Above 1200 Sq/FT Ernie's Place

[PugetDude]

I put 12V low voltage lights on my block/stucco wall on the golf course; found it was easy to drill a 1/2" hole all the way through with a rotohammer and a long bit; Fished the wires through, ran them in a piece of 1/2" square tube (because I had it leftover from an old pool fence) clipped to the back of the wall where they're not visible. Painted the tube to match the stucco wall..

Sign looks great!

 

[drivesitfar]

I’m sure you’ll find a way to make the wires disappear if they bother you and with all the sun you get in your part of the world a solar solution sounds like the fix.

keep up the great work and thanks as always for sharing your projects with all of us.

 

[Jblount3]

just read through the whole thing off and on for days. awesome shop, and projects

 

[StormcrowAz]

So…yeah. It’s been a bit. Ever just get tired of looking at the computer? Not sure why, just really haven’t felt like posting lately. Have been relatively busy, nothing crazy out of the ordinary. Here’s some highlights of the past few months:



Went to an IH Rendezvous event with a buddy of mine and his ’67 Sport Top. Decent turn out and fun weekend with a bunch of other International Harvester enthusiasts.



Goals:






Have only managed to get one ride in with the Can Am, went up north where it was a bit cooler. Also learned that the led whip is not good for tight forest trails.



Treated the deck on the Diamond C



Did some repairs and upgrades to the toy hauler suspension



Played with the plasma cutter a bit…and made more tools for the plasma cutter. These are templates for circles, squares, and slots when using the hand torch for stuff that doesn’t fit on the CNC table. Not my idea, as I found them on-line for sale when browsing other related plasma cutting stuff. Didn’t take too much to program them myself and cut them out. Still need to clean them up a bit.



I’m sure I’ll be able to find a use for the extra drop pieces at some point.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Got this gooseneck ball and chain latch kit for the puck system in the bed of the truck. Would eventually like to get a 5th wheel toy hauler with a Goosebox conversion. Anyways…the blow mold injection case it comes with is nice and all, but takes up a bunch of space. Had this hard foam stuff in just the right size, so carved out a little home for each piece.



Which fits nicely in the lockbox recently installed under the back seat of the truck. Still sorting and organizing what goes in there.






Picked up this blast cabinet from Craigslist



But of course couldn’t leave it well enough alone as-is. Need to make a project out of it. Put it on wheels so I can roll it in front of the swamp cooler (or wherever). It came with a little vacuum canister for pulling out the fines, and I got one of these dust separators as I had read they work pretty good in conjunction with the vacuum.



To attach the cabinet to the rolling base, I started with the plasma table and cut out these tabs

 

[StormcrowAz]

Bolted the tabs to the legs of the cabinet. So nice that every tab is dimensionally identical and the holes already cut into them.



Used some of that well casing pipe for the base and glued casters and those tabs to it. Left the front open so I can easily slide totes underneath the cabinet for changing out the media.



Made a couple shelves out of half inch square tube and that grating material.



General concept. The vacuum goes on the bottom and the dust separator/bucket on top. Not sure on the condition of that little vacuum canister, how well it works or how long it will last, so made the bottom shelf big enough to fit a shop vac if needed.



All painted and pretty (ish). Even though the bucket and vacuum hardly weigh anything, the shelves were still a little too flexy for my comfort, so added a little triangulation support for extra rigidity.



Not really happy with the light switch and outlet location, the short length of the power cord, and the floodlight set-up in the cabinet, so that all has to get changed. Pulled the light fixture out, removed the power cord, and mocked up the new wiring set-up on the ground before installing. Hopefully this won’t burn the shop down.



Instead of the hot halogen bulb, I’m going to try led strip lights. Moving the switch box up top so I don’t have to reach past the separator to turn the lights and vacuum on. Leaving the junction box on the side for easier access if I need to change out the lights.



And now I’m all caught up. Still need to install the lights and finish wiring before loading up some new media to see if anything else needs to be repaired/replaced/fixed. Thanks for watching.

 

[rattle_snake]

Nice upgrades to blast cabinet.

What kind of CNC plasma table do you have and any thoughts looking back?

 

[StormcrowAz]

Justin – The table I have is a Crossfire Pro, by Langmuir Systems. I think it’s great for hobby use and I’ve read where some guys use it to support their small businesses. If I was serious about making money off of plasma cutting I would probably pony up for a full 4x8 table, though. Not only a bigger cutting surface, but a little more heavy-duty construction throughout. From what I’ve seen of the other brand-name tables out there, the Langmuir price is relatively affordable for what you get. You do have to assemble it from a kit, though. I don’t feel I’ve used it enough to claim any kind of expertise and will probably be a while before I can say it feels like it has paid for itself. I look back to all of the projects I could/would have used it for, and don’t think it will take too long to reach that point.

 

[rattle_snake]

Ok thanks that is what I thought. Same table I'm looking at. A friend has one too, so I need to get some parts cut on his to try it out. Using fusion 360.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Justin - I've been using the free version of Fusion 360, too. Works good enough for my limited skills and experience.



Been fairly busy but doesn’t feel like I’ve got much to show for it. Did spend a week in Oregon with my folks. My mom’s cousin has a few acres in the Mount Hood area, super nice time to visit. Having been born and raised in the desert, all the greenery and water still amazes me.





Did manage to finish up the blast cabinet. Added new door seals and lights. Started with a single 16 foot strand of LED string lights, figuring that should be plenty to wrap around the inside of the cabinet. Turned out OK, but a bit underwhelming for my taste. Added two more two foot LED fixtures to the top and is much better.






The other big news is we picked up a new Tesla Model Y Performance this past weekend:



Upon pick-up we didn’t find any of the quality control issues I’ve read so much about. After driving it a few days my Initial impressions are that it is pretty dang nice. Really enjoying the adaptive cruise control and still getting used to the Autopilot mode for freeway driving. In anticipation I had already installed a wall charger in the garage. Running conduit and wire in the attic at the height of summer in Phoenix is no fun, but I got it done.



After getting done with the installation, I saw here where someone else incorporated their charger into a vintage gas pump. Totally cool idea and wish I had thought of it. Will keep the idea in the back of my mind if I ever figure out how to squeeze one of those inside the garage.

 

[rattle_snake]

Blast cab mods turned out great.

I went back and read through all your mods to the CNC plasma. My table arrived and I have begun to assemble, but planning mod similar to what you have done. Thanks for sharing.

And yes it is nice to visit wet soggy places in the summer (only), haha

 

[StormcrowAz]

Justin – Congrats on the new table! I look forward to seeing it completed, and more importantly….stealing all those good ideas I know you’re going to come up with in its use.

 

[StormcrowAz]

My buddy with the X3 invited me to do a day-trip out to Sycamore Canyon. Usually it’s just us a friend of his with another X3, this time the ride was put on by his friend’s co-worker that lives up in the area. Staged on his property and ended up having 11 RZR’s roll up to join us. Our three Can Am’s were the only rigs trailered in, so must have been a neighborhood event. Was really skeptical about being in such a large group, but it ended up going surprisingly smooth. Good communications and everyone was spread out enough it didn’t feel congested. Nothing technical, just nice scenic riding. Never even took it out of 2 high.


Outnumbered by RZR’s



Old homestead on the way



At the end of the run there was a small hike and scramble



That led to these cliff dwellings. Was told they’ve been here for 800-900 years.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Two of the rooms still had at least part of the roof intact. Someone added modern bracing to this one. I imagine with a small fire this would be pretty cozy, even in a winter storm.



A pretty amazing view from their “front porch”. I can’t imagine having to haul water, firewood, and such up from the canyon floor below.



Where we staged for the hike. The group of rigs is in the very middle there.



We may have exceeded that…



On the way back we ran into a little rain. It was warm enough out that it was refreshing. Nice to keep the dust down, too.



Biggest mishap was someone got a flat on the way back, but with a spare tire handy only took a few minutes to get back rolling. Great day overall, put about 80 miles on the rig.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Kind of a mixed bag this past weekend. Had some good quality shop time and progress on projects, but also met with some frustrations.


Started with this 5th wheel hitch. Kinda funny as I don’t even own a 5th wheel. Yet. The mother-in-law is starting to get up there in years and living up in Happy Jack is taking its toll in the winters. Splitting wood, plowing the driveway, etc. The plan is for her to snowbird here during the winter with us. To that end she already got a nice Montana 5th wheel to camp out in our back acre. Still need to figure our hook-ups, but we’ve got some time for that as it’s not happening this year. Anyways, she split the cost of the hitch for our truck and we’ll haul it down to the valley when needed. Plus we get to use the trailer if we want, and I get to keep the hitch. And eventually I’d like to upgrade to a 5th wheel toy hauler for the Can Am. Anyways…B&W hitch:

Got the puck system in the truck.


Some assembly required…


Installed


From what I’ve read these are one of the best quality hitches out there, the downside is that they are really heavy. You can take it off in two separate pieces, which helps. But I’m lazy and trying to not throw a disc. So I scrounged through my metal pile and made this:


.125” wall round tube and the end pieces with the holes in them were leaf spring shackles off a trailer. And classy rebar for the lifting end. Lock it into place and easy work for the gantry.


Since I was playing with all the toys, figured I’d try out the sandblaster for its first real project.


Figured it’s kind of a safety item so red would be appropriate.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Next up is a project for the Can Am. Last time I went riding I was behind a guy that had chase lights and I found them to be very useful, especially in dusty conditions where visibility was limited. I looked around and cheapest ones on Amazon were $99. Figured I could just make my own. Will probably only cost me $200 and 40 hours of my labor. Seriously though, I already have a bunch of the LED button lights bought in a large pack for the turn signals, plus all of the metal. And I still have an unused switch on the SwitchPro. Shouldn’t be too bad.


Started by designing it in two pieces. A base that will bolt to the roof, and then a removable cover for access to the lights/wiring. Designed in Fusion360. Here’s the start of the base layout.


Warmed up the plasma cutter by making this little rake. Supposed to help with scooping up the little drop pieces and sludge. Still need to clean it up and put in a couple bends.



This is when things started to go south. The computer keeps disconnecting from the plasma table controller and after a fair bit of trouble shooting still haven’t figured it out. It did manage to cut most of the chase light base before erroring out. After the second cut attempt failing I threw in the towel and finished the last couple cuts the old fashioned way, with a cutting wheel. Cleaned up and bent on the press brake.


Corners fit, welded, and hand-finished.


Roughly where it will sit.



While I was going through my inventory of sheet material, I bumped a piece into the compressor regulator/dryer/filter and damaged it. Was able to wedge something behind it to minimize the escaping air and continue working on projects, but it’s just another thing to remove/repair/replace.

 

[rattle_snake]

Bummer on the comm issues. Did you check for ground loop issue like in Langmuir's install instructions?

Now that I have a bit more time on my cnc plasma I see why you did all the mods...

 

[StormcrowAz]

Justin - I have not checked for the ground loop issue yet, but I do recall reading about it. I'll look into it, thanks for your input. The next thing I was thinking of doing is unplugging all the extra outlets I added to the table and running everything off a separate extension cord/surge protector not attached to the table. I purposefully used a dedicated ground wire (versus grounding the conduit) for this reason, but the boxes are still self-tapped to the table and I guess the receptacles themselves are connected to the metal boxes, so possibly a path there for chaos?

 

[rattle_snake]

The table itself should be 'floating' and not electrically connected to the ground shield on the USB cable. The plasma cutter puts the table at the + DC voltage (probably around 150 VDC).

 

[drivesitfar]

I’ll catch up on your doings this summer but assuming when it’s over 100 you don’t like being in the shop.

I loved the comment that the lights were $99 on Amazon and I think I can make a better one myself that’s only $200 or more (hee hee). Why spend a penny for something that is junk when you can spend a nickel and get better quality and it might last is my thinking.

Cheers and start sending some of that extra heat up my way soon.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Drives – Good to hear from you! Hope your time away from the GJ has been productive, sure looks like you’ve been busy. Weather here is starting to normalize and looking forward to spending more time in the shop.



Welded some tabs/nuts to the chase light base for the cover to attach to. Cleaned it up and rattle-canned. Settled on a light configuration - the outer two red LED’s are going to be tied into the running lights, so always-on while the car is on. The middle lights will run off one of the Switch Pro switches, which can be programmed to strobe/flash.



Had to add extensions to a few of the LED’s in order to tie them all together.



Bent up a piece of aluminum for the cover. It’s actually a remnant piece from the roof build. Kind of fitting.



Fairly low-profile, which I’m happy about.





Running lights



Took a few tries to capture these “on” when flashing.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Bought a new back-up camera set-up off Amazon after the second rear-view-mirror type died on me. This time going with a 4-pin connector style that seems fairly standard to the RV industry. Had to tear apart the car again to re-do wiring and pull the old proprietary stuff out, but if I need to replace the monitor or camera sometime in the future it should be super easy, plug and play.



Of course the bracket it comes with won’t work for where I want to put the monitor. So it is time to hack it up and weld it back together.





Installed using the factory rear-view mirror location.








New back-up camera installed.




Also whipped this up real quick from scrap material, don’t think I spent more than 15 minutes on it. Should have done it a long time ago for as useful as it is. Bracket for hanging the head-phones when not in use. Way better than throwing them on the dash and getting wires tangled up when getting in/out of the car. Cheapest ones I could find on-line were around $60, and those didn’t really have good mounting options for my set-up.



It’s funny how sometimes the littlest things can make big differences in your overall experience.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Took two weeks off and went to Jamaica for our 10 year anniversary. Couldn't resist hanging up a hammock under the guard tower.



Hung out on the beach a lot, went on few excursions and did the standard touristy stuff.



Boat ride down the black river





One of our trips was with a private driver (didn’t have to cram into any tour buses) and he took us all over, including some of the more local, less touristy, places. This old fort overlooking a cove was pretty cool, has the old cannons still in place.





Thought it would be cool to get a license plate from Jamaica and asked if there were any antique shops or similar that might sell them. Evidently there aren’t, but after thinking about it, he said “I got you, no worries man”. Turns out he had an old matching set at his house that he wasn’t using and thinking about getting rid of. After dropping us off back at the hotel he ran home, grabbed them, came back and handed them to me. Hats off to Tony from Amstar Tours, excellent service! I will add this to my wall of plates. Funny how the plates don’t have any other markings on them.

 

[StormcrowAz]

As soon as we came back from vacation we did another side-by-side run to Crown King. The ride up was fairly uneventful. The new chase lights, back-up camera, and ear muff hooks worked great.



At the top, we ate at the Mill. Pretty cool place.





The way back down was a different story. Waited about an hour at the same spot near the top where we saw the guy roll down the hill on our last run. Natural choke point and a huge line of Jeeps taking their time getting over the one obstacle. When that finally cleared up went another 5 minutes and ran into three quads pulled over to the side of the trail. This one guy took a bad spill and think he broke his arm, it was swelling up pretty bad and he wasn’t able to ride any more. So we did some passenger swapping and my wife ended up riding his quad the rest of the way down while he hitched a ride with us back to their trucks.



Was just about back to the trailer when I noticed something in rear-view monitor. It was the flag on the end of my whip, flapping in the breeze. Which is odd, considering it should be 8 feet in the air and not 3 feet off the ground, where the camera is mounted. Evidently I didn’t do such a good job on the whip mount, lack of penetration I’m guessing, as it broke off pretty clean.



The “washer” piece still attached to the whip mount.



Lesson learned. I’ll be paying a bit more attention to this when it gets fixed. And inspecting the rest of the welds on the spare tire carrier.

 

[drivesitfar]

Would Jamaica be on your list to visit again cause looks like a good spot? I’ve never been and thinking there or Burmuda or somewhere in the Caribbean could use my cash for borrowing their beaches.

Nice work getting that injured kid back dine the hill and I bet your Bride liked her ride on the little quad. Good to see you’re living life to its fullest!!

 

[MARKSTANG]

Fun story about license plates in the Caribbean islands- we were in Aruba, St. Thomas and St. Maarten soon after a hurricane that forced a lot of flooded cars to be scrapped. There were a dozen vendors in the flea markets selling local license plates as souvenirs.

 

[j p smith]

LOL, having fun and living the good life, doesn't get any better than that Todd! Projects are looking good!

 

[zmotorsports]

Happy Anniversary Todd. Looks like a great anniversary trip.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Sheesh, two months since last posting. Where does the time go? Sorry for the late responses!


Drives – While I had a great time in Jamaica and I would recommend going if you haven’t been…I don’t see myself making it a priority for another visit. Too many other places in this world that I haven’t been to and I’d like to see. If I won Powerball, maybe. As it is…money and time are tight.


Markstang – That is funny. Gotta find that silver lining and make a few bucks, I guess. Thanks for stopping by!


Jeff - I'm trying, thanks! Not getting any younger, so figure I gotta enjoy it while I can.


Mike – Thank you, much appreciated!!



Been busy, but not busy enough as the Project List is still pretty long. Nothing new there, I suppose. One of our next-door neighbors that we’ve been close to fell sick and has decided to move to California to stay with her son. She was widowed quite a few years back and we’ve been there for her in fixing small things, unloading hay, and taking care of misc. things. She always dropped off heaps of spaghetti and plates of cookies in return. She was retired and home 100% of the time and always kept an eye on things for us when we were gone, too. Win/win in my book. We ended up helping her sons to clean out her house/shop and move a bunch of her stuff. We ended up with several “new-to-us” freebies as a result. Most notably this quad:


Plastics are dry-rotted, but otherwise runs and drives just fine, but haven’t really spent any time to really look at it any closer. Not even sure what I’m going to do with it.


I am really happy about this. Late ‘70’s, early 80’s maybe. S&W .38



Now we wait to see how the new neighbors pan out...


Finished up the repairs/upgrades to the toy hauler suspension and took it out for a quick overnight test-run and did the Martinez Cabin ride again with the Can Am. Schedule timing was off and wasn’t able to find anyone to go with me, so it was a solo run. Kind of weird to camp and ride by myself.



Fixed the whip mount for the Can Am. Then immediately broke the whip itself. There’s a magnet at the base of the whip and that’s what holds it in place inside the mount. There was a lot of metal dust in/around the magnet from kicking around the shop, so thought I’d clean it and ended up over-torqueing the machine screw that holds it in place. Stripped the top of the screw right off. Pretty much botched the extraction and re-thread job, too. Ended up just drilling a hole through the aluminum base and a matching hole in the whip mount. Will see how it holds, but the mechanical connect seems like a good idea.





The Boss has a propane fire pit under her shade thing in the back yard, and it stopped throwing out flames a while back. She bought a replacement fire ring and regulator kit, and asked if I could replace it. I finally got around to looking at it, and turns out it just needed a good cleaning. So now I’ve got an extra fire ring kit:


So figured I’d make my own portable fire pit. Started with drilling some holes in the base of a metal bucket and cutting up some well pipe that will feed air to the fire.


Added some supports for the ring and added the on/off valve.


Cut and wired a piece of metal mesh to the underside of the ring to hold the fire rocks. Cut another hole in the bucket for the regulator hose.


Even with the cross-tubes at the base it was still a little top-heavy for my taste, so filled the bottom with a few inches of mortar. Might have been some left-over thin-set I had laying around. Either way, just wanted a little extra weight on the bottom so it wasn’t as easy to kick over the fire.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Secured the ring to the uprights.


Added rocks and fired it up.





Not quite the same as the good old fashioned wood fire, but it’s portable, easy to use, and no mess to clean up.



And finally, finally...made some time to work on Scout stuff. I’ve got all the parts and tools to rebuild the front axle, so thought it would be a good idea to turn my work table into an axle stand. Welded sections of well pipe to the table and some small pieces of half inch square tube to the pipe for the “V”


The gantry took care of the heavy lifting


Seems to work good.


From what I’ve read (since I have zero experience in any of this) the gears need to come out for the seal replacements. They look pretty good to me, not really seeing any evidence of a funky wear pattern that everyone talks about.




I’d consider this a temporary set-up for now, as eventually I’d like to put lockers in the front and rear.

I picked up a heavy-duty diff cover from Ruff Stuff. Beefy!!




And before the cleaning and installing new parts begins, I need to figure out if a cut-and-turn is needed because now would be the time to do it. I only plan on running a small lift and 33’s, and have read opinions going both ways on needing and not-needing it. Evidently Scout 2 axles do not have an optimal angle to begin with, and a little bit of lift might warrant a few degrees of change to the caster angle for driveline alignment. Still reading more on this to fully understand, any input is welcome. For now I’ve zero’d out the axle to get a baseline. I have length of bar-stock that’s a good fit for the ball joint holes in the knuckles.


Not sure if I’m measuring from the best, or “correct”, spot but here’s the angle the diff housing sits at


As I understand it, a little bit of positive caster angle is desired for optimal steering/tracking. The above measurement I set at zero caster, so if a few degrees of positive are added then that would further drive the pinion dirt-side, making the driveline angle even worse. To complicate things, I want to do a linked suspension front and rear, and don’t have the engine, transmission, transfer case yet, so not really sure where everything will be at ride height for optimum angles. I’m thinking I might just have to build the axle as-is, continue putting things together and then tear it all apart again to do a cut and turn when I have more information to go off of.

Maybe I’m overthinking it? Either way, I’m off to read more on front axles and linked suspensions.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Couple more small projects for the Can Am. Got tired of throwing the whip in the passenger seat when pulling it into the toy hauler or in the back set of the truck when towing it on the equipment trailer. Have also had a couple occasions during a ride where I wanted to take it down and ride without it. Used ratchet straps to tie it to the cage and not happy with that solution.

Made these two brackets





They both mount to the OEM upper seat belt locations (shoulder belts were replaced with a harness)


Drivers side – using the new mechanical connection to secure the whip base


On the passenger side I’m using the flag mount carabiner to clip onto the bracket


New home for the whip when not in use. Out of the way and can still access the fire extinguisher




I’ve never been super happy with the factory shift knob, so thought I’d try to make one. There are aftermarket ones available, CNC machined out of billet and such, but those are pretty expensive. A few bucks gets you a four pack of 8mm coupler nuts off Amazon. The knob material is a cut-off piece of 2x4. OEM knob is on the left for reference.


Did some rough shaping and then drilled a hole in the base for the coupler nut. Roughed up the hole and the coupler nut to give epoxy something to stick to.


More sanding and then hit it with a torch to bring out the grain a little bit. Stained and sealed.





Not too bad. Still have three coupler nuts to maybe try out some different shapes.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Made this bracket for the truck.


Clip point for the emergency trailer brake cable. I originally had just a small angle bracket attached into one of the license plate screws. There’s really nothing but plastic holding the license plate on, so removed the plate and found a couple bolts going through to a metal bracket tied into the bumper.


Nice solid place to clip the cable to.




Another great trip to the beach.




Came back and made some forward progress on the Scout. Cut out the floor pans.


The plasma cutter is almost like cheating. So much nicer than a cutting wheel. The driver side wasn’t too horrible (still had holes in it, though) but the passenger side was pretty much shot.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Let the project-hopping continue. This one I’m a bit embarrassed to admit started almost exactly three years ago when I built the table for the belt sander. It’s been working fine, but it’s unpainted and with a couple additions put on the “I’ll do it later” list. I left off with making a swing-out arm for the quench bucket, but no holder for the bucket itself. Up until now I’ve just been keeping the bucket on the floor under the table.

So some half inch square tubing, cutting, welding, and grinder yields this:


Quench bucket swings in/out and tucks away nicely



I made two different tables for the sander, one flat and one at a 45° angle. One table attachment has always just been thrown on the table or on the floor when not in use. Time to make a permanent home for it. Need to make some infrastructure to support it.






Welded another small piece of square tubing to the vertical tube to slide the tables in/out.





Got everything burned in and started disassembly for clean-up and paint when I found this:

 

[StormcrowAz]

Evidently the tubing I used for the hinge attachment from the table to the swing out arm of the quench bucket wasn’t up to the task. I still have some left-over thick-wall DOM tubing I used for the hinges on the Can Am swing-up spare tire carrier, so opted to go that route. Cut old hinge assembly off and started fresh with a couple solid rods welded to the swing-out arm.



DOM cut up into sections and found a piece of rod for the hinge pin.


Assembly tacked to the table


Burned in



After a satisfactory test-fit it’s time to clean up all the parts and pieces. After sitting for three years in the shop, the only rust on the bare steel table was where I set wet parts down from taking them out of the quench bucket. A testimony to the lack of humidity in the desert here.



Primed


Painted



Everything re-assembled and put pack into place





Quench bucket and extra table are off the floor and tucked away, plus I don’t have to keep bending over to cool off parts as the bucket is now higher up and within easy reach while grinding. Feels good to get this one scratched off the “to-do” list.

 

[drivesitfar]

Your welding skills just keep improving. I’m sure partly cause of all the practice but also because your tooling has improved too. Btw compressor still working ok and how do you like having air all around the shop?

This is the time of year I wish I had a garage with a bed and kitchen above it in your part of the world. Yep it’s snowing here this morning and yesterday I did yard work (dig out an old stump) when it was 25 degrees outside. Funny enough I was sweating, but when I stopped for a few minutes to rest a bit the sweat on t shirt turns almost to ice.

Take care!!

 

[StormcrowAz]

Drives - Thanks! The compressor is still pumping out the air with no complaints. Whether it's the die grinder, impact, air-over-hydraulic press, sand blaster, plasma cutter, or just filling up tires...it gets used regularly. I've read through a few threads where folks have essentially gave up on the compressor in favor of modern cordless tools, but for me I still consider it an essential tool.

I'm enjoying the cool weather while it lasts and think that breaking into a sweat while working hard in the cold is preferable to risking heat stroke when it's 110° out. I'll still take a few months of living in an oven over shivering and shoveling that white stuff, though.

 

[j p smith]

Projects are looking good Todd. I am jealous of how much you get accomplished.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Not gonna lie, when I first seen your quench bucket I thought that was just another name for a beer cooler. Makes more sense now though lol.

 

[rattle_snake]

I believe the quench bucket can still be used to quench operator thirst with adult beverages. just add ice and wipe off the lip before consumption.

I've been using plasma liquid and it is nasty to dunk stuff into. Going to have to add a bucket of some type now to keep up with all the cool stuff your doing.
Still need to copy your plasma table chassis and water system.

 

[StormcrowAz]

Jeff – I find that is kind of ironic, as I usually stress out over how much I’m not getting done as the project list seems to grow faster than I can check them off as complete. I guess it’s a good idea to step back once in a while and take a look at what I have managed to accomplish. Put it into perspective and enjoy it for a bit. Thanks for stopping by!


Jollygreengiant – Hah, funny! No secret code names, just a bucket of water I use to cool parts off the belt sander or that have just been welded on. I have a legitimate mini-fridge upstairs that houses frosty tasty beverages.


Justin – I suppose in emergencies the bucket could be dual-purposed, but for now I’ll keep my beer in the fridge, thanks. And keep up with my cool stuff? Hah, this coming from the guy that can actually drive his kick-*** classic truck! Still feels like I’m behind the power curve over here! I haven’t used my table in a bit, still need to look at those continuity/grounding issues. Haven’t needed the CNC portion in a bit so trouble-shooting has been bumped down on the priority list a bit. Soon…




And speaking of the mini-fridge upstairs…I re-arranged things up there and got rid of the couch in favor of this little roll-top desk. Free from the neighbor. I eventually want to get a decent ham radio set-up going and figured this would a good place to set up shop. The roll-top should be great for keeping most of the dust and dirt out of the equipment. For now it just houses a mini-PC for looking stuff up.




Put in a few more hours on the Scout, continuing to tackle rust repairs. Focusing on the rocker panels before putting new floor pans in. The rocker panels are a big dirt trap which is open all the way back to the rear wheel wells. I think there were originally weep holes for water to drain out, but those quickly get packed with dirt and debris, which then makes the whole thing prone to trapping moisture and rusting out. The passenger side is in worse shape than the driver, and both look to have had previous repairs already done to them.

The sheet metal panel, interior-side of the rocker panel, is in pretty good shape for the driver’s side of the vehicle. I’m guessing whoever did the previous repairs did not have a welder, just a torch, as everything seems to have been brazed together, based off the brass-colored welds. There were only a couple of these actually holding the panel to the floor pan, the rest had broke free. Hard to tell in the picture, but there was also a good quarter-inch worth of Bondo covering the seam area.



Passenger side in much worse shape. Unlike the driver side, the pan edges are eaten away in areas and someone was using rivets to add patches to the floor. The kick panel has a large rust spot where water must have collected between it and the door support/gussets on the opposite side. Lots of Bondo in these areas as well.



Years ago I had seen someone (from Binder Planet, I think) that chopped up the rockers and turned it into a re-enforced mini boat-side type of thing. Gets rid of the rusty bits, gives a little more ground clearance at the rockers, and adds a bit of protection there as well. Seems like a win-win so I’m attempting to copy that.


The width of this level seems like a good amount of material to leave beneath the doors. Marked and cut there.



Looks like someone tried doing some rust repairs in the past by squirting some foam/goop in the hole and Bondo’d over it. Also note how much dirt and stuff is still packed in what’s left of the rocker.



From underneath – the inner panel eaten through to the floor pan



Driver side still seems pretty solid. Thinking the interior panel was probably replaced at some point.



So after wire-wheeling all the Bondo off those panels and finding only a couple braze tacks holding to the lip of the floor pan I left in place, figured I’d just replace that lip. It wasn’t rusted out but was a little wavy and beat up.



Cut a piece of angle iron and tacked it into place.



The passenger side is going to need a bit more help, probably replacing most of that interior panel. The floor pan lip is rotted through in places, so a replacement piece of angle iron was a necessity on this side. Cut it to size and ran out of shop time.



Welding on thin and rusty sheet metal is no fun.