Submitted by Steve Winicker.
LAST WEEKENDS SHOP ACTIVITY
John finished up boring the brake pull rods Friday. Sand for blasting and steel for building finally showed up on Friday. Dave managed to get the diesel brush holder springs loose and John will attempt to solder them together this week or next.
Saturday some plates were sandblasted and an inspection of the interior swash plates revealed some were not suitable for future use. Bob is trimming up baffles and additional new material will be needed. Bob cut additional access holes to provide room for sand blasting. The tamper is now the sole resident of the center of the building on the west end (other than some shelves and bins). Repair work will commence at some point in the future. I would hesitate to say the old office was cleaned out, but the desk was removed, so it is ready for cleaning and stocking with sale items in the space formerly occupied by the desk. Last but certainly not least Rich Brinkley finished opening most of the tell tail holes. Those on the bottom of the combustion chamber will wait until just before we hydro the engine. Some touch up work still is needed.
Sunday Bob continued cutting and trimming. He decided the “garage” should go on the other end of the tank. I vetoed that procedure so we must live with what we have started. Andrew put most, if not all, of the door latches back on the SD9.
Monday Bob continued to cut away at the tender. I told him we were not scrapping it, and that he should leave some of it for us to weld stuff onto. Along those lines, I ordered another $500 of steel to go with the steel purchased last week and ordered more steel pipe fittings. Got rid of some scrap as well. New steel costs more than OMNI Source will pay for old steel in case anyone has doubts.
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
Next week we must continue with the sandblasting effort. Probably will take the tank outside and start blasting the interior unless we are in Bob’s way. This is going to be a difficult project that will take some dedicated folks. There are valves to lap on the engine, Lubricators to clean out an air pump that needs to be partially disassembled to find a knock.
SAFETY SENSE
There have been reported incidents in industry and elsewhere of individuals consuming hazardous chemical liquids because they had been transferred into water bottles or other similar containers. In many cases the chemical was a clear, water like, liquid and thus mistakenly taken for water or a soft drink.
Significant harm, up to and including death, can be the outcome of accidentally ingesting a hazardous liquid chemical. A trip to the Emergency Room can be the outcome in less serve cases.
The preventative action is not to use water bottles or other similar containers such a coffee cups, pop bottles or mugs to hold any liquid chemicals even for a short period of time. One must not assume that just because a liquid is in an open bottle that the liquid is what the label indicates it is.
