POTD- PROJECT OF THE DAY: What Did You Make In Your Shop Today?

[wachuko]

NICE! In Michigan we cannot be a "solar farm" and produce more than our historical bills over the last year. It seems fair to me as we currently pay for maintenance on the power lines through our normal electric bill from the power company. The less we use, the less we pay for the infrastructure maintenance. If we didn't draw anything off the grid, we'd pay nothing, but we'd get "paid" for sending power back up their lines. We should kick in something as we're using their lines. Most power companies in our area support what's called "net metering" or sending it back up the grid for credit, not cash. We earn $0.50 on the dollar for what we send which is credited to our bill.

Bruce

We pay a minimum fee no matter what. To support infrastructure.

And we also get a credit for what we send back. I need to find out what that is.

Right now solar covers all load during the day and batteries during the night. By 10:30 am the batteries are back to full charge.

 

[GoceKU]

Today i got the white elephant No:2 in the big garage. The carpet, seats have dried so i install the seat covers and continue assembly. The doors got double insulation and assembled and installed the door panels on all 4 doors. Then checked all the plastics for rattles fixed what i found and took it for a drive. With this its assembled minus the badges, i've order new they are month out. It took me almost a full day to fix all the small items, thankfully is done.

 

[great white]

NICE! In Michigan we cannot be a "solar farm" and produce more than our historical bills over the last year. It seems fair to me as we currently pay for maintenance on the power lines through our normal electric bill from the power company. The less we use, the less we pay for the infrastructure maintenance. If we didn't draw anything off the grid, we'd pay nothing, but we'd get "paid" for sending power back up their lines. We should kick in something as we're using their lines. Most power companies in our area support what's called "net metering" or sending it back up the grid for credit, not cash. We earn $0.50 on the dollar for what we send which is credited to our bill.

Bruce

Little bit different here (NS).

we have net metering and time of day shifting.

We generate power during the day and sell it to utility at the rate they would be charging us and then we draw from the grid overnight when the rates are lower for big power consumers like our floor heat and hot water.

We also have to pay a “base fee” for power service, which is whats supposed to pay for lines and upkeep.

Doesn’t stop them from trying to jack the rates crazy fast and screw everyone with and endless parade of fees and other charges.

Luckily, the province has a “utilities board” and when they want to add fees or jack rates they need board approval. Don’t make you case well enough, get denied your new “fees” and rates…

 

[BGHansen]

We also have to pay a “base fee” for power service, which is whats supposed to pay for lines and upkeep.

Doesn’t stop them from trying to jack the rates crazy fast and screw everyone with and endless parade of fees and other charges.

We have a base fee also, so I guess we are kicking in for maintenance regardless of what we generate.

Our power companies are privately run, but need to go through the government to change rates. Our company (Tri-County Power of Portland, MI) is very reasonable, especially when compared to prices of other things.

Bruce

 

[great white]

We have a base fee also, so I guess we are kicking in for maintenance regardless of what we generate.

Our power companies are privately run, but need to go through the government to change rates. Our company (Tri-County Power of Portland, MI) is very reasonable, especially when compared to prices of other things.

Bruce

Same here, private company, gov't approval required. Probably has as much to do with the power company was a crown corporation and then the private company took over after the public paid for all the infrastructure......

 

[Boswell]

When we put in our system a few years ago, our local power company had a net metering system that tru'd up each month. Earlier this year they did away with the net metering system and now we pay one rate for what we take and get about half that for what we give. The impact is that when we get much less value for over-producing during the day. Our electric bills went up 50% when they made the change. Very disappointing. When we evaluated the value of solar, I took into account that they would probably raise the rates but never expected them to do away with net metering entirely. We do not have any batteries which made economic sense with net metering in place, but now I am starting to think about installing a battery bank.

 

[matthewsx]

Space


Got rid of the stock stand for my RF-31and put it up on a table that I already had with a couple of layers of subfloor material for reinforcement/height.




I've been meaning to do this for a while and I finally had time today. Next weekend, the lathe....

John

 

[Janderso]

Milling table side clamp. 5 degree bevel, A2 stock, hardened then finish ground.
This is the first time I used stainless steel foil wrap. Wow, what a difference. No carbon scale to deal with when out of the oven.

I was going to make two but the ER40 collett failed to hold my dovetail cutter. I had to scrap one of the parts. I learned to use a NT30 taper end mill holder. All went well after that.
(The stock went into my collection)

 

[dkemppai]

Bolt Depot carries Grade 8 & 18-8 SS thick washers: Bolt Depot "US" Washers

18-8 is really soft compared to Grade 8. I had wanted to get away from 'gummy' material of the lower grade washers.

 

[matthewsx]

Space

View attachment 424439
Got rid of the stock stand for my RF-31and put it up on a table that I already had with a couple of layers of subfloor material for reinforcement/height.

View attachment 424440


I've been meaning to do this for a while and I finally had time today. Next weekend, the lathe....

John

Looked at all the options and least money for best storage remains Harbor Freight. Got this Taiwan built top box for $220.

Now I need to figure the best way to disable the drawer locks.