Getting closer

The general craziness of yesterday did not revisit itself upon me today. Instead, today was a much more productive gentile affair. The plan was to cut the corner of the sheet for the bottom window. I have to say I have not been looking forward to this, perhaps because the fear of making an error even though I'd made a template.

Before I got on with all this, I took the old template I'd made to fit steel in the bottom window of the back door when I was going to weld it in. I'd been asked for a portable backsplash for a portable induction burner. That old template looked to be the ideal size so in a single afternoon, today I managed to paint primer and two coats of topcoat per side. The paint was drying that fast. 

The first order of the day after doing the backsplash was to trim the corner from the steel sheet. Before doing that it was necessary to check the fit. Thus I used the perspex template and the hardboard template. I suspected I'd overcut the allowance for the hinge. I corrected that when cutting the steel on the assumption that it's better to cut too little off and cut more off later. It's rather harder to add back afterwards.

Having cut the steel and having learned from my previous mistakes, I removed the lower backup camera before holding the steel up to the window. Last time I dropped the steel and broke the camera. This time I removed the camera just in case. I was going to have to do that anyway because I changed my mind about the type of camera I'll be putting there anyway.

As it happened, cutting a smaller aperture for the hinge seems to have worked out better. Of course I'll only be able to ascertain how much better when I clean the Bondo off the window and grind the welds off. With luck, the door should spring straight again too. If not then I'm pretty sure once I get to work on the top window, I can bend it back into alignment.

The first side. This is the outside of the panel has now had two coats of primer. Certainly it is galvanized steel but even that should be painted. All vehicles are made of galvanized steel. Before I could do any painting though I had to wipe the sheet down on both sides with paper towels and paint thinner. I'd used WD40 as a lubricant for the drill. I'll use a better lubricant next time and there will be a next time - I have 3 other sheets of steel to use. 

This is the other side - it looks exactly like the first except the cutout is in a different place. Had the cutout been on the same side, I'd have been a bit puzzled!

So the goal tomorrow is to paint both sides of the steel with smoke grey paint to match the bus. That might take one or two coats. I'm so glad I went to the dollar store today. I'm pretty sure I have paintbrushes but couldn't find any. I ended up with a bag of 8 for $2. That's really not too bad. There were two average sized brushes that were great for the backsplash I painted. When it came to the steel sheet I had small or very big. As they were all foam brushes I could just cut the sides off the very big one so that it fitted into my small paint can, which is exactly what I did and what I'll do tomorrow.

I'm dealing with each window in turn. Each will provide its own unique issues that will have to be solved. Once the rearmost windows are sorted out, the back end will be much more secure.  The next thing will be the roof vent. By then, of course, I should be well versed with my air riveter. The new air riveter combined with my new broad-head steel rivets should be a great combination.

Thinking back, if I'd just got these sheets and rivets instead of faffing about trying to weld paper thin fridge steel, I'd have been a lot further along with the bus. People had been on suggesting that rather than use the AC stick welder I should get a DC stick welder. That is certainly better and gives me nicer welds as well as being lighter and more compact. They were wrong when they suggested a mig welder. I did end up getting a mig because the stick welder would burn through the thin fridge steel. As it turned out, so too does the mig welder and I suspect that's because the mig is an AC mig welder, not a DC mig. It certainly does shower the place in little balls of steel. That might be fixable by adding a bridge rectifier inside the mig. That's not exactly high on my list of priorities though, given I solved this problem with bought sheet steel and that I have a ton of welding rods for my DC welder.

That's the way bus construction has gone - try something and it doesn't work so try something else and that doesn't work so try something else. There are plenty that will sound off, saying conveniently after the fact, what should have been done which is invariably claiming credit for the solution I developed on my own. I'm not one for on-the-shelf solutions nor for buying in help. I hate that I had to buy steel as I much prefer foraging and getting stuff free. The fridge steel was free. It was also garbage. I'm well aware that I should spend the least on the bus to get the most out of it.

So, the next stage will be painting the smoke grey paint. After that I'll want to remove the old plate and Bondo off the bus. I really need a wire brush for that but I don't have one. I'll have to use a flapper disk in my angle grinder. If I went to Harbor Freight then I could get one but that's half the day gone. It's a long drive and local drivers are pretty crazy. This is one task that will have me covered from head to toe in white dust. Following that I have to grind as much of the nasty welds away as I can, sand blast the rust and then paint with my rust killing primer. I believe there might be a hole I'll have to fill too. I can fill that with polyurethane caulk or I can fill it using my welding rod. I just hope there's no water inside the door. That would add another complication but one which is solvable.

After the bottom window has been done, there are the other three windows. The top door window requires a bend in the sheet steel. I'll have to see how easy or hard that will be to achieve. It might just be a case of welding a couple of pieces of steel angle together to provide a slit through which I can pass the steel sheet then have another piece at an angle and just clamp the steel in place before beating it with a hammer to bend down to the angled piece of steel.  That's a joy yet to come.

The windows on the sides of the doors have a reflective strip running up one side. That strip will have to be removed. That's an added complication. I'll then want to replace it so I'll probably have to buy more reflective strip. Looking at the local auto parts store, the price was horrendous. eBay had just what I want at a decent price too. I'll have to see how good or bad it turns out to be. The old strips were pretty well worn.

The new thing on modern busses is to have reflective tape around all the windows and around all the doors. On mine, it's just around the back door. It's surprising just how much difference that tape makes in poor light! I'll have to see how good my cheap tape is. It could be as good or just pretty good.

Still to do on the bus - quite a bit inside of sorting out wiring etc. Underneath - wiring in the new rearview camera, sealing around the codebox and passing solar wiring into the battery compartment to enable battery top up. The high-level reversing camera needs urgent replacement and a little roof over the replacement to stop it suffering the same watery fate. The roof vent urgently needs replacement and I need to wash the roof and put the last of my elastometric paint on where the paint has peeled. The internal wiring can be done anytime but the rest is best done now. I'll also have to go and get new tires - the old ones were old when I bought the bus and that was 6 years ago!