncle asked what I was doing. I pointed at the chain and I asked him what that thing was for. He said, "Well son.... I don't rightly know. But Sinclair trucks have one and they make millions!!"
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| new fangled grounding chain |
All the other pump jack
gear box owners get a check a month....So, I'm kinda hoping to get some mailbox money. Some of them checks have 5 digits in front of the decimal!! I may be rich soon....
😲 Wow!
SCORE!!
ReplyDeleteI thought so too when I bought it. Then when I saw what it was, my teeth almost fell out.
DeleteAre you going to do a full restoration with paint, or just get it working STxAR?
ReplyDeleteGlenn, I'm not a refinisher or a restorer. I like the patina, and it works already. I'll turn a couple pins for it and find the rest of the parts needed to make it work. If I can find someone that needs it I'll sell it or figure some use for it around here.
DeleteThese guys to yootoob that make stuff like new kinda wear me out. I want it to WORK like new, but having it's age show is fine by me.
Hate to bust your bubble, that's for pumping water as in water well. At least down here in south Texas.
ReplyDeleteRoger dodger. But it still runs about 4400 new. If I can find a buyer after I check it over and fix a couple little things I see.... I may finish out the 5C collet set, and get some Acura collets to go with the chuck I have.... and maybe some annular cutters..... and... food, yeah I should buy some food.....
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