Slow Feeders

My wife bought a slow feeder made of plastic for almost $300 this year. It worked OK, but it was a little small. She has more horses coming, and wanted more, so I set out today to build one.

I looked online at a few people's videos, looking how they'd designed them and came up with something that was simple and I thought it would work. I planned for 3, but then decided to get only parts for 2 at the store. Here's what I got:

• 2 4'x8' sheets sanded BC plywood
• 12 8' 2x4s
• 2 8' 1"x1"s
• 1 8' TREX board

I should have gotten some 1 1/2" screws, but forgot, thinking I had a huge box of 2 1/2" ones. When I got home I realized those wouldn't work. fortunately I had some 1 1/2" nails, which I substituted.

I had the plywood cut into 2'x4' slices and put one of those down. I cut a 2x4 to length, and nailed it along one end. I cut the rest into 2 23 7/8" pieces, which went along the sides.

Flipped over, it looks like this:

That's a side panel. From there, I cut more 23 7/8" pieces to join the ends on. I lined them up here, and then using my long screws, fastened them to the sides.

When I had both side pieces set, I cut the end panel into a 23 7/8" square (allowing for blade waste) and then fit things. This gave me a side, and I cut a 2x4 to fit across the top.

Another view

With my 2x4s screwed onto the ends, I nailed the end pieces in, and as a result, I had a box with no top or bottom.

I cut my 1x1 and put that at the bottom as bracing, and then sliced the TREX pieces, which fit in. I didn't screw them in, as I wanted my wife to check spacing, and then I'll know how many more pieces I need.

I repeated the process again, faster this time, and for about $110, I have 2 mostly done. Tia needs to get the top grid for the hay, and I need more TREX, but I'm guessing I can put one of these together for about $110-$120, depending on what the top costs.

Solar Water Heater - The Cover Part 1

This is the second part of my solar water heater project for horse tanks. The other parts are:

• Getting Started
• The Cover- Part 1

To build the heater cover, I used the rough plans and adapted them. I put the base down, and then measured from there, taking into account the height of the tank. I had it just about an inch above the tank, which I realize now is too low. I should have allowed 2” and kept it low to the ground. We have a few ponies and they’re short, but lesson learned for v2.

The first measurements helped me get the sizes.

I started by cutting sides, slanting the front about 10 degrees and attaching a board along the top and bottom. These are bracing and give the cover the structural integrity. I used a 2x4 on top and a 2x6 on the bottom.

I also added an interior board, which will brace against the back. I allowed for the sides to stick out far enough to cover the back OSB, but that’s a mistake. I should have either set them flush, or allowed to cover the 2x6 with the upper and lower boards. It works, but looks funny.

I screwed this much together on the first day, with the rest of my wood buried in snow in the back of the truck. However I had a little more time, so I added some insulation. It was cut to fit with a utility knife. This isn’t the final size, but it gave me an idea of how it would look.

I started with the foil out, but I want to minimize heat reflection, so I turned things around as shown above.

A little paint to see how it took convinced me that I’d need real paint, as well as some other thermal mass.

I could probably have finished most of this in a day, but with other circumstances, this is where I stopped as we left for vacation.

Squaring things up

I had a helper today, doing some measuring for me.

This was after we’d pulled off the roofing on the west and re-aligned the tops of the poles. There was a decent gap, I think from my poles warping slightly in the weather. Once I measured the top front, we found  a significant gap.

I was able to tie this back, recut the rafters, and put them back in, getting a good, fairly square top. The other side must have been slightly out of whack as we found that a few pieces of the roofing didn’t quite align, but since I’m covering everything with metal and this was close, I left it.

My daughter helped me cover everything and we are looking good. Now I just need the metal to arrive.

Coming Along

I knocked off a little early yesterday and did some work on the shelter. It’s coming along nicely. I had planned on only adding the joists on the right side, but when I lost my hammer to the rest of the family for some horse chores, I adapted and started on plywood.

I had planned on putting the plywood up there sideways, and only covering half of the shelter, but I decided to cover it completely, giving a little more shelter and warmth in winter. Plus it should improve structural integrity and a little durability.

The plywood needs to be cut, as every piece is  a different shape with the land sloping. I had to put every piece up there and cut it to fit the shape of the roof. I made the measurements as well for ordering metal.

There’s one problem:

The first few pieces I put in had a gap. When I measured the roof, and then base again, I realized that the posts had warped or bent slightly, pulling the SW corner further away at the top of the post. So much for wood being straight, or remaining so.

It’s not a lot, and I could leave it, but it’s bugging me, so I think I’ll pull up this plywood from the roof and tie in the fronts square. It means recutting the joists, but that’s not a big deal. It won’t take that long and I’ll feel better.

Now I need to get to the store and purchase a few more sheets of OSB.

Roofing

Not my favorite thing to do, but fortunately I was about 8-9 feet off the ground today.

I added 3 sheets of plywood, but then I realized Tia had the braces in her truck. I did manage to measure out for metal, so I’ll order that tomorrow.

I also found that the top had pulled a little out of square. I’m guessing the posts moved a touch. Not sure if I should attempt to pull it back, but I know I’d need to recut all the braces and also get a board on the end. Seems almost like more work than I’d like. I think it will be easier to just cut the metal to fit and trim the top boards in a few places.

Chugging Along

It’s been a busy week, but I did manage to get outside and do a little work this weekend. I drilled through the posts and roof trusses and added bolts to the shelter.

It’s 4 standard boards wide, which made for a challenge. I had a 1/2” spade bit designed to dig through, and used that, but it was only about 3/4 of the width long. I guessed right on the first one (fortunately) and got the holes to line up, drilling from each side, but on the rest I decided to try something different.

I had a long bit, about 16-18” designed for going through walls. I used that to pilot the holes, drilling slow, and then used the spade bit from each side to follow the pilot hole. For the most part it worked well, but I ended up having to nail through a few of the bolts with a hammer as the holes weren’t quite in line.

I was hoping to use 7” bolts, but Home Depot only had 8”, so there’s lots of extra. Shouldn’t be an issue, at least I hope not.

I was distracted, and forget to add the last roof truss on before doing the bolt, so I’ll have to remove those and add it on, drilling out the hole on the ground.

I even had a little help, which was nice.

Slowing Down

I’m trying not to push too hard on projects as I get older. I try to be safe and not get hurt. I was doing good today, putting up roof braces and cutting the shed poles to size when I went to start the generator for the last brace. I ended up banging my knuckle on the frame and slicing it nicely open.

I managed to hold it while getting the generated started and put in two screws into a brace before I decided it wasn’t worth getting blood all over or making something slippery and hurting myself.

Stopping for the afternoon at that, and planning on a trip to grab a few things from the store later today.

More drilling

Today was more augering into the shed holes. I was out there standing on the auger at times, and alternately pouring water in the holes and taking a break while it soaked in. In two sessions I managed to get 3 holes dug enough and another close. Two are still just a touch over halfway.

Ugh.

A New Loafing Shed

My wife wanted a new loafing shed in the other pasture as we’re starting to have lots of horses here, 10 now and 2 more coming. So I decided to get started on it by marking the corner poles. I had my wife give me a rough idea and then I went to work.

First I pounded in one corner pole, and then measured from the fence. I put down string in the direction I wanted and then measured 10 ft off. Getting the distance to the fence allowed me to fix the string in the right position and pound in another stake. I had the back of my shed now marked.

From there I added the other 4 poles. Three in back and three in front and when they were all roughly 10 ft apart (a 2x3 rectangle), I measured the diagonals. Those weren’t square, so I had to move things slightly to make the measurements work and soon enough I had six stakes in the ground.

Those were replaced by paint markers before I went to get the auger and tractor.

I started drilling, but that didn’t go well. Lots of clay in that part of the property, so I ended up getting a bucket and dumping water into 6 half drilled holes before calling it a day.

Benches

I knocked together a quick bench earlier this year for my wife’s tack room. Her business has been growing, and she asked for another one, which was the project of the week.

I bought wood on Saturday, but as with most things, I didn’t have the day go as planned. Kids came with me and I didn’t get home until almost dark, so I gave up for the night.

Sunday morning I got out there and started cutting wood. I decided to cut everything first since I needed 5 braces and 4 saddle racks. With the miter saw, I got everything cut to size and that was it. 90F and baseball in the afternoon drove me inside early.

Monday night, however, I wandered out to the garage and started screwing things together. 2 screws in each corner, making a series of “A” shapes that will brace the bench. This design worked fantastic the last time, so I kept it. I stacked them up and planned on getting out there the next day.

I managed to find time, and dragged out my braces, a drill, screws, a circular saw, extension cord, and a stool to the barn. I had purchased 10’ boards, thinking they’d just fit in there, but they were a touch long. Here is me measuring the space where the bench will go.

 

 

I screwed one brace to the wall

 

 

And another to the existing bench in the background.

 

 

Then I added more in the middle. I used these as separaters for the various bins people have more than for support.

 

 

By moving the bin as I angle screwed these to the wall, I had a good idea of the space I could leave between them. 4 new slots are on the wall now.

Once those were in, I put the top board on. As you can see, it needed a trim. Rather than mess with the measuring tape across 10’ (with no help), I measured in place. Once this was cut, I used this measurement to do the rest of the boards.

 

The first board is in place on top. Things went quickly and smoothly from here. I used a countersink bit in each case to make a slight indent in the top board, then added a drill through to the underlying brace before screwing things in.

 

 

I only used one screw per board per brace. I could have used 2, but for the most part this bench will get little stress. Saddle racks will be above it, so it’s mostly a place people can set things. I could have used 1x4s instead and it would have been find, but I elected not to. Someone might stand on it.

 

 

Once it was done, I swept up and the bench was there. You can see I added a front face board as well. It’s another 2x4, with the top edge screwed down into it. Again, I could have gone smaller, but this is simple.

The Horsey Mailbox

My wife has been wanting a mailbox for her horses. Not that the horses get letters, but she wants them to get used to approaching a standing device, and have the rider get things in and out. Supposedly it’s good training, and I’ve been meaning to do it. With her teaching this weekend, I decided to knock it out.

I didn’t want a set post in the ground, but I’d made a couple volleyball posts and one had broken. So I decided to use that. I cut two 2x4s and added them to the broken post, giving me an upright set of posts to hold the mailbox.

I screwed these in with 6-7 screws on each side. Once that was done, I grabbed the mailbox I’d bought the other day. First I measure the underside, which was about 6 1/4” wide. I cut a 2x6 down to fit in there, and then ripped a rabbit in the middle of it so the mailbox would sit on it. I then bandsawed the end to fit inside my two upright posts. You can see the top here:

Once that was done, I screwed it into the two posts, using a clamp to hold it. I also added a support at an angle, screwed into the upright posts in the same way.

Once this was done, I added the mailbox and it was set. The mailbox is about eye level for me, so it shouldn’t be too low for someone on horseback.

Hay Mover

When we went to big bales, we worried about moving them around the property. The first year wasn’t bad since we had 8 delivered at a time, and just dropped them in the barn from the trucks and fed off them. However this year, with a hay shortage, we decided we needed more and had 24 or so delivered in the fall. A friend has a similar, but slightly smaller, tractor, and he built a set of pallet forks for his tractor.

We were hoping he would help us, but he ended up getting hurt, and with hay getting in short supply in the barn, we decided to just order some. A little bit of trouble since the original forks we planned on were not being made, but we decided to move to a skid steer adapter, and then add pallet forks, or other attachments to that.

I’d been meaning to go get them, but too busy. However today, despite waking up a little late, I packed up Kendall after feeding horses and raced up there. We were pushing 82 in a 75 most of the way, arriving at 11:58 (they closed at 12). They’re in the country, and good neighbors, and a guy stuck around to help me load my stuff, and take the bucket off. They’re going to adapt the bucket to work with the skid steer, and so  I left it, bringing back the load above. Pallet forks on top, and the skid steer adapter on the bottom.

We got home, and my first step was to remove the old bucket quick attach frame. Not sure what we’ll do with that, but I pulled it off.

It’s four bolts held in with pins and they were fairly easy to remove. A little pounding, but it worked fine. However it’s a pain and definitely not what I want to be doing to switch from the forks to the bucket.

I then lifted and grunted the adapter near and managed to get it attached. The first pin is in above, and surprisingly it wasn’t too bad to get them all in. However that thing is a 100 lbs of solid metal and not easy to move. Taking this one and off would not be fun.

 

Once it was on, it looked pretty good. I had to lift the tractor and then adjust it slightly to get the pins in, and then I added the forks.

We didn’t move hay, but we did test them out and they worked pretty good.

The Difference Between Male and Female

You’d think I’d know the difference. Heck, I thought I knew the difference.

Actually I think I do know the difference, I just don’t always pay attention. The other day Tia asked me to help her fix some extension cords, which we use for the water heaters in the winter. The horses need water, and it tends to freeze in CO if we don’t add some heat.

I went out, cut the end off the extension cord, which was damaged, and used a replacement from the store to fix it up. Here’s what I ended up with:

Here’s what I needed:

 

As you can see when they’re together, they’re different. Since this end of the extension cord needs to accept the plug from the water heater, I screwed up.

So I had to remove my plug, then wire up the new one. It wasn’t hard, but I had to strip out the insulation in the cold weather. It wasn’t windy, but it’s about 35F out there and since I move slow with my big clumsy hands, it got chilly quickly. Working with those small wires and tight screwdrivers is tough.

I managed to get two wires in, and then in trying to get the third screw loose, I pulled out all my wires. So I had to put all three wires back in, tighten them, test things with my tester (it worked!) and then close things up and re-attach the PVC to the barn wall that covers the cords as they come down from the roof.

At least I learned that it’s worth checking whether you need a male or female plug before you start attaching wires.

It’s a Broken Weld

I don’t feel like a complete idiot after today. I had emailed with a dealer that could do some work on my tractor and mentioned that my rotary mower had lost the pan and blades. They told me to bring it up and they’d take a look, so with some time today, I decided to head up and see what they could do.

It’s a long drive, about 60 miles from the house, but these were nice guys (unlike the crew in Parker), so I loaded the mower into the back of the horse trailer and headed up. It’s a nice, easy drive, and I was on the phone most of the way, doing work, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

I got up there, and two guys came to look at it. They were as confused as I was in trying to figure out how this was attached, especially with a nut still on the bottom shaft.

Then the guy in charge came over, tipped it higher, and took a closer look. He told me that there was no nut on it. It was welded on and the weld broke.

Apparently, just above the not and notched pieces, that round part was welded to the blade pan. Not a great design, but a cheap one and this is a (relatively) cheap mower.

I feel better, though a little dumb for not pushing this sooner. I’ve been looking for a local place to work on it and a few places have been hesitant, most wanting to sell me a new bush hog instead. These guys were friendly, and they said it would take about a week, so I’m looking forward to seeing it working again.

It definitely pays to find good service people and be ready to call them. I’d have never thought about that.

Fence Man

I went out this afternoon to work on fence. My wife was supposed to join me, but she has horses, and well, horses win out over fence. Actually she would have, but we have plans later and there wasn’t enough time for both.

So I headed out, pliers, clips, welded wire and gloves. As I wrestled the wire around on the ground, spinning it to unroll it by the foot, I was glad I had a hat on. Hot, sunny, and it’s tough work moving a 330’ roll of wire around. It went fairly smoothly, and I clipped it over the place I’d stopped and continued to the end.

The only thing slowing me down was a bit of an audience that was curious about what I was doing. There are 4 or 5 horses in the pasture next to where I was working, and they kept coming over the sniff my hands as I tried to clip wire on.

The North side is done! I had a little time, so I pounded in 3 t-posts, which is always a challenge when they’re 6 foot tall. But they’re in and the start of a track is going up.

The Wagon Box

My wife has a low garden wagon that she used to use to pull things around. She used to use it to move bales of hay around, and tow it behind the ATV. One of the wheels broke, and it had been out of service for months, but I finally ordered a new wheel and got it fixed last week.

However with the wind, it doesn't let her put loose hay on top. So I decided to put a "box" on top. My plan was to build 4 sides, each independent and then cover the frame with chicken wire. Today I went and bought some 2x2s, pressure treated, with my son while we were out and then got to work.

My basic plan was to cut 4 pieces that would fit in the wagon lengthwise. It wasn't clear quite how long to make them since the sides slope outward, so I cut them 34" long and then placed them in there, whittling them down to 33", which seemed to fit. I also cut 21" pieces (after starting at 22") that would fit the width, and this gave me a basic outline.

I was thinking to make it 12-18" high, but when I used one of the 21" pieces as a spacer, that seemed fine, so I went with that as well, cutting 4 of those to be the vertical pieces. Once I had things cut, it was time for some assembly.

Since I wanted to get done today, I used simple butt joints to assemble two frames that would be the sides. They were screwed together with 1 5/8" outdoor screws that I hope hold. They seemed fairly sturdy, but time will tell. Once they were up, I had to wrestle with the middle parts. I tried to connect them on the ground, but I didn't have anything giving me stability. After staring at it for awhile, I decided that I could just assemble the pieces in the wagon and that I didn't need to screw anything more than the top together.

They say most plans don't survive to execute, and this was one of them. I realized here that I my plans to add a back weren't necessarily going to work, and that a top would also make things hard to load, so I had to build stability into the sides. I thought that stretching chicken wire tightly would help, and I was prepared to add some cross bracing, but first I decided to show my wife.

So I bolted the four bottom pieces to the wagon by drilling through the base. I then walked over my three sided frame (the back had no top cross piece) to show my wife. She liked it, and asked if some of the OSB we had lying around would work for the sides. That seemed like a better idea to me, and since she evidently didn't care it if looked great, I went and sliced off a 24" strip. This was cut into two sides and a back, which were screwed on. The sides don't meet perfectly, but that's OK. It's close enough to get working, and this 3 hour project in the afternoon should prove very handy.

No great woodworking skills used here, but after not being in the shop for a month, it was good to get back out there.