Tidying part 2

I started clearing up the detritus in the cockpit, putting electrical bits with electrical bits, hardware with hardware and tools with tools. I still got rid of another sack load of litter.

After a couple of hours I'd reduced the quantity of stuff in the cockpit considerably. It took a good few more hours to get the floor totally clear. The big problem is I'm moving stuff from place to place and it's not reducing any. I'm definitely going to need a bigger box for electrical bits and a bigger box for tools. Tools, like wheels are something you always need.

Actually, the toolbox idea just isn't really working. I do, however, have some plastic drawers. They might be good for the electrical though since they're not really being used for anything much. One of my problems is I like electronic components. I've only got a hazy idea about electronics from high school so I tend to buy stuff and put it together in the hope that it'll work but it rarely does. I can solder decently though.

It'll take me a few days yet to get everything into order in the bus. 

One of the things I thought of was if I weld steel over the two windows on each side of the back door, I'm going to need something to arrest sparks. Thus I went to cut another piece of fridge or freezer door. The disc in the angle-grinder was mostly used but I was able to make the first two cuts well enough. The third went OK though I had to hold the grinder at a strange angle to be able to complete it. The fourth was when the grinding wheel became so small that cutting was not possible.

I had to hunt out the tool to remove the grinding disc. That, needless to say, was at the bottom of the tool box. So, the next thing was to find the cutting discs. That took a positive age by which time I'd misplaced my safety glasses. I took the disc out to the angle grinder hoping I'd left the safety glasses out there but I had not. I left the new disc with the angle grinder and went and hunted all over the bus for the safety glasses. I found those and put them with the disc and the grinder but realised I'd by now misplaced the tool. I went back to the bus and hunted everywhere, even going through the tool box again with no luck. Then I decided to check where I'd found the cutting discs. Steadying myself as I leaned over by placing my hand on the back of the driver's seat, I found the tool - exactly where I'd left it - perched on the back of the driver's seat.

Returning to the fridge, I finished cutting the steel. I didn't have time to clean the insulation off it - that's a job for another day as is trimming it to the right size to use as a spark arrester. What it's going to do is to slip into place inside the bus to be held in place by my Harbor Freight welding magnets while I weld a sheet into place from the outside that fills the window aperture. Honestly I wish I'd known how to weld before I started the bus project. I'm sure things would have been so much faster and easier still, if there is a next time, I'll know for the next time. One thing's for sure - I know how to build a trailer if I ever want one!

This week I hope to get the bus completely tidied. I still have a few things in the cockpit but mostly stuff centered around small projects. I might be able to get the fuse box into the console and the new rectifier into place lickety split now that I can actually sit on the driver's seat!