Remember Thursday the twelveth?

              Ah the joy of the finished project.

Nothing compares with seeing your creation come to fruition. It brings you to a point where you tend to forget all those hours of detail work with the raw metal under the ol' Eco-friendly helical green light bulbs.

You tend to notice the power bill up about 30% when you put a couple of weeks of cutting, grinding, sawing, drilling and welding on your utility tab. Even more if you are of the perfectionist persuasion.
I say that in a friendly sort of way. It's OK to be a perfectionist, you got your pride involved and that's a good thing.

This quickie tool cart project came as a challenge for my self imposed two week in process policy. Yup just two weeks ago I started the working phase of this job. I finished it up last night. It seems funny you miss some little imperfections until the paint dries, like that stubborn little BB that casts a shadow in the evening sunset. You chip it loose and where does it fall? In a corner or crevice! I'm a tellin' ya, it's "Murphy's Law".

It seemed the little details bit my butt all day long on the Thursday the 12th, only to realise there is still a delivery on Friday the 13th, and due date on 9 / 11. Go figure.

Toilet Bowl Parade 2010

Sometimes ya gotta take a little time out and vent, we all do every now and then. Although its not an official Tea Party or any thing like that, it is a chance to get out and enjoy yourself, hear in Hustisford, Wisc. It's the annual "Toilet Bowl" The parade is followed by the ToiletBowl Football game at Fireman's park! I took about 30 some odd pictures of this year's event, and thought I would post them in this blog of mine to share with ya.

Sure the polar Bears can plunge into Lake Michigan if they want to, I just refuse to entertain the idea of gettin wet in these temperatures, Burr... Minont N. Dakota is -21% this mornin, hmm...







Jan. 01, 2010 : 11:55 AM


Folks, its about 10% F here in town,
I see some people standing 'round, hmm...


Maybe its a small town USA kinda thing, ya know, real locals, with real families and stories of what is the real American Adventure!


By that, I mean surviving these chaotic times we live in these days, get it? Think about it.
When the hammer falls, and the current political mess is truly exposed for what it is, Some folks could be angry and they might be throwin bricks!, hmm...



There is somewhat of a relief effort goin on here though. We throw the relatively harmless and ecofriendly Toilet Paper at those who volunteer to be targets.

Its all in fun and we understand that by volunteering to be the target, nothing personal, but your gonna get pelted with the ol' wedgee - wipe.

Oh yeah , you are allowed to throw it back! that's what makes it fun!

As the clock ticks down to 12 O'clock, the crowd welcomes in the New Years by tossin the ol' wonder wipe back and forth along the main street parade route in a gesture of sure it can be a crappy life if you let it, but here we say clean up your act, and here's a little something to help ya in your time of need!

Ha ha ha, once again, it's nothin personal, don't spill the 12 ounce' rs ok?

Extreme 4X4, you'll hear these boys playin in the mud this spring miles away on down the road!Next year, maybe I'll build somethin like one of these and document it on this blog, I have most of what I need, hmm.... except a beer can that Big! hee hee..


Ah, yes the new owners of the ol' grocery mart are sportin their Lucky Taco fortune cookies with a flair! I'm a diggin the sombrero thing on top.

Hot seats sponsored for the government! ha ha hmm... maybe?

This guy, got a big ol' V-8 in his Mighty Massey, he used to have a small engine repair shop up the block till it closed, last spring! Still its good to see him, Happy New Year Bob!

$20.00 bucks and a 12-Pack!

Here's the problem with welding rusty exhaust tube.

When it gets too thin to weld, it will vaporize before you can establish a puddle. Before You blink, you have another hole. The heat of the arc should be on the thickest of the two metals being welded. In a case like this the thinnest metal cracked at the edge of the weld. Typically that's where a weld should break under stress, even if in new condition. the problem of rust is even worse inside the muffler as it is separated from the opposite end on the inside.



SAFETY FIRST!

To fix it, I cut a piece of 3" galvanized pipe to length at 15".

2 strips of 18 Gauge 1 1/2"wide X 4"long. Mark center of the width at 3/4" on both ends.
Insert in 4" vise to the center line and securely clamp. Fold it over to 90 degrees by pounding it over with the end of a short 2 x 4, and a medium hammer. Two good cracks with that hammer and you have a mini angle.

Then cut slices in one face about 3/8" apart with a 4-1/2"cut off wheel. I used the 7" Dewalt .045 in the picture.

hmm.. pie x the radius squared!
Let's be practical here, just form both halves of the flange to fit the pipe by wrapping it around the pipe, then reverse it so the flange is flush with the end of the replacement tube, tack it to the new tube. Trim second flange to fit with cut off wheel and tack in place.
If satisfied, weld solid to pipe 360 degrees while it is separate from the muffler.



Test fit the flanged tube, and trim tabs to fit the back of the muffler with the old hole centered in the tube. Make alignment marks if you wish, or just fire a tack on the top tab to hang it like I did.

If you are lucky you'll still have those two perfect bungee cords to hold it in one place while tacking the new tube. In this case I used my photographer's helping hand.

Remember safety, before welding on any vehicle, it is recommended to disconnect the battery ground cable. I connect the ground cable to the new clean replacement tube to eliminate that intermittent spark at the very beginning of the welding process due to ground problems.

The new tube is the root metal, it will carry the heat of the arc and allow you to just melt the edge and bond to the much thinner muffler case. use a small weave if you like.

Tack to the back of the muffler enough to secure and enjoy the project!

For me, the project was just good practice to see if I can save the kid, oops! I mean, man child a few bucks. Something inside still vibrates but it sounds like a 4 cylinder school bus crossover now. That don't matter though, you can still hear the stereo thumping a quarter mile away!

I did this with an old Lincoln Arc Weld Pack 100 112volt welder I purchased new around 1989 or so.

• I used Hobart .030" wire, gas less - flux core
• heat high on the new tube , wire speed just under 3 on scale.
• heat low when welding the flange tabs to the muffler, wire speed about 2-1/4 on scale.

Josh did his midnight run to the gopher state later that night without a hitch. The good news is, I finally got my spark pictures, and got them posted to boot!

"$parks'a flyin"!

Before I head out to the ol' man cave to finish welding the last of 12 carts, I must wait for my man-child to fetch some new brake pads for his new/used Honda, and then come home. You know he'll want to use my tools, and then want my help. That's OK, son, I want you to carry those big heavy boxes downstairs to the basement. But the real reason I'm waiting for him is so HE can operate the camera and maybe get a pretty picture of some "sparks'a flyin"!

This won't be the last opportunity for pictures, but I want some spark pictures with my first article because this is about the effort you make to reach your goals. The steps you take to insure your best results.

My first attempt at spark pictures failed big time!, you can't always do every thing yourself. Strike and float a pretty "one handed" bead, and shoot a decent photo with the other hand, while looking through the ol' Speed Glass welding helmet!
hmm... how do I get around that 1/10 of a second timing thing in the helmet? Is the auto flash even visible against the arc flash? Turn it off for longer exposure? hmm... I'll figure it out later.

Back to the project. in the photo today is the fixture I made to fit out side the leg of the cart because of the inside radius. I found two pieces of straight metal about a foot long, and lap welded them together to serve as an alignment guide. Two clamps to the leg ensure the leg extension remains in place when you clamp it secure. Then 3 good, solid tacks on the inside at the edges and in the corner will allow you to move on to the next leg, and so on... when all 4 legs are extended double check your diagonal measurements for square. Any thing within an inch is cool at this point, any thing more than that may be pulled in to the bottom when it is reattached. this is a simple solution to this project, more examples later.