Call the Midwife

on TV this evening

Hi Ben!

The race is on!

.

Making tools from scrap steel

Spent a couple of days re-organising my workshop, clearing out clutter and welding up new stands for fabrication tools. 

Making the quarterlight sill was tricky because I'd lost the base for the sheet bender and had to clamp the tool to a workmate. 
All very unsatisfactory. 
So I decided I needed to make something much more substantial.
 

 Sheet bender gets a rigid base

 A box section in front of the bender provides a tower for a quickly removed shrinker tool 

(same for the stretcher on the other side of the bench)

A rigid support tower for my guillotine

. . .  and all made from scrap, including the workbench which was rescued from a demolition.

quarterlight window sill

 It has just occurred to me that I have done a few bits of scuttle metal work which I haven't recorded. Among them is the sill of the driver's side quarterlight. It was riddled with rust and so rather than bodge repair it, I decided to remove it and fabricate a replacement part.

Mine is more radiused, less sharp-angled than Mr Morris's, but I think he got that wrong. The radiuses on mine are similar to the ones edging the windscreen. Also, I used thicker material, so I think it ought to add strength. I have decided that I like it so much I am making one for the other side, even though that one is in ok condition.

Will weld it in next weekend. Will also then fit starter motor and coil.

wings and shaft

Martin popped round with his girlfriend (and my former colleague) Kelly for a cuppa and to bring over an internal wing he has repaired and the propshaft, which he has cleaned up and painted.

Progress.

(I wonder if I will have ANY hair left when I finish the project. Need to get a move on - the owner of the garage is planning to sell it)

inter-GRIPPING Progress

Martin has been hard at it, again, and this time has restored the nearside floor support panel, which was riddled with holes. He came round today and we dry-fitted the panels on the chassis; the driver's side one is the one I fabricated using the original as a pattern.

Martin used some inter-grips, which I bought online, to hold two pieces of steel very slightly apart, so that they could be butt welded together really well .

And parallel with Martin's, the one I made some years ago:

Good progress. Martin took away an internal wheel arch and the prop shaft, to work on when he gets his mojo.

Postponements

Martin and I keep planning weekends of metalwork but either I or he, or both of us just haven't been in the mood. But I have been talking to Dad about it this week, and I know for sure that I am going to get back into it soon. Had a few hard weeks at school and I have really needed blobbing-out weekends to recover. But half term isn't far off.