So this next bent went MUCH faster since all I really had to do was put it on top of the other one, clamp them together, and buzz, buzz, buzz.
You can see here the penetration is quite good from the top side, more than halfway, so after running a bead on this side these to pieces will be one!
WARNING!!! MORE WELDER PORN...
OH YEAH!!
MMMMMM....
Okay, enough of that. Got things well tacked and slid the whole bent off the other one enough to run all the bead without fusing them together.
My axle hardware finally showed up! Yayyy!
And I borrowed another of Paul's toys. I'm so thankful he's always willing to help me out with stuff like this. Thanks Paul!
And thanks to Eric too!! Anytime I start talking with him about some project I'm working it goes like this.
KP: So I'm working on ________ and dah, dah, dah, etc, blah, blah, blah.
ED: Oh, do you have a (insert awesome, helpful tool/item that I do not posses)???
KP: No, what's that?
ED: Oh, it will help you blee-blah-bloo-goo.
KP: Hmm, that sounds nice.
ED: Well, I'll bring it to work for you tomorrow and you can borrow it for as long as you need.
KP: Uhhh, okay. Sounds great dude. Thanks!
So thanks again Eric. You're a great dude and friend. This time Eric was letting me borrow some Vise Grip style welding clamps which did find themselves in useful service.
Oh yeah! I gotta put lights on this thing too before I take it to town to get my tag and registration..in TWO DAYS!!
But for now I want to focus on getting all the final welding done. Jacked up the front...
...pulled out the sawhorse...
...put it back in sideways and lashed on a tie down strap...
...what the heck, I might as well put a clamp there too.
Jack up the back and do the same...
...this was trickier as I had to try the jack in a couple spots to get the right balance point so it didn't flip before I wanted it to...
...but I found it and moved the sawhorse to it's new position and lashed on another tow strap...
...and started tipping after a few minutes of contemplation, okay, seems good to go...
...started off with the bulldog jack under the other side and slowly lowered it, it seemed easy enough..
..well a bungee cord can't hurt, but I don't think it really helped...
..oh what the heck, put on another clamp in the back...
...finally put some jack stands in appropriate positions, lost the jack, and used some elbow grease...
...it was soooo easy with it properly balanced, of course....
...and "Houston, we have landing"...
Okay, so it wasn't quite enough weld porn, but I promise this really should be the last of it for the welding. There will be other tradesman "porn" to come though.
Don had told me that with these 7018 rods if you laid a flat bead really well, the slag would go glassy as it cooled, then crack right off the bead leaving you with little to no work.
A little dragging with the slag hammer, but no beating like some(many) of the other welds.
Looks pretty nice under there.
And the wire brush just makes it look better.
Flipped it the other way at 1 am! and kept layin' beads. They were coming out so well I figured what the heck.
Okay, at 3 am, that's a wrap...FOR SURE! Not staying up this late again ( I hope).
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