Critical Path Analysis

Just before I went away for Christmas I heard from Magpie who said, essentially, you HAVE made some progress, haven't you...and won't believe that actually I have done sweet F-A in quite a while. He is amazing, and will write to say he has had a dry spell and only had time to strip the differential, replace all the brake hosing, etc.

Anyway, now that Christmas is out of the way I am going to put CPA into practice, years after I learnt it at engineers' school; not that I was an engineer. I was on the dole and they let me on the course to make up the numbers.

Basically it is about planning a process, taking into account those conditions which will have to be met in order for the process to begin, or progress to the next stage. It helps you to anticipate order delays etc. It is common sense really, but putting the process down on paper helps a lot. It also helps you decide what the most efficient use of time, in the event of a delay, will be.

For instance, I am mounting the finished engine on the chassis before completing the wheel arches because I need some critical dimensions which I won't have until the wheels are on. I need the front scuttle on for this...but as I say, the engine must go in first, and before that, the chassis must be on wheels and suspension. Before the wheels can go on, the brakes must be done..and that process is awaiting the pull-off springs. This is an "all for want of a horseshoe nail" situation. So: pull-off springs ----brakes ---wheels----suspension----engine----scuttle----wheel arches -----rear of cab. First I need to find or make those damned springs, and while I am wating for them to arrive, what would be my best use of time? Differential clean-up, I think.

When I get home, it'll be all systems go.

I Finished my Trailer Lock today

Click here to see some of the designing and making process. One of the most satisfying things, apart from having made it myself, is that it is made entirely with reclaimed steel, scavenged from an engineering workshop skip (with their permission, of course). The red knob on the locking pin is a snooker ball that I dug up in the garden.

Warmer in the shed than in my house!

A mate of John's has a container of stuff he didn't take to the Philippines with him, and which he has been trying to unload, so I have very fortunately acquired a two length ladder, a collection of matchbooks, some old books and an oil-filled radiator, and it is that last item that has me down in the workshop more than up in the house after work now.

I have stretched some old carpet out on the concrete floor and have been busily removing brake cables etc from the rear axle (bloody hard to do. All the fittings are rusted solid. I don't want to grind them off because I want to restore the threads). Also I've been doing rust removal, which I decided to do myself and not get P&P to shot blast this time.

On the trailer hitch front, I borrowed a second welder and finished the cheek-plate, and have since Hammerited the post and its now concreted-in base, and while I did that noticed patches of rust on the trailer, which have been nagging me...so did them too...and while I was down there, I noticed other bits and soon enough, the whole bloomin' trailer was silver!

My welder has gone to Sealey's for them to suss out what's up with it and give me a repair quote. It is a good service: Bennetts take it to Sealey's and bring it back, no charge, and there is no fee to pay if I decide not to accept the repair quote. Hopefully it'll just be a relay problem...and cheap. I feel lost without it. The borrowed one is 100amps to my 130 and does a crappy, spattery weld....but I can't look a gift-horse in the mouth.

When the rain goes and the sun comes back out I'll fit the post and get a picture for you.

It doesn't rain, but it pours!

First it is the welder, then it is my car battery, which has suddenly flattened itself, so that when I leapt in the car to pop over to Bennets to get a part for the welder, it wa-ah-aha-aha-ahed but wouldn't start. Damn. So, took the battery out today and have it on charge. May have to walk to school tomorrow.

Mate, John, always good with technical problems, came round and we took the main switch apart (diode not lighting), having found that the motor can be made to work off a 12V charger and that the fuse was ok. So we don't know what's up now because, using a bulb on the switch tabs we found that apart from the diode not lighting, all the other tabs would light a 12V car bulb. I did wonder if the entire circuit is being fused by the diode, of course, but it doesn't seem likely....being so inaccessible. So, we are a bit stumped and that is bloody annoying because the welding jobs are piling up and I can't afford to get someone to mend it.

May ask friendly electrician, Karl, up the road if he will run a multimeter over it and isolate the problem. Damn, wish it had simply been the toggle switch....cheap and easy to fix.

P&P Blasting told me the rear axle could be done for £50 ish, so I reckon I shall make myself happier and save a few bob by starting that manually tonight. I brought it inside today and put it back on blocks. I am afraid that leaving it our these last few years, albeit covered, hasn't done it any good.

Read here about Sealey and Bennett's, how the welder was repaired but how I felt ripped off

progress yesterday; frustrations today

Another of those frustrating days, today, where just about everything that could go wrong, did. Worst of all, the wire feed motor on welder stopped working and I still haven't worked out why; gas release servo works, as does hand switch, relay fuse seems ok, but tried bridging it and that didn't....not that it is a fair test because I am not 100% sure that the bridging was a good contact anyway (I'd only know that if it had worked) so I am no closer.

On the positive side, the foundation unit for the trailer hitch is concreted in now and the chassis is now in place in my neighbour, Paul's garage. The point about this garage is that it faces the road and has a double door and drive....so access is no longer a worry. I shall work on bits in my workshop, then carry them across Greta's garden, through the makeshift gate I made yesterday and into the garage to be assembled. The other great thing is that I no longer need to rent Greta's garden (though I have access) and the garage is costing me the same, so there is no net loss....and road access is gained - plus lots of room to move..in the dry in the garage.

Strain Stops Play

Bugger, I have strained my back again....and at a time when I have two days free in a row for van stuff. Utterly infuriating. Looks like I shall be catching up on my reading.

Trailer locking post

In the last week or so I have been making this security post for my trailer. The trailer will be locked on to the ball hitch and the post will be locked upright, blocking the trailer in on my hard stand. The post will be welded into an anchor frame which will be set in the first layer of concrete, and the second layer of concrete will then fill up its sides to pavement level (over the cross bar which will anchor it further).

When folded down, the post will cross the pavement, allowing the trailer out over it and on to the road. I have yet to make the hitch lock, but otherwise it is all close to being done (and has only been delayed by my running out of Mig wire last night).