Got a bit more done...
Clamped up the rear gutter section:
fitup-rear-gutter.jpg
Plug welded it in:
rear-gutter-welded.jpg
Started on the first side piece...
Apply a bunch of clamps:
all-the-clamps.jpg
Realise that due to sitting on your lawn for about a year, along with having bits chopped out and more bits welded in, the roof is not exactly the right shape, so persuade it with a strap:
strap-persuasion.jpg
Apply many tacks:
tackathon.jpg
Spend a few hours stitch welding the whole lot (going slowly to minimise warping)
seam-welded.jpg
Grind it all flush:
grindback.jpg
Throw on some etch primer:
etchprime.jpg
Now I have to repeat that process until there is a new band of steel around the whole roof, fabricate the corner pieces, then plug weld the whole lot to the gutters and braze the corners.
Bloody awesome work mate can't wait to see how she comes up
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@Nhoward how you going with this mate? So looking forwrd to seeing you finish this. So impressive.
Bloody hell I just went right through this thread . Incredible 👍🏻
Unfortunately I have been rather busy with work/life in general so progress has been a bit slow (and there is a subdivision going in next door, with construction 6 days a week, so I am trying to not piss off the neighbors with my own power tools)
I have managed to get a bit more done though.
I have not taken as many photos this time, as it's the same procedure I used on the other side in the last post.
Setting up the left side for welding (with added strap persuasion and a ton of clamps):
leftside-setup.jpg
leftside-clamped.jpg
After that came the usual deal - tack it in a bazillion places while shoving it this way and that to get the bits in alignment, then weld it all up:
leftside-welded.jpg
Did the same thing on the back:
rear-roof.jpg
Also added some er... substantial... reinforcement to the long-suffering bunnings tent keeping the rain of the project as it was trying to take flight:
reinforced-tent.jpg
Next step will be to fabricate the 4 corner pieces, then roof attachment time!
0-TJ-0 (1st June 2021), BrazilianY60 (15th June 2021), Cremulator (2nd June 2021), Hodge (1st June 2021), MB (2nd October 2021), PeeBee (1st June 2021), Plasnart (1st June 2021), Rossco (1st June 2021)
Well... MudRunnerTD called it - the tent got trashed.
A couple of months ago we had the worst storm of the year, and at about 4am the top of the tent took off into the night. I was up to my eyeballs in my day job, so I let the patrol sit under the tarp for a while. Shortly after that, delta hit our shores and it was back into lock down we went. What fun.
What was there before:
before.PNG
What resulted after:
after.PNG
Fortunately the tent had started leaking, so I was in the habit of keeping the patrol under a tarp inside the tent.
Right then... If I want to progress this thing I need some shelter since the weather is still garbage.
Fortunately I'm known amongst my friends as that guy that hoards random useful crap (I often get calls along the lines of "hey we are about to throw out <random stuff> do you want it?) end result - I had some timber laying around.
I added "vaguely sufficient carpentry" to my list of random skills and constructed this lot:
construct-tent-1.jpg
construct-tent-2.jpg
Excellent... somewhere dry to work, and with a much lower chance of it blowing away in the night.
inside-the-tent.jpg
Right... now that I have somewhere dry to work, back to the patrol.
Fabricated what was the most irritating piece of metal in the whole project and started persuading it in to place:
part-from-hell-fitup.jpg
Welded it in:
part-from-hell.jpg
Fabricated the bit for the back right corner, then stuck that in:
corner-welding.jpg
...and ground it back:
corner-groundback.jpg
Similar deal with the front left:
FL-welded-groundback.jpg
Next up:
- Finish fabricating the piece for the back left corner
- Finish fabricating one tiny bit for the front right corner
- Pull the roof off again, clean up any of the welds that need it
- Prepare the corners with flux for brazing
- Final roof fit-up and far, far, far too many plug welds!
BrazilianY60 (2nd October 2021), Cremulator (1st October 2021), MB (2nd October 2021), mudnut (2nd October 2021), Plasnart (1st October 2021), Rossco (2nd October 2021), rusty_nail (2nd October 2021)
Far out mate, you have to be the clear leader for best first 25 posts in the history of this forum. Just love what you've done so far.
BrazilianY60 (2nd October 2021), Cremulator (1st October 2021)
Plasnart (1st October 2021)
Yeah wow Kudos to a job done well, bloody amazing can't wait to see hire she comes up
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