I waffle on an excellent deal on a Technics SL1700 and it turns out to be one of the best deals I have ever made.

I scored the eBay deal of my life last month. 

I haven't told anyone as it was an irresponsible purchase. 

My Technics SL1700 turntable is not working correctly. I have had it apart numerous times. The dustcover is broken and one channel drops out and you have to wiggle the cord.

I was on eBay while baling, and I found a listing of one from an estate sale in Idaho. The buyer had not tested it but from the pictures it looked pretty good. The listing was for $250 I offered him $75. But he offered it to me for $149 with shipping.

I hit "Buy it Now!"

It showed up double boxed and with old DiscWasher accessories. Stylus brush and record brush, cables, and a good dustcover.

The bonus was a Stanton 681EEE cart in like new condition!

I plugged it in and it worked flawlessly.

The Stanton is a rugged cartridge that works really well on garage sale records. I have been listening to it in my shop. Very low noise from this setup. Good tracking, very tolerant of scratches and dirty records. I need to try it on some really good records.

Stanton 681EEE is excellent pairing with my Technics SL-1700

This is the second time I played this Technics SL1700. The is a garage sale find. You can see that the tonearm lowers gently, all the functions work. I have looked higher end/more popular turntables like the AR and Thorens. I really wanted a Micro Sieki a couple years ago when they were coming out of Japan really cheap. I would say the SL1300. SL1600, and SL1700 are seriously rugged and have a good price per performance ratio. They have a heavy enough tonearm to track well on affordable records and work well with a range of cartridges. If I was getting into vinyl I would look for a used 1700 (I see them locally under $400 with cartriges) and a preamp rather than a modern turntable. I would add that the series from Technics that SL1700 comes from usually are paired with very respectable cartridges like the Stanton or Shure V15, Pickering XV-15, or Audio-Technica AT-13/14.

In my humble opinion.

Friday update, ten acres left to go! No-tilling Wheat

I have ten acres to go and I am setting in my easy chair at 7 a.m. drinking another cup of coffee.

I miss the coffee from my old job. And my friends from my old job. I also miss parts of the job. Mostly the part of being able to make mistakes and since no one actually knew what I was doing, I would still get congratulated because I accomplished a task.

If one of my openers was plugged yesterday when I was planting wheat, the farmer will see it for a year. Probably won't say anything as he is a nice guy. If half the drill wasn't planting then I will be the butt of jokes for the next five years.

I was once told to replant the soccer field because of some priority. I ran out of seed and it was almost quitting time. So I bumped up a gear and left tracks. There was so much POA that no one even noticed that I only planted half the field.

But, I digress...

I no-tilled 60 acres yesterday. Wheat into silage corn stubble. The first field was mellow and I had to be careful not to plant too deep. The second field went from mellow to concrete to mellow and then back again. I tired matching the front coulters to the conditions but then just put them down and went. I adjusted the openers down a notch to plant deeper. The second field must have been harvested in the rain and has serious compaction.

In other random news:

The tractor below showed up on my facebook feed. Only 9 were made. I wanted one of those American 80 tractors so bad back in the day. What is insane is that we would have bought two of those brand new and paid them off and made money! 

In 1989 we should have bought that tractor and a Freeman 370 baler with the Deutz engine. In 1993 we should have bought the second one and another 370. In 1998 we should have bought a New Holland 1095 balewagon.

But, hindsight is 20-20...

Farm GPS guidance was invented out of frustration with Foam Markers, also because Super Mario Cart is fun

Today was a beautiful day. It started out with frost on the windshield, was shirt sleeves by noon, and ended with it just cool enough for a fire. Of course I will not sleep tonight as the house will be too darned hot...

But, that is just a little negativity slipping in.

I ran the venerable GatorSprayer today. Old John Deere Gators are really kind of crap. No suspension and gutless. But, you think you can use it for real work because it is such a good idea.

Turning my University surplus Gator into a sprayer was very handy. Using it for a sprayer always ends badly. Using it to haul my toolbox around or give rides to Rosco usually ends well. As my dear departed mother used to say, "poor people have poor ways..."

My goal today was to spray two small hay fields and move my grain drill to my planting job. The two hay fields, which probably total ten acres, and are five miles apart are plagued with black berries. Our policy of just ignoring the black berries and hoping they will disappear on their own did not work. Trying to give the hay fields to someone else did not work. Pulling black berries in the spring is not fun and doesn't really solve the problem.

Of course the foam maker quit. I have a Salvarani Foam marker which worked really well for a year. It now buzzes and the tank pressurizes but no foam comes out. I need to disassemble it but lack the motivation.

Instead I worked on my GPS. I have a Novatel Smart 6L and the FarmerGPS bluetooth boom sensor paired with a MicroTrak MT3405F which I bought surplus and has been discontinued. It has dual displays so you can read flow rate and speed or acres or gallons at the same time.

I have a Getac tablet to run FarmerGPS and I screwed up by clicking Transfer License instead of Enter Registration. Easy to do, if you are a moron. I have to enter the registration number every time I start the program which is annoying. I have another working tablet and a Novatel SmartAg but they are paired with a different controller and I want to leave them in the grain drill tractor. It is a pain in the but to change antennas and computers and comports and USB to serial adapters in bright sunlight when you can't see what you are doing.

I loaded up the Gator and a tank of water and went to work. I am using a product called Vastlan which is a Triclopyr and not volatile like Crossbow. Is good on blackberries and broadleaf weeds. There are two many filberts and grapes to use Crossbow in my neighborhood. Of course Vastlan is really expensive...

The GPS would not work. This is a decent antenna. I laid out AB lines going East to West. I would get on a line and then the line would jump ten foot North or South and then maybe jump back or maybe just wander. I could see my track and it is only a 15 foot boom but it was quite annoying. Then I discovered my rate was off. It was stuck at high flow and trying to drive 10 mph resulted in me hitting a rut so hard I busted the cab mounts on one side. Of course the field is fertilized and cut in circles and I was going back and forth. 

My Getac tablet running FarmerGPS with my home built mount. My cab is a mess.

Finally I discovered that I had the controller set at 20 gallons per acre instead of 10 and I was overlapping. The overlap was ok because the outside spray tip kept plugging.

Then the neighbor lady wanted advice on farming her ten acres. This was ok as she is a feed customer and generally nice. I wouldn't mind redoing her pastures but it is ten acres in three fenced sections. Ouch...

The next field was five miles away. This went better as I could go in circles for most of it and then pick back and forth sections according to how the field was shaped and how well I could see my tracks. But, then I mixed up too much spray.

I finished that field at 2:30 p.m. and went home to get the drill moved. The next field was an hour away at the White 2-155's blazing top speed of 18 mph and the fact that I wanted to avoid town and a steep hill. So I took the scenic route.

The long way is better in many ways but it does have a couple miles of high traffic and slight hills and corners so it is hard to get over for traffic. I got a cautious driver behind me who would not pass. I couldn't see traffic behind her and I wanted to get to my job. When I turned off the main highway it looked like the line of cars behind me stretched for miles. I hate to be that farmer but sometimes it happens.

My wheat planting job looks like a good job. The ground is perfect. I only planted a few acres to get the drill set as I still had to empty my sprayer tank. I had added a chemical to kill Queen Ann's Lace and to also enhance the Vastlan and it required constant agitation. It was probably not a good combo.

When I got home it was near dark so the chemical probably won't work as the plants were shutting down. I have a Timothy field that has horsetail rush and blackberries invading so I decided to empty the tank there. The GPS started working. I have no idea why. 

I feel that I got quit a bit done regardless of the problems. I had to spray the blackberries before winter I just hope the field is not too streaked from my misapplication of chemicals.

I feel people in the neighborhood think I am one of those rich farmers because I have such modern equipment. Everyone should have a homebuilt Gator Sprayer and a fine pickup to haul it around with.

It's a beautiful day and I ramble about FarmerGPS and nothing

Its a beautiful morning. 

The leaves are turning here in Western Oregon. The sun is coming up over the great white barn and filbert orchards in front of my house and the yard has the golden glow of fall.

I am setting in my easy chair consulting with Microsoft CoPilot as to how much damage I did to my Getac tablet by clicking on the wrong button.

This is a waste of time...

I completely overslept this morning and only crawled out of my stressed zombie sleep state when I heard my wife getting ready for work. 

I woke up at 12 midnight realizing it was mid October and my chances for making substantial farm income were dropping at a high rate. But, I will get hit with a $5,000 tax bill and it will be a $2000 accountant bill to drop the taxes to a payable rate, which means I HAVE to buy something on credit or give money to the gubment. But, I also have to fix a number of things around the house and pay my neighbors for grain and straw which I have sold but NOT COLLECTED THE MONEY FOR...

One of my neighbors called yesterday and wants me to plant 60 acres of wheat at the end of the week which will take care of the money I owe him, but I have also been teased with an annual ryegrass planting job that could be in the hundred acre range. 

The choice is, "we are going to call you when we are ready and then we are going to hammer down," vs "I want to start planting 60 acres Thursday or Friday," and I could move over on Wednesday...

I started the conversation about screwing up my Getac tablet. I have been having problems with FarmerGPS and my tablet. The first issue was actually losing my tablet last winter. It just randomly showed up again, after I bought a spiffy old Getac rugged tablet that runs windows 10 and has a good touch screen.

I kept emailing FarmerGPS with my hardware key so I could get an activation code. I finally decided it was me and not him after going as far as to call him on the phone and interrupt him farming. (Very helpful conversation) So, I set up a Gmail account to which he responds, rather than my local account which doesn't seem to be very reliable.

What I want to do is put set up my Gator sprayer with GPS so I don't have to take the GPS out of my planter tractor when I want to spray. It isn't the physical effort of moving the antenna and computer it is the setup between the two. I can't read the screen on my Motion CL20 tablet without serious magnification. I have the farmerGPS bluetooth boom sensor in the Gator and an extra antenna and wiring harness so the connection is easy but I have to fuss with changing ports and the antennas are not compatible and so I have to mess with computer settings.

What I did... When you get to the registration screen in FarmerGPS program there are a couple buttons side by side. DO NOT accidently or stupidly, or randomly hit "Transfer registration..." This seriously screws things up. Mr. FarmerGPS offered to fix it if I downloaded a remote terminal problem for my tablet but I think this is pushing the bounds of customer support for a program I bought 15 years ago. I think the solution is to sell the Getac and find another one on ebay...

Anyway, this is a boring post. I am going to go to work...

I found this picture on my old farm computer. I need to put a new front tire on and ride this motorcycle. Or sell it...

What three hundred fifty dollars worth of lumber looks like. It looks like 1/2 the price and twice the quality of the crap you get a Lowes.

This is for my loyal reader Art.
Yes I think Donald Trump and Republicans are pretty much idiots. To compare with the Democrats, Republicans take the short buck over the long con. But, at least we don't have that idiot Biden or Kamela or Antifa running the country.

No-till into Alfalfa, I make Alfalfa/Oat pellets with the Pelletmaster, Rotten Plastic bags, and other pain and suffering

Today has started cold and damp. 

I did not wake up at 5 a.m. Probably because when using the sleep apnea machine I tend to put my head under the covers and use the tube as a diving hose...

I was not cold enough for my wife to start the fire.

It rained last night and there is still a residual mist that is not really fog but more like 120 percent humidity.

I went out early to get gas for my wife who is the one who currently has a real job. It was damp, cold, and dark so I thought I would start up the computer and send out a couple bills.

I am completely broke. Or I will be when I write this $350 check for half a unit of 2x4's to maybe fix my house.

Rather than come up with an orderly narrative, I just dumped a bunch of pictures.

Direct seeding fescue into Established Alfalfa. Mellow ground, minimum down pressure, 10lb per acre 1/2" deep. Spring harrow behind drill. Watching the moon rise!

The week started off good with a no-till planting job. I planted fescue into a sorghum field and an alfalfa field. You don't a lot of Sorghum grown around here. I am pretty sure it was not Sudan grass as it was planted on 14" rows. They either green-chopped it or round baled it. 

This was a challenge as the ground was very mellow and the Great Plains 1500 no-till drill tends to bury seed in loose ground.

I have cheated and started putting hydraulic cylinder stops under the lift wheel cylinders to relieve the down pressure as it is easier than changing springs on the openers. This is not an approved method.

The alfalfa was not an issue as it was an older stand. There was a lot of moisture and the nights have been warm so it should come up.

If you look closely, you can see the moon coming up over the trees.

I am running the 9" pelletmaster mill on the White 2-60 in the dark. The days are shorter and the mill seems to max out at 300lbs per hour with the 3 mm die. Sometimes I get 400lbs.

I have orders for pellets. I am making oat-alfalfa pellets. 2/3 oats and 1/3 alfalfa. Or close to that ratio. Finally have a really good set up. I have a hydraulic powered belt conveyer with a hopper which has a flow control. This lets me feed my PelletMasters.com 9" pellet mill slowly. The key is not keep the three rollers just barely covered. If you fill the pellet mill hopper too much it actually slows production.

All I need now is an extension on the barn so I can work in the rain, and a bigger mill. Production is painfully slow.

Of course things go wrong...

Been in the sun too long! This bag looked fine but when I picked it up by the handles the sides split. One ton in a plastic bag never seems to work out well.

I have around 6000lbs of orders and I need money so I have been working to get at least 2,000lbs by the weekend. 

As you can see from the above picture, there are problems. I picked up this 2,000lb of oats and it split down the side. Fortunately, it did not spill onto the gravel!

1970 Minneapolis-Moline G1000 Vista running the New Holland 358 Mixer-Grinder and vintage Bazooka auger. I am shoveling! It wasn't too bad...

 

I have an old Bazooka auger that has a hydraulic motor so I hooked that up to the venerable Minneapolis-Moline G1000 Vista and got a shovel. The Vista runs the old New Holland 358 mixer grinder at any speed with no complaint. Now if only I could fix the hydraulic leaks...

This is a one year old plastic bag that sat outside all summer. It ripped along where it was folded I think. I buy the bags as cheap as possible on Amazon. Maybe I should find a better source? ($14.75 and fee shipping. I think they are made in India)

Everything was working great and I loaded out my first bag. When I went to pick it up with the forklift, the side blew out. Rotten plastic. I blame the Red Chinese for undermining our economy with crappy plastic. Or Trump. I live in Oregon. I should blame Donald Trump...

I am filling the feed conveyer from the NH Mixer-Grinder. The G1000 Vista idles down far enough I can just about run the auger continuously. The feed conveyer is hydraulic powered with a flow control. If feeds the pellet mill at a low rate to not over load the mill. The mill dumps into a longer covered conveyer that has electric fans to cool the pellets. The White 2-60 only has one remote so I use a hydraulic flow divider.  

If the Vista didn't leak so much oil, and if the bearings were replaced on the Mixer-Grinder, I could run the Vista at an idle and feed the pellet mill. The frustrating issue here is that the mill is only putting out 300-500lbs per hour with the 3 mm die. People want the small pellets. Today, if it doesn't rain, I am going to try the 6 mm die and hope the hydraulic leak fixed itself overnight. I put hydraulic sealer on it. But I didn't have real LocTite 545 sealer so I have little hope. New hose and new fittings and it still drips. Yes, I got it tight!

Vintage Iron... I am trying to come up with a compact layout so I can perhaps put a shelter over the setup and work in the rain.

 

I will leave you with the front view. Talk about old technology! The Gator Sprayer is there to provide electricity for the cooling fans and to pressurize the molasses sprayer. The cooler is just a covered conveyer which I have added a couple 12v radiator fans. It works surprisingly well. It dumps into a large metal bin. When I get the bin full, I usually let it set overnight and then lift it over a bag stand to fill 1000lb bags. I also have a setup for sewing 50lb bags but usually do that direct off the conveyer. The pellets are cool enough to put in small bags.

I have been saving for a 16" mill but that is $12,000 and I don't have $.50 right now. You can't borrow under $40,000 from AgDirect and my market is too fickle and the profit margin too narrow to do a credit card. Also, I want to do 3-5 years for Tax reasons. 

My backup plan has always been the no-till drill. In fact, the first thing I did after leaving the University was (aside from breaking my hip) was to check out prices on new drills at my local Great Plains dealer. But, farming has changed a lot in the past five years. Medium to small (1000-150 acres) farmers are an endangered species in my neighborhood. 

Speaking of broke farmers... I do have to laugh. I keep having this "tough times," discussion with farmers while leaning against their brand new pickups or $30,000 side by sides. One of my old customers told me he couldn't afford to have me plant for him last year, but this year he bought a $20,000 Great Plains 10ft no-till drill. He is going to do 100-200 acres a year.

I got this handy App from AgDirect that lets you figure loan and lease payments. It also lets you see how much per acre your costs will be and has options for Yearly Payments.

I see his logic, but he is wrong. I don't think he realizes how long it will take to no-till 100 acres with a ten foot drill. Especially since you really should not pull them faster than 7 mph as it turns the GreatPlains no-till drill into kind of a rototiller...
To break it down.

To hire me to do 100 acres it would cost him $3,500. I could do it easily in two 8-10hr days depending on the fertilizer and seed options. For example, 20 gallons of 10-34 and 200lbs of wheat per acre results in a stop every ten acres for a refill which takes 10-20 minutes. But, 8 gals and 120lbs of wheat means a stop every 16-17 acres with the fertilizer refill every other load and my efficiency goes way up.
But the payoff is this, the farmer brings out a tank of fertilizer and a truck of seed. It doesn't matter if it is in bulk or 50lb bags. Some farmers have a power bin and a forklift and big bags. They just leave and I do it all myself.

Planting 100 acres with a ten foot drill means slower speed and more fill ups. I think it would be more like three 16 hour days, maybe four.
I would be very happy with a guaranteed 150 acres a year within ten miles of home. When you do that you get moved to the top of my planting list. 
But, now I am just complaining...

Have a nice day!

Edit: (that is a lie, I don't edit, I just added on) How do I get my old readers back who disappeared when I had to make my blog private?  I clicked on a google tag option. Going to see how that works. I suppose I could post more often. Or comment on other people's blogs? But most of my old blogger friends are dead...

Looking out my back door

We have had a week of rain. It is turning things green again after a long dry summer. 

Yesterday I was watching the sun over the coast range behind the shop. I have always thought the layering of colors by distance was pretty amazing. 

The trees by the river at the end of our property are almost black. The trees on the ridge by Muddy Valley are dark grey. The hills behind Muddy Valley are a slightly lighter shade and the ridge line behind them is in a stark contrast to the clouds. Somewhere past that ridge is the Pacific Ocean.

 

But then I pulled back the camera and we see what I see every day. Lots of Junk!

Artifacts from High School

I have been attempting to clean my shop.

I found this battery terminal puller and this brass punch. 

I made these in shop classes in High School. 

Somewhere there are more brass punches. They tend to get abused. 

Probably because they are so useful.

When I was in High School I thought I would make something of myself. At least I have good punches and a battery terminal tool that I almost never use. But when I do need to use it I am very happy I did.