November Journal

[KenWP]

Found a sorce for some SS today. The local hall and community bar had did some up dates and threw all the old stuff in a heap in the bush. Lots of odds and ends plus a couple of peices of flat stock of a good size plus some copper tubeing and SS tubes. Will get this evaporator made yet.

[Dave Y]

All I have been doing is working on Maple stuff. I have been putting up more wood and hoping I dont need it. Started the wiring in the sugar house. Need to run 220 for the new rig,plus I am adding a new circit for lights. I still have lots of woods work to do. Need to run a 11/2 line to the tanks off of 1000 taps. and set up a vacuum pump and releaser for 1600 taps and the add anther 400. I dont think I'll do much deer hunting this year. I still need to put the stacks up for the force 5 too. I am waiting on the correct roof jacks. I probably wont trap this year either. Oh well!

[ennismaple]

Dave - Make sure you get a good sharp drill bit for the pilot holes through the SS roof jacks. I darn near wore out my shoulders trying to push roofing screws through the jacks!

On a related note - how much fun was it cutting the hole in your steam hood for the steam stack base? It didn't feel right to cut a big hole in a perfectly good, brand new, big $$$ evaporator! Since we've got a pre-heater we had to be really careful not to hit the pipes as they are only a few inches below the top of the hood. The SS is so tough we burned through 2 blades for the reciprocating saw to get the hole cut! Make sure you put 3 or 4 SS metal screws through the 2 ends of the base or else you'll get water running down the length of the channel along the top of the hood. The screws will make sure the condensation ends up in the drip tray below.

[Dave Y]

Marty,
I have not cut a hole in the steam hood yet. I am waiting till I get the correct roof jacks before I do any cutting. I bought a nibbler for on my drill I am not sure how well it will work. Thanks for the tip on the stack bases

[Sugarmaker]

You guys and your new shiny evaporators!

I have cut and hacked some stainless too. These tips might help someone. t A sawszall will leave a mark on the new stainless as the foot scuffs along during the cut. some tape or cardboard may help eliminate the scuff marks.

On straight cuts I have used a 7-1/4 circular saw with the blade turned around backwards. Wear ear protection and take your time. I have made some nice cuts. Now this throws a big burr on the bottom of the cut and a small burr on the top which have to be removed. Be careful handling pieces with these burrs they are very sharp!

FYI: I have a extra hole in my hood that was put in the wrong place during fabrication ( By someone) and had to be covered due to required location of pipe through the roof.

DaveY, I think several of us are planning to come down for your test run.

Regards,
Chris

[red maples]

the blue painting tape works best it comes off really easy!!! just don't leave it on too long or it won't come off easy!!

tapped 2 cull trees yesterday because we have had some cold nights around 24-25F but got more drips from the frost melting off the lid of the buckets, than sap...not a drop. nedd a good cold snap I think.

Put in some more drops today. Had to return some T's to bascom's I ordered the wrong ones so I am waiting for the replacements. their computer was down so my order didn't get shipped I thought it was taking too long!!! They always have great customer service.

My son had his first venison(he had some before but he was too little to remember) and for not liking to see the dead deer he loved the meat...with ketchup!!!

[ennismaple]

Marty,
I have not cut a hole in the steam hood yet. I am waiting till I get the correct roof jacks before I do any cutting. I bought a nibbler for on my drill I am not sure how well it will work. Thanks for the tip on the stack bases

That should work better as long as it can take the heavy gauge stainless. I figured my cut didn't need to be perfect because it all gets covered by the base plate and won't be seen again unless I need to relocate the evaporator. For the steam hood over the front pans I'll just cut it while it's on the floor and with no pre-heater to worry about it'll be far less stressful!

[Dave Y]

Chris,
Glad to hear some of you are planning on coming down. I talked to Matt Williams from Lapierre today and he confirmed he would be there also. I am trying to talk Rejean Laverdiere into coming also. But I doubt that he will be able to make it.
Ennis, The hole was already cut in the front hood and guess where it falls right on a rafter. Oh well there are remedies for that

[3rdgen.maple]

Sugarmaker I don't recomend disconnecting the battery on the wifes car. It will not reset the pcm. You can either drive it and it will reset after something like 300 miles if you corrected the problem or just run down to an autozone or another parts store and they will reset it for free and tell you exacally what the problem is. I had a chevy that you had to take the motor mount bolts out and use a prybar to lift the motor enough to pull the plugs. Asked the dealer how they do it and that is exaxally how they did theres as well. Nothing like modern technology sometimes.

[brookledge]

Well today I began on making cream and coated nuts getting ready for the holidays and Christmas fairs. It seems like more and more are moving the dates to earlier dates. I wish more were after Thanksgiving since I don't like to make my candy to early.
Keith