air compressor work: the riser

 I have constructed a new geometry containing impossible angles which violated the curvature of space-time, causing my assistant to be sucked into Hilbert Space fifteen inch riser for the big air compressor, it is currently "in paint", and I have photographic evidence of this astonishing fact -->

 It is reasonably robust.  Given that the compressor all up weighs three hundred pounds and vibrates,  robust would seem to be the order of the day.  Let's see, one hundred pound per vertical pier... yeah, this is ridiculously over-built, if I had a nice thick plate, you could park 1/4 of a passenger vehicle on this, use it as a jack stand.

 With one small exception, I had all of the steel needed for this project lying around the shop.  The exception was, oddly enough, what was keeping this from getting finished.  But until recently, we were broke AF.  Now we are... less broke.  So I bought the crucial piece of steel (<$20) and un-wedged the larger project it is a part of, and there was much rejoicing.

 On a side note, there will be thick hard rubber isolation pads between the stand and the concrete slab/floor.  I might add another set of them between the stand and the compressor, too, as they are fairly cheap.  I thought about actual vibration mounts, but McMaster-Carr wants $58... each for the appropriate size and fuck a bunch of that, you can have that.

 EDIT: much later: after I finished painting this and installed it, I realized it was one of the best fit-up and welding jobs I have managed to do, to date.  All the holes lined up where they were supposed to.  I am still not a professional metal-worker and never will be, but at least I am still getting better at things I do.