Faster, better, higher

It would have been a dreary and repetitious Thursday today had it not actually been Friday. In fact it was pretty repetitious. I was repeating making the template and the steel panel for the lower window of the back door. Fortunately though I was not making the same mistake. I learned from my mistake last time round.

Fortunately I had enough of the thin plywood that somebody had thrown out to make a very nice template. This is the only window that will need a template. The two side windows I push the panel up to the gutter, slide across to the door frame and it's perfectly in place. The upper window, the bottom part sits on the hinge and on the door handle mount, both of which seem to be perfectly level. No problem there.

It didn't take long to make the template. The first time I cut, I undercut for the hinge cutout. That was no problem. I can always take more off. I can't put it back. Having fixed that, I could see exactly where everything was going to go. The next thing will be to drill holes in the template to match the two holes on the bottom corners of the sheet of steel. That way, when I locate the steel in place I won't have to struggle holding up the weight and drilling holes at the same time.

This was the first time since I landed in the USA that I've needed to use a coping saw. The hinge has a funny little angle that I had to follow. Anyway, having cut the template I marked and cut the steel then tried it in place where it fitted perfectly. I think I deserve a round of applause, a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne for that! Sadly, nobody is going to produce any of those. The best I could achieve if there had been witnesses is probably a rather feeble raspberry.

Having cut the corner for my hinge, I set up the Harbor Freight drill press. As I did so, putting the 11/64 drill bit that I'd bought for my rivets, I noticed that at the bottom of the drill's travel, the chuck shuddered violently. That is probably why the step bit I used the other day would jam so often. I'll have to grind the unevenness off and put some paint in place. Still, that wasn't important for now.

Marking the holes to drill didn't take all that long. There ended up being 51 marked holes but I didn't mark any around the hinge. Those I'll do after the panel is in place. Last time I drilled using the drill press I used WD40 spray oil as my lubricant. That was messy and got everywhere. Today I used Otter gun oil. I have a couple of gun cleaning kits that I really don't use. The sheet of steel is not clamped down this time. It has enough inertia not to move when I'm drilling. As I'm drilling on the floor, I supported the steel on a sheet of plywood supported by gallon paint cans and raised the drilling platform to correspond.

Because working in a shipping container in heat is unpleasant I had to take several breaks to cool down and rehydrate. I also like to let the drill bit cool after about every 10-15 holes. I oil it to stop it overheating but when I see the oil smoking when I'm drilling, it's time to pause.

Having finished the drilling I wiped the now pretty oily sheet of steel down with paint thinner and a paper towel. That then led to my slapping a coat of primer on. There were gaps but as the primer was dry within about half an hour, I could do a second coat.

As the second coat was going on, the steel lying in the sun on an old plastic garden table, the sky began to darken. Quickly I picked up the steel, wet paint and all and put it in the container to dry. Not much worth in hoping the paint will dry and cure today. Tomorrow, weather willing, I'll prime the other side and maybe get paint on too.

My previous panel I painted smoke grey like the bus. As I don't have an awful lot of grey paint left, rather than painting both sided grey, I might paint them both black for the moment. I found I have several pots of black paint, some half used. The main thing is to protect the steel even though it's galvanized. So, a layer or two of black paint then after all the steel is installed, I can put the grey on.

While I was looking at the back of the bus today, I saw the sad condition of the reflective tape around the back door. That, I'll replace as I have some on order from China. It looks the same but at $2.37 a roll as opposed to $150 a roll, it looks better value. I'll probably put some around the side door too if I have enough. Regular school busses are very visible these days. There's reflective tape around every window and along the sides too. I have to say it works, headlamps really illuminate a bus in the dark. I'm not sure I want to go that far yet though.

One thing I did notice during drilling was how much faster and easier a real drill went through the steel than my step bit. It was also noticeable how much less swarf was hanging from the back side of the drill holes. In fact most drill holes were smooth and needed no attention.

It would be very nice if everything went smoothly and as planned. That way I could get all the rear wall panels done by next weekend. Life being life, I doubt things will go that smoothly though. And the darkened skies turned into a torrential downpour with plenty thunder and some strong winds. It's almost as though the weather has caught a dose of Covid!