CEB Day 2

Yesterday I was able to start the cylinder rod mounting scheme. Some acetylene torch cutting of the holes, trimming 1” plate to size, grinding, and welding were the tasks required:

The compression plate is still not complete as a whole, but it’s getting there. It took some time to go to Sweiger and experiment with penetration for making solid welds. It turns out that a smaller rod (3/32”) works better (than a 1/8”) for penetration, as the thinner rod passes the same current through a smaller area, so it gets hotter. This is the case when the welder itself is not a high power one, such as mine, which goes up to 150 amps.

Today I got hydraulic fittings, from Sweiger. I started connecting the cylinder to the spool valve and tractor hydraulics. I will push out the cylinder to its full extension in order to specify mounting position in the CEB frame. I just need some more fittings, given the nonstandard trunnion cylinder:

In any case, the progress is visible and exciting.