Extermin8

[Doggy]

You do see a lot of tidy, (at least superficially), N, P & R reg 406's, therefore I concluded there wasn't a serious rust problem with them, so I'm counting on mine stying that way for 3/4 years yet.

[teamster1975]

Touch wood there's no body rot on my P-reg, the previous one was clean as well

[steve_earwig]

Thinking about it, the lack of repair panels seems to indicate it's not usually a problem.

My god, I forgot what a pain welding upside-down was. I think my eyes have got much worse too, I remember it all being so much clearer. I have a picture (which I can't be asked to post now) but I'm not done yet.

[steve_earwig]

Welding done, I'm not proud but it'll do.

Inner:


Outer:


I wasn't too bothered about the inner but the outer immediatly warped, so I had a big gap to fill and had to break out the lump hammer (there goes the shape ). The main problem was I couldn't see what I was doing, I'd think I was doing a successful weld, pull the mask up and I'd missed I looked on the 'net for what grade tint the mask should have and it said 10, so I checked out the screen in the mask for mine (which I bought here), 12. Ok, go back to using the 25 year-old hand-held that came with the welder. Still no better, that's 12 too. Must be my eyes. It's had two layers of filler so far, I think it'll be ok but I'm not going to get away with not painting anything blue.

[teamster1975]

Good job there Steve. I've always wanted to have a go at welding, I learned gas and arc at college but I've never done TIG. What did you use?

[steve_earwig]

I'm self-taught It's an old 90 amp (least power/cheapest) mig, with co2/argon, no cooling fan so it turns itself off when it gets too hot. I used to hire them but they were so shagged I bought my own one. It's seen a lot of use. It's powerful enough for rusty old cars but it only welds up to 2 or 3 mm and I could do with something a bit more powerful for all the other stuff I seem to end up doing these days (so far this year I've repaired the gate here and made a door frame at my new buddy's). I keep thinking about an arc but I've never used one, it looks a bit more complicated

[teamster1975]

I kept getting the current setting wrong and sticking the electrode to the material
Very useful skill to learn (even though I was doing a national diploma in Electrical & Electronic engineering, work that one out!) but it was 17 years ago and I've not done it since

[DaiRees]

Nice job Wiggy!

I do quite a bit of welding on the old zook, but hope I never have to take the welder to the pug, that'd be a very sad day!

*wonders how the BSI would cope with electrical welding

*shivers

*banishes the thought to the deepest darkest place imaginable

Anyhow, when I first got the zook I though it'd be a good plan to book myself onto one of those non-vocaional courses in the college, they taught us a bit of mig and arc, and gave us a go on the gas too. I'd say arc is much easier than mig if you're working with thick stuff.

[teamster1975]

*wonders how the BSI would cope with electrical welding

*shivers

Reminds me of when Charlie Boorman got his frame welded in "The Long Way Round" and it fried the ABS

[steve_earwig]

I kept getting the current setting wrong and sticking the electrode to the material

I'd probably stick myself to it

Arc is easier on the thick stuff I suppose it's more appropriate. I lmow it's crap on the thin stuff anyway

I got one of those surge thingies across the battery, I've used it a few times and not fried anything yet (touches large lump of wood). I'd still be a bit worried about the BSI on the other one though.

[Welly]

That is excellent! I bet you're pleased you've done it now.

Did Mrs Earwig say how clever you were and how you've saved a fortune by doing it yerself like?

[steve_earwig]

As if

[teamster1975]

As if our home mechanics are ever appreciated

[steve_earwig]

I've just picked her up from sch... err, work and the first thing she asked me is what I did this afternoon. I spent 5 hours odd banging my head against a wall dearrrr*.

Update - ready to paint:


I've got some stuff in a tin that's supposed to look like the original stone chip undercoat, I had to buy a gun for it but it's the same gun for all sorts of things. I'll see how it goes tomorrow. Incidently, the gun came with a 50cm tube for spraying in box sections etc so I asked the guy what they sell for that, he says it's some sort of wax...



*Yes, I asked her about her day. Apparently one of the kids threatened to kill the school psychologist and the head teacher with a gun, so the police were called...

[teamster1975]

Nice job Steve!
I had to collect my son from school early 'cos he bit one of the other kids for breaking his model, I've been banging my head against a wall too
Got that phone call an hour before I was due to take my wife to see the gynae