Whoopsie.... spot the silly mistake!

Today I looked into making a separate top for my ventilation unit and it transpired that doing so would have been a massive headache. Thus I built an included top. I mostly welded it with 6011 rods which spattered badly. Then I switched to 7014 and found a massive improvement. 6011 is allegedly a penetrating rod that penetrates into steel though I find it just sits on top like just about every other rod I've tried.

When it came to putting the outlet tube onto the assembled, I was going to use a stainless tube. My cuts didn't go straight which wasn't conducive to continuing. Then my eye alighted on some steel tube that had been lying in the yard. That, I believe, was something left behind by workmen that installed a disabled ramp. It was very thin so I doubted being able to weld it. I was wrong. As long as the welder was turned down low and I used a 1/16 7014 rod and moved it at a reasonable speed, it welded well. My new welding helmet makes a huge difference!

Cutting the tube was quick and easy with my angle grinder. Welding such thin steel was also pretty painless using my 7014 rods. Of course, I did make an elementary error... I put the tube on the wrong side, given my planned location. I still have a couple of gaps in the welds to patch and the final side to put on the top. Then it's a case of cleaning it up and priming with an anti rust primer. I still have the door to put together too.

Once the unit is completed, it'll be time to test it with a CPU fan in place. If that doesn't shift enough air, I might take the CPU fan out and put a small bilge blower in its place. My tubing is all 1.25 inch while the smallest bilge blower is 2 inches. That'll just accelerate the airflow a little, which is fine.

After a lot of thought, I bought another solar panel. I'd been wary about adding one on the front because I'm trying to maintain a buslike appearance. What I found is a solar panel that measures 3 feet long by 1 foot tall with a totally black appearance. Mounted centrally at the front of the bus, it should look like a blank destination board. It was expensive at $55 and low powered at 20W but it should power my ventilation fan and given a second tap, charge a battery pack designed to charge tablets, phones etc.

I had a look at plumbing bits with the thought of being able to fill my jerry cans inside the bus when I was out. As usual, the threads on things didn't match. I put that idea on the back burner for now. I want to get my ventilation unit sorted out. Then I can complete fixing my 120v system. I decided I'd just buy a length of 20A cable and redo the wire to the problem socket and replace the problem socket too.

Once that's all done and the solar system sorted out, I'll get the pedals fixed and the kingpins etc checked. I always think I'm so close to perfection. I'm wondering what the next issue will be though.