Category: Dropship

Starboard side is done except for little wedges that cover the bolts for the monitors!  Took about 2.5 hours last night.

What a find!  This guy on eBay is selling 14 of these (I need 4) … starting bid was $3.99!

The listing says NPT but the “G” in the model means BSPP (G-tap) so I started my hunt for adapters and bushings.  Came up with nothing in the 3/8 BSPP Male to either 3/4 hose barb or 1/2 FNPT routes.  So I started digging deeper including reaching out to Numatics.

I got to the “V” in the model number… nothing appears in the catalog so I reached out to Numatics.  Even though they made it, the response I got was “might be Viton seals but not 100% sure”.  Other Numatics products that offer Viton seals use the letter “F” for ordering … but it doesn’t seem to matter for the temperatures I am running at (any seal type would do).

A few hours before the bidding closed I found out about the Sentronic D… based on this chart we may be better off with the Sentronic D instead of the E22.

I ended up winning the auction for less than $15 a piece but then I was torn between trying one more technology (and potentially being stuck with another specialized $450 gizmo) or cutting my losses and use something that I know works acceptably for a steal.  Well, this is a learning experience too so I am getting a Sentronic D on the way for full weight tests again.  If it works out better, I will need more than 5A at 24VDC to power them.

This new frame will sit beneath the enclosure to protect the new, larger bellows from being pushed below their minimum height and to take the weight off the bellows when the enclosure is not on motion.  This replaces the extruded aluminum version.

My dad was throwing out this quartz radiant shop heater!  I hooked it up to see if I could thermoform the acrylic overhead window.

It had to be installed far enough away that the heat would evenly affect the width of the acrylic.  I also had a weak spot and changed the design of the cut (luckily I had two of these in stock).

Unfortunately, at that distance too much of the heat was attenuated.  It took about an hour to get a slight permanent bend in the window.  I went on to purchase a second unit on eBay which will sit beside this one for a second round of testing.

Originally I was looking at RV steps but because there is a solid wall of metal on the back of my trailer I won’t be able to install that style.  Now I am looking at a portable step product like this on eBay.