Hi All,
A brief into...
Living in Ontario Canada, in an old farm house, and currently planning our retirement home on our 33 acre site. The plan is, to first get a listeroid running here at home, to get some experience operating one of these machines. The retirement home will be off the grid, and the listeroid engine offers so much toward achieving the dream of quiet reliable power.
I wanted to share my story because I bet a lot of DIY'ers would kill for a chance to start from scratch, doing the design and building the home with self sufficiency as a key part of the design goals. I also thought if I was willing to share the project with others, it may inspire someone to give it a try also. Of course, the real motive is to get free advise from real DIY'ers, who actually know what the heck they are doing. As you may have guessed, I am not a diesel mechanic, I don't own a welder, or an engine hoist, but I do have some electrical background in my past. The success of the project will depend on me, and the help of the kind old timers, who enjoy sharing their knowledge with others, for the betterment of their fellow human beings.Â
Scheduled pickup of a listeroid 6/1 is April, 2007. (The taxman is funding this purchase.) Lots to do before I'm ready to bring'er home, and being green as the paint on a lister, I hoped my story will inspire other wanna be DIY'ers, so here's how it begins.....
Stopped by the scrap metal yard today on my way home, and met Bruno, the owner, I would guess he's about 60. I wanted to see about getting a couple of "I" beams to mount my listeroid on. Bruno says "what you wanna this stuff for anyway? I explained, I intend to mount a 700lb engine on it, and Bruno says, "what kinda engine isa dis?" I tried to explain, but he just scratched his head and walked out the back of the office, into the scrap yard, so I followed. I was coming straight from work, still wearing my office worker attire, he must have thought he's got a real winner here.Â
As we walked, its mud everywhere, scrap iron in mountains all around, and a giant electromagnetic crawler crane in the middle of it all. Bruno sends me to talk to the guy standing next to the crane. Bruno says, "You go anda see Steve, he willa take care of you. Justa tell him whata you want". So, off I go, following the tire tracks of the loader that just went by, creating a soupy path for me to follow.Â
As I get closer, I see a big man with a smile the size of a barn door. (Probably trying to hold back the laughter at the guy in the dress shoes.) "Yes sir, how can I help you", Steve says. So I explain, I'm looking for a couple of pieces of "I" beam, to mount an engine on. He points to a pile of assorted "I" beams, some up to 16' long. "How about this", he says, as he points to one of the beams in the pile. I nod, Steve climbs up to the cab of the crane, and then the crane springs to life, as I run for mine. The crane is grinding, squeaking and roaring as Steve crawls up to the pile of "I" beams and reaches out with the clawed magnet on the end of the boom. Bang, as a beam comes in contact with the surface of the magnet. It was like watching some metallic monster snacking on hunks of metal. He swings one of the beams out of the pile and lowers it to the ground, where Bruno is waiting. Bruno says "you wanta 2 pieces, 6', yes?". I nod again. Out of his pocket he pulls a tape measure and a sparker. Hanging on the shed wall behind him is a long pair of hoses with a cutting torch on the end. Bruno grabs the torch, snaps the sparker a couple of times, and a bright flame flairs from the torch. I can tell the torch is in the hands of a master. In a few minutes, he cut off 2 pieces, 6' long, and waved for the loader to come. The operator picked up the 2 pieces and motioned for me to put my truck on the scale. I jogged back to the truck, being careful where I step, and moved the truck onto the scale.Â
I can see a women in the office motion that she has it, and the loader operator lowers the beams to the height of the tailgate, he jumps down from the loader and slides the pieces into my truck like he had done this before. The woman in the office waves me off the scale, and I go inside to pay. So far, I am not to sure what this is going to cost me, but in my mind I'm thinking, it can't cost that much more than a couple of pressure treated 8" X 8"s, can it?.Â
Bruno is back in the office, looks at the number on the scale, turns to me and says, "that’sa 400 lbs." Then he says, "25 cents a pound, how'sa that sound?" "Sold" I said, and I put my credit card on the counter. You would think I pulled a gun by the looks I got. The woman in the office says to me, "I'm sorry, we only accept cash". So, now I'm 20 minutes away from the nearest bank machine, but the "I" beams are already loaded on the truck. Bruno lets me leave with the stuff loaded on the truck, and I was back in 40 minutes, with $100 cash. When I go in to pay Bruno, he smiles and hands me back a $20. "Thatsa Ok" he grins. I thanked him, and told him I would be back again.
Lessons learned.......
Never try to pay for goods at a scrap metal yard with a credit card. Always bring cash.
Also, If you go in dress shoes, you get a lot of smiles from the staff.
http://listerengine.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?pos=-463What's next, hummm, how am I going to get these things off the truck?Â
Mark