This one is for Carl S...

Ok, so I had a booth next to Carl Strong at this years NAHBS and he brought up an old discussion we had on one of the forums; the advantages of pulsed tig welding vs. straight amperage welding.  Carl promised if I secured a space next to him for Austin's get together, he'd give me a pulser to step into a new realm of welding.  Not one to back down on an opportunity, I threw down my money, squated next to Carl and Loretta for 2011, and promised to funk up the weekend with a disco ball, groovy tunes, and my new pulser :)

What I did not share is that I've had a pulser all along, I've just never pushed the magic button.  More because you run faster with what you know, but also because I'm getting older and crotchety and don't like messing with what's fast and comfortable.  So today, after lying around the house for the morning, I could not stand it any longer.  Although I watched two episodes of American Pickers on History Channel online (a new favorite show), I had to get to doing something.  So I got Christi to drive me to the shop and I tried a little work...welding on some bars and laying down the final clear on Steve's frame.  Turns out it was a bad idea, as I obviously over did it, but anyhoo, I've got a picture to share.

One weld is pulsed, the other is straight amperage with rhythmic rod feed, can you tell which is which?

Gonna work on a painting vid over the weekend so I don't get too bored as I heal up.  Also going to help Steve build up his bike tomorrow.  I'll check in with y'all soon.

rody

still kicking

Just a quick note to let y'all know that I came through the surgery well...really sore but in good spirits :)

Thanks to all for the prayers and good wishes.

rody

Hey fancy pants, that's some fun paint.

Spent today working on Ti Luvs and Steve T's paint.  Steve is getting a house paint job...he let go of the reigns and let me do something unique for him.  He's getting a candy brushed flame job, with deep red fading to orange and gold.  It really shines in the sun.  Should look good rolling up to the winners podium :)

I also painted up a special bar for a lovely lady who was taken by the Hibiscus bike at Nahbs and had to have a bar to match her bike; sparkly purple flowers on a white base.

And for Mike in Pa, a shot of what the Groovy Tee's look like... ringer tees in brown, green, blue, and cardinal red.  20 bucks shipped to your door.  You can send the money by Payapl or call with a credit card.

Off to the hospital first thing in the am.  Don't know how long I'll be laid up but will try to keep up with email and such over the weekend. 

rody

Lot's to catch up on...

Ok guys and gals,

I've been back for almost a week and have not posted a thing, not that I've not been busy with both good and bad...more on that later.

I thought I'd catch you up on our annual "get away from the kids, work, and miserable Ohio weather" vacation trip.  This will be short on words and heavier on pics...

One of my favorite vacation activities is to cook, as I enjoy the artistic diversity of creating something that tastes as good as it looks.  Unlike the Fire Department, where my creativity is stifled by a bunch of whiny cheap bastards who don't like anything that is not made of beef or potatoes, now I'm cooking for myself and can make what ever I want (nothing personal guys, you know I love ya).  I took the opportunity to make some grub that makes me happy.

So for Mike and I, I whipped up some huevos rancheros with a little fresh avacado and cilantro. The girls got bananna and macadamia nut pancakes with a side of bacon.  A good way to start the day :)

Some very cool flowers...there's a neat paint scheme in these for the right customer, could it be you?

I'm a sucker for lighthouses, but more specifically, the Fresnel lenses that magnify the beam of light.  The engineering and craftsmanship that goes into the multiple layers of glass astounds me.  This one used a Clamshell lense, not what I hoped for, but beautiful just the same.

We could not resist hiking to the top of this 800' waterfall in Waimea Canyon...

and dangling my feet over the edge for an unparalleled view.  Only thing better would be climbing it if it was frozen...yeah baby!  One of the drawbacks to Nahbs being in the winter, no more time to ice climb :(

Polihale Beach is at the end of an old sugar cane road that is full of potholes, ruts, and craters that would swallow most 4wd trucks.  Fortunately, we had the next best thing...a 4 cylinder compact rental car ;)

Polihale marks the West end of the Napali Coast, a gorgeous coastline only accessible by boat, an epic swim, or a centuries old hiking trail that covers a third of it's length.  Here Christi and I are taking in the view by boat, the lazyman's option.  I would love to come back in the summer time and sea kayak the coastline, camping and hiking along the way.  Maybe someday?

Just like the winds that sweep the trees, it too blew us back home.  Once back, I had some hard news to learn.  Those of you who have been following the blog for a while know that I've had a storied medical past...well, it's coming back to bite me again.  Long story short, I spent two days with the Cardiologist getting some tests done and it looks like I'll be going under the knife Thursday morning for some minor heart surgery.  With that scheduled, I wasted half a day feeling sorry for myself, a whole day on email and voicemail, took a day to watch Emmy's volleyball team take 1st in their Silver flight at the Brunswick tourney, then got to work on shop orders.

I put the final coat of primer on Steve's sponsored race frame...color will begin in the morning.  Gonna do a candy red/orange/yellow brushed fire theme, should be snazzy.

I've got a bunch of bars to knock out, so I put my head down and got to work.  A long day later, most of the steelies are done.  Ti bars will get going tomorrow.  Wednesday will be a long push to get Cary's Groovy Series race drawing frame fabbed up before I'm down physically for a tiny bit.

More tomorrow night,

rody

Vacation contest pic time!!!!

Got a quick internet connection tonight so I'm giving y'all something to do while I'm away. 

First person to correctly identify the location of this pic gets a special care package from the shop...I'll throw in a Tee, some stickers and whatever else I can find that is unique and slightly goofy.  Leave your best guess in the comments area.

Disclaimer:  Yep, it's a crappy cell phone pic, sorry.  Contest is for registered readers only, if ya wanna play, by all means hit "follow this blog".  I'll send out the stuff once I get back :)

Have fun and good luck,

rody

No one home...

Hey y'all,

I'll be out of the shop until March 16th to spend some time with Christi as she was such a good sport during show prep.  Feel free to leave a voicemail or email and I'll attend to them when I return. 

We'll not be sitting around on our butts, however, as we've updated our master list for all builds and will try to get the info up on the web site and blog for you to see where we are in getting to your commissioned work.

I'm hoping to have some cool info to share next week, including the new frame fixture dreamt up by Grove Cycle Design with some input from myself and a few select builders to create the ultimate fabricators tool.  Tune in as well for Chad's Ti road bike and Cary's 650b race frame which he won at the 2009 Groovy Race Series drawing.

Looking forward to getting back fresh and enthusiastic,

rody