I managed to finish the first skein winder in the new shop today. It feels good to be productive again. In addition to finishing and packing the one winder, I did work on a stack of arms and fingers and worked on organizing the shop some more. I think I will have to move the table saw to the other side of the room, but I’m not sure. It’s amazing how much room just that single tool takes up.
Here are a couple pictures of the shop so far.
Shop Seen From One Corner
Shop as Seen From Another Corner
I have managed to get my table saw rebuilt and calibrated, and I have built a new assembly table. Those are the two biggest tasks that needed to be done before I can actually use the shop for any production work. So now I will start finishing the winders that have already been ordered, and working on building up a back stock of parts again, while also working on putting together the rest of the shop. We are going to get some more of our tools out of storage (not at The Ranch) this weekend, so it won’t be long before it starts feeling like a real woodshop.
Among the many tools which will be retrieved from storage is our lathe. some of you my be able to guess at the ramifications this will bring, some of you will just have to wait and see the awesomeness as it is produced.
The heater seams to work well, and even on cold days the temp is well over 50º. The large thermal mass of the concrete and earth keep the room from getting too cold, so my glue will be safe there. A good thing, as I am tired of replacing frozen glue. This will sure beat working in the refrigerator/freezer that was the ranch shed this winter.
Construction of my new CNC router which I still haven’t told you about should begin sometime next week too, at which time I will actually tell you about it. This will eventually be the most exciting news on this blog.
In other news: We are switching to a new motor for our electric skein winders. This motor is more powerful, quieter, smoother, and American made. However it does cost more than the old motor did, and so the price of the electric winders will be going up by about $50. The motor mounts to the winder a little differently, so I have yet to build a prototype of the new mount design. This should happen on Sunday or Monday, and once I have the prototype finished and tested, I will officially announce the new price and design. Any winders ordered now will receive the new motor, but we will continue charging the old price until we officially make the announcement on the Crazy Monkey News web page. This is effectively a $50 off sale! Hurry because the official announcement and price increase will probably happen late next week.
Well, yesterday was a “good” day.
Round about 2:00 we headed out for the ranch in a last ditch effort to extricate my tools. We made it to the gate around 4:00 and began with the interesting bit. It took about and hour and a half to travel the 2 miles, but with the help of our 14 new traction pads ($7.50 per pair) we made it all the way to the shed where all the tools were.
At the Shed, Loading Tools
Once at our destination, we loaded up the table saw, drill press, router table, routers and various odds and ends. Loading didn’t take too long, and we were on our way, just as the sun started setting. Loaded down with tools, the way out proved to be more difficult.
As we approached the one truly hard part of the route, we became unable to proceed forward, on perfectly level ground. So, once again, we deployed our 13 traction pads and inched our way forward. Then, we made it safely down the super muddy hill, and even most of the way up the other side. Enter the dozen traction pads and about 15 minutes of effort. From here on, the journey went very smoothly… until I slid sideways into a ditch and really high centered the car. Once again, our 12 traction pads came to our rescue, this time with the noble assistance of the car jack. We left this spot with 6 of the pads, and drove another 50 feet before the car simply would not go any farther.
Everything we tried failed, which was really frustrating because this was not one of the “problem spots”. I walked back, found and dug out some more of the pads, bringing us back up to 11, but they just didn’t help. We even tried unloading most of the tools, laying them out in the mud, this had zero effect.
By now it was 10:30 and we weren’t getting anywhere. So, I called the very nice people at the Huerfano County Sheriff’s office and they gave me the number of a tow company. The nice guy at the tow company agreed to come out in his own vehicle, an old 4×4 Bronco with huge mud tires to pull us out.
We very hurriedly loaded the tools back into the car, and proceeded to walk the remaining mile to the road so we could show him where the gate was. We got to the gate at almost exactly the same time as him. Christy and I piled into the Bronco and rode back to the poor stuck Element.
Once at the Element, the guy put his Bronco into 4 wheel drive, hooked up a chain, and pulled me down the hill, and out into the field, where I got stuck again, and again, even with him pulling me. We tried everything, and with lots of yanking, tugging and mud flinging, we made it up the hill.
Finally at the top of the hill and on dry ground, I ventured forth under my own power. The car still didn’t want to move! It turns out the back wheels were so full of mud they didn’t want to turn. But, after a few revs and popping the clutch, we were on our way. Back on dry, rocky soil, the wheels cleared out quickly enough, and I drove most of the remaining way out under my own power. I did get superficially stuck one more time so the guy came back and pulled me out again.
Finally, we were all back at the gate, back on dry ground, and had no more mud to contend with. We agreed to follow the tow truck guy into Walsenburg to get cash from the ATM so we could pay him for all his hard work. Round about midnight, I very happily handed over $260, and we were all glad it was over, except of course the 3 hour drive home.
At the Gas Station, Covered in Mud
It was a very good day.
Epilog
In the end, I knew where 5 of the traction pads were, and that’s probably where they still are.
Last night’s mission to extract the tools from the ranch failed. I didn’t even make it in 200 feet. I spent over 10 hours driving in nasty and varying winter conditions, passed more than a few horrible looking crashes, and plenty more cars stranded along the road, and in the end, I failed to get my tools. Judging from the weather report, the current snow load and current moisture content of the ground, the ranch will not be accessible by my vehicle for at least another couple months. This of course means that at this exact moment I am paying rent on an empty shop, and do not have any of the tools needed to produce skein winders.
So, now I have a few possible options for Plan B:
I am open to any other solutions anyone may have. Once a solution is found, winder production will resume on a fairly short lead time.
It’s official, we now have a new home, and perhaps even a new hope. I have just rented a 600 sqft woodshop just a couple miles north of our house in Denver. This means that once we move the tools, we won’t have to drive down the The Ranch every time we want to build something. This will have far reaching repercussions on our production time, our R&D and also on the kinds of products we will be able to offer in the near future.
Our New Shop
Look for the lead time on winder production to drop back down to a week here pretty soon, once we get the tools re-calibrated after the move.
Our trip down to The Ranch this week was much better and we were able to produce parts for most of the next 12 winder and swift orders. We went in while it was snowing, and the ground was pretty well frozen. On the way out was a little more hairy, but we made it anyway. The new tires really showed their stuff and I am most pleased about that.
We didn’t have any time this week to make any of the parts for the new CNC Router (a project which I will be posting about soon), so I am a bit disappointed about that.
On a somewhat more positive note, we are looking into getting a workshop up in Denver so that it will be closer to home, not entrenched in mud and more roomy, hopefully with heat, so winder production will be able to get back under a proper schedule. I’ll keep you posted about that as we make more decisions soon.
This is a bad week for winder production. When we finally reached the ranch trail last night we discovered that rather than having had dried out like it has in Denver, not even all of the snow had finished melting, but plenty of it had, and the trail was a swamp of standing water and deep penetrated mud. I drove in a couple hundred feet and decided to turn around. We really barely made it out even from just the short way in. I’m pretty sure we would have gotten seriously stuck if we had gone much further.
This failed trip to the ranch cost us about $120 and completely wasted 18 man hours that could have been spent doing other work, of which there is plenty to be done. 
So, I can’t make any new winder parts this week. Luckily most of the winders that are due this week had their parts made last week, so I can still ship mostly on time. But if I can’t get in again next week, quite a few winders will have to be late, a situation that grieves me greatly.
I am going to update the lead time on the web site to “4 weeks, weather permitting” because I don’t have much hope of the road being passable any time real soon. Either we need a blisteringly cold night when we go down so all the mud and water freezes, or we need a week of very warm and dry weather to boil off all the water and dry out the ground. Looking at the weather, I don’t see any of that happening. There is still plenty of snow on the ground, which will slowly melt over the following weeks and just make the situation worse.
I bet you next year, after I’ve built the real road, with proper drainage and a gravel surface, we will have an unseasonably dry and warm winter with no mud anyway. I really wish I had a tractor.
Mommy, where do skein winders come from?
The Trail to the Crazy Monkey Ranch
Car Stuck in the Mud, Left For Dead
Well dear, when a skein winder mommy and a skein winder daddy love their customers very much, they will tie lumber and plywood to the top of their car and drive 140 miles from their home near Denver Colorado to their property south of Pueblo Colorado. Once they leave the freeway, they will brave the 4 miles of gravel road and the 2 miles of wilderness trail to reach their property, where they have a 10′x12′ workshop and 14′ camper trailer. When driving along the trail, they must always be careful not to run into a cow or pronghorn, or sometimes even elk. They also must be wary of running over spiky cacti. But most importantly, they must time their journey very carefully in order to avoid becoming seriously stuck in the sticky and slippery mud, or in the unpredictable snow drifts. Due to extreme diligence they have only ever become seriously stuck thrice this winter.
Our New Heater
Food Safe Temperatures
After they have successfully completed the journey to “The Ranch”, they will set to work in their spacious 10×12 workshop, which is powered by one small gasoline generator. Hopefully there is gas left in the generator from last time though, otherwise they must venture forth, once again braving the wilderness trail, the mud and the snow and travel the 15 miles to the nearest gas station in Colorado City. In the winter they will fire up their new propane heater, which is capable of keeping the workshop a balmy 40º Fahrenheit, which according to their thermometer is the correct temperature to keep food fresh. Once the generator is started, the lights turned on, heater fired up, and stock taken of the parts and material they have available, they will begin the more than 65 separate operations involved in making the parts for each skein winder. Usually working through the night to accommodate their regular work schedules, they will retire in the morning to the camper trailer.
Our Woodshop: Tablesaw, Router Table, Drill Press, Workbench
Our Woodshop: Tablesaw, Workbench, Wood Storage
Our Woodshop: Tablesaw, Finished Arm Storage, Drillpress
Our Little Camper Trailer, Solar Non-Functional
Once in the camper, they will prepare themselves a rudimentary meal, and light the heater, which does not seem to actually heat anything, just because it seams right that it should be on. After partaking of their sumptuous meal, which mainly consists of canned soup, or Mac & Cheese, they will retire to the 40 year old 3″ thick foam bed, and get a good day’s rest in preparation of their next night of work.
Depending on order volume, and on how much extra work they managed to finish during their previous visit, they will stay from 1 to 4 nights, usually working for 14 to 16 hours a night, and then resting, eating and sleeping the remaining 10 hours of the day.
The Element Safely in the Garage
When their work is complete, or time has run out, all the winder parts will be packed into the car for transport back to the little house in Denver. Then, God willing, they will make the half hour, two mile drive from The Ranch to the gravel road, and then the two and a half hour drive home.
Parts for 14 Winders & Swifts in Storage
After their long and arduous journey the winder mommy and daddy stack all of the dozens of winder parts into the temporary holding shed where they await final completion. Working on 3 to 4 skein winders or swifts a night, the skein winder daddy will take all the parts of the embryonic skein winders out onto the porch, often in sub freezing temperatures, then sand and finish them. Then, when all the night’s parts are finished, he leaves them there to dry and tries to get a good night’s sleep. I’ve told you time and again how important it is to get a good nights sleep, haven’t I?
The next morning, when he is all rested up, the winder daddy will take all the newly oiled winder and swift parts into the house, where he will wipe off the excess finish, drill all the remaining holes, screw on and adjust the feet so they sit level on his table, glue in all the yarn guides, solder together and install the counters, bundle up all the nuts, bolts and screws into little plastic baggies, print staple and fold all the instruction manuals, print out the adoption certificate (receipt) for the happy new winder parents, print out a FedEx shipping label, and then carefully place all the parts and pieces (up to 16 parts in total) and lots of padding and filling into the box, liberally applies tape to seal up the box, and then finally applies the FedEx shipping label. After all that, the skein winder is taken off by the FedEx man to meet it’s new loving parents.
The End.
Welcome to the brand new Crazy Monkey Creations Woodshop blog! This is your source for random musings and project updates concerning all of our woodworking activities, including our skein winder production, new product designs, the status of our work shop, and anything I decide to muse about concerning wood.
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