Nutz, Boltz, Wheelz and Wirez

Building a cart.

2011-05-03T08:12:00.000-05:00

More coming soon!

32 dead, 10 missing and at least 50 injured in San Antonio Locomotive Explosion 1912

2011-03-17T23:29:00.007-05:00

A few months back, I was driving on I-35 in San Antonio. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of what I thought might be the steel truss of an old locomotive turntable. The view wasn't very good, so when I was home later, I took a look on Google Earth to see if I could find it. Sure enough, there it is near the intersection of Duval & North Hackberry. From the satellite image I could see the rail beds of a roundhouse, long gone.

I decided to see if I could find some history on it and what I found, shocked and horrified me. 32 dead, 10 missing and at least 50 injured in the worst locomotive explosion in U.S. history.

The Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad Locomotive No. 704 was in the Southern Pacific shops for repairs due to an accident near Seguine, TX. On the morning of March 18, 1912 the locomotive was being fired (started) after extensive repairs. At 8:55 AM, the locomotive exploded, launching the boiler and pieces of iron through the roof of the roundhouse and shredding workers bodies to bits. The locomotive's oil filled tender was blown backward and tumbled end over end several hundred feet, spewing oil about the yard, catching fire and burning some victims trapped alive in the rubble. Iron shrapnel and large pieces of locomotive rained down on San Antonio for blocks around the roundhouse. The force of the blast blew windows out of houses, ripped trees from their roots and shook the entire city. San Antonio residents thought that an earthquake had struck the city.

Click Images to Enlarge:

This is a shot of the turntable from satellite.

Former Southern Pacific Rail Yard from above.

I found a partial drawing of the Southern Pacific roundhouse and yard. I made the drawing partially transparent and laid it over the satellite image to get an idea of what the yard looked like in 1912

Southern Pacific Yard with roundhouse drawing overlay.

This photo should give you an idea of the size of the locomotive that exploded. This is the same type as number 704.

The remains of 704 circled in green.

704's driver wheel blown off from the force of the blast.

A closeup of 704's remains.

The top of the locomotive boiler came to rest between 2 houses.

Sources and more reading:

http://lonestaricon.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=557:dozens-die-in-1912-locomotive-boiler-explosion&catid=40:this-week-in-texas-history&Itemid=82

http://texas.i-found-it.net/1912rrdisaster.html

Customized PC

2010-12-01T16:32:00.000-06:00

A pictorial blog of my customized PC.

Kustomize your life!

Make a Powerful LED Bicycle Headlight from a Vintage Flashlight

2010-11-20T18:16:00.006-06:00

This is a really easy project, it looks awesome on antique & classic bicycles and provides a lot of light with a long run time. It also looks great on modern cruiser bicycles.

Tools: A screw driver and a pair of pliers.

Things you will need:

A Vintage Flashlight, 2 or 3 D Cell that takes a flange style bulb. Click here for eBay's listing of vintage flashlights.
D Cell Batteries
Wald #40 Flashlight Bracket
A TerraLUX TLE-1F MiniStar1 1-Watt Flange Base LED Bulb Replacement.
Optional, plastic straps.
Optional, Plastidip Rubberized Coating.

Why D cells? D cells are inexpensive. The Family Dollar stores seem to have the best prices on name brand batteries. A pair of D cell batteries cost the same as a pair of AA cells and has much more capacity. Also, this is the size flashlight that will fit the Wald Flashlight Bracket.

Why the TerraLUX bulb replacement? It's one of the best available, being extremely efficient and relatively inexpensive. There are lots of LED bulb replacements available, but this is one of the only LED bulb replacements that will maintain a steady light output over the life of the battery.

Step 1. Get your vintage flashlight.

Where to get a vintage flashlight? I bought mine on eBay.com by searching for "vintage flashlight." It's an Eveready Captain with a large reflector.. Verify with the seller that the thing lights up. If the seller can't or won't do this for you, move on to another seller. There are plenty of these old flashlights available. Be sure to ask the seller what type of bulb the flashlight takes If it takes the screw in type bulb, you may be out of luck. TerraLUX has discontinued the LED bulb replacement for screw in bulbs. You'll want the flange type bulb base with no threads and no bayonet pins. Click here for eBay's listing of vintage flashlights.

Step 2. Remove and discard the regular flashlight bulb.

Step 3. Install the TerraLUX TLE-1F LED Bulb Replacement.

Step 4. Install the batteries and test the flashlight. If it doesn't light up, be sure that the batteries are good and installed properly.

Step 5. Mount the Wald Flashlight Bracket.

Step 6. Install the flashlight into the Wald Flashlight Bracket.

Step 7. Optionally, secure the flashlight with a couple of plastic straps for rough trails and easy theft deterrent.

Step 8. Optionally, coat your Wald Flashlight Bracket with Plastidip rubberized coating. Follow the directions on the can.

You're done and now have a VERY kool LED bicycle headlight!

Sturmey Archer 3 Speed Hub Oil Cap Replacement Alternative

2010-11-14T19:26:00.003-06:00

There are replacement lubricators (oil caps) available for the old Sturmey Archer 3 speed and other internal gear bicycle hubs for roughly $2.00, but then you can end up paying $9.00 or more for shipping. This is a really inexpensive alternative to replacing the oil cap.

I used a nylon, 1/4"-20 machine screw with the threaded part cut down to roughly 1/8" long. I used a hack saw blade to cut the screw. I paid $0.45 for a pack of 3 screws at my local hardware store. Simply unscrew your broken lubricator from the hub and replace it with your modified nylon 1/4"-20 machine screw.

These socket cap screws would work great because you can use a long Allen wrench to insert and extract it. I'll have to see if I can find one locally.

A project inspired by The Duke, John Wayne

2010-09-22T18:22:00.024-05:00

John Wayne's last movie, The Shootist is my all time favorite of his and in this movie his character, J.B. Books wears a hat with a band made of diamondback rattlesnake skin that just screams "Wild West." Now that I live in Texas, I gotta have one!

I'm not about to buy one because every one that I see is way too gaudy for my taste, having fancy buckles, conchos, beads and fringe. The hat band in the movie is very basic ... just the skin with a double loop buckle.

There's no lack of sewing machines around here, but most of them mom has setup for quilting. I've been dragging this old Singer 99K around with me for about 7 years ... way too long for it to be idle. The first part of the project is to clean, lube, test and adjust the ol' Singer and then get it setup for leather crafts.

After cleaning out 50 years of dust, thread and other debris, a thorough lube job, belt adjustment and fiddling with the tension, I was able to make very good stitches with heavy thread and a leather needle through two layers of fleeced vinyl.

Found this table on craigslist for $20. I mounted the machine to the left to avoid having to make a spacer.

First, I had to have a hat to put a band on. I found and won this beat-up old Stetson with an ugly macramé style band and ridiculous, pink feather on eBay for $2.05. It turned out to be in never worn condition, just bent up from lack of proper storage. I removed the band and feather, bent the brim back into shape and steamed the rest of it back into something that resembled a western hat.

It's looking a LOT better! I have another hat that needs a band and now that I know I can make rattlesnake skin bands like this, I'll do a detailed "how to" for the next hat band. This band cost me around $25 in materials. They retail for $50 and up!

Items that I used:

Suede strip, 1 1/2" wide x 42" long, available here (click)
Concho, Texas Star, Scalloped, available here (click)
Rattlesnake Skin (I don't have a reliable, continuous source yet)

Other items that I used:

Truck Tonneau Cover, Mother / Son Project

2010-05-04T17:42:00.014-05:00

Today I finished this tonneau cover that my mother and I worked on for two days. The old one is in the photo below. It's so shrunken and tight that only one of the three support bows can be installed.

Here you can see how weathered it is. It was really tough to snap it down in cold weather.

Here are some of the items that I used:

It looks like it should be an easy project, but there's more to it than meets the eye. First, the front of the tonneau is 2 inches wider than the rear and then we had to compensate for the support bows. We also had to piece it together from two pieces of vinyl. I could have ordered one wide piece, but it would have cost nearly as much as a new tonneau.

I bought 4 yards of marine vinyl from Joanne Fabrics and used Coats & Clark UV resistant polyester thread with a Singer denim needle. If you try this yourself with the same thread, do NOT use the leather needles 110/18 as they chew the thread up. In order to sew the two pieces together on the ol' Viking machine, we had to roll one side up so it would fit in the throat of the machine (not shown.) It took the both of us to feed it in without it binding.

We decided not to use welting on the edge like the original. Instead, we hid 1" wide nylon strapping for a cleaner look and added strength.

Below, the old tonneau looks almost gray compared to the new vinyl.

Test fit without snaps. Got it right the first time!

The support bows adjusted to 3 inches higher than the rails in the center.

First, all 4 corner snaps were installed, one on each side of the corner.

Next, the center most snaps on each side were installed. I continued to install snaps in the middle of snaps already installed to keep from pulling too tight to one side.

Marking the snap centers.

I destroyed the hole punch. It was only able to punch 7 holes through the nylon strap before it was too dull. I continued to use the punch to mark the snap holes.

I finished going through the tonneau with an awl and then installing the snaps.

I used nickel plated brass snaps that I had left over from my Amish buggy business.

I used adapters for my Vice Grips to crimp the snaps.

Finished!

Resurection of a Pre-war Schwinn Cycle Truck

2008-09-15T19:44:00.205-05:00

When I was growing up (late 1960s & 1970s) in the Tacony section of Philadelphia, there was a butcher shop around the corner from me, Tony's Meat Market. Tony had 2 blue Schwinn Cycle Trucks for delivering his meats. I wanted to work there just to ride the bikes, but a career at Tony's never materialized. I've wanted a Cycle Truck ever since and for years I watched for an opportunity to get one.

Finally, in 2006 I found one for sale in BAD condition. The seat was tattered, but all of the metal parts were there. The handlebars are Army surplus with olive drab paint. The handlebar stem (goose neck) is a Schwinn model, but wrong for a Cycle Truck.

The front fender was for some other bike. Someone had painted over the chrome on the rear wheel. Same for the front wheel, but the chrome was pitted and peeling. Most of the chrome on the chainguard, crank and front sprocket had rusted off. It was missing the sign, basket brackets, basket, kick stand, kick stand nuts and head badge. The frame was bent from the seat post back, like a fish tail. These first photos were taken before it was shipped to me.

My Cycle Truck As Found

New Departure Coaster Brake Hub.

The chrome is nearly gone from the chainguard & sprocket.

The seat was in really bad shape.

First coat of Rustoleum Black Metallic paint.

Rustoleum Clear paint applied.

I had to have these front wheel nuts custom machined.

The kick stand rides on the front wheel nuts.

Closeup of the mounting of the Wald basket.

Seat straightened with new padding and cover.

Condition as of 2008

Condition as of 2010

Re-chromed handlebars and a vintage

flashlight headlight added.

This bike is no trailer queen or museum piece.
It rides around San Antonio, Texas regularly.