More Cleaning

Its been awhile since I posted but we've been busy working on the card. 

Last week, I spent a day cleaning the grease off of the front of the card and discovered it is painted green! Also, found a date, "1929," stamped on the front. So, the carder was made in 1929, not 1918, as advertised. It is much younger than expected!

I tried 409 to cut the grease but it did nothing. Then I tried sudsy ammonia, that, too, was ineffective. Finally, I used gasoline. That worked well but after spending 6 hours inhaling gas fumes, I had a headache that lasted 24 hours. Ugh! The carder looks much better--well, the part I cleaned, that is. Still a lot more to clean with gas. 

Just enough cleaned of her to show the date, "1929" and the name "Davis and Furber Machine, Co."

Six hours of cleaning with gasoline yielded a green machine! 

Meanwhile, Dad has been working on a track system that is set up above the carder. Its to lift the rollers up and off the card and set them on a stand for easy cleaning.

Today, we tried it out and it is ingenious! Worked perfectly. We lifted four of the rollers off; I managed to clean two and a half of them. Need to get up early tomorrow morning to finish the remaining 1.5 before Dad shows up!

Painted Allis Chalmers Persian Orange, the track system worked great!

Two rollers ready to be cleaned

Dad has also been cleaning and checking the sprockets and gears. So far, I've ordered six weld-on sprockets, 50 feet of roller chain and various bushings, collars, nuts, bolts, etc., etc.

I was very naive in thinking that we would bring the card home, do some wiring, hose it off a bit, plug it in and be in business! However, my initial goal of having it up, running, and in business by May, 2013 is still in place. But it may take a month or two before the initial start up and practicing with the wool I bought begins.

Oh, well, it gives me something to look forward to on the days I'm not subbing.

Cleaning the Card

Today was very exciting. I spent a few (felt like several) hours cleaning the card with a slicker brush and a linoleum knife! Woo-hoo!

I didn't finish--there is at least a month of work to get all the rollers and cylinders clean. Years of dust and dirt and accumulated wool are caked into the teeth of the card. Its dirty and dusty work. 

Moving the Card to its Final Resting Spot

Wednesday morning, we moved the card from outside the shed to its final place inside the shed. After moving, we played around with various implements trying to find the perfect one to clean the wool off of the machinery. A grill brush worked great on the breast and a slicker brush worked best on the card. 

Here's the card outside the shed. Weighing in at an estimated 4-5000 lbs, this was going to be very difficult to move by hand

We tied a pulley to a post in the shed and used my Allis C to pull the card into the shed a few inches at a time

Here's the card moving back into the shed. We then had to move it forward to put it in its final spot

In position! We pulled it forward with the tractor as far as we could. Then we moved it into its final position with Dad pulling and me using a bar under the back of the skid to move it into position. By positioning the metal pipe at different angles, we were able to hit the mark on the floor.

Dad using a slicker brush to clean one of the rollers. This is going to be a month long process!

Home Safe and Sound!

Yesterday, we moved the last piece of the card! Hurrah!

I started the morning with a tour of the barn to look at all the stuff we've moved so far:

Picker

Batt Roller

A lot of motors, the blower, the rover, etc.

Shields and chains and belts and more motors

 In the afternoon, we moved the card:

Dad and Harlan positioning rollers under the card

Repositioning rollers

Rolling onto the trailer

Success!

Ready to drive home

While I ran the winch, I also made a video of the card moving onto the trailer:

Unloading the card

Ms. Bee Haven chooses not to help unload

Getting the Card Ready to Move

Yesterday, we moved the mid section of the card into position for winching onto the trailer. It was not easy. All three of us had to work in sync to get the steel pipe under the skids, align them to turn the card, and push the card inch by inch into position. Dad used the red bar in the photo by wedging it under a skid and pulling up to move the card just a few inches while Harlan and I pushed. He also had to wedge the bar under the skids and stand on it in order to lift the card just enough so that we could adjust the steel pipes. 

Dad and Harlan with the card in position to winch onto the trailer

In other news, Mom and I moved two horses in the morning. We moved Paco over to the trainer and brought Kisses home from the trainer. Unfortunately, no net change in the number of horses on the farm--still two.

Moving the Breast and Jacking up the Center

Wednesday we spent a few hours working to move the breast and put skids under the center part of the card. 

Dad and Harlan putting rollers under the breast as I operate the winch

We had about two inches of tolerance to load the breast on the trailer. Here, Dad is using a chainsaw to cut off the excess edge of the board

Ahhh, success! Loaded and ready to roll

Dad and Harlan working in tandem to jack up the center piece of the card. We jacked one side up about 4 inches, moved to the other side and jacked it up to 6.5 inches, then returned to the first side and jacked that up to 6.5 inches. The 6x6 timbers fit nicely under the card and we pulled out the cribbing

This is the last piece yet to be moved to its new home. I think it looks like a woman in rollers. See the skids underneath?

Here's the breast unloaded and ready to roll into the shed

Another successful move. Still trying to decide on the final layout of the card in the shed. Should it go crosswise the short way or the long way? The shed is 30x60 but the floor was poured in two separate pieces so there is a split midway making each section 30x30. The card has to be on either side of the crack, it cannot cross it in case the floor heaves or shifts.

Grandpa's Allis "C" Finds a New Home

About a month ago, my Dad asked me if I wanted a lawn tractor. I thought he meant a lawnmower without the deck. I said I would love to have a little lawn mower to pull stuff around. Well, we were talking at cross purposes. Finally he said, "Let's go look at it." Well, it wasn't a lawnmower, it was an Allis Chalmers C Tractor. My grandfather bought it new and drove it home from Day, MN.

Needless to say, I said, "Yes."

Today, I brought the tractor home. Dad got it running, repaired the tires, cleaned it up, stitched a new seat cover for it and helped me load it.

Here it is:

Granpa's Allis Chalmers C