Case Closed

I got the case for the Ducati all patched up the other day. Surprisingly enough, the broken bolt or what ever was in there came out real easy. I started with a 1/8" carbide end mill and it went down in there like nothing. I was pretty much dead nuts on center, so I switched to a 3/16" and ran it down in there and whatever was in the hole was all gone after I pulled the end mill out. Usually with a 3/16" mill or drill there will be some stock left over in the hole on a 6mm bolt that requires a tap to be run down in the hole very carefully to get the remnants of the treads out.  However, this time, after blowing the chips out of the hole, I could see good threads all the way down. I did run a tap down in the hole but it was more a formality than anything else. I welded up the cracks and then dressed them down a little - done deal.

If you notice the nice white light in the photo, it's because I changed out a couple of the fluorescent fixtures in the shop prior to starting on the case. I bought two new lights as direct replacements for two that were hanging from the ceiling. The new ones are supposed to be good down to zero degrees and with the T8 bulbs are supposed to save a little energy. They definitely look to be a little brighter but part of that is probably the fact that the other lights were pretty dirty. I'm thinking I should probably pick up two more and replace the others also. It only takes 5 minutes to swap one out and the lights were less than 15 bucks each at Menard's. That's a small price to pay to be able to see what you're doing. Especially when it's cold out.

I stuck the hoops in the SFG box with the peppers the other day as well. They look a little out of kilter due to the camera angle but head-on they line up nicely. It'll be really easy to throw a tarp or blanket over things when we get a frost warning. I'm going to make a cross bar of some type for the top. That'll keep them from racking out of shape as easily and give me something to hang a light from. If I cover the hoops with clear plastic and put a grow light in there, I might be able to keep things going until November or later. Just throw a blanket over things at night. The hoops were only 99 cents each. As well as they appear to work, I'll pick up a few more this upcoming week.

Have a nice weekend.