I Must Not Be Living Right

Putting on my asbestos suit first:D (for more than one reason) but you might be able to use a propane tank (100 lb. ?) to replace the tank. Do your own research before you start and make a decision if you want to try it but it should be OK from what I've read. Safety, safety, safety first. If you stand it upside down you could plumb into it and install a drain valve on the inlet. No welding necessary. Tanks are supposed to be rated on the cylinder with a working pressure which I've read should exceed 140 PSI for propane vapor but I would still try to be far away for the first test. Some suggested filling almost full of water before the test to minimize the amount of air in the tank. If you fill it with water several times it will help push the vapors out.
Good luck. Once again just an idea that might work for the short term. I did have a compressor made with one years ago and never had a problem at normal working pressure.
 
Bill things appear to be going to hell in a hand basket, but sometimes stuff just happens and a number of random events all occur close together.

My suggestion is to just pick something.. say the drill / mill and take it apart to see what is going on. As has been mentioned we all have all sorts of bearings and things and could possibly help. I have quite a selection of bearings and would send you a set no charge if I had a match.

If your health permits I think it best to work at what you enjoy at the pace you can endure.

I think you need to start having some accomplishments no matter how small to start feeling better.

David
 
I have spare compressors here Bill. Drive over and get one. They will buy you some time. Call me,, you have my number.

"Billy G"
 
Billy,
It's ok. Don't think I will be needing it anymore anyway.
 
bill

you are coming from a place i understand very well . a few years back i had to make a choice of continuing to work and relying on pain killers to get threw my days to have a paycheck .
or taking a modest buy out from my employer and combining it with some gas lease money to have a small annuity to get by on until i am old enough to collect social security and my 401k .
at 42 years old it was a bitter pill to swallow and a very hard choice ... keep a paycheck as many years as possible and eventually have no real quality of life .
or swallow some pride and adjust to life without the extras . i chose to give up all the little extra thing that a paycheck brought and try to preserve some sort of quality of life and not work myself into a wheel chair at 50 .

i have to be honest at first it sucked ... i was depressed and felt like a big fat worthless turd . ( something i still struggle with )
i spent almost a year doing absolutely nothing until one day my long suffering girl friend told me to either find a hobby or she was finished with me .
while it didnt snap me out of my depression it did bring back a desire ive always had to own a lathe .

that desire soon brought me to this site when i started researching what lathe to buy . i joined up and with the remainder of my savings account i had a brand new g0602 lathe heading my way .
for a brief period things where looking up .. i had a new toy and something i enjoyed to occupy my time .

but then i realized that like you i to wanted a mill ... the lathe only opened the door to a world of possibilities . and very much like you the possibility of ever getting a mill seemed like one of life's impossible fantasies .. i simply didn't have the money available . depression soon reared its ugly head again .

but i now had something i didnt have before ... all of the very fine members right here at the hobby machinist .

it wasn't long until with the help of all the very supportive people here i had a very viable plan formed to earn enough to buy a mill . i kicked off the yoke of self denial and tried to stay positive even when the big man upstairs placed road blocks in my path ,.. the first one was my car bursting into flames while driving down the road one day .
then not long after that some low lifes broke into my shop and cleared out most everything that wasn't bolted down .
both incidents pretty much killed my hopes of getting a mill ,... and while it was disappointing with the help of the guys here i was able to keep a positive attitude .
a few members helped me out with some of the basic tooling i needed to earn the money to rebuild my shop .

while i may not have the vertical mill i still lust after ... with the support and encouragement from all of the members here i have managed to replace most of everything that was stolen and a few new machines as well .
thanks to everyone here i now have a pretty nice snap on tool cabinet and all of my basic hand tools and lathe tooling again .
a surface grinder , a small horizontal milling machine , shaper , power hacksaw . drill press and shop press
along with the knowledge that as long as i try my best to stay positive I'll eventually get the mill i want .

getting threw this rough patch isn't something you have to do on your own ... theres a whole group of guys here to help you get threw it .
try to stay positive theres always a light at the end of the tunnel .
 
And that light at the end of the tunnel is NOT always a train, either!

Hang in there Bill. We've all been there, maybe not in your exact situation, but we've all been in similar situations. The kind that seemed hopeless. But, given a little time, things turn around again and things start to go just a little bit better. Every little step offers some improvement. There might be some little setbacks along the way, but in general things move forward and it becomes a journey of success.

Don't forget, every journey begins with a single step. Take little steps if you must, but do your best to make each step a good one and soon you will be looking back to the beginning and you will be surprised at how far you have come.
 
This is heart breaking... I have never seen such a group of practically complete strangers band together to give such strength to someone down in the dumps.
Bill, I don't know you, but I know depression. it takes a fast, strong, hold. Please, keep your chin up, friend!
 
I do appreciate the sentiments. But I believe I should not have even started this post. I am going to be absent from the site for a bit. I need to think about how I can start saving some money for things we need. So I need to see what things we can either cut back or eliminate. Right now I usually only have about $50 extra at the end of most months and sometimes not even that in the winter. And if something breaks, like the truck just did, it means we go without something or end up borrowing money and the wife ends up working for nothing for the summer.
 
Call me dammit, I can help. Your phone is not working.

"Bill"
 
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