Today was pretty much of a washout in terms of achievement on the bus. The blinds didn't get put up. The main breaker didn't get installed. Nothing really was achieved. I have no real excuse for that. I guess I really wasn't feeling too great what with the sudden hot day, the time change and general depression.
Despite all that, I did wipe down the power socket cover with paint thinner. Then it was sprayed with grey paint. If the paint sticks then the thinner trick works. As a control sample, another area where the paint was peeling was wiped down with thinner and sprayed. It'll be interesting to see if the thinner trick actually works. I have my doubts.
The old main breaker box, I cleaned up and removed the cables, rescuing the TT30 plug that was attached to it. The next stage was to bore a hole in one side that would accommodate my 3/4" cable sleeves. That was a challenge that took literally hours. The main cause of the slowness was that the tool was entirely inappropriate. Now the reason I used an inappropriate tool is that I make so few holes of that diameter that rather than spend $25 on the proper hole saw, I spent $7 on a cheap hole saw designed for wood. I simply use it for metal and regard it as disposable. So, the hole was bored upon which the rainspots that had been hitting me off and on for the past few minutes turned into a torrential downpour.
Retreating inside the bus, I pulled out a file and filed the hole to make it really work with the inlet. After the rain had drenched the outside world, I worked on the hole a little more with the hole saw. Then the inlet was inserted followed by the end of the 3 foot section of 8-3 cable that raised so many eyebrows in Lowes (hiss, spit). The other end will go into my sub panel.
I never got as far as installing the panel. It was rather warm in the bus, hence my thoughts about a solar-powered extraction fan. I did have a go at installng a roller blind to replace the fallen stick-up blinds. Thus, I pulled out the battery drill and started drilling and drilled and drilled and drilled and made a small hole but not deep enough to achieve anything. At that point the light went so for possibly the very first time I put power through the inlet socket I installed and had light inside the bus powered by 120v mains power. That worked quite well.
I had a look for the vehicle registration documents but didn't find them in the obvious place. Clearly they much be somewhere less obvious. I need them to be able to send off to apply to have the bus retitled as a motorhome. To be absolutely honest, I think the insurance companies are being ridiculous on insisting on retitling as a motorhome just to insure everything.
Showing posts with label inlet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inlet. Show all posts
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Bang - ouch - grunt - bang - ouch!
That was pretty much how my day went. I spent most of the day underneath the bus, fitting the back on the power inlet. Now I'm using a Nema 5-30 when the recommended connector is the Nema 6-30. Neither has any particular advantage. Both will carry 30A at 120v. It just so happens that I managed to get 6-30 and 5-30 inlets by mistake. The 5-30 connectors were available but the 6-30 were not so I ended up with the solution I have. It's non-standard because the connectors are designed for two live wires as opposed to live and neutral but it works when one is wired live and the other, neutral.
Fighting with 50A cable in the confined space under the bus is not to be recommended. I bumped my head countless times. In the end and after a lot of time, some of which was wasted by having to fetch tools I had not envisaged needing, I managed to put everything together. The cable was too thick to allow me to install a rubber gromet around it. Well, that's not quite true - the cable was so thick and difficult to manover, I didn't manage to install the rubber gromet. I might return to that tomorrow or I might just squirt some silicone sealant in the gaps.
I would like to have some sort of guard around the wire but I'm not sure it's going to be that easy to install. Having said that, I can`t imagine anything is going to hit it, where it is.
Today I made use of the old battery compartment I built. I simply tack welded a brace on one side to make it less flexible then tack welded a top on. Now it's a handy support for my redundant 15 gallon barrel. That's going to be used to collect kitchen grease at m'lady's home.
At least it's going to have some use. I'm finding that nothing that came with the bus that was attached by the hillbillies was worth keeping. I spent two months working with various attempts at building compartments before I finally decided it wasn't worth the bother.
After welding the compartment remnants together to form something useful, I turned to the gas cylinder. Cutting it open surprised me. The steel was thicker than I'd thought at about 16 gauge and it was rusty inside. Looking at the thickness of the steel, I wasn't surprised that the bullet didn't penetrate both skins. It did prove that the people that hide behind car doors during a gunfight have a point. 9mm will go through the first leaf then the second will stop the bullet. I was quite surprised about that!
As can be seen, the bottom of the cylinder has indentations. This makes the bottom unsuitable for use as a handbasin. The top is similarly unsuitable as it has not just a valve but a pressure release plate. That's all fixable but it's just too much messing about. Better to look elsewhere for my handbasin.
The bullet was surprising. During its entry, it remained complete but seems to have lost its copper jacket at some point. The copper and lead are two entirely separate entities which probably accounts for the double dent on the non-penetrated side. At a guess, I'd say it shed the jacket as it came in through the entry hole.
As you can see, the jacket and the lead core are now separate! I didn't think this would happen.
In terms of what was done today - I put the power inlet into the bus. The main breaker is not yet installed but might be tomorrow. My 20A cables are 30 feet and 20 feet long. The 30 foot long length is just a shade too short to reach the bus. I could move the power socket and really should but I'll leave it where it is. I'll probably get a 40 foot 30A cable and make that up, maybe tomorrow. Tonight it's just too late to go and buy any cabling.
After dinner, I took my LED lantern and went back to the bus. I didn't leave it plugged in as I have as yet not installed the main breaker box. I'll get to that tomorrow. Instead, I hung my LED lantern up in the bathroom and put up 10 rivnuts with screw eyes. Those will take S hooks and I will hang my shower curtains from them.
It might be worthwhile to put a further rivnut and screw eye from which to hang the LED lantern. Very handy for showering in the dark!
Not mentioned so far today, two more of my self-stick blinds have fallen down. Clearly the glue isn't up to much. I need to get some roller blinds to replace them. I might actually put off getting the 30A cable a while. It's not strictly necessary just yet. The main breaker box is far more important!
If I speed on with a trip to the store tomorrow, there's no reason why I can't clean the bus, install the blinds, install the shower curtain and take photos for the retitling process. The shower curtain will take mere minutes to install. The blinds won't take that much longer. Cleaning isn't going to take a huge amount of time either! There's only 210 square feet of bus!
Fighting with 50A cable in the confined space under the bus is not to be recommended. I bumped my head countless times. In the end and after a lot of time, some of which was wasted by having to fetch tools I had not envisaged needing, I managed to put everything together. The cable was too thick to allow me to install a rubber gromet around it. Well, that's not quite true - the cable was so thick and difficult to manover, I didn't manage to install the rubber gromet. I might return to that tomorrow or I might just squirt some silicone sealant in the gaps.
I would like to have some sort of guard around the wire but I'm not sure it's going to be that easy to install. Having said that, I can`t imagine anything is going to hit it, where it is.
Today I made use of the old battery compartment I built. I simply tack welded a brace on one side to make it less flexible then tack welded a top on. Now it's a handy support for my redundant 15 gallon barrel. That's going to be used to collect kitchen grease at m'lady's home.
At least it's going to have some use. I'm finding that nothing that came with the bus that was attached by the hillbillies was worth keeping. I spent two months working with various attempts at building compartments before I finally decided it wasn't worth the bother.
After welding the compartment remnants together to form something useful, I turned to the gas cylinder. Cutting it open surprised me. The steel was thicker than I'd thought at about 16 gauge and it was rusty inside. Looking at the thickness of the steel, I wasn't surprised that the bullet didn't penetrate both skins. It did prove that the people that hide behind car doors during a gunfight have a point. 9mm will go through the first leaf then the second will stop the bullet. I was quite surprised about that!
As can be seen, the bottom of the cylinder has indentations. This makes the bottom unsuitable for use as a handbasin. The top is similarly unsuitable as it has not just a valve but a pressure release plate. That's all fixable but it's just too much messing about. Better to look elsewhere for my handbasin.
The bullet was surprising. During its entry, it remained complete but seems to have lost its copper jacket at some point. The copper and lead are two entirely separate entities which probably accounts for the double dent on the non-penetrated side. At a guess, I'd say it shed the jacket as it came in through the entry hole.
As you can see, the jacket and the lead core are now separate! I didn't think this would happen.
In terms of what was done today - I put the power inlet into the bus. The main breaker is not yet installed but might be tomorrow. My 20A cables are 30 feet and 20 feet long. The 30 foot long length is just a shade too short to reach the bus. I could move the power socket and really should but I'll leave it where it is. I'll probably get a 40 foot 30A cable and make that up, maybe tomorrow. Tonight it's just too late to go and buy any cabling.
After dinner, I took my LED lantern and went back to the bus. I didn't leave it plugged in as I have as yet not installed the main breaker box. I'll get to that tomorrow. Instead, I hung my LED lantern up in the bathroom and put up 10 rivnuts with screw eyes. Those will take S hooks and I will hang my shower curtains from them.
It might be worthwhile to put a further rivnut and screw eye from which to hang the LED lantern. Very handy for showering in the dark!
Not mentioned so far today, two more of my self-stick blinds have fallen down. Clearly the glue isn't up to much. I need to get some roller blinds to replace them. I might actually put off getting the 30A cable a while. It's not strictly necessary just yet. The main breaker box is far more important!
If I speed on with a trip to the store tomorrow, there's no reason why I can't clean the bus, install the blinds, install the shower curtain and take photos for the retitling process. The shower curtain will take mere minutes to install. The blinds won't take that much longer. Cleaning isn't going to take a huge amount of time either! There's only 210 square feet of bus!
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Inlet socket
Today was spent utilizing the warm temperatures. Inside the bus it was a rather sweltery 82F and I sat in the bus to write today's blog entries. First off, the bad. Two of the $3.99 self-adhesive paper blinds that I installed are falling down. This does not surprise me one little bit. My experience of glue is that in general it's just not very good. Those things are helf up by a self-adhesive strip. I can see that I shall have to go back to Walmart and buy some proper roller blinds. Still, it's only 5 that I have that are self-adhesive so that's not exactly going to break the bank.
The main thing today was to work on installing the power inlet in the side of the bus. It took a while but I managed to drill a hole large enough to accommodate the Nema 6-30P inlet (rated 30A at 250v). Now that socket though it's rated at 30A should easily handle 50A at 120V. Having said that, my current cable is 20A and my planned maximum is going to be 30A. I just don't see any need for more than 30A - at least not in a motorhome.
Having drilled the hole, I slipped under the bus (how I detest being in such a cramped space) and painted primer on the inside. It's supposed to be a rust-killing primer so I'll have to see if it works on the small specs of rust that were on the bare steel. Then on with a mission for m'lady for about 30 minutes.
By the time I returned from my mission, the primer was dry and I managed to pop the power inlet cover temporarily into place. It looks pretty darned good, to be honest. There is orange paint on the edges of the cover from yesterday when I used orange spray paint to mark the outline. I love orange paint for just that purpose. It seems to scrape off with my thumbnail so that shouldn't be difficult to clean off.
The next order of the day was to drill a few more holes in order to attach the inlet directly to the side of the bus. The inlet will be secured to the bus and the housing I bought will fit over it. Really and truly, I could have done my own housing using PVC piping but I didn't think of that in time. There's a problem with the housing as only 2 of the 4 screws will work. Two shreared off during a test assembly. Two should hold it though.
Having got all the requisite holes, I again slipped under the bus and painted the inside with topcoat. I'll probably put a rubberised spray over the inside later. Of course it follows that I also painted the outside of the bus too. Both times I used grey Rustoleum. Now if it peels off nicely primed, clean, dry, steel then we will have absolute proof how ghastly Rustoleum is. I await the results with baited breath!
Following this, I bolted the flange on the inlet through holes drilled in the bodywork and through the socket cover that I'd bought. The socket back, I didn't have time to install though seeing as how two of the four threaded holes have bolts broken off in them, I suspect I might be wise to replace it or to follow a different solution. Indeed, the plastic tubing solution sounds lighter, more water-resistent, cheaper and though not squirrel proof, definitely worthy of consideration. Needless to say, I plugged a spare Nema 6-30 plug into the socket and it worked brilliantly.
I'm not sure I got the socket 100% square but it's pretty darned close. Somebody would have to be really anal to notice that!
Next week's task is to build on what I have done today, to install a socket backing and possibly some protective PVC tubing over my electrical cables. Once that's done, I can work on installing the main breaker. It'll mean yet more grubbing around underneath the bus and put me a bit further behind schedule but I want to get this done right! As I always say - a job's not done unless it's done right.
The main thing today was to work on installing the power inlet in the side of the bus. It took a while but I managed to drill a hole large enough to accommodate the Nema 6-30P inlet (rated 30A at 250v). Now that socket though it's rated at 30A should easily handle 50A at 120V. Having said that, my current cable is 20A and my planned maximum is going to be 30A. I just don't see any need for more than 30A - at least not in a motorhome.
Having drilled the hole, I slipped under the bus (how I detest being in such a cramped space) and painted primer on the inside. It's supposed to be a rust-killing primer so I'll have to see if it works on the small specs of rust that were on the bare steel. Then on with a mission for m'lady for about 30 minutes.
By the time I returned from my mission, the primer was dry and I managed to pop the power inlet cover temporarily into place. It looks pretty darned good, to be honest. There is orange paint on the edges of the cover from yesterday when I used orange spray paint to mark the outline. I love orange paint for just that purpose. It seems to scrape off with my thumbnail so that shouldn't be difficult to clean off.
The next order of the day was to drill a few more holes in order to attach the inlet directly to the side of the bus. The inlet will be secured to the bus and the housing I bought will fit over it. Really and truly, I could have done my own housing using PVC piping but I didn't think of that in time. There's a problem with the housing as only 2 of the 4 screws will work. Two shreared off during a test assembly. Two should hold it though.
Having got all the requisite holes, I again slipped under the bus and painted the inside with topcoat. I'll probably put a rubberised spray over the inside later. Of course it follows that I also painted the outside of the bus too. Both times I used grey Rustoleum. Now if it peels off nicely primed, clean, dry, steel then we will have absolute proof how ghastly Rustoleum is. I await the results with baited breath!
Following this, I bolted the flange on the inlet through holes drilled in the bodywork and through the socket cover that I'd bought. The socket back, I didn't have time to install though seeing as how two of the four threaded holes have bolts broken off in them, I suspect I might be wise to replace it or to follow a different solution. Indeed, the plastic tubing solution sounds lighter, more water-resistent, cheaper and though not squirrel proof, definitely worthy of consideration. Needless to say, I plugged a spare Nema 6-30 plug into the socket and it worked brilliantly.
I'm not sure I got the socket 100% square but it's pretty darned close. Somebody would have to be really anal to notice that!
Next week's task is to build on what I have done today, to install a socket backing and possibly some protective PVC tubing over my electrical cables. Once that's done, I can work on installing the main breaker. It'll mean yet more grubbing around underneath the bus and put me a bit further behind schedule but I want to get this done right! As I always say - a job's not done unless it's done right.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
What a day!
Two entries - would you even believe it? Yes - today has been exceedingly eventful. What with no electricity in the morning followed by intermittant electricity, I am much more inclined toward gas as well as my 120v plugin.
After breakfast/lunch/whatevertheheckitwas, I left to go to work. Arriving, I found the normal rooms locked up and the lights out. Then I found the boss. Apparently he'd tried to let me know that work had been cancelled for today but his letting me know had been to ring my phone and leave no message. That wasn't particularly helpful but anyway as nothing could be achieved at work, I turned around and headed back home, stopping off at the barbers on my way. It had been a couple of months since my last haircut!
Arriving home, after checking out the microwave I set to, working on welding the final patch over the hillbilly cable compartment disaster area. It took a while to trim the steel to shape and I deliberately undercut it this time in order to avoid the warping problems I had last time.
Welding with 6011E 1/16th rods used a lot of rods and I had major problems - as before with burn through. In the end and because I ran out of 1/16th rods I turned to 3/32 rods. What a difference - these were and this is extremely counter-intuitive much easier to weld with. I began to fill the gaps where I'd undercut the steel but before I had quite finished, the daylight escaped on me. Had I had another couple of hours of daylight, I'm sure I would have finished the task.
Using the 1/16th rods I never had a problem with the welder shutting down to cool down. With the 3/32, rods I'd manage about two rods before the welder would overheat and need to cool. It has a 20% duty cycle. If I'd spent more on the welder I would not have the problem. On the other hand, I am happy that I didn't pay for more than I need.
By the time I had to stop due to darkness, I'd welded about 75% of the edges. I applied some black bumper spray since my Rustoleum anti-rust spray and my Rustoleum self-etching primer sprays didn't want to work and since I didn't want to use a paintbrush.
As can be seen, I haven't finished welding the bottom left now the lower left side. My welds aren't pretty but they do work. I'll be glad when this operation is completed!
As mentioned before, I looked at the microwave. I pulled it out and wire-brushed the rusty parts inside. The more rust I removed, the more I found. The paint just peeled up and revealed yet more rust. It really wasn't very impressive for a microwave that I purchased in November of 2011 and used until May of 2014 then stored in a dry location! I don't think 30 months is a good life for a microwave!
Anyway, I kept working on the rust with steel brush and scraped the paint away with a plastic paint scraper. After a while I noticed that the rust wasn't surface rust. It was rusted through in places. How on earth is this possible? There was so much rust that repairing the microwave just seems pointless. Certainly I can deal with rust. Looking at the holes in the bottom of the roller recess, it just seems to me that the microwave is beyond repair.
Sadly, I took the microwave out of the bus. I'll have to replace it with something else. So, for the moment it's sitting on the ground awaiting disposal or recycling.
I had hoped at least to get the electrical inlet hole made but still, I have made progress. Indeed maybe I might have made faster progress had I used 3/32 rods from the start. I didn't know that at the time for I am but a self-taught amateur welder.
After breakfast/lunch/whatevertheheckitwas, I left to go to work. Arriving, I found the normal rooms locked up and the lights out. Then I found the boss. Apparently he'd tried to let me know that work had been cancelled for today but his letting me know had been to ring my phone and leave no message. That wasn't particularly helpful but anyway as nothing could be achieved at work, I turned around and headed back home, stopping off at the barbers on my way. It had been a couple of months since my last haircut!
Arriving home, after checking out the microwave I set to, working on welding the final patch over the hillbilly cable compartment disaster area. It took a while to trim the steel to shape and I deliberately undercut it this time in order to avoid the warping problems I had last time.
Welding with 6011E 1/16th rods used a lot of rods and I had major problems - as before with burn through. In the end and because I ran out of 1/16th rods I turned to 3/32 rods. What a difference - these were and this is extremely counter-intuitive much easier to weld with. I began to fill the gaps where I'd undercut the steel but before I had quite finished, the daylight escaped on me. Had I had another couple of hours of daylight, I'm sure I would have finished the task.
Using the 1/16th rods I never had a problem with the welder shutting down to cool down. With the 3/32, rods I'd manage about two rods before the welder would overheat and need to cool. It has a 20% duty cycle. If I'd spent more on the welder I would not have the problem. On the other hand, I am happy that I didn't pay for more than I need.
By the time I had to stop due to darkness, I'd welded about 75% of the edges. I applied some black bumper spray since my Rustoleum anti-rust spray and my Rustoleum self-etching primer sprays didn't want to work and since I didn't want to use a paintbrush.
As can be seen, I haven't finished welding the bottom left now the lower left side. My welds aren't pretty but they do work. I'll be glad when this operation is completed!
As mentioned before, I looked at the microwave. I pulled it out and wire-brushed the rusty parts inside. The more rust I removed, the more I found. The paint just peeled up and revealed yet more rust. It really wasn't very impressive for a microwave that I purchased in November of 2011 and used until May of 2014 then stored in a dry location! I don't think 30 months is a good life for a microwave!
Anyway, I kept working on the rust with steel brush and scraped the paint away with a plastic paint scraper. After a while I noticed that the rust wasn't surface rust. It was rusted through in places. How on earth is this possible? There was so much rust that repairing the microwave just seems pointless. Certainly I can deal with rust. Looking at the holes in the bottom of the roller recess, it just seems to me that the microwave is beyond repair.
Sadly, I took the microwave out of the bus. I'll have to replace it with something else. So, for the moment it's sitting on the ground awaiting disposal or recycling.
I had hoped at least to get the electrical inlet hole made but still, I have made progress. Indeed maybe I might have made faster progress had I used 3/32 rods from the start. I didn't know that at the time for I am but a self-taught amateur welder.
My first meal
Today, just as dawn was breaking and the cock was crowing there was a power cut in m'lady's household. That, for her means no water, no light and no cooking. The water is pumped via an electric pump from a 100 feet deep well. Cooking is electric as if everything else.
Thus, to the rescue came my little Coleman gas cooker. It made tea and cooked breakfast. I notice the gas cylinder is lighter now so I'd imagine an 8.8oz cylinder might last a week. That's really not too bad though I might be well advised to look for a better gas cooker and a way of slinging a gas tank underneath the bus.
Actually while in the land of Nod last night I was thinking about improvements. I suspect a 12v 100ah deep cycle battery will be all I will reasonably need. That could be charged from the alternator and feed into the starting circuit when the bus batteries are low.
Thoughts aremulling around in my head most of the time. Right now, the immediate tasks are to get the shower curtain installed, insert drawer partitions, complete my 120v power inlet and hang some waste-water tanks together with a release faucet.
This weekend looked like being a great weekend to do this but I have to work on Saturday so I shall be unable to work any day bar Sunday. Sunday - with luck - should see the welding on the side of the bus done and the power inlet installed.
Thus, to the rescue came my little Coleman gas cooker. It made tea and cooked breakfast. I notice the gas cylinder is lighter now so I'd imagine an 8.8oz cylinder might last a week. That's really not too bad though I might be well advised to look for a better gas cooker and a way of slinging a gas tank underneath the bus.
Actually while in the land of Nod last night I was thinking about improvements. I suspect a 12v 100ah deep cycle battery will be all I will reasonably need. That could be charged from the alternator and feed into the starting circuit when the bus batteries are low.
Thoughts aremulling around in my head most of the time. Right now, the immediate tasks are to get the shower curtain installed, insert drawer partitions, complete my 120v power inlet and hang some waste-water tanks together with a release faucet.
This weekend looked like being a great weekend to do this but I have to work on Saturday so I shall be unable to work any day bar Sunday. Sunday - with luck - should see the welding on the side of the bus done and the power inlet installed.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
More welding excitement
Reading about welding last night, I found the difference between 6011 and 6013 rods is that 6011 is a penetrating steel that will flow into crevices and 6013 is a rod that will just lie on the surface. As it happens, I'm out of 6013 rods so I went to work on welding two of the pieces of roller shutter assembley together. While doing so, I noted that the 1/16 rod was much easer to work with than the 3/32. I think 3/32 might be a bit much for my welder. It took quite a while to weld the two pieces of steel together which was fine. I must say though that the bitter cold outside was more challenging than the welding.
The biggest problems when welding today were that the two pieces of steel moved slightly in relation to each other. That meant that it was slightly skewed. No matter - it should work just fine as it is. In fact, if there's anything I've built that's geometrically perfect, I'd probably faint! The other problem was that one of the pieces of steel warped while I was welding it.
The warping wasn't expected. The movement of the parts was something I hoped wouldn't happen. I'd wondered whether I should drill and rivet the two pieces together first but decided to wedge it with a brick. Clearly I rocked the whole lot at some point and movement occured.
The next stage was to trim the excess steel off and straighten the bent steel. The angle grinder made quick work of trimming off most of the excess. Straightening the warped steel was straightforward too - I just pulled out Mohammed's screwdriver and whacked it back into shape.
Having done that, I'd had enough of the bone-chilling wind howling around me and the daylight - such as it was - which wasn't that good due to low hanging and ominous clouds began to fade. Apparently sleet is forecast. I hurriedly sanded where the paint had come off the steel due to welding, brushed the slag off the welds and slapped rust-killing primer on the metalwork. Interestingly, I'd sprayed some clean steel with Rustoleum zinc paint a week ago and it's now rusty. Typical bloody Rustoleum. I really wish I could find paint locally that's not utter garbage. I did idly try some paint with a rather suspicious name of "Miracle" a few days ago. The only miracle was that it was cheaper than Rustoleum. Let's just say it achieved a surface peel in 5 days as opposed to several months for Rustoleum.
Inside the bus I put up the two blackout blinds in the bedroom. One went on crookedly but it works. The other went on quite well and looks pretty good. It's more a privacy thing than anything else.
Following that I put the final white blind up and then on a window that it wasn't possible to put a blind on, I cut a shower curtain and stuck that up with self-adhesive velcro. I'll have to see how all this self-adhesive stuff lasts. I suspect not very long but only time will tell.
Tomorrow I want to try to complete my breaker box compartment and to replace the old cable compartment totally. Before that though, I need to experiment welding thin steel. I really hate that thehillbillies put in that dreadful cable compartment. In fact, I don't think anything they did with the bus was worthwhile. I'm wondering if they simply gave up and sold it when they discovered how half-assed their workmanship had been.
The big thing is that after I have put the shower curtains up, everything else I do will simply be upgrades. I'll have to order some more 8-24 rivnuts and some 8-24 screw eyes. I did think about self-adhesive stuff but I'm pretty sure all this self-adhesive stuff will fail in the summer heat. I will probably replace the blinds with roller blinds and the shower curtain over the one window with a section cut from a roller blind that's screwed to the framework. I"ll have to wait and see though.
Even the cable compartment will be an upgrade. The existing compartment is rotted. The new compartment will not rot. Underneath the new compartment I can install the holder for the new power inlet. I bought that the other day. Despite the fact the bottom inch will be visible, it shouldn't be that noticeable. I really didn't want anything hanging below the skirt but I don't think anybody will really notice one or two small things.
The biggest problems when welding today were that the two pieces of steel moved slightly in relation to each other. That meant that it was slightly skewed. No matter - it should work just fine as it is. In fact, if there's anything I've built that's geometrically perfect, I'd probably faint! The other problem was that one of the pieces of steel warped while I was welding it.
The next stage was to trim the excess steel off and straighten the bent steel. The angle grinder made quick work of trimming off most of the excess. Straightening the warped steel was straightforward too - I just pulled out Mohammed's screwdriver and whacked it back into shape.
Inside the bus I put up the two blackout blinds in the bedroom. One went on crookedly but it works. The other went on quite well and looks pretty good. It's more a privacy thing than anything else.
The big thing is that after I have put the shower curtains up, everything else I do will simply be upgrades. I'll have to order some more 8-24 rivnuts and some 8-24 screw eyes. I did think about self-adhesive stuff but I'm pretty sure all this self-adhesive stuff will fail in the summer heat. I will probably replace the blinds with roller blinds and the shower curtain over the one window with a section cut from a roller blind that's screwed to the framework. I"ll have to wait and see though.
Even the cable compartment will be an upgrade. The existing compartment is rotted. The new compartment will not rot. Underneath the new compartment I can install the holder for the new power inlet. I bought that the other day. Despite the fact the bottom inch will be visible, it shouldn't be that noticeable. I really didn't want anything hanging below the skirt but I don't think anybody will really notice one or two small things.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
China wins again!
I've had major issues with US based suppliers of Nema L6-30 FI connectors. They just don't seem to want to sell the product they advertise. Twice I've had my order cancelled by some joker that says I cancelled yet I did not. Then I found a local supplier that wanted $50 for a $15 part. Others wanted $80 for a $15 part. So, the upshot was I went back to eBay and ordered the part from a Chinese supplier. I expect it will be delivered next week. I just don't get why this is such a problem for US suppliers. It's not as though customer service is a challenging skill. Equally US suppliers seem mathematically challenged. Surely its better to sell 100 of an item at $1 profit per item than to sell 1 at $40 profit?
It rained very heavily overnight. Thus when I checked the inside of the bus, I was pleased to note that water ingress where the ingress had been bad was down to a few drops. The bedroom was down too but there was still a small puddle.
Not so welcome was what had happened to my paintwork. It looks like somebody has thrown acid over the paint. I'm pretty sure they haven't but the hood will have to be redone. There's paint peeling off the rub rails too though curiously only in tiny patches and only on the tops. The roof of the bus is unaffected. It can't be the baking soda because that was all over the roof and the roof is unaffected. It's just the hood (where there was no baking soda) and selected areas on one side of the bus. Notably, under a tree but the tree is only by some affected areas.
If it was a problem with my painting Rustoleum over cellulose then surely the paint would have bubbled universally yet it has not. I'll have to load my sprayer with sugar, sugar blast the affected paint (which peels away in big flakes) then repaint with Rustoleum. Perhaps I'll spray this time.
When its dry, I'll head back to the roof and will attend to the questionable seam. Clearly I missed something. I might just as well work on the other seams while I'm up there - adding more silicone.
The rain came down heavily again, putting paid to the motion of more work outside or under the bus. Indeed, even going out to the bus was too much of a challenge. The rain was that heavy!
It rained very heavily overnight. Thus when I checked the inside of the bus, I was pleased to note that water ingress where the ingress had been bad was down to a few drops. The bedroom was down too but there was still a small puddle.
Not so welcome was what had happened to my paintwork. It looks like somebody has thrown acid over the paint. I'm pretty sure they haven't but the hood will have to be redone. There's paint peeling off the rub rails too though curiously only in tiny patches and only on the tops. The roof of the bus is unaffected. It can't be the baking soda because that was all over the roof and the roof is unaffected. It's just the hood (where there was no baking soda) and selected areas on one side of the bus. Notably, under a tree but the tree is only by some affected areas.
If it was a problem with my painting Rustoleum over cellulose then surely the paint would have bubbled universally yet it has not. I'll have to load my sprayer with sugar, sugar blast the affected paint (which peels away in big flakes) then repaint with Rustoleum. Perhaps I'll spray this time.
When its dry, I'll head back to the roof and will attend to the questionable seam. Clearly I missed something. I might just as well work on the other seams while I'm up there - adding more silicone.
The rain came down heavily again, putting paid to the motion of more work outside or under the bus. Indeed, even going out to the bus was too much of a challenge. The rain was that heavy!
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