What did you do in your shop today?

[cstudep]

Its the outside corner of 2 1/8" coupons at 90 degrees. Much hotter and it started melting away, it had a little heat to the inside of the corner but not a lot so maybe could have gotten a little more, but since I was welding the inside corner as well I wasn't too worried, and it ended up being pretty strong once welded on both sides.

Its just practice anyway after all and I am sure I will have good and bad yet to come as I work through it.

One thing is for sure, position is real important when tig welding, any sort of tension in the upper body gets the shakes going which makes it a lot harder to keep the tungsten out of the weld pool.

[Willie_B]

On the 66 Countryman I am still sorting the electrical system. Due to what I have seen so far I decided it best to check everything. Even if it means pulling up carpet. This is the wire patch going to the floor headlight switch. Yep, speaker wire was used.

[MiniDave]

Oh lordy how I hate to fix other people's electrical mashups!  :(

I've spent most of today cleaning and organizing loose parts, papers and such. It's still a mess out there.....I despair that I'll ever truly get it sorted out.

I did get the paperwork sorted for the green 998 so I could send the bill off to the owner, he said the check's in the mail!  ::) ;D

I'll have video of that engine running tomorrow.

[MPlayle]

Looks like the person that did that wiring patch needed about 9 more inches on the dimmer switch pig-tail?

If the speaker wire is of the same gauge as the regular harness wire, it should be okay.  Although I would consider shrink wrap or electrical tape insulating each of those splices.

[Willie_B]

If the speaker wire is of the same gauge as the regular harness wire, it should be okay.  Although I would consider shrink wrap or electrical tape insulating each of those splices.

I was concerned about how well those wires would hold up to the heat with them laying right up against the firewall.

[MPlayle]

Is the car LHD or RHD? 

If LHD, that splice will be over to the far left along the wheel arch - well away from the exhaust heat.

If RHD, the splice would be in the center above the tunnel and I can certainly understand the concern.  Being on the inside of the car versus the engine bay, I am still inclined to think it will be okay.

[cstudep]

Not exactly in the shop since my 3d printer is in the house but I was making stuff for the shop so close enough I guess.

Since I haven't found a HIF44 carb yet I figured I would try to get one of the HS4 carbs I have to work, at least good enough to use on the test stand so I can see if the old 1275 auto I have will run.

To get the HS4 to mount to the intake I needed a spacer so I drew these up and printed them out to test fit. They seem to fit pretty well but I don't have bolts long enough so need to get those before I can bolt it on.

[BruceK]

Nice!  I know little about 3D printing. Is the material they are made of okay for the task? 

[MiniDave]

Today I cleaned, put away, cleaned, organized, cleaned and then moved stuff around so I could tear down the Sprite race transmission for a rebuild - in the meantime while I'm waiting on parts to arrive (I'm betting on Moss over Spares at this point as I still haven't gotten a ship notice from DHL a week after I placed the order) I'll - guess what? - clean the parts all up!  ::) ;D

[cstudep]

Nice!  I know little about 3D printing. Is the material they are made of okay for the task?

Not entirely sure but I'm going to find out. I printed these out of a material that is good to about 80-90c. Since its for my test stand which is wide open I am hoping it will be ok. If not there are other filaments you can get that have a higher heat tollerance but they are more difficult to print. There are also ways to anneal the plastic parts that significantly increases its heat resistance, you just have to deal with shrinkage created during that process. For a part like this it might be something that could be accounted for since its not a super tight tollerance part, but I have never tried it so don't know.

Mostly I just like playing with it and the filament is cheap enough I am not really out much of anything if it does not work.

[tmsmini]

Doing a quick post-trip check after getting back from Cambria with MOALA/MOASF, close to 500 miles.
Actually a driveway check.

Our trips in the Travellers are documented here:
https://www.facebook.com/travellerlucy/

[MiniDave]

So, how did everyone do? Any breakdown stories to tell? I followed along your trip on FB, I'm very familiar with that part of the coast as I lived in Fresno for a while and we'd head to the coast at every opportunity to get out of the heat or gloom.

Your cars look fantastic!

[tmsmini]

So, how did everyone do? Any breakdown stories to tell? I followed along your trip on FB, I'm very familiar with that part of the coast as I lived in Fresno for a while and we'd head to the coast at every opportunity to get out of the heat or gloom.

Your cars look fantastic!

There were some issues on getting out of town, someone replaced a fuel pump, but I think that was it.
Twenty cars from north state and ten from the south. I will post some more pictures soon.

Very nice and low key, the Wilsons came over the hills from Fresno.

[MPlayle]

Not the garage "shop", but my "home office shop": I swapped upholstery on seats today.

The original RHD driver's seat's recliner mechanism was jammed when I got my current red Mini.  I found someone selling a pair of the same style reclining seats with different upholstery and bought them.  Today, I stripped both right side seats and put the upholstery from my car on the replacement seat so I now have a properly working recliner to go back in.

[94touring]

I fixed some scratches on the left lens of my glasses.  Worked like a charm too.

[cstudep]

I fixed some scratches on the left lens of my glasses.  Worked like a charm too.

Nice, it has never even occurred to me to try that, but now I am definitely going to have to keep it in mind.

Probably won't help with grinder sparks melting into the lenses when I forget to swap to my old pair for shop work though. ;D

[94touring]

I fixed some scratches on the left lens of my glasses.  Worked like a charm too.

Nice, it has never even occurred to me to try that, but now I am definitely going to have to keep it in mind.

Probably won't help with grinder sparks melting into the lenses when I forget to swap to my old pair for shop work though. ;D

I left melt divots in a phone once doing that.

[MiniDave]

Yeah, it will do a number on your windshield too if you're not paying attention.....

[cstudep]

Yeah I ruined a phone that way, it was in my pocket as I was cutting a bunch of stuff with cutoff wheels. The phone was sticking just a little bit out of my pocket I guess because the entire bottom 1/4 or so looked like I took the sand blaster to it. Needless to say it didn't work worth a shit after that.

I could see it really doing a number on a windshield as well. I scratched the hell out of a windshield one time with a green scotch Brite pad trying to get an inspection sticker off. Luckily it was just down in the corner and the windshield needed replaced anyway. I never would have thought it would scratch it up that bad, but it sure did.

[joakwin]

i started to build more overhead storage. 2x8's for bracing and 4x4 post for the leg, metal brackets with wood screws and 5/16's bolts holding it all together, 1/2 inch stud into the floor with a metal bracket to hold the post in place, 1/2 inch thick wood for the floor, the storage is 8ft off the floor, and will have 8ft above that for height, plus its 8ft long, and 4ft wide, it has 4 2x8's spaced out between the 4ft wide section, it should be pretty beefie and be able to handle some weight on it

[tmsmini]

I did not work in the garage I went to the races!
CSRG at Sears Point

[pbraun]

Nice photos! Thanks for sharing.

[cstudep]

Finally had a little bit of time to do something other than work so I printed this out for my engine test stand. Turned out ok, now I just need to find some time to take it out and get all the wiring done up. Small steps I guess.

[MiniDave]

Wow, that's cool......how long did it take that to print? Did it print with the holes for the gauges and switches and such? Are you going to use a key switch for the starter button or just a momentary contact switch like a horn button or such? Or is that the black button in the center?

It's difficult to find a temp gauge that reads down in the area these engines run at (180-ish) as all modern engines run around 220 or so. I had to go with a set for a hot rod to get the lower reading gauge. (the halfway point on mine is 190)

You'll also need a tachometer........to set timing and idle and such and an idiot light for the alternator (that's how it excites the field to start working.)

[cstudep]

It's 2 parts front and back that fasten together using small socket head screws with captured nuts. Everything prints out exactly as you see it right down to the small little hexagons recessed in the back piece to capture the nuts. The little tiny holes you see above the switches are for small LED's I had laying around that will come on when the switch's are "live".

Good call on the alternator idiot light, I was hoping I could use the small LED above the FIRE switch but I have my doubts it will work. If not I will just wire something up, probably inside, to handle it. The top took about 26 hours to print and the bottom took somewhere between 14 and 20. It was done when I got up this morning but was still going when I went to bed last night so I am not real sure exactly how long it took.

Just using a momentary switch for the starter, and yes the small black button in the middle is said switch. I was going to print "START" under it like I did for the FUEL and FIRE switches but completely forgot to add it, and since it took so long for that top piece to print I wasn't going to start over just to incorporate it.

I plan to make a gauge pod of some sort for the tach, I could not incorporate it into this since this thing nearly filled up my entire print bed as is, I have a smaller 3d printer so the print bed is only about 9"x9".

here is what the 3d models look like of the parts so you get an idea how they print out. They come out looking pretty much exactly like what you see here.