Oh man, that reminds me of my buddy who got a solar powered door for his run. His whole flock refused to go near it for weeks, they'd just crowd at the run door and squawk all morning. He ended up having to prop the fancy thing open with a stick and go back to his old manual latch. What did you end up doing, just returning it?

Be careful with that heat on a steel frame. You can ruin the paint or temper the metal if you get it too hot. A hair dryer is often enough to get the job done.

Actually had the opposite experience last summer, @amy311. We had a brutal heat wave and I used a high-temp epoxy on a few glue-ons. Those shoes stayed rock solid for a full cycle, even with the horse being hosed down daily. Maybe the glue type makes a bigger difference than the weather sometimes?

Man, that sounds brutal. We had a similar thing happen with a big gear order. The only way we made it work was by having one guy, the oldest hand in the shop, mix all the sand. He did nothing else all day. His mix was the only thing that held up. You really feel it when the machines are gone, don't you? Makes you respect how they used to do it.

Yeah, that's exactly what my old boss taught me.