Have I got a target on my back?

Every mosquito in creation seemed to want to bite me today. I actually got out there to continue my welding today. Needless to say, being both hot and humid, the mosquitoes were out in force. In fact just about every insect was out there today from giant red ants to mosquitoes and large spiders. Feral cats were prowling the area and there were probably plenty other critters aiming their beady eyes on me thinking, tasty.

I welded the flange onto my ventilation unit - a task that took most of the day. I had to cut lengthwise down my steel angle as I needed more of an L shape than an equal angle. Then I tried to do a better job of putting the flange on than I've done of some of the other construction on my ventilation unit. My welding seems to be improving.

I realized that my ventilation unit is now pretty darned heavy. In fact, it's so heavy that supporting in from the skirt is now a daft idea. Thinking about it, it seems that now I will have to install a support for it. My idea thus is to make a big U bracket welded to the unit and bolted securely to the C section ribs under the bus. In fact I might be able to make use of my spare barrel hanger brackets that I spent so long making. Two of those should provide ample support.

I spent a good long time thinking about how to handle the weight or whether just to start from scratch. In the end I designed a new lighter unit and a unit that made use of what I already had. Then I decided to keep on going with the current plan and just add supports.

By the time I stopped work for the evening, my ventilation unit looked like this. The flange will support a door with a hinge. The door will prevent water entering and will hold the air filter in place. I'm as yet undecided how to keep the door closed. I have a bolt or I could use a screw.

Building the door should be straightforward as should installing the door. I might mount the flange on the inside of the skirt and just rivet through, once the U brackets are holding the unit in place. The top might be challenging. I have stainless steel to weld and I've never done that before. If you recall, I spent positively ages looking for a rod to weld stainless to mild steel. Now of course I find an ordinary bronze rod would do it. Go figure!

Since my job has now gone from being 05:45-8:30 and 13:30-16:45 through 05:45-16:45 to 06:30-16:30 and now started giving me fridays off, I might get more done. The prospect of a 3 day weekend could herald more work being done.