Fish or Cut Bait or Mount the Rotary Table? Covid-19 Quarantine

[C-Bag]

It is so nice to be able to fix just about anything, make repairs to old machine tools, have a place my wife and I can work together, have a plasma cutter, welding equipment, mills and a lathe with all the required tooling to create, renew, repair, modify.......... It's a real blessing.
Sorry honey, no garage for your car.

Ditto.

 

[Shootymacshootface]

For some reason, it seems to be easier to focus on other people's (wife) projects than my own. My mill has been apart for several weeks and my shop is a disaster. I guess its easier to dive into a laborious job than a very technical one.

 

[Janderso]

For some reason, it seems to be easier to focus on other people's (wife) projects than my own. My mill has been apart for several weeks and my shop is a disaster. I guess its easier to dive into a laborious job than a very technical one.

I've entertained the idea of taking the cross-slide and apron off my lathe to go through and clean it, repair the leaks by replacing the o-rings.
Dang, that just seems like a lot of work. The lathe runs and operates beautifully = why?
Someone said once, "you wouldn't do it to a used car, why do it to a machine tool?" -good point.
I'm also thinking about getting the auto table feed fixed on my old Industrolite horizontal/vertical milling machine. All it needs is a new bicycle chain, I think. I just can't seem to roll it out of the corner to get started. Another one of those -wait for retirement projects.
I should continue making tooling, mill, grind and scrape my Kieth Rucker 9" straight edge. Again, Just can't seem to start.
Too many choices.......Fish or cut bait
What a great problem to have.

 

[AGCB97]

I also experience the lack of motivation regarding starting a project. I suspect it is largely due to the philosophy that "I'm retired so I don't have to start the project now, it can wait". The sense of urgency that was present when my time was limited doesn't exist any more.

I seem to be opposite. When I was still working I had to plan when I was going to start or do projects because time was not so easy to come by. Now that I'm retired (6 years), when I think of a project I begin planning/obtaining parts right away. I've always got multiple projects under way. Sorry to say, not all get finished soon or ever.
Aaron

 

[westerner]

Too many choices.......Fish or cut bait
What a great problem to have.

Indeed. This is a great thread, read with deep interest. I will cash my last paycheck around Thanksgiving. (And that timing is NO coincidence).

when I think of a project I begin planning/obtaining parts right away. I've always got multiple projects under way. Sorry to say, not all get finished soon or ever.

I have been doing it like this for decades. I truly believe I will NOT have a problem with staying involved and interested, for as long as my health holds out.

 

[Old Mud]

Well this title caught my attention. Hope your wife will be ok Jeff.

I read this thread and smiling the whole way through. So much alike many in so many ways. I guess i retired 16 years ago. Still as busy as ever and don't know how i ever had time to work. I have been on lockdown for 67 days and don't even care what's happening out there. Anyway on June first I start fishing and as always can't wait. As I fish for Tuna i will be 35 to 45 miles offshore so if im not fishing solo i will have one other guy with me. (Now this is why this caught my attention).

The " Fish or cut bait" is our only option. We swap off often. If there were another option it would be to swim to shore, So, " Fish or cut bait"

 

[Aaron_W]

I've entertained the idea of taking the cross-slide and apron off my lathe to go through and clean it, repair the leaks by replacing the o-rings.
Dang, that just seems like a lot of work. The lathe runs and operates beautifully = why?
Someone said once, "you wouldn't do it to a used car, why do it to a machine tool?" -good point.
I'm also thinking about getting the auto table feed fixed on my old Industrolite horizontal/vertical milling machine. All it needs is a new bicycle chain, I think. I just can't seem to roll it out of the corner to get started. Another one of those -wait for retirement projects.
I should continue making tooling, mill, grind and scrape my Kieth Rucker 9" straight edge. Again, Just can't seem to start.
Too many choices.......Fish or cut bait
What a great problem to have.

I find it is a lot easier to plan a project than to actually do it. This has resulted in a much larger to do list than the done list.

It took less than a blink of an eye to make the choice and so began retirement. The first 3 years were nothing like what you're experiencing now. It was non stop 16 to 18 hour days catching up on everything we let slide when we were both working. Once we finally caught up we started traveling. We put well over 100,000 miles on one motorhome and another 50,000 on the second. In the non travel time I was trying to get projects done in the shop and the wife was into quilting.

This seems to be where I'm at. So many projects around the house that I put off when I was working along with new ones that pop up seem to take all my time. I have found there is a great deal of truth in the whole "I don't know how I had the time to go to work" thing.

 

[Janderso]

I shamed myself into dragging out the rotary table and getting it ready to do some work.
You guys inspired me. Now that I'm back to work and I have no time, I'm getting motivated to make a tap wrench.
Kind of like this.....

 

[Janderso]

I made one of the handles over the weekend. I don't have a proper knurling tool.
Don't laugh. Stop laughing....
.

 

[davidcarmichael]

I shamed myself into dragging out the rotary table and getting it ready to do some work.
You guys inspired me. Now that I'm back to work and I have no time, I'm getting motivated to make a tap wrench.
Kind of like this.....

I made that tap wrench, to make a tool to build another tool.
I followed This Old Tony's dimensions fairly closely. It works really well.