by "BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
Published 05/18/2017 at 17:25
by "BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
Published 05/18/2017 at 17:25
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STARS: 5
One evening’s work and yet again i’ve saved my little Citroen from the scrapper :) i’ve also fixed a hydraulic leak using a £2 y-piece hose connector. Then it’s just a battery and it’s back on the road!
As an aside, the garage it’s being worked on in wasn’t even built when the hydraulics broke (probably well over a year ago). Despite that, stuck a spare battery in it, fired straight up :) unkillable little thing
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
05/18/2017 at 17:32, STARS: 1
Awesome that the BX will be back on the road! And you’re right about the welding, I still need to start learning that though...
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
05/18/2017 at 17:34, STARS: 1
Poor little mutt. Scabies, incontinence, lack of energy... :)
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
05/18/2017 at 18:12, STARS: 0
Not a bit of it! Scabies and incontinence cured ;)
The lack of energy is pretty terminal though...
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
05/18/2017 at 18:17, STARS: 0
I was mostly making a crack about the battery. I had a hard time of it keeping up with you on the way to your place, so it’s spry enough. Of course, I was also trying to avoid clanging the rubbish-at-town-roads Vauxhall into anything and being cautious, but still.
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
05/18/2017 at 18:18, STARS: 1
You definitely do :) it’s without a doubt the most useful skill i’ve ever picked up. Not to brag, but just to show how useful it is here’s all the stuff i’ve done with it (that i can remember!):
Welded floor of the Alfa
Welded the Citroen twice
Welded the MG F
Welded two of my mate’s Peugeots
Welded my other mate’s RX-8 the day before we were all due to go to the ‘ring and he had his MoT due
Spitfire bodyshell
Spitfire gearbox mount
Custom spit wishbones as all the aftermarket ones are pants
3 metal flowers as anniversary presents and one for a birthday present that got me a date with my (now ex) gf
2 candle-holders, a wine rack and a stainless lily for my mum’s birthday presents
2 tables for a housewarming gift for one of my mates
Another table for my room
A collapsible rotisserie for my Spitfire
A tractor PTO screw-type log splitter
Relocating the seat on my junkyard Schwinn Stingray ridiculous pushbike so it fits people who aren’t child-sized
Countless sheared bolts that i’ve welded a nut onto and wound out
Clutch slave bracket on my old Jag
A handle for the welder itself
My mate’s BMW’s battery tray so i could sell it on
The front of said BMW when i pranged it into a barrier
Two wheelbarrows and a little trolley thing fixed
A candle holder for my sister
A little rotary ornament for my mate’s birthday
Scalloping the lower bracket on my mate’s MX-5 so it’ll clear his exhaust properly
Mounts on my Jag’s aftermarket exhaust so it’ll actually fit properly
The MG F’s exhaust hangers after one let go from driving over cobblestones in Belgium
That’s just so far :)
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
05/18/2017 at 18:23, STARS: 0
Haha yeah i remember that ;) i feel there was a definite home-field advantage going on there on the narrow country lanes though. Plus, i’m fairly certain they build Vauxhalls out of lead...
"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
05/18/2017 at 18:32, STARS: 1
Vauxhall: lead manufacture and improbable track width of two struggling chariots from
Ben Hur.
I exaggerate, but 58" track width is by no means minimal. My Ranchero (big for a “compact”) has only 3" less, the Galaxie with its great 80" body width only 3" more (61"), and neither with wide wear-resist tires made of bricks. Point of fact, I’d much rather get along in the Galaxie down those lanes, giant size be hanged. People would get out of the way and slow down a bit.
"NJAnon" (NJAnon)
05/18/2017 at 19:18, STARS: 1
Fabrication is a really strong vocation.
"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
05/19/2017 at 07:32, STARS: 0
That’s quite the extensive list! I tried to convince my dad to buy some kind of project together(either an old sub 50cc bike like a Zundapp, or a small car) so I can aquire some skills. But alas he doesn’t want to use our single car garage for that.
"davedave1111" (davedave1111)
05/19/2017 at 08:27, STARS: 0
I was reading the start of that list wondering if you were just going to put ‘welded Spitfire’ :)
If I didn’t live in a block of flats I’d have got a welder and started practising by now, but I suspect my neighbours would object. Now you made me go look at them again - I can probably use my dad’s garage. Problem is I don’t know where to start.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferm-Power-100Amp-Arc-Welder-with-Accessories/391571386321
Is a 50 quid Ebay special going to be any use at all?
Or the £70 one?
How about a gasless MIG welder at £90?
Presumably that means a non-gasless one would require gas bottles I’d also need to buy.
Are all of those far too cheap to be useful? What should I look for? The current it can push?
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
05/19/2017 at 11:02, STARS: 1
The neighbours would only object if you start setting light to things ;)
Alas I’m far from an expert on welders. I would say that MIG is a hell of a lot easier to pick up than arc welding (or TIG for that matter), and gas welding is a marvel compared to gasless. So much so that it’d definitely pay for itself in the price of gas and bottle rental just for the ease of getting welds down (plus, you can offset the cost of flux-core wire against that).
If you can find one, I’d say higher spec gas-fed MIG second hand to keep the costs down. Ours was bought from a ye-olde auction and is out of some defunct Italian factory somewhere :) turns out ‘velocita filo’ means wire speed ;)
"davedave1111" (davedave1111)
05/20/2017 at 07:06, STARS: 0
Some of my neighbours are real tits, they’ve objected to people fettling bloody bicycles next to the bike shed. But I was more worried about having all the kids around, probably staring at the weld without any goggles and ruining their eyes.
“I’m far from an expert on welders”
Not nearly as far as I am :)
You’ve already answered one question, those cheap arc welders aren’t the way to go. Is gasless MIG a good compromise? The gas bottles aren’t too expensive, but it’s just more clutter I don’t have space for.
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
05/20/2017 at 08:57, STARS: 0
Hmmm, all i’ve heard about flux-core gasless stuff has been that it’s a PITA to get neat welds compared to gas. Not sure about just getting welds to stick and not bothering about how it looks though.
I’d go for gas, but then again i’ve got space to hoard stuff like that ;)
Your neighbours do sound like tits and deserve to be told politely to piss off, but i do understand about kiddos looking at welding without goggles...
"davedave1111" (davedave1111)
05/21/2017 at 06:10, STARS: 0
“all i’ve heard about flux-core gasless stuff has been that it’s a PITA to get neat welds compared to gas”
Interesting. Shows how little I know about welding, I didn’t even know there were the two types until just now.
“Your neighbours do sound like tits and deserve to be told politely to piss off”
Those particular neighbours were not told politely... But yeah, it’s the kids around that worry me.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
05/31/2017 at 16:50, STARS: 1
Curriculum Vitae
"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228)
05/31/2017 at 17:12, STARS: 1
“Well, i can’t help you with your finances...but i can fix your swivel chair as i’ve noticed the arm rest is broken”
“You’re hired!”