August 2009

Sunday 2 August

Fitted the repair section to the bottom door hinge made last time.



The brackets that restrict the door opening were restricting access with the angle grinder preventing the welds to be cleaned up.  They were quite distorted anyway so it made sense to remove them, allow easy access with the grinder, and straighten them up on the vice.

I needed to weld up where I had to cut through the edge flange.  Normally whenever I weld up to an edge I get a 'V', which never looks nice.  This time I put a piece of scrap sheet behind the two pieces as I welded, giving an area to run off into.  The photo below probably shows it better than I describe.  The excess was then cut off and ground back to leave a perfect joint, and no 'V'.



At this point I realise that my bench was considerably smaller than I was used to.  The amount of junk around the edges had expanded such that there was virtually no space left for work.  A tidy up was needed, desperately!

As it should be . . .

The area under the reinforcing plate was now complete, but as the welder touched the area on the side the metal disintegrated.  I've seen more integrity in an MP's expenses!

A new piece was made and welded in.  Some dodgy areas that the door skin folds around on the bottom of the door were also chopped out ready for new metal.  That will have to wait until next time though.

Sunday 16 August

Finally completed the repairs to the door hinge and welded the reinforcing plate back on.



The plates for the door check strap were also welded back in, having been cleaned up and sprayed with etching, zinc rich primer first.  Doesn't sound like much but it took a couple of hours, and that's without any coffee breaks.

The two areas on the door bottom that were cut out previously were filled in, welded, and flattened back using flap discs. 

Before:


And after:


And from the other side, which is what could be seen, if someone ever wanted to lie on the floor and have a close look . . .


That's all I got done today.  Not a lot, but moving forwards.  Just got to sort this bit out next time, and then the door insides can be painted, ready for the new skin to be fitted.