Well, today I went under my bus and worked on installing my second waste barrel. This one is for the handbasin. I've installed it rather further forward than one would immediately think it should be for a very good reason. I want the clean water barrel directly underneath the handbasin so that I can pump water straight up. Underneath the toilet is where I might eventually put a black tank so the grey tank has to go forward.
Today I went to Lowes (hiss, spit), to buy some stop nuts for my cable clamps. Oddly, I bought sufficient for one barrel but not for the other (which needs stop nuts badly). I guess my counting was off.
Looking around, I thought about the plumbing and wondered whether I could simply go with flexible pex tubing. I could put a 3/4 to pex connector on both barrels. Having got this far though I'm not about to start re-plumbing the system though. I could definitely use pex from the bottom connection though.
So, basically, that's all I did today. I did find Tractor Supply's chain connectors didn't have a standard opening. One connector was too narrow and couldn't be used. The other problem was one I had encountered last time. The chain connector U bolts are not at a standard distance. I made a new template and it worked for 3 of the U bolts but not for all of them. There was a variance of about 1/8 inch between the bolts which made standardisation somewaht hard.
In terms of the U bolts on the other side of the bus, rather than putting stop nuts, I wonder whether perhaps welding the nuts to the bolts might not be more secure. The same could be done to the bolts just done with stop nuts. It would add that extra security. I certainly don't want barrels coming loose and falling under the wheels when I'm driving. In terms of removing them if necessary, I can always use an angle grinder. That's easy enough!
So, the upshot of my week off is two barrels installed under the bus and the handbasing not only reinstalled but clamped down. I lost a lot of time due to rain. In fact there was a trashcan standing beside the bus and in the two wet days, it accumulated at least 3 inches of rain.
I still have to do the plumbing, ventillation and to replace the lower back window with steel. It'd be nice to have the front door unlocking system set up too. At least there's progress! While I was under the bus, I looked at the hillbilly wiring. I'm wondering whether soldering the connections rather than leaving the crimp connections might solve many of the problems. Indeed, I might even try to rewire the reversing horn.
Thinking about the top flashers, having got the barrels in place, I might attend to those too. For the moment I want to get all the stuff under the bus completed because I really hate working under it. That includes the wiring and possibly installing a second reversing camera cable, just in case I want to install a new camera.
Showing posts with label welding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label welding. Show all posts
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Saturday, March 19, 2016
How bloody frustrating is that?
Yup. It's a broken drill bit! Not a wussy little drill bit either. That's 3/16th! I'd been battling to install roller blinds where my existing stick-up blinds had fallen down. The problem was I had to drill through not just inner skin but body skeleton as well. That stuff is hard to drill through!
I'd installed two blinds and was working on the final hole for a third blind when - due to tiredness - I pressed the drill too hard and the bit snapped. Well, that put paid to what I intended to do today. I can probably put the third blind up but the end is secured by a single rivet not by two. Yes, today I was using rivets since I am now totally out of short self-drilling bolts. It makes no odds - the blinds will be pretty secure anyway.
My goal for the weekend had been to install all the blinds, finish installing the main breaker box, install the waste water tanks, fit a method of securing the boxes in the back closet and put a panel over the lower back window. Well, that schedule just got knocked for six! Drilling holes today was such a beastly task that even with a power drill it has taken several hours.
Then, of course, there are all the tools I cannot find since I tidied the bus up and put everything where it is supposed to be. I have to be ready for an inspection at any time to verify that I have a motorhome, not a bus. One of those things was the tool I need in order to change the grinding disk on my angle grinder. Thus the disk could not be changed and I could not use my angle grinder to cut the blinds as I have been doing. Instead I had to use a hacksaw. All stuff that just takes extra time!
Right now it's pollen season so everything outside is covered with pollen. Every footstep kicks up gret clouds of pollen - it's like walking on the moon!
The final window one one side put up the biggest fight imaginable. The drill was skidding all over the place. Talk about rock hard steel! Eventually I had one hole in situ. Then after a long hunt, I found just one solitary rivet. I ran out of rivets!
Still, the three blinds I put up look pretty good. There're two more to replace but oddly enough, those stick up blinds have not fallen down - yet. I expect they will if left up for very much longer.
So, tomorrow I definitely need to pick up more rivets. I don't think there's much danger of my proceeding further than putting up the other two blinds and installing the main breaker box. I'd like to install the underbody waste water tanks and install something to control the boxes stored in the back closet. I have a vague idea that bungee cords might help there but anchor points will be the challenge.
Another thing I'd like to do is to replace the lower rear window or at the very least to cover it on the inside. I could simply bolt or rivet the cover over the window. Replacing the window would be the best option but also the most time consuming. There's an awful lot of welding involved there!
Tomorrow I could buy the stuff to mount my underbody tanks though I have a feeling it won't be needed or used for a while. I know I need to replace my CB aerial too.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Unexpected achievements and a bad Kahr.
Today was, I had thought, going to be a day of zero progress on the bus. How wrong I was. I did most of the things I intended to do for tomorrow!
Work, which was scheduled for today, was to have been a full day of training but that was truncated at 1pm when two of the trainers were indisposed. Thus, being sent home early, I popped into Lowes (hiss, spit) for some plumbing pieces (of which more at a later date) and headed home.
Arriving home at 3pm, there were 3 good hours of daylight left so they got put to use. Last night I had been thinking about a handbasin for the bus. I considered the end of a small gas cylinder. I'd noticed there was such a cylinder on the junk pile. Thus, out of an abundance of caution, I placed it on the ground, ready to ensure it was empty. The cylinder said "helium" on it but it could well have been refilled with propane. Labels don't always mean what they say!
Not wanting to cut into a cylinder that might have propane in it, I decided on remote ventillation so I grabbed my (somewhat disappointing Kahr PM9) and fired a single shot from about 25 yards away. The shot did not immediately appear to have hit the cylinder to I aimed for another shot whereupon I discovered the blasted thing had jammed. Racking the slide, I found it kept jamming. In the end I put it away. That Kahr PM9 has been nothing but trouble since I bought it. I wish to Heavens I'd gone for a revolver rather than that stupid thing. Revolvers never jam! I would hate to be surprised by a bad guy when carying a PM9. I am pretty sure the PM9 would be more effective simply hurled at the bad guy. In terms of penetration the PM9 managed to get through one side of the (very thin) steel then totally failed to make an exit hole. I can hear the bullet rattling around inside. I'm going out on a limb and going to say that I just don't think the PM9 would penetrate a bad guy's shirt!
Putting the cylinder out of the way for the moment - the plan is to cut the top off to turn it into a handbasin - I proceeded onto today's work. I'll have to see if I can weld something this thin. That might present a significant challenge!
Today the plan was to complete welding the patch over the hole in the side of the bus cut by the hillbillies. That took me all of the remaining daylight. It was just a laborious process of building up steel and filling gaps until eventually the result was pretty good. It looked rough from the outside but it'll do.
I put the power socket cover over the area where it'll be fitted and sprayed with orange paint. Then I pulled out my angle grinder but instead of a cutting disk, I put a grinding disk. This worked surprisingly quickly and ground the excess welds flat to the point the socket cover fitted without rocking. It did reveal two small holes in the welding where the welding has not really filled the gap. These holes are minimal. I had thought 6011 rods would penetrate and fill holes but oh well.
Next, the whole lot got cleaned up with a wire brush then painted with brown undercoat. This bus does not have to look perfect - it just has to work well. The undercoat went on well enough. Tomorrow I'll put undercoat on the back of the plate then paint the front with grey paint. But before I do that, I'll make the holes for the socket cover. With any luck - if the paint inside is dry in time, I might put a second coat inside and then install the remains of the underbody electrics. The main breaker inside will be installed at a later date. Some have asked why I'm putting a main breaker box. The answer is simple - the main breaker is there to protect the cable from overloading. Currently I have a 20A cable but I'll also make up a 30A cable and might get a 10A cable too. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly different sites offer different facilities and secondly, the heavier rated cables cost more per foot. If I can park close to a power point I can use my heavier cables and get more power. There is another thing in that the heavy cables being more expensive are more prone to theft.
Work, which was scheduled for today, was to have been a full day of training but that was truncated at 1pm when two of the trainers were indisposed. Thus, being sent home early, I popped into Lowes (hiss, spit) for some plumbing pieces (of which more at a later date) and headed home.
Arriving home at 3pm, there were 3 good hours of daylight left so they got put to use. Last night I had been thinking about a handbasin for the bus. I considered the end of a small gas cylinder. I'd noticed there was such a cylinder on the junk pile. Thus, out of an abundance of caution, I placed it on the ground, ready to ensure it was empty. The cylinder said "helium" on it but it could well have been refilled with propane. Labels don't always mean what they say!
Not wanting to cut into a cylinder that might have propane in it, I decided on remote ventillation so I grabbed my (somewhat disappointing Kahr PM9) and fired a single shot from about 25 yards away. The shot did not immediately appear to have hit the cylinder to I aimed for another shot whereupon I discovered the blasted thing had jammed. Racking the slide, I found it kept jamming. In the end I put it away. That Kahr PM9 has been nothing but trouble since I bought it. I wish to Heavens I'd gone for a revolver rather than that stupid thing. Revolvers never jam! I would hate to be surprised by a bad guy when carying a PM9. I am pretty sure the PM9 would be more effective simply hurled at the bad guy. In terms of penetration the PM9 managed to get through one side of the (very thin) steel then totally failed to make an exit hole. I can hear the bullet rattling around inside. I'm going out on a limb and going to say that I just don't think the PM9 would penetrate a bad guy's shirt!
Putting the cylinder out of the way for the moment - the plan is to cut the top off to turn it into a handbasin - I proceeded onto today's work. I'll have to see if I can weld something this thin. That might present a significant challenge!
Today the plan was to complete welding the patch over the hole in the side of the bus cut by the hillbillies. That took me all of the remaining daylight. It was just a laborious process of building up steel and filling gaps until eventually the result was pretty good. It looked rough from the outside but it'll do.
I put the power socket cover over the area where it'll be fitted and sprayed with orange paint. Then I pulled out my angle grinder but instead of a cutting disk, I put a grinding disk. This worked surprisingly quickly and ground the excess welds flat to the point the socket cover fitted without rocking. It did reveal two small holes in the welding where the welding has not really filled the gap. These holes are minimal. I had thought 6011 rods would penetrate and fill holes but oh well.
Next, the whole lot got cleaned up with a wire brush then painted with brown undercoat. This bus does not have to look perfect - it just has to work well. The undercoat went on well enough. Tomorrow I'll put undercoat on the back of the plate then paint the front with grey paint. But before I do that, I'll make the holes for the socket cover. With any luck - if the paint inside is dry in time, I might put a second coat inside and then install the remains of the underbody electrics. The main breaker inside will be installed at a later date. Some have asked why I'm putting a main breaker box. The answer is simple - the main breaker is there to protect the cable from overloading. Currently I have a 20A cable but I'll also make up a 30A cable and might get a 10A cable too. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly different sites offer different facilities and secondly, the heavier rated cables cost more per foot. If I can park close to a power point I can use my heavier cables and get more power. There is another thing in that the heavy cables being more expensive are more prone to theft.
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.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Those damn hillbillies!
Today I looked beside my interior sub panel and discovered I have 9 inches of space between the panel and the woodwork. That gives me ample space to install my main breaker. This means that I now do not need an underbody compartment. The socket box can simply be affixed to the inside of the skirt and a hole made for the plug to pass through.
Had I realised this many moons ago, I could have simply riveted the old hillbilly compartment door over the hole after taking out their nasty compartment. I would have saved several months as I taught myself to weld and built two compartments that I ended up not using. The first compartment (bottom - in grey and brown) was simply way too heavy for my liking. The second compartment (top) is better but is unnecessary extra weight.
In the end, I could have saved all that time and effort by ignoring what the hillbillies had done. Every time I tried to make use of whatever disaster they concocted, I found I wasted time and just had to fix their attempts before doing it my way.
Originally, I'd wanted to have an entirely solar-powered bus. I've since discovered that solar power produces electricity of such an inconsequential amount that it realy is just a stupid dream. In fact, unless it's done on an industrial scale I'd call solar power rather much of a scam. For the price of two solar panels that might or might not make much power I could buy a generator. For the price of the batteries needed to store power I could save a lot of weight and buy several years worth of fuel for the generator. Were I doing the bus again from the beginning, I'd use many of the lessons learned and rather than putting in a 120v system, I'd put a small underbody 4.25lb gas cylinder and no 120v supply.
Just for laughs, today I bought a solar battery charger from Harbor Freight. I really don't expect much from this but if it recharges my AA NiMh cells then it will work on D cells too. I almost went for the suitcase solar panel on the basis I could probably rig that to charge either the LIon battery packs that'll recharge my tablet and phone or AA/D cells. Now the panel on the side of the box wasn't all that promising, to be honest but I thought I'd give it a shot.
I got it home and found it was somewhat of a challenge rather akin to the act of passing a camel through the proverbial needle to put AA batteries in the holders. Getting them out after might pose a significant challenge! I did not intend it for use with AA batteries but rather for D cells. If it works for AA batteries then it might be worth getting D cells because my LED lantern and my shower unit both use D cells.
12.5 hours for a single D cell looks pretty forbidding. That could mean several days given the fact I'm not likely to have optimal (middle of the Sahara) light. Given the size of the solar panel, I think this is more of a gimmick than something genuine. It's designed to catch the pennies of the curious rather than to provide worthwhile power.
Given that the battery holders are not that great and have a serious problem with gravity, I don't forsee a long life for this unit. Stripping it down to copy it, however, could be interesting. It should be possible to identify all the components in order to build a bigger, better charger that I could use to charge a realistic number of batteries. I have no problem with using NiMh cells as a power source!
As can be seen - this is the underside of the charger. How they expect the flimsy (I had to fix one already) contacts to hold batteries up, inside the unit remains to be seen. I rather expect that the contacts will snap fairly soon.
Meanwhile I relocated my butane torch and my butane refill cylinder. The torch would not take a butane charge. I suspect that the valve might have frozen. Given that I haven't used this in 5 years, it would seem likely. I pulled it out because I thought I might be able to use it to do some light brazing but sadly it appears this is not to be. It's not worth buying another - not at the current price of $18. When it was $10, it was fine.
While I was thinking about it, I almost bought another main breaker box out of sheer laziness rather than cut and rivet steel plate over the holes I'd already made in it to situate it underneath the bus. I thought more of my money however.
Diesel is now $1.69 a gallon. I really need to get that 120v system sorted out before the price rises. I can probably put another 30 gallons of diesel in the tank. I need to be able to move the bus before I can do that though and with the main breaker attached by a cable to the bus and dangling on the ground, that's not currently possible unless there was a way to tie the whole affair up so it didn't drag on the ground.
Originally, I'd wanted to have an entirely solar-powered bus. I've since discovered that solar power produces electricity of such an inconsequential amount that it realy is just a stupid dream. In fact, unless it's done on an industrial scale I'd call solar power rather much of a scam. For the price of two solar panels that might or might not make much power I could buy a generator. For the price of the batteries needed to store power I could save a lot of weight and buy several years worth of fuel for the generator. Were I doing the bus again from the beginning, I'd use many of the lessons learned and rather than putting in a 120v system, I'd put a small underbody 4.25lb gas cylinder and no 120v supply.
Just for laughs, today I bought a solar battery charger from Harbor Freight. I really don't expect much from this but if it recharges my AA NiMh cells then it will work on D cells too. I almost went for the suitcase solar panel on the basis I could probably rig that to charge either the LIon battery packs that'll recharge my tablet and phone or AA/D cells. Now the panel on the side of the box wasn't all that promising, to be honest but I thought I'd give it a shot.
12.5 hours for a single D cell looks pretty forbidding. That could mean several days given the fact I'm not likely to have optimal (middle of the Sahara) light. Given the size of the solar panel, I think this is more of a gimmick than something genuine. It's designed to catch the pennies of the curious rather than to provide worthwhile power.
Given that the battery holders are not that great and have a serious problem with gravity, I don't forsee a long life for this unit. Stripping it down to copy it, however, could be interesting. It should be possible to identify all the components in order to build a bigger, better charger that I could use to charge a realistic number of batteries. I have no problem with using NiMh cells as a power source!
Meanwhile I relocated my butane torch and my butane refill cylinder. The torch would not take a butane charge. I suspect that the valve might have frozen. Given that I haven't used this in 5 years, it would seem likely. I pulled it out because I thought I might be able to use it to do some light brazing but sadly it appears this is not to be. It's not worth buying another - not at the current price of $18. When it was $10, it was fine.
Diesel is now $1.69 a gallon. I really need to get that 120v system sorted out before the price rises. I can probably put another 30 gallons of diesel in the tank. I need to be able to move the bus before I can do that though and with the main breaker attached by a cable to the bus and dangling on the ground, that's not currently possible unless there was a way to tie the whole affair up so it didn't drag on the ground.
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Probably the worst welding in the world!
Yesterday I was reminded of my 2 year anniversary of meeting m'lady. Needless to say I'd had subtle reminders for the past week or two. I'd been finding notes written in Sharpie on my dinnerplate that I'd discover after doing my usual plate-clearing feat. I found notes in my lunch bag, reminding me of it all. So yesterday it was suggested that as it was forecast for 20% rain for Sunday, maybe we should head out on Sunday. That would leave me with all day today to work on the bus.
Well, today I started by cutting the steel for the infilling for the old cable compartment. That was pretty easy and after a little careful grinding, it was just the right size.
The plate, usefully, kept succumbing to gravity so in order to counter the effects of gravity which seems to be somewhat of a problem, I used existing hillbilly holes, some of my defective 10-24 bolts, washers and nuts. That held it all in place quite nicely.
Being mindful of the speed with which I can cut through 15 gauge steel with my 6011 1/16th welding rods, I worked quickly to weld the steel together. Now the steel I am welding in comes from the sole surviving seat back that the hillbillies left in the bus. That has been really useful supply of steel as it has been used for several things. Needless to say, I achieved the feat of cutting holes in the steel without too much problem.
I did get better as I went along though I had to pick up the pace a bit in order to complete the job before I ran out of welding rods. It was touch and go most of the time! I managed to burn quite a few holes and then had to sit there and build up the steel in order to fill the holes.
I don't think my welding will win any awards - aside from the booby prize. Maybe a Rotten Tomatoes award for ugliness. It does work though even though it looks nasty.
The biggest problem I had was that the steel sheet warped and moved a bit. It's nowhere near flush which might or might not be a problem. I might have to trim my compartment in order to fit it around my wonderful workmanship.
As it was getting gloomy - it had been overcast all day and I'd had to try a whole load of different tactics to be able to see what I was doing. My welding helmet is a little too dark to be honest. It's fine in bright sunshine but not in cloudy weather. In the end I found the hand-held eye guard worked best as it allowed me to see the area around the weld while blocking the really bright light.
Having put all my tools away, I wire-brushed the welds on the outside and slapped some primer on everything. Needless to say, as soon as I'd done that, the 20% rain arrived a day early.
With luck the rain won't harm the paint. I need to get underneath to prime the steel on the back. Judging from the smell of burning rubber when I was welding, the back of the bodywork has some rubberised paint on it.
With luck, I might be able to get the compartment installed tomorrow though I'm not counting my chickens. Today's welding took rather longer than I had anticipated to be honest. Had the weather not looked like rain then I would have welded the final strengthening pieces on the compartment. I never thought to check whether my main breaker box will fit nicely beside my distribution panel. If it does, perhaps it might be simpler just to finish infilling the hillbilly compartment and simply putting a socket box there instead.
Meanwhile, my screw eyes arrived today. Too late to do anything with them today though. I now have everything I need to be able to complete the shower curtain fittings. Well, perhaps almost everything - I might need some S hooks.
Well, today I started by cutting the steel for the infilling for the old cable compartment. That was pretty easy and after a little careful grinding, it was just the right size.
The plate, usefully, kept succumbing to gravity so in order to counter the effects of gravity which seems to be somewhat of a problem, I used existing hillbilly holes, some of my defective 10-24 bolts, washers and nuts. That held it all in place quite nicely.
Being mindful of the speed with which I can cut through 15 gauge steel with my 6011 1/16th welding rods, I worked quickly to weld the steel together. Now the steel I am welding in comes from the sole surviving seat back that the hillbillies left in the bus. That has been really useful supply of steel as it has been used for several things. Needless to say, I achieved the feat of cutting holes in the steel without too much problem.
I did get better as I went along though I had to pick up the pace a bit in order to complete the job before I ran out of welding rods. It was touch and go most of the time! I managed to burn quite a few holes and then had to sit there and build up the steel in order to fill the holes.
I don't think my welding will win any awards - aside from the booby prize. Maybe a Rotten Tomatoes award for ugliness. It does work though even though it looks nasty.
The biggest problem I had was that the steel sheet warped and moved a bit. It's nowhere near flush which might or might not be a problem. I might have to trim my compartment in order to fit it around my wonderful workmanship.
As it was getting gloomy - it had been overcast all day and I'd had to try a whole load of different tactics to be able to see what I was doing. My welding helmet is a little too dark to be honest. It's fine in bright sunshine but not in cloudy weather. In the end I found the hand-held eye guard worked best as it allowed me to see the area around the weld while blocking the really bright light.
Having put all my tools away, I wire-brushed the welds on the outside and slapped some primer on everything. Needless to say, as soon as I'd done that, the 20% rain arrived a day early.
With luck the rain won't harm the paint. I need to get underneath to prime the steel on the back. Judging from the smell of burning rubber when I was welding, the back of the bodywork has some rubberised paint on it.
With luck, I might be able to get the compartment installed tomorrow though I'm not counting my chickens. Today's welding took rather longer than I had anticipated to be honest. Had the weather not looked like rain then I would have welded the final strengthening pieces on the compartment. I never thought to check whether my main breaker box will fit nicely beside my distribution panel. If it does, perhaps it might be simpler just to finish infilling the hillbilly compartment and simply putting a socket box there instead.
Meanwhile, my screw eyes arrived today. Too late to do anything with them today though. I now have everything I need to be able to complete the shower curtain fittings. Well, perhaps almost everything - I might need some S hooks.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Fighting real nastiness
Today started with my cutting and welding into place, the sides of the new breaker box compartment. My first side was cut too short but I welded it in place anyway. Then I realised that was actually fortuitous. Being 1/2 an inch too short meant that instantly I had a solution to my drainage problem. Welding was problematic but the first side went on well enough. The second side isn't as secure as it really needs to be but as it's just a side that protects against spray rather than being a side that performed a structural function, it's not worth seating over.
Really and truly, I got a bit fed up of welding today. I spent an inordinate amount of time welding before I found dropping the power of the welder down to 40A meant I was less likely to burn through the metal. I might return to welding tomorrow. It's probably going to annoy me that it's not done as well as possible!
After completing the compartment the next order of the day was to paint it and stand back to admire my handiwork. Having suitably admired my handiwork and run around in circles in the yard yelling "Yay. I am the champion", it was on with the next task. The dreaded hillbilly cable compartment.
As can be seen, the wood looks a little suspect. The cable of my electrical system has acquired a nasty lot of white mold on the outside. Needless to say the whole compartment smelled badly.
Removing the compartment was a huge battle. Just about every bolt was badly rusted. All the screw heads stripped trying to turn them so in the end they all had to be removed using my angle grinder. Having done that, it was already dusk but here's a photo of the now empty compartment.
The wood that made up the old compartment was in truly amazing shape. I'm totally baffled as to why it hadn't just fallen out on the road a long time ago. I have a hard time believing that compartment could ever have held anything heavier than a fart!
The wood is not fit for anything other than a bonfire. I didn't go underneath the bus to see if the bad wood had caused rust - that's a job for tomorrow. I did however try the new compartment in place and it fits in very sweetly. The power inlet will hang down a little below the bottom of the skirt but not hugely. It'll make easier access. I did think about using a proper TT-30 inlet but for some unknown reason, TT-30 inlets are either unavailable or horribly expensive. I'm sticking with my NEMA 6-30 twist-lock inlet instead. I could probably go down to a 20A inlet but to be honest, I think if I am plugged in, 30A will give me more and better options. I don't need huge amounts of power but I can see that a microwave could well use up 10A leaving very little room for anything else.
I spent a while worrying about putting on the new door and putting the infilling up on the side, where the old door went before deciding it wasn't worth worrying about. I'll face that when it's time. For now the task is to install the new breaker compartment. The door can wait! Tomorrow there might be a holdup as I have to put more undercoat on some of the compartment and topcoat on the whole compartment. Ideally I'd paint it white but as I only have black topcoat, it'll have to be black. While the undercoat is drying, I can tape a sheet of steel behind the aperture the hillbillies cut, spray around the edges with orange paint and when that's dry, pull it out and trim the steel with my angle grinder. From there I can tape it into place and weld it in. That welding might well take all day or even several days.
After completing the compartment the next order of the day was to paint it and stand back to admire my handiwork. Having suitably admired my handiwork and run around in circles in the yard yelling "Yay. I am the champion", it was on with the next task. The dreaded hillbilly cable compartment.
Removing the compartment was a huge battle. Just about every bolt was badly rusted. All the screw heads stripped trying to turn them so in the end they all had to be removed using my angle grinder. Having done that, it was already dusk but here's a photo of the now empty compartment.
I spent a while worrying about putting on the new door and putting the infilling up on the side, where the old door went before deciding it wasn't worth worrying about. I'll face that when it's time. For now the task is to install the new breaker compartment. The door can wait! Tomorrow there might be a holdup as I have to put more undercoat on some of the compartment and topcoat on the whole compartment. Ideally I'd paint it white but as I only have black topcoat, it'll have to be black. While the undercoat is drying, I can tape a sheet of steel behind the aperture the hillbillies cut, spray around the edges with orange paint and when that's dry, pull it out and trim the steel with my angle grinder. From there I can tape it into place and weld it in. That welding might well take all day or even several days.
Friday, February 12, 2016
The new monstrosity emerges
Just when you thought it was safe to let the women and children out on their own, my monstrosity emerged from the capable hands of my Harbor Freight 70A welder. Starting was much delayed due to my looking for a way to hold the pieces in place. I considered riveting but couldn't find my rivets. Then I tried to bolt the pieces together but the 1/8th drill bits all seemed pretty blunt. In the end I retrieved a tiny G-clamp from something I'd put together several years ago that utilised a G-clamp. That did the trick! It held the pieces together while I welded them.
There were setbacks along the route such as letting the welding rod linger too long and burn a hole in the steel I was welding. That delayed things as I had to make concentric circles, waving the welding rod around the hole like Harry Potter's wand while I built up the steel surrounding the hole until the hole was filled.
It's not quite rectangular but I'm not bothered - the simple act of riveting it underneath the bus will pull it straight. Once it's riveted into place I might weld it as well. I'm not sure about that yet though.
I have't painted where I welded yet as I need to put sides on the compartment and the simple act of welding burns the paint off. Watching the paint in flames was quite entertaining! The original plan was for solid sides on the compartment. The power socket could go underneath the compartment. That would simplify things considerably. The cable needn't go through any complicated routes.
Looking around, I found some steel mesh. It looks ideal to use as sides. That would have the advantage of allowing air to evaporate any water that seeped in through the compartment door. The whole point of the compartment is twofold - firstly to top squirrels from eating the electrical cables and secondly to provide somewhere to mount the electrical inlet. It would be nice to keep spiders out but they get in anyway.
Checking the bodywork steel, it seems to be the same thickness as the vast majority of the lightweight sheet steel that I already have. It should not thus be a problem to fill the cavity left in the bodywork by the hillbillies. Certainly moving the welding rod as swiftly as Harry Potter's wand means I should be able to weld thin steel. My welding has definitely come a long way since I attempted to weld two steel conduits together and burned right through them.
Tomorrow's plan is to continue with construction of the compartment and possibly to demolish the old wooden compartment as well as removing the aluminum compartment door. Like as not, there'll be some hidden nastiness there that'll need to be dealt with. I might even need to move the bus closer to the power supply in order to do more welding.
I can kinda sorta see why people sniff at the cheap Harbor Freight welder. It is pretty slow to weld with. On the other hand, I'm not in any particular rush. If I can get the breaker box compartment completed by the time I return to work on Tuesday then I shall be elated.
There were setbacks along the route such as letting the welding rod linger too long and burn a hole in the steel I was welding. That delayed things as I had to make concentric circles, waving the welding rod around the hole like Harry Potter's wand while I built up the steel surrounding the hole until the hole was filled.
I have't painted where I welded yet as I need to put sides on the compartment and the simple act of welding burns the paint off. Watching the paint in flames was quite entertaining! The original plan was for solid sides on the compartment. The power socket could go underneath the compartment. That would simplify things considerably. The cable needn't go through any complicated routes.
Checking the bodywork steel, it seems to be the same thickness as the vast majority of the lightweight sheet steel that I already have. It should not thus be a problem to fill the cavity left in the bodywork by the hillbillies. Certainly moving the welding rod as swiftly as Harry Potter's wand means I should be able to weld thin steel. My welding has definitely come a long way since I attempted to weld two steel conduits together and burned right through them.
Tomorrow's plan is to continue with construction of the compartment and possibly to demolish the old wooden compartment as well as removing the aluminum compartment door. Like as not, there'll be some hidden nastiness there that'll need to be dealt with. I might even need to move the bus closer to the power supply in order to do more welding.
I can kinda sorta see why people sniff at the cheap Harbor Freight welder. It is pretty slow to weld with. On the other hand, I'm not in any particular rush. If I can get the breaker box compartment completed by the time I return to work on Tuesday then I shall be elated.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Meandering toward perfection
Not feeling much like doing anything today I started by gathering up most of the garbage in the bus and by putting it all out in a big cardboard box. Then I gathered all my tools up and put them in the tool box. Now I might be able to find things. I put together a box of consumables such as paints, sealants, glues and lubricants and a box of electrical stuff.
Next I ventured outsde and derusted then primed a piece of angle iron that I found yesterday in the bushes. That will make excellent angles on the new breaker box compartment. I didn't do any welding - pretty much because I didn't really feel like doing any.
After that, I took an old enameled steel table top that I'd found in a junk pile and cut the steel for the sides of the compartment. They're roughly cut and will have the final cuts next time around.
Thinking about filling the hole in the side of the bus left by the hillbillies, I remembered the remains of the seat back that I used parts for filling in where a window was missing. It should be the same thickness as the bodywork steel. In any case, it's about the same size and will need minimal trimming to get it to fit.
After this, things remaining to do...
1. fit the 120v inlet socket.
2. Install two or perhaps all 3 of my 15 gallon drums as waste water tanks.
3. Fit drawer separators so things can be stored in the drawers easily and so china doesn't get chipped in transit.
4. Install a 12v battery system powered by a 30W solar panel. That could use a NIMH battery setup. In fact I prefer NIMH to both lithium and lead acid.
5. Tow hook and tow wiring.
6. Rewire the schoolbus flashers to be brake lights and indicators.
7. Install a front door unlocking system.
8. Weld some steel over the lower window of the back door as a security measure.
10. Install a shower curtain.
That's about it. After removing the I beam underneath the bus, I eliminated my step which made getting in and out more challenging. To aid me, I spent $12 on a set of folding steps from Walmart. They work though I have to put my knee on the floor of the bus and hoist myself up.
In terms of registering the bus as a motorhome, I might as well complete the forms and get that underway.
Next I ventured outsde and derusted then primed a piece of angle iron that I found yesterday in the bushes. That will make excellent angles on the new breaker box compartment. I didn't do any welding - pretty much because I didn't really feel like doing any.
After this, things remaining to do...
1. fit the 120v inlet socket.
2. Install two or perhaps all 3 of my 15 gallon drums as waste water tanks.
3. Fit drawer separators so things can be stored in the drawers easily and so china doesn't get chipped in transit.
4. Install a 12v battery system powered by a 30W solar panel. That could use a NIMH battery setup. In fact I prefer NIMH to both lithium and lead acid.
5. Tow hook and tow wiring.
6. Rewire the schoolbus flashers to be brake lights and indicators.
7. Install a front door unlocking system.
8. Weld some steel over the lower window of the back door as a security measure.
10. Install a shower curtain.
That's about it. After removing the I beam underneath the bus, I eliminated my step which made getting in and out more challenging. To aid me, I spent $12 on a set of folding steps from Walmart. They work though I have to put my knee on the floor of the bus and hoist myself up.
In terms of registering the bus as a motorhome, I might as well complete the forms and get that underway.
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, January 30, 2016
How much work was done today?
Well, it doesn't sound like a lot but decisions were made which makes for big advances. Physical progress was limited to derusting and painting two pieces of steel from the ends of the roller shutter assembly I dismantled a while ago.
The ends had been held on by two very rusty bolts. When I took the main steel from it, I didn't undo the bolts - I just cut the top of the steel fairly close to the ends and let the ends drop off. Today I had to remove the bolts. Rather than fight with them, I simply cut them off with the angle grinder. Then I derusted the ends with the rust/paint stripping brush in the pistol drill and painted them with Rustoleum primer for rusty metal. One side got painted anyway. The other side needs painting now.
That all followed on from an investigation I carried out earlier into the prospect of putting a small compartment to replace the rather large hillbilly compartment. I'll probably have to get some 1/32 welding rods as my 1/16 might be too thick to weld bodywork steel. I'll try with my 1/16th first though. There is some air conditioner ducting lying around and if I can successfully weld that then I can successfully weld the bus steel.
The plan is to put a much smaller door on the bus for the compartment. As far as electrical power goes with a small battery, I'm not sure that I really want to weld a compartment there. Instead I'm thining I might just put a couple of straps and strap a steel ammunition box underneath containing my previously mentioned solution of using AA batteries, battery trays and a charge regulator. Basically, I'm going lightweight with pretty much everything.
While I was looking around underneath the bus, I found the reversing horn and was intending to test it but never actually got that far. I did notice that there was a sign on the chassis that said "Do not weld to nor drill into the flanges". The body is held on with steel clamps. I looked at the I girder the hillbillies had put on. That was welded via a spacer to the flange on the bottom of a chassis cross member. That was really close to a very readable sign that tells people not to do that! Let's just say that nothing the hillbillies did surprises me! That girder must be removed for two reasons.
Firstly the girder is unlikely to make a good trailer hitch since it is tack welded to the rear bumper and to the chassis cross member which makes it rather unlikely to be all that strong. Secondly, in the event of a rear collision, the chassis cross member could get bent. That would be a horribly difficult and expensive fix.
I put up self-adhesive blinds in the bathroom over two windows. That was quite easy. I stopped off at Walmart later and picked up three more in order to finish putting blinds on all the windows. The bathroom door window didn't have enough room to put a blind so I decided to get some opaque shower curtain material and attach it with velcro. It was then that I realised I could do exactly the same thing with the shower curtain over the shower.
I considered looking at replacement plates and dishes but didn't because I'm not quite ready to go there yet. At the moment I'm finishing getting the inside 100% habitable and getting the breaker box compartment completed. I'll do a lot of welding for that and am hoping my exisiting long steel rivets will work to attach the new compartment. The compartment will be a welded unit, riveted into position. I figure it would be better for rivets to be sheared in a collision from the side than for steel supports to be bent.
While I was out, I picked up a small set of steps. Those will be handy if not esential now that I have to remove the I girder. My way of ingress has to date been via the back door. The girder was in the right place to use as a step. Without that girder, steps will be needed and Walmart had just what I needed at a price I was prepared to pay.
Tomorrow the plan is to work toward constructing and installing the breaker box compartment. I will also press on with putting up the last of the blinds and consider putting up the shower curtain too. If there's time - which there could well be since I have to apply layers of paint then I'll probably have a go at removing the I girder. That's attached so poorly to the back bumper that cutting that weld should be very easy. The other end, I'll just cut the spacer as close to the top of the spacer as possible.
Once the breaker compartment is installed, the rest of the old cable compartment will be closed up. Following that, I'll have to install the new power connector. I bought a socket box and some extenders for it. That way I can install the new power connector. I had thought of making my own socket box but don't really have a suitable steel box and am not that confident about my welding ability.
Actually, having all the stuff as light as possible has two benefits - firstly it puts less stress on the skeleton and secondly, if it broke loose and fell off then it's less likely to be such a disaster when I'm driving. There is a third benefit that it makes the bus lighter and thus less thirsty on diesel.
Out of curiosity I have been playing with old vegetable oil. For most of the last six months I've been pouring old used vegetable oil into a 5 gallon bucket. Looking at it the other day, it all seems to have solidified. Clearly not quite what it's cracked up to be and not quite suitable for use in a diesel engine. Still, I'll find a use for it even if it's just painting on exposed steel to prevent rust.
That all followed on from an investigation I carried out earlier into the prospect of putting a small compartment to replace the rather large hillbilly compartment. I'll probably have to get some 1/32 welding rods as my 1/16 might be too thick to weld bodywork steel. I'll try with my 1/16th first though. There is some air conditioner ducting lying around and if I can successfully weld that then I can successfully weld the bus steel.
The plan is to put a much smaller door on the bus for the compartment. As far as electrical power goes with a small battery, I'm not sure that I really want to weld a compartment there. Instead I'm thining I might just put a couple of straps and strap a steel ammunition box underneath containing my previously mentioned solution of using AA batteries, battery trays and a charge regulator. Basically, I'm going lightweight with pretty much everything.
While I was looking around underneath the bus, I found the reversing horn and was intending to test it but never actually got that far. I did notice that there was a sign on the chassis that said "Do not weld to nor drill into the flanges". The body is held on with steel clamps. I looked at the I girder the hillbillies had put on. That was welded via a spacer to the flange on the bottom of a chassis cross member. That was really close to a very readable sign that tells people not to do that! Let's just say that nothing the hillbillies did surprises me! That girder must be removed for two reasons.
Firstly the girder is unlikely to make a good trailer hitch since it is tack welded to the rear bumper and to the chassis cross member which makes it rather unlikely to be all that strong. Secondly, in the event of a rear collision, the chassis cross member could get bent. That would be a horribly difficult and expensive fix.
I put up self-adhesive blinds in the bathroom over two windows. That was quite easy. I stopped off at Walmart later and picked up three more in order to finish putting blinds on all the windows. The bathroom door window didn't have enough room to put a blind so I decided to get some opaque shower curtain material and attach it with velcro. It was then that I realised I could do exactly the same thing with the shower curtain over the shower.
I considered looking at replacement plates and dishes but didn't because I'm not quite ready to go there yet. At the moment I'm finishing getting the inside 100% habitable and getting the breaker box compartment completed. I'll do a lot of welding for that and am hoping my exisiting long steel rivets will work to attach the new compartment. The compartment will be a welded unit, riveted into position. I figure it would be better for rivets to be sheared in a collision from the side than for steel supports to be bent.
While I was out, I picked up a small set of steps. Those will be handy if not esential now that I have to remove the I girder. My way of ingress has to date been via the back door. The girder was in the right place to use as a step. Without that girder, steps will be needed and Walmart had just what I needed at a price I was prepared to pay.
Tomorrow the plan is to work toward constructing and installing the breaker box compartment. I will also press on with putting up the last of the blinds and consider putting up the shower curtain too. If there's time - which there could well be since I have to apply layers of paint then I'll probably have a go at removing the I girder. That's attached so poorly to the back bumper that cutting that weld should be very easy. The other end, I'll just cut the spacer as close to the top of the spacer as possible.
Once the breaker compartment is installed, the rest of the old cable compartment will be closed up. Following that, I'll have to install the new power connector. I bought a socket box and some extenders for it. That way I can install the new power connector. I had thought of making my own socket box but don't really have a suitable steel box and am not that confident about my welding ability.
Actually, having all the stuff as light as possible has two benefits - firstly it puts less stress on the skeleton and secondly, if it broke loose and fell off then it's less likely to be such a disaster when I'm driving. There is a third benefit that it makes the bus lighter and thus less thirsty on diesel.
Out of curiosity I have been playing with old vegetable oil. For most of the last six months I've been pouring old used vegetable oil into a 5 gallon bucket. Looking at it the other day, it all seems to have solidified. Clearly not quite what it's cracked up to be and not quite suitable for use in a diesel engine. Still, I'll find a use for it even if it's just painting on exposed steel to prevent rust.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
That was bloody exhausting.
After today's exertions, I am absolutely exhausted. Heaven knows why but I find welding very tiring. I suppose that could be because it wasn't particularly warm today but it was very dry. I didn't complete everything I would have liked to have done but I got closer to completing a lot of things.
The first task was to climb up on the bus roof to reseal one of the seams. That took a complete cylinder of silicone sealant. Ideally I'd have used something other than silicone but since I've used silicone everywhere else and it seems to be working, I've stuck with silicone. This motorhome will only ever be a 20 year old vehicle. It will never get younger so imperfections aren't that important.
After that, I thought about my plumbing. I decided that for the moment I'll plumb for a bucket under the bus. It should be straightforward to add underbody tanks. The plumbing didn't go quite as planned as it was the last thing done today. Needless to say, I cut the tubing too short after having previously cut it too long. It's currently an inch too short after being an inch too long. Having said that, this is what it looks like.
The long horizontal is an inch too short. It would be usable with a small block placed between it and the attaching point. The jubilee clip I bought to attach it turned out to be way too small. I'll have to buy a couple of bigger clips. Now the attachment point was the first thing I made this morning. Basically, it's two steel brackets welded together.
Welding was where I made great progress today. I started using 6011 rods rather than 6013 and started getting an arc every time rather than having to fight to get an arc. Most things needed a second pass to get the weld to look good but I burned through fewer sticks and had better welds. I ended up making four tube mounts. Two are to hold the downpipe and two more to hold horizontal pipes when I get the tanks installed.
This was part way through my welding progress. Welding small stuff was way easier than I thought it would be. It was important to keep moving the rod though as I did burn the edge of one of the brackets away a little in one place.
This is how the mounts looked when completed. After welding them and clearing the slag off the welds, I sprayed them with cold zinc plating. Now that's quite expensive but if it stops rust then it's worthwhile. One is already installed but the second isn't yet as the battery in the electric drill expired before I finished drilling the second hole.
Another task completed was to weld the two parts of the roller shutter top that I'd previously cut into two pieces. I welded with 6011 rods both at the top and the bottom of the join. I did several runs with the welding rods in order to make the welds look good. In between runs, I wire brushed the slag off the welds.
After brushing the slag off, I sprayed with my zinc spray. I would have liked to have cut the construction to fit the battery/cable box but I didn't have time. After I'd worked on the plumbing, it was just too dark. The sun had escaped from me again. I'm just hoping it appears again tomorrow!
I have concerns over whether my underbody work will be too much for the skeleton. I might complete what I'm building for the underneath and then ask my mechanic for advice and maybe get him to weld the underbody stuff. I really don't want stuff dropping off as I'm driving!
The first task was to climb up on the bus roof to reseal one of the seams. That took a complete cylinder of silicone sealant. Ideally I'd have used something other than silicone but since I've used silicone everywhere else and it seems to be working, I've stuck with silicone. This motorhome will only ever be a 20 year old vehicle. It will never get younger so imperfections aren't that important.
After that, I thought about my plumbing. I decided that for the moment I'll plumb for a bucket under the bus. It should be straightforward to add underbody tanks. The plumbing didn't go quite as planned as it was the last thing done today. Needless to say, I cut the tubing too short after having previously cut it too long. It's currently an inch too short after being an inch too long. Having said that, this is what it looks like.
Another task completed was to weld the two parts of the roller shutter top that I'd previously cut into two pieces. I welded with 6011 rods both at the top and the bottom of the join. I did several runs with the welding rods in order to make the welds look good. In between runs, I wire brushed the slag off the welds.
I have concerns over whether my underbody work will be too much for the skeleton. I might complete what I'm building for the underneath and then ask my mechanic for advice and maybe get him to weld the underbody stuff. I really don't want stuff dropping off as I'm driving!
Sunday, December 27, 2015
One of "those" days *sigh*
Today was a day when nothing went quite right. I woke with a headache which is never a good portent of things to come. After a leisurely breakfast of yet more Xmas dinner leftovers, I went outside and noticed the sky was overcast. Clearly no welding today because the instructions on the welder say do not use in rain and rain was forecast.
The steel I cut yesterday has bright orange rust spots on the freshly cut edges. That's not welcome but not unexpected. I didn't treat the edges as they'll have to be welded anyway. The rest of the steel is fairly rusty so I'll have to sugar blast the whole lot to clear the rust. Then I'll have to paint it with rust killing paint then scrape the areas to be welded and weld it all together then put yet more anti-rust paint and then a topcoat. I did, however, remeasure what I'd cut and aside from probably having to trim corners to fit around bolt heads, it's pretty much the right size.
Next I looked at the schoolbus flashers. I need to switch the amber and red around so the ambers are on the outside. That was something I could do relatively easily so I hopped up on the hood and started undoing screws for it was a simple matter of switching the lenses around. Wouldn't you just know it! One of the screws refused to budge and the cross head became a cone. I'll probably have to drill it out now. At that point I said that given the way I was feeling, it wasn't sensible to proceed and packed up for the day.
I looked at my old red LED sign that had been broken in my car. The actual sign still worked but the mounting was broken. As I need a car cigarette lighter plug, I cut the cable off and tossed the sign in the trash. It was sad to see the sign go but it had paid for itself and I'd had a couple of years use out of it. I used to put that sign in the back window of my car and rent it out on fiverr.com as advertising space. People would pay $5 to fiverr to advertise their product for a week and I'd get $4 of that in my Fiverr account. After a very, very long time I amassed enough to deposit in my bank account and by the time they had charged me a fee to deposit into Paypal and Paypal had charged a fee to deposit in my bank account the money was even less and I figured given the time and the chargers on charges on charges, it wasn't worthwhile. So, yes - to the people who ask - I did make money from Fiverr but in the end it works out at about $2.50 per hour so it's really not worth the effort.
I checked out my solar panel and connected it to an electro magnet which then failed to pick up anything despite the panel voltage being around 16.7 volts. I'm really not that impressed with this solar stuff, to be honest. It all sounds phenomenal - I mean - who doesn't like the sound of free electricity? The reality is somwhat less than satisfactory. As an experiment a few years ago, I connected a powered off mobile phone to a panel and left it on a windowsill, facing the sun, for a week. At the end of that week, I powered up the phone and while there certainly was power there was only enough for about 15 minutes usage. I'm going to plug on with solar but I'm not going to be fool enough to believe that it's going to be majorly worthwhile. It might - if I covered the roof with panels - charge my phone every day but I doubt that it'll do anything more than that. Indeed, as I said before - the amount of money spent on solar panels to charge batteries would pay for a generator and a whole load of gasoline which would charge the batteries in a fraction of the time, day or night.
My solar panel - for those who're interested is allegedly 12v at 5A. I have yet to see it do anything bar make a tiny light bulb glow very dimly when exposed to direct sunlight. My idea had been to connect the panel via my ciagrette-lighter socket in the cab to the battery to allow it to keep my battery topped up. I fear that the LED on the cigarette lighter socket might use more power than the panel can supply in a day!
The electro magnet I started the other day still needs to be completed. I'll have another go at that another day. I'm not feeling that glowing positive feeling at the moment what with the cloudy weather and the absence of success. This wonderful two weeks off for Christmas has turned largely into two weeks confined to the house due to the weather. Still, I have another week left - there's a huge oppotunity there for the weather to change its mind and give me glorious sunshine and dry days.
Out of curiosity I put the meter on the lighter socket and got 12.3 volts. Clearly something amiss there. The voltage should be higher - something in the region of 13.8v given that the batteries were charged a week ago. There could be some form of resistor or zener diode in the lighter socket, limiting the voltage to 12.3v. It's good to know! I suspected putting a solar panel on as a battery mainatiner wasn't going to be simple. Nothing ever is which is why though I was all in favor of an all electric bus I'm beginning to veer towards as little onboard electrics as possible. Indeed, I might even rethink this battery compartment and possibly just have a compartment for the main breaker box. That'll be a load lighter and smaller. It also means I can rivet most of that silly hillbilly cable compartment door shut and just use part of it as an access panel to my breaker box.
Thinking more about batteries, I discovered a source for C size NiMh cells. There seem to be people putting them together in blocks of 10 to produce 12v batteries with 10,000mah (or 10Ah). There seems to be something called a DC-DC converter which takes whatever voltage and outputs at a constant voltage. Thus, as the power in a battery declines its voltage will drop. The DC-DC converter maintains the voltage at a constant level, presumably at the cost of amperage. That answers my questions about how supercaps can be used. As their power level drops, so too does their voltage.
Given the low amount of power I need, given that I'm really only charging my phone, my $50 tablet and a $20 mifi pad, I'm really wondering what kind of power storage to use. Realistically, I probably don't even need a battery compartment for that amount of battery power! Still, I'll plug on because I might want to expand later.
The steel I cut yesterday has bright orange rust spots on the freshly cut edges. That's not welcome but not unexpected. I didn't treat the edges as they'll have to be welded anyway. The rest of the steel is fairly rusty so I'll have to sugar blast the whole lot to clear the rust. Then I'll have to paint it with rust killing paint then scrape the areas to be welded and weld it all together then put yet more anti-rust paint and then a topcoat. I did, however, remeasure what I'd cut and aside from probably having to trim corners to fit around bolt heads, it's pretty much the right size.
Next I looked at the schoolbus flashers. I need to switch the amber and red around so the ambers are on the outside. That was something I could do relatively easily so I hopped up on the hood and started undoing screws for it was a simple matter of switching the lenses around. Wouldn't you just know it! One of the screws refused to budge and the cross head became a cone. I'll probably have to drill it out now. At that point I said that given the way I was feeling, it wasn't sensible to proceed and packed up for the day.
I checked out my solar panel and connected it to an electro magnet which then failed to pick up anything despite the panel voltage being around 16.7 volts. I'm really not that impressed with this solar stuff, to be honest. It all sounds phenomenal - I mean - who doesn't like the sound of free electricity? The reality is somwhat less than satisfactory. As an experiment a few years ago, I connected a powered off mobile phone to a panel and left it on a windowsill, facing the sun, for a week. At the end of that week, I powered up the phone and while there certainly was power there was only enough for about 15 minutes usage. I'm going to plug on with solar but I'm not going to be fool enough to believe that it's going to be majorly worthwhile. It might - if I covered the roof with panels - charge my phone every day but I doubt that it'll do anything more than that. Indeed, as I said before - the amount of money spent on solar panels to charge batteries would pay for a generator and a whole load of gasoline which would charge the batteries in a fraction of the time, day or night.
My solar panel - for those who're interested is allegedly 12v at 5A. I have yet to see it do anything bar make a tiny light bulb glow very dimly when exposed to direct sunlight. My idea had been to connect the panel via my ciagrette-lighter socket in the cab to the battery to allow it to keep my battery topped up. I fear that the LED on the cigarette lighter socket might use more power than the panel can supply in a day!
The electro magnet I started the other day still needs to be completed. I'll have another go at that another day. I'm not feeling that glowing positive feeling at the moment what with the cloudy weather and the absence of success. This wonderful two weeks off for Christmas has turned largely into two weeks confined to the house due to the weather. Still, I have another week left - there's a huge oppotunity there for the weather to change its mind and give me glorious sunshine and dry days.
Out of curiosity I put the meter on the lighter socket and got 12.3 volts. Clearly something amiss there. The voltage should be higher - something in the region of 13.8v given that the batteries were charged a week ago. There could be some form of resistor or zener diode in the lighter socket, limiting the voltage to 12.3v. It's good to know! I suspected putting a solar panel on as a battery mainatiner wasn't going to be simple. Nothing ever is which is why though I was all in favor of an all electric bus I'm beginning to veer towards as little onboard electrics as possible. Indeed, I might even rethink this battery compartment and possibly just have a compartment for the main breaker box. That'll be a load lighter and smaller. It also means I can rivet most of that silly hillbilly cable compartment door shut and just use part of it as an access panel to my breaker box.
Thinking more about batteries, I discovered a source for C size NiMh cells. There seem to be people putting them together in blocks of 10 to produce 12v batteries with 10,000mah (or 10Ah). There seems to be something called a DC-DC converter which takes whatever voltage and outputs at a constant voltage. Thus, as the power in a battery declines its voltage will drop. The DC-DC converter maintains the voltage at a constant level, presumably at the cost of amperage. That answers my questions about how supercaps can be used. As their power level drops, so too does their voltage.
Given the low amount of power I need, given that I'm really only charging my phone, my $50 tablet and a $20 mifi pad, I'm really wondering what kind of power storage to use. Realistically, I probably don't even need a battery compartment for that amount of battery power! Still, I'll plug on because I might want to expand later.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
I got me some sugar!
Yup - after spending a rather unproductive time using soda as a blasting medium with my Harbor Freight air blasting tool, I located a small container of sugar that I poured into the blasting head. The difference was immense. I could bring the paint down to bare metal when I needed and managed to roughen the surface of existing paint.
It is indeed regular cane sugar. The traditional thing to use is sand or preferably silica free sand. Given that sugar is a substance broken down easily by the human body, I'm not too bothered about inhaling minuscule quantities though I hold my breath while I'm blasting. Sand contains silica which causes silicosis - a really nasty and frequently terminal lung ailment. The best thing is sugar is available just about everywhere. A 20lb bag is cheap in Walmart while for sand I'd have to go further and pay more.
Lacking time to paint properly as it was getting close to dusk, I pulled out the first spray can I could locate. Meanwhile, I have been wondering whether I should change the paint scheme. On one hand, I can get grey fairly readily. On the other, I could paint the bus a more interesting color. I'll probably stick with grey on the basis that most of the paint is probably not going to peel. If necessary I can use a steel brush or sandpaper for occasions when the compressor is unavailable.
One of worries is whether my welds are good enough. I'm going to have to find a real welder and ask his opinion. I think my battery compartment is going to be strong enough. Mind, I've just measured it against a nearby car battery. It seems that the door the hillbillies put on is not large enough to allow a full sized battery. Thus, my plan of using gas seems to be much more of a thing. I can build a smaller cage to hold a small gas container. No need for a huge one as far as I can see. I can get away with a smaller battery because it's not going to be used for powering mains equipment. I'm thinking small electronics such as my tablet and my phone etc.
Speaking of welds, I welded some scrap steel together. This is so that m'lady's niece's boyfriend can his destructive streak and try to destroy it. If he can then I'll have to look harder at my existing welds.
Looking at my bus batteries, they were down to 50% so I put them on charge to bring them back up to 100%. The bus has been sitting idle for months. That's not good for the batteries but one day I'll get around to installing my solar panel. That should keep the battery topped up.
The solar panel I have should keep the bus batteries topped up. I suspect a similar sized panel might be sufficient to provide for my daily electrical needs unless, of course, I decide to install a fridge that runs off 12v. As I've mentioned, I'm experimenting with Peltier elements and these form the basis of 12v fridges. Now a single Peltier would use around 60w or 120ah. To make a freezer, 4 Peltier elements would be needed, using 480ah. That's way in excess of what I'll set up to do. I figure 10-15ah is all I'll likely need if I use gas. Indeed, since my microwave is close to being deceased, it's not too much of a stretch to put a gas hob where the microwave used to be. indeed, I suspect that I might have been better off not installing the 120v setup at all but rather, installing 12v and gas. Having said that, I have what I have. It'll all probably work out for the best. The goal was to have all electric and while that is possible, it's not of immediate financial practicality.
Speaking of welds, I welded some scrap steel together. This is so that m'lady's niece's boyfriend can his destructive streak and try to destroy it. If he can then I'll have to look harder at my existing welds.
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Progressing again
Now that work has put up the shutters for the next two weeks, I can apply myself fully to working on the bus. Yesterday though I made a slight detour on my way to work to Walmart as my new tablet has arrived. Honestly, only one word sums this budget tablet up - fantastic! Sure, it won't let me run a couple of the apps I used to but it's thus far way faster than my Nexus 7, cost just about half the price and came with a keyboard case. The color even matches the galley in my bus.
Unlike my Nexus, it takes a SD card which means I won't lose locally saved files unlike my Nexus. It charges from the same micro USB charging port which I consider to be a great step backwards. Pin power connecters are far more robust.
Speaking of my Nexus, when out shopping at 2am yesterday I noticed a company called "Digital Doc" in my local Walmart. Sadly it was closed but today I visited it. Given that such computer, tablet and phone repair places spring up quickly, flourish for a while then vanish suddenly - usually with a sack load of other people's equipment - I figured I'd best use it as quickly as possible before it vanishes.
Arriving at the desk this morning, I asked about reflashing my Nexus and was told by the minimum wage yokel working there that they didn't do this. Now that's really strange since their website indicates that they do. Given then I had to stand in front of her and attract her attention from her mobile phone in order to talk to her and how after telling me the business didn't actually do what they claim to do and since she then failed to answer me with a suggestion as to an alternative business (or to acknowledge the question at all) I followed my golden rule. If somebody in the company with a geekish business is useless then they all are, and allowed my feet to give them a vote of confidence by allowing my feet to carry me out of their store. I don't see a long future for that outfit!
Returning to the bus, I had another go at welding. I'm not highly satisfied with what I did but then the weather was so cold I really didn't want to stay out welding. In fact, I didn't really want to start! I definitely need to get the compressor out and try to clean up the bits I need to weld with soda blasts. Now that I've worked on the blasting head, it might work better. For a bit of fun I welded two pieces of scrap steel together. M`lady's sister's daughter's boyfriend has threatened to test some of my welds to destruction so I figured I could safely let him loose on that!
Looking at the hillbilly cable compartment, it seems I have indeed correctly measured the size of the box I'm building. The next step after completing the welding will be to install the new compartment. Unlike the hillbilly compartment, my compartment will have a floor that will allow drainage. Indeed, I might even use a steel mesh rather than a solid floor.
I have various ideas about the battery power setup. Initially, since my power budget is minimal, I'll probably just have a small battery. All it has to operate is fans, lights and chargers. In fact, my 5A solar panel could end up mounted on the roof to charge the battery. That might provide 2.5A for 5 hours a day or about 15AH so the battery could be really small.
The goal at the moment is to get the bus ready to be examined in the reregistration process.
Speaking of my Nexus, when out shopping at 2am yesterday I noticed a company called "Digital Doc" in my local Walmart. Sadly it was closed but today I visited it. Given that such computer, tablet and phone repair places spring up quickly, flourish for a while then vanish suddenly - usually with a sack load of other people's equipment - I figured I'd best use it as quickly as possible before it vanishes.
Arriving at the desk this morning, I asked about reflashing my Nexus and was told by the minimum wage yokel working there that they didn't do this. Now that's really strange since their website indicates that they do. Given then I had to stand in front of her and attract her attention from her mobile phone in order to talk to her and how after telling me the business didn't actually do what they claim to do and since she then failed to answer me with a suggestion as to an alternative business (or to acknowledge the question at all) I followed my golden rule. If somebody in the company with a geekish business is useless then they all are, and allowed my feet to give them a vote of confidence by allowing my feet to carry me out of their store. I don't see a long future for that outfit!
Returning to the bus, I had another go at welding. I'm not highly satisfied with what I did but then the weather was so cold I really didn't want to stay out welding. In fact, I didn't really want to start! I definitely need to get the compressor out and try to clean up the bits I need to weld with soda blasts. Now that I've worked on the blasting head, it might work better. For a bit of fun I welded two pieces of scrap steel together. M`lady's sister's daughter's boyfriend has threatened to test some of my welds to destruction so I figured I could safely let him loose on that!
Looking at the hillbilly cable compartment, it seems I have indeed correctly measured the size of the box I'm building. The next step after completing the welding will be to install the new compartment. Unlike the hillbilly compartment, my compartment will have a floor that will allow drainage. Indeed, I might even use a steel mesh rather than a solid floor.
The goal at the moment is to get the bus ready to be examined in the reregistration process.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)