Intro to Welding

Today our group drove down the road to meet Ron Mott, fabricator extraordinaire.  We were there to begin our welding lessons but before we could weld, we had to learn how to cut metal.  I guess I always thought a "blow torch" was blowing a flame, but this isn't exactly the situation.  The hot flame melts the metal and then the compressed oxygen blows the dripping metal away.  We learned about the basic kinds of welding--stick welding, MIG and TIG.   I will explain these an the differences when we work with the techniques.

Sophia starting up her flame

Me, Lee, in the midst of a cut

Nora, cutting metal

Emma contemplating a cut

Brian helping Ron set up our metal

Nora, enjoying the flame

Sophia, starting up a flame

Brian, lighting up...

Ron, coaching Kiyoshki

In the afternoon, we had about 30 layer hens to cull.  I've shown photos of "processing the chickens" so I will just post this artsy picture of the inside of the plucking machine.  After processing our chickens, Christina gave us a lesson on making chicken stock and that is how we spent the remainder of the afternoon.

The rubber fingers of a plucking machine

Heating gear ring to remove it

Stu-Fas pondering the situation

In the evening, our tractor group return to Warren's workshop to continue working on our Ford tractor. The new parts had arrived and our goal was to reassemble our tractor with the new pieces.  Things didn't go as we planned. It was very difficult to remove the gear ring from the fly wheel.  It took pounding and torches to heat the metal to make it expand and slip off.  

Brian, taking a turn

Kiyoshi takes a turn

At last, it is removed!

Finally, Warren SAWS it

And the new ring gear doesn't fit...