Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

The Acid Test

The Acid Test

Yesterday after writing my blog I went out to the shop and checked out my new lift. It is a portable scissors type with a 6K lb. capacity.

When I first plugged it in I wanted to use my 110/30 amp service plug. It didn’t like that so I tried the 110/20 amp plug and that worked. I haven’t really used that plug much since I installed it for a plasma cutter I never used and maybe there are some problems in circuit. I don’t have an appliance that uses 30 Amps. Anyway the lift decided to start working and that is the important part. Next I found that the safety lock was not working correctly. I greased the bar and oiled the “Clicker” and that made a difference. It also taught me to “tap” the lock to make sure it is in place and test it by releasing the hydraulic pressure and make sure it stays in place. I am a bit squeamish about going under anything that lacks a working “fail-safe” even though the hydraulic pressure lets the lift lower slowly in a worst case, giving anyone underneath plenty of time to scoot out of the way.

Then it was time for the “acid-test”… A real pick-up…(If you call an S-10 a real pickup.) I do, but there are those who make disparaging comments about the smaller trucks. After a little “jockey about” it was time to do the raising and the lift worked perfectly and locked firmly in place. I proceeded to change the oil. A scissors lift is not perfect for this task as the lifting portion is in the way of getting to the drain plug out but there is enough access and it beats the heck out of crabbing about under a dolly that has to be raised onto jack-stands to begin with in order to have enough room to work underneath. The salesman who “demoed” it said this would be a “workaround” and he is right….it is a bit of a pain.

One of the problems came with the oil filter and getting it off. I had the old type strap and the filter was way up there, tight and a real pain to get off. I resolved to get a set of the plastic ones that fit over the serrated end of the canister and are removed with a ratchet and an extension.

Then I raised it up a little and pulled in the motorcycle clutch handle that releases the locking mechanism. This works just like a motorcycle hand clutch release and is remotely located on the control unit of the remotely positioned dolly component. It connects by a hydraulic release valve and also what might be compared to a lawnmower connecting cable. It looks weird but it’s safe and simple to understand.

Last night I welded for an hour and then listened again to the demo tape. It came with the welder is very good and informative. The instructor covers a lot of ground and sometimes talks a bit fast. I wanted to get the presentation down into writing so I had two laptops working… one playing the DVD while on the other I typed furiously…. about 30 words a minute… trying to keep up. When I finished the first iteration I had about half which is in bad need of a clean-up. Then tonight I will continue the process filling in the voids.

I am told that the same basic process was used to steal Shakespeare’s plays as rival companies sent stenographers to the sit in the galleries and copy the lines to a new play. Fortunately for us the thievery took place because it is these plagiarized scripts that have survived. I am not interested in plagiarizing but rather I need a written manuscript in order to really learn what I see on a video. Then I add my own material and what I have in the end is all the ideas of the original plus all the things I would have done differently had I been the producer. Once I have the manuscript I can begin to practice the words I will be using as I demonstrate the process before a live audience.

Getting a franchise, which requires very little in up front expenditure, requires that the candidate is not only technically skilled but also has a glibness that comes from a thorough understanding of the welding torches’ capability. When the time comes to prove myself, I want the flow to be seamless from showing to telling…. Sound familiar?

We do the same sort of thing trying to get a novel published and it’s an aspect of writing that is often neglected. I might write a blog in the future to explain better how this particular analogy works.