This week I have been mainly welding, inbetween visiting a selection of North Wales hospitals to get bits removed from my eye.
So, the question is do I take it out for a quick test drive now? Or get stuck into the O/S sill? I have a feeling that if I actually drive it around a bit it will take a lot longer to actually get round to tackling the other side! Being able to drive it should be the incentive I need to get the rest of the welding done that little bit more quickly...
Managed to get another day off work tomorrow, so the plan is to tackle the nearside sill. Looks worse on the surface so fuck knows what I'll find underneath, and given that it took 18 hours on the other side I'm not exactly looking forwards to it. Still, at least I'm not paying someone to do it!
How the fuck do you keep getting stuff in yer eye?
I was in the game for 25 years and only managed it about twice and we had slag to contend with.
You gotta wear proper fitting glasses mate. Honestly... you don't get a spare set of peepers.
2 things you need to keep in the + aid box are anti arc flash drops (they stay good to go for six to 8 months after you open them. A squeezy bottle of sterile water to flush any bitz out yer eye.
Enjoy
72... AND STILL ROCKIN..........around the world...... NOT in a chair yet
Now XBX And into HDI.....as well as other ...err.... things.
You know, that kind of fits in with my thinking. My mate mohamed's daughter is studying medical genetics at Huddersfield uni. We wer discussing something similar about cochlear implants and she was saying they are now experimenting with growimg your own ear bits. She went on to say they were also well on with studying other life form
DNA's that grow their own limbs back after losing say a leg or two.
Perhaps save one or two of us as we become legless.
72... AND STILL ROCKIN..........around the world...... NOT in a chair yet
Now XBX And into HDI.....as well as other ...err.... things.
Third time of going to eye hospital in 10 years Goggles are a pretty good fit with just a tiny gap where the straps are. But got some better fitting ones today. Welding didn't go well today, a lot more than I thought to do! Good news is I got tomorrow off work too, bad news is I have to go to the dentist as a fucking filling has crumbled
Result! They couldn't fit me in until next Wednesday, so I spent the day on the car and managed to finish the sills (would have been very annoying to spend another day off being worked on by the NHS). What a fucker of a job! Actually putting the sills on was the easy bit - it was making something for them to weld to was the tricky bit. SO pleased (and slightly pissed) now, as that's all the structural welding done. 3 more spots to do, but all small patches and nothing to worry about.
Might leave it up in the air for a bit longer still, as it's a more convenient height. But once the front wings are on it's first drive time. And I'm slightly nervous. I will video the event for amusement...
Not specifically, but the inner sill is now quite a bit thicker than previously, and it's all seam welded rather than spot welded. The state of the shell does rather explain why it was getting a bit flexy during the last year it was on the road. I could even get the interior light to come on with hard cornering!
Cheers Phil. Now got a Sealey Supermig 150 after my Clarke was stolen...I'd hired one when the relay on the Clarke failed and thought it was a better machine. Plus if it can stand up to hire use then it's a good sign. Wire feed mechanism is better quality although my main problem is power supply to where I'm working - i.e. it's shit and voltage drops depending on (shared) load. 170 volts measured at one point!
Still using C02, it's all I can get round here. Plus my big bottle ran out so I had to use loads of the little 'uns
Sealy's are quite sturdy if a bit basic and the wire feed is not that much better really. Its the same drive system as myTopmig 170 turbo. Trouble is I tried putting some old wire through it and it fucked the drive completely as the wire has seized inside the umbilical.
I've stripped it down but can't be arsed fuckin about with it till we get some better weather .
Co2 is cool it's just that Argon mixes give a lot better finish. IE flatter and smoother. ( much less grinding)
72... AND STILL ROCKIN..........around the world...... NOT in a chair yet
Now XBX And into HDI.....as well as other ...err.... things.
A number of things became evident, not least that I should have cleaned the windscreen. Firstly that the carbs need setting up/overhauling, as it's not running perfectly. Secondly, and despite this, even on part throttle it's going to be a lot more fun than the old engine!