Fulfilling a dream

[JedidiahStolzfus]

It didn't come home today

We got down there around 9:30 and I crawled underneath, which I didn't get to do when we bought it because of the rain. I didn't want to be in wet clothes that day for hours so I leaned under and took pictures. Sadly they didn't truly tell the tale. There is some damage to the under frame, and no way to attach an axle.

Alternate plan, we're getting my friends flatbed trailer and the guys down there are going to help us slide it onto it. Then we're going to take it back up to his place where we can work on reinforcing the frame and attaching the axle while it's still on the flatbed. We have a plan for that.

Once it's on it's own wheels, it comes home. Then there's the problem with the title, it's on an MD salvage title, which means before we can get it registered and titled up here, we have to pay for an inspection down there. Instead, we're going to title it up here under a new custom trailer, and get it inspected up here. Fortunately, I have a good friend that can inspect it.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

After assessing the damage today I realized I'm gonna have some welding to do. I'm not much of a welder, I bought a mig 2 years ago at the height of covid and only used it a couple of times. Today I went out to practice some. I have one tip, don't weld near dry leaves sitting near your wood pile, lest ye set it on fire.

Grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and filled it from the rain barrel and doused it.

 

[Rexlion]

For welding something structural and essential like that (something you don't ever want to take a chance of flying apart), I'd hire a really good welder. You'll be hauling that thing on highways, right? Lives could be at stake. JMO.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

For welding something structural and essential like that (something you don't ever want to take a chance of flying apart), I'd hire a really good welder. You'll be hauling that thing on highways, right? Lives could be at stake. JMO.

Plans changed since then. Getting this on the road is still in flux. Details to follow.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

One of the ideas that came up for getting this on wheels was to get another trailer and slide it underneath and attach it. Of course, the problem there is getting another trailer. Lastnight I was talking to a friend about it, and he mentioned a boat trailer, but boat trailers of that length aren't really meant for the weight. So I pondered for a while, and decided that now that I have a pickup truck, I don't really need my utility trailer anymore. I have one, that's registered and titled for 3500lbs 5'x10'. But it has a solid axle, and no suspension.

But I just bought a complete axle with suspension. Now the plan is to reuse that trailer. It currently has a square tubing frame around it and heavy duty metal fenders. I can cut all that off. It's very strong frame with a desk of steel diamond plate. I'm going to take it up to my friend's place where it's currently sitting (it came up today). We'll flip it over so it's sitting on the square tubing. Take the axle off and mount the new one. I'll also rust treat the bottom and run all the wiring.

Once we get everything mounted and wiring hung so it doesn't get caught on anything, we'll take the axle back off, lift "the box" up high enough, and then with the help of some strong men and a healthy supply of lard, we'll slip the trailer under "the box" and then lower it down.

Then, we'll be able to slip some cribbing under the trailer to raise it enough that we can get jacks under it, raise it up and bolt in the axle. That is the plan, some of it should work.

Here's two videos of the transfer from where it sat on cinder blocks to a rollback, then from the rollback to the 20' trailer. That's my friend in the video, he's a retired truck driver and it's his trailer we loaded it onto. It's also sitting at his place until we get the rest of the plan completed. His trailer weighs 3500lbs, with the "the box" on it, we were at 7000lbs. It was a little slow getting up hills, but my trucks pulled it the 3 hours back to his place.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

I thought to suggest something like that, a topper on the truck more things you can bring along.Just remember with a heavy weight just take your time you will be alright and good luck, carnivals, fairs, meets and shows you should stay pretty busy,I have been wondering if a school bus conversion can work, remember the barbecue setup can be on its own little cart.

Truck has a cap on it, and I changed out all the latches to locking latches. It's going to be our warehouse while we're out. Full size bed is nice.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

The trailer looks more heavy duty than the 3500 lb trailer you mentioned.

It's not.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

It's off the 20 footer.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

My trailer yesterday.

Axle is gone after flipping it over.

Tongue is gone, but will be reattached further forward.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

Didn't work on the trailer yesterday because the guy that's been helping went back down to the place I got it and bought a 7500lb vehicle lift. Today, it was just too damn cold and windy up there on the hill.

Instead I've been working on other things. I have a Raspberry Pi 4 in an enclosure with a 500gb SSD that will be our POS system using ODOO. Yesterday I got it configured to broadcast it's own wifi network that the ordering tablet will connect to as well as a group of ESP32 surveillance cameras. I just got Zoneminder configured to record the streams of the cameras. All of that will be run from a 12vdc source on the truck. I even found 12vdc monitors that will work perfectly connected to the Rpi4.

Meanwhile my 3D printer has been busy making the letters we'll use for the menu. I'm using self sticking magnetic strips (think fridge magnets), and the right side of the order window is a perfect spot for the menu. The order window door even closes over top of that area so we can keep the menu up, but have it easily accessible for changes.

The 3D printer will also be tasked with making the enclosures for the cameras to suit their location on the trailer.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

Progress was made yesterday afternoon and today. I got Zoneminder working on an Rpi4 with these little ESP32 cameras. That was after several restarts on getting Zoneminder working due to variances in versions of the OS and the instructions available. Plus getting the correct firmware loaded onto the cameras and the correct configuration in Zoneminder for them to function. But they work now, and I'll have a 4 camera custom surveillance system for the trailer.

Today, we reassembled the donor trailer into it's new configuration. The trailer went from being about 13' long to now 15' because we had to move the tongue forward because of the new springs.

Total, it involved welding two pieces of 3/8" steel to the under side to give us a place to weld the spring hangers. Then had to weld the tongue to it, and to two shims at the front of the trailer so it all sat level. We got all that done in 4 hours, but that also included time to fly the drones around and eat some amazing subs from a local joint that I frequent.

Plus some amazing drone footage of an old man welding that will surely activate your ASMR

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

Going to pull it with that "Super Duty'?

No, it's not mine, plus it doesn't currently run, and he can't figure out why.

I think I have my POSpi up and running. I'm using ODOO as the POS, Zoneminder for video surveillance, NodeRed with MQTT for remote sensor monitoring. Since I'll be using coolers loaded with ice to keep food cool, I'm going to build some wifi enabled temp sensors that will monitor the temp and report them to NodeRed. Data can be displayed on the screen in the trailer, and alarms can sound if they get too warm. The sensors will be battery powered with a solar panel backup/charge.

I hit a wall yesterday when working with Zoneminder when I found that the cameras I have, are 2.4ghz only, and setting up the RaspberryPi as an access point, I can only run it as either G or A, but not both at the same time without a bunch of configuration that isn't known to be stable.

Jumped on Craigslist and quickly found a guy selling a pair of dual band routers for $15 for the pair. Ran out and got them, and now my cameras can connect to it, and the RPi is connected via ethernet to it. The wireless on the Rpi will connect to my local Wifi when it's within range, so it can be backed up and worked on when it's home. The routers will also provide connectivity to the temp sensors and the tablet we'll be using for order taking.

Commercial POS $1000+

My POS with surveillance and wireless ordering under $200. Most expensive parts are the two 12" 12VDC monitors that I have yet to order. The cameras were under $9 each, the Rpi under $50 and the Argon case was around $50 with a 500GB SSD installed.

While I was up when the trailer was getting welded, I got to get inside and do more poking around, which I didn't do much of before because the cinderblocks it was on down in MD didn't feel that stable walking around. I discovered that there's a "Bain Marie" commonly called a steam table. It's a large 2 bay one that's heated with propane. We thought we'd have to buy one, but it's already built in, we just need the pans that fit it.

Also discovered that the coffee machine is propane heated, but we don't know if we're going to use it or not. It's missing the lid and so far we haven't been able to identify it to even know if we can get parts for it.

I also thought it didn't have a grey water tank, but it does. But I need to figure out a drain for that, before we attach the two trailer together. Weather permitting, tomorrow I'm back up there. Plan is to flip the donor trailer back over, cut off all square tubing off and the fenders. Run all the wiring. That will take most of the day. Plus, we need time to fly the drones around.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

Been too cold and windy to be working outside this week, especially since I was planning on sitting under the "box" and welding. Instead decided to do some programming.

I had ordered an ESP32 with OLED screen last week with the intent to use it as a temp sensor for the coolers we'll have in the truck. I'll 3D print a case for them that fits in the cup holder on the lids of the 3 150Quart marine coolers we have. Each will have a battery place have the ability to plug into a solar panel to keep them charged. The temp probe will fit through a hole in the bottom of the cup holder and be attached at the mid-point of the height of the cooler.

These devices will then connect to the POS system via Wifi and send their data via MQTT to Node Red where it will be displayed. Alarms can be configured if they get too warm.

This is the device and the temp probe.

Like anything that's done with open source products, the documentation wasn't right, so I wasted a day on getting it to work because the Pinout on the documents weren't correct. I had the temp probe connected to the same pin that the OLED uses which every time the unit would get the data from the temp probe, it would kill the OLED.

This is the start of the Node-Red display that we'll be able to see in the kitchen.

This will change as time moves on. Other devices can be added, like a LP fuel tank sensor, and I believe ZoneMinder has a method to be integrated.

Weather should be nicer tomorrow, should be going up and working on it, and trying to fix an old Sansui receiver that he has that isn't working.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

Lastnight I was able to successfully integrate ZoneMinder into NodeRed, which means there's just one screen to have up, instead of two. I also found the load cells that I can use to make my own scales for the LP tanks. They'll be two scales using the load cells connected to one ESP32 which will send the weight of each one to Node Red. I'll have to do some fabrication of the scale system,but I already have and idea for that. Heading up to my buddy's place in a little bit to do some work. The weather this week got me behind, I had intended to have the two trailers welded together by now.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

Beautiful day out there today. We flipped the trailer back over onto it's wheels and I spent the entire day cutting the square tubing and the fenders off, and I'm not done yet. The guy that built this trailer built it to last. Tore up 6 cutting wheels just to get to where I'm at now. Going back up tomorrow to finish cutting.

Flipping the trailer today was easier than when we flipped it before. The first time, there was four of us and we picked it up on side then pushed it over.

 

[sc00ter]

You need to find out what cutting disc the bicycle thieves use! Nice work so far.

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

You need to find out what cutting disc the bicycle thieves use! Nice work so far.

They're cutting just fine, but I'm trying to cut as close to the welds as possible, so it's the welds ripping up the disks. The square tubing on the trailer is also thick walled.

 

[sc00ter]

I hate grinding welds! When I was into lowriders we'd grind the welds smooth after adding the reinforcement plates to the frame. Gotta have smooth undies. Smoothing the welds took almost as long as mig-welding the plates on. The smell still lingers in my nostrils!

 

[JedidiahStolzfus]

...and it's flat.

We should be ready for the transfer and welding early next week. While driving up this morning I was doing some brainstorming to try to solve a couple of issues and I found a solution to one, power.

I don't know what the previous owners were doing for power, maybe they had a generator, I don't know. But there was a marine battery installed, and probably an inverter of some sort, running into a small breaker panel. I don't want to truck around a full size generator. They're loud, heavy and consume lots of fuel.

I have amongst my collection of machines, one with a 3.5hp Briggs flat head engine. I can cannibalize it to build something. I have a buddy looking through his collection of things for a small simple alternator. I can build a small 12VDC generator from that using a go-kart clutch on the engine. That will keep a pair of marine batteries charged, which will supply power to a large inverter.

It's lighter weight, quieter, and more fuel efficient. I could also convert that engine to run on LP. A 20lb bottle of LP will run my 10hp generator for 8 hours, so I could probably get 24 hours out of a bottle on a 3.5hp engine.

I also found that the compressor for the cooler does indeed function, we thought it was killed in crash. I just need to reconstruct the area where it's mounted. That's the worst of the damage on it.

 

[lexfurther]

Looks amazing! Good luck with the business. I am a business owner myself, just in a very different field and cycling is only my hobby.
My work is 100% remote, we are reaching our clients with the microsoft teams calling and never see them face to face, so that is a huge difference in our work.
Being my own boss and work where and when i want is probably the best thing about business ever.