What did you build this week?

You are pounding some big old beads in there. Had to be a fair amount of seat time for sure! Looks awesome though!

Thanks,
Some of it is double passes. Since this is my first one I'm taking a page out of Hurco's book and doing about double what I think is necessary because I don't want to have to do it again lol.
 
Sonic how do you like the mini ex? Why not a backhoe?

I needed to dig 4000ft of waterline, and still need to dig 4000 ft of power line 4' deep so I wanted something quick. With a mini you don;t have to deal with putting the arms down to stabilize or turn around to drive etc. it also gets in tight spots and can spin 360 degrees. I love it. I'm on my second one, originally bought a 3.5 ton machine, now I have a 5.5 ton.
The only thing about them that sucks if they are so slooooooooooow. It takes me 20 minutes to get from the barn to the house lol. It would honestly be faster to hook up the trailer and load it up and pull it the 1/4 mile or so and then unload it again.

Are you gonna use it much after the homestead is finished?
It just seems like it'd be easier to rent the attachment rather than scratch build.

Probably not, but I like to have tools when I need them, never been a big fan of renting even though it's usually financially more responsible lol

My biggest issue with renting is I also work 80 hours a week, so when I get time to go do house stuff I never know when it's going to be and it may just be an hour or so which doesn't leave me any time to get stuff done if I have to drive 30 minutes one way for a rental.


Plus it's fun to build stuff and I can always sell it for a decent profit if I decide i don't need it.
 
I was going to say if you find you don't need it you'll get your money back plus pay yourself for the time selling it.
 
Fair enough on the digging that far. Our water/ electric lines are a little bit shy of a mile, but we decided to go with a JD 710D backhoe. Just for the practicality sake, feels like we can use it for literally anything. What do you haul it with?
 
Fair enough on the digging that far. Our water/ electric lines are a little bit shy of a mile, but we decided to go with a JD 710D backhoe. Just for the practicality sake, feels like we can use it for literally anything. What do you haul it with?

I also have a cat 299 skid, so don't need the loader features otherwise a backhoe would work better most likely.
Dual tandem gooseneck to move sequipment around and my duramax to pull it. Barely passable lol.
 
I also have a cat 299 skid, so don't need the loader features otherwise a backhoe would work better most likely.
Dual tandem gooseneck to move sequipment around and my duramax to pull it. Barely passable lol.

Lol, that's perfect for what you need I'm sure. I think our backhoe is like 28,000 pounds or something like that. When we bought it from North Carolina, thankfully my dad's company uses semi trucks to haul their equipment so we just had my dad go pick it up for us. Now we are hoping the new dump truck can haul everything.
 
One of the other local school bus mechanics here just got a mini ex. He all the sudden has lots of close friends... I have dad's 50's Cletrac crawler with the backhoe attachment all apart for a stuck valve right now. It is putting up areal good fight as it has been in the woods close to 10 years.
Cletrac.jpg
 
Lol, that's perfect for what you need I'm sure. I think our backhoe is like 28,000 pounds or something like that. When we bought it from North Carolina, thankfully my dad's company uses semi trucks to haul their equipment so we just had my dad go pick it up for us. Now we are hoping the new dump truck can haul everything.

yeah I'd love to have a dump truck in general, hauling would be a big plus. 27Klbs behind a duramax is illegal and not fun lol. Luckily i only really haul equipment in for repairs.
snout said:
One of the other local school bus mechanics here just got a mini ex. He all the sudden has lots of close friends... I have dad's 50's Cletrac crawler with the backhoe attachment all apart for a stuck valve right now. It is putting up areal good fight as it has been in the woods close to 10 years.
Yeah that's a major disadvantage, I just tell people no or sure come get it, but you'll need a gooseneck hitch and a trailer that can carry 12K. That deters most would be "friends" lol.
 
I have no experience with Caterpillar. :p
I’ll operate Bobcat, Kubota, and Takeuchi regularly, and Case (210’s) on occasion.

I've got a good local dealer which is what it really boils down to for me. For the little work I do anything would likely hold up though.
Worst part about equipment is the parts are not cheap and the labor is a real bitch if you're doing it yourself without overhead cranes and the like.
 
Been working on these new skull pendants for a while. The master was 3D printed from an MRI of an actual skull, tweaked a bit here and there, a texture added and cast in bronze...

qskfT45l.jpg

That's badass! Are they sandcast or some type of fixed mold?
 
Thanks man - silicon molds. The 3D print ends up with a pretty clean finish so the texture is added by hand afterwards. Trying to get it as natural and aged as possible.
 
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