Returning to the back door

Starting the day with a migraine wasn't perhaps the best way of starting a day. Knowing I wanted to get onto the roof of the bus to change the roof vent but getting on with something else was equally odd. I think the migraine, lack of sleep etc has been this Covid stuff going through my mind all the time. It has got to the point where I will go out but won't linger in a store. I'll be in, grab what I want and go.

The medical people all say to wear a mask and avoid social groupings. The states are more concerned with money and trade than with human life. Thus the stay at home orders and restrictions on commerce have been lifted. Meanwhile there have been massive riots and the rioters have publicly threatened to attack the countryside. So, it has been fairly unsettling mentally and even though it's possible to put all that to one side, it still bounces around in the back of the mind.

As some floor laying had been going on next door, there was some rather lightweight plywood type material left over. Out of curiosity I cut one piece to make a template of one corner of the window aperture at the bottom of the back door. The thought is that a template could be made to fit inside the aperture.

Yesterday while out shopping, I visited Tractor Supply and bought three pieces of steel - two long strips and a wide strip. The idea there being that the long strips can go on the flats of the aperture and the wide strip can be cut to a curve to fit the curved part of the aperture. Essentially there will be a flat, welded collar that fits inside the aperture. The next step will be to cut some sheet steel to weld to the face of that collar. Then the collar can be inserted into the aperture with the metal sheet being flush with the outside. The collar can be thoroughly tacked into place where the steel on the door is thickest and then the outside join filled in with a fast-moving light weld. If need be that could even be ground smooth. 

As the material was so thin, cutting was more a case of cutting with a push stroke on the saw then disengaging and pulling the saw back for the next push. That saw, by the way, is bidirectional in that it can cut on both strokes.

So, finally, there's the end result of what was done today. The rectangular panel is a little over sized. That I can sort out tomorrow or whenever. It would be best undersized a shade in order to give some space for the electrode to fill.

If the technique I'm using works then I might be able to do the whole lot of welding using my DC stick welder and use up some of my ridiculously large stockpile of welding rods. I didn't realize I'd built up such a large collection! Following on from that there is also the possibility of doing all the windows on the rear of the bus.

Meanwhile I have thought again about putting a magnetic sign on the side of the bus, declaring it to be "State Prison Transport" or something similar. There are arguments one way and another. Having it anonymous grey makes it look like a prison bus. The only give-away is the grey tank visible via the rear wheel arch and the solar panels and fans mounted on the back wall of the bus.