Walk in cooler about ready!

[knifemaker3]

GWG8541 yes the store had closed about 10 years ago. Cooler was working before we took it apart last year

[knifemaker3]

Was planning on converting the shed beside it into a cutting room. Wound up having enough room inside the cooler for cutting the primal cuts and will have a bench to left of cooler for grinding etc.

Also plan for a sink and on demand water heater

[craigrice]

sounds and looks like a setup most here will be envious of !

[GWG8541]

craigrice thats a fact.

[craigrice]

are you going to insulate the building , a walkway in concrete would be of great use with a cart or rolling shelves to move meat lugs , when you get old like some of us then you will apricate the time you spent to make the work flow easy as possible work smarter not harder , looks like you have everything under controll just my 2 cents

[bocephus]

knifemaker3 Going to be a nice set up when done, I would like to have one myself.

[GWG8541]

bocephus I’m already working on how to convince my lovely wife that we really need one of these.

[ND Mike]

knifemaker3 that is going to be nice!

[kyle]

knifemaker3 looks great. Good job man. There is a long list of jealous guys on here I bet, and I am one of them

[processhead]

That looks great.
What are you going use for a refer unit?

[knifemaker3]

Thanks all.

I have a friend who is a certified welder that is going to build a free-standing rail system to hang from. Not really tall enough for trolley so going with rail hooks. Beef quarters will be hung with pulleys or some other means and a rolling work table to just lay them down on when ready to process. I’m a grandpa and have learned how to definitely work smarter and not harder.
Hopefully the compressor hasn’t crapped the bed on me. It had 2 when original, but the previous owner scrapped parts out of one. The company that made the cooler said one compressor and one evaporator will be enough for the size I have cut it down too.

Still will have to make things like skinning cradles, benches, etc. Will take awhile to get the flow down and since this is only for family use it won’t get used more than two or three times a year but at least I won’t have to worry about the high price of meat! We’ve always had other’s butcher out stuff before but with all the small shops booked out through next year it’s time to take the plunge and butcher more than just deer

[bocephus]

knifemaker3 That is awesome, sounds like you have a pretty good plan going forward. I am sure as you work on your set up you will improve how you do things.

[Jonathon]

knifemaker3 NICE! Iff there is one skill I wish I had it would be welding. Could come in handy in so many ways

[RafterW]

Jonathon you can pick up a lincoln “tombstone” for a couple hundred and start learning in your garage pretty cheaply. They are great little stick welders. They make two versions, an AC only and an AC/DC. The AC only run about $300 new but keep an eye out on the buy/sell/trades and auctions.

[Jonathon]

RafterW Thanks! I will keep an eye out for one for sale. I am assuming having both currents is preferable?

[GWG8541]

Jonathon Hobart, the same company that makes industrial food machinery, also make some decent welders. The price point is close to Lincoln. They have a great welding school about 40 miles north of me. Most of the people going to the school have job offers before they graduate, and that was before the pandemic.

[cdavis]

knifemaker3 man you have a good plan going. Congrats to you sir.

[RafterW]

Jonathon Preferable, yes. AC will work just fine if a good deal on an AC225 welder comes up for you but DC is easier to stick weld with so it might be worth holding out for the AC/DC 225/125. The AC model has one dial on the face and the AC/DC has two dials on the face. Other than that, they look nearly identical.

[processhead]

I had a stick welder for many years and they work fine for many projects. Since I fabricate a lot of projects with thinner gauge steel and metal tubing, I decided to get a MIG welder a few years ago since they allow poor welders like me to do acceptable welds on thin steel and even sheet metal.
Hobart makes a good light duty one that runs on 120 volt AC. I ended up getting a similar model by Miller that will handle up to 3/8 " thick material but runs off of 220 volts.
With MIG welders you need a bottle of argon for the shield gas. You can also get flux core wire for it to do welding without the gas shield which works fine, but makes rougher looking beads.
I ended up selling the stick welder.

[bocephus]

GWG8541 I was looking at a 20’ shipping container with a coolbot but I don’t have the room currently.