The piece in the middle of the photo with the vertical rod attached to it is a replacement part I made for a little two wheeled cart at the side hustle. The original plastic part broke, so the technician asked me if I could do anything with it. Not all that tricky to do, just a little time consuming. They're going to miss me now that I'm staying home. I don't know how long this stay at home thing is going to last, but it'll give me a chance to see how I like retirement. If I get bored, I'll continue working after the cooties go away. If I like how it goes hanging around the shack every day, I'll just continue doing it.
Tried out the new welder yesterday - just a bit of 7018 on the bending fork but it welded nicely. The machine has a knob to set the "dig" force. I set it at about the mid point and set the amperage about 95 for the 3/32" rod and away I went. I might hook the TIG stuff up to see how that part of it works. I've got my old welder sold but I don't want to move it out because I told the guy who's going to buy it he can check it out under power and I'll give him a couple of lessons on welding aluminum. Of course things have to ease up on the virus front before that will happen.
Close up of the bending fork. Nothing fancy but blacksmiths have been using tools like this for years. It worked pretty well for bending the piece for the nose. The material is 1/8 x 2-3/4 so it bends easily. The hard part is keeping the bends close together and even so it appears as if it was rolled rather than looking like it was run through a set of crimping rolls. And then when you get one side bent, you have to make the other side match.
The piece came out looking pretty nice. I'll make an inner piece and then put some extra pieces between the two to make sure it keeps its shape and to strengthen it, especially where the spring hanger is going to get welded on. I might drill through both pieces and the fishplate I'm planning on to stiffen the front and weld in a couple of stay-bolts. Maybe use carriage bolts so the outside looks like a rivet, cut the bolt so it's flush with the inside and then weld it to the inner plate.
I need to get the frame rails up on the horses, level and square and then make a couple of cross pieces that will hold the two rails at the right distance apart but are removable so I can take the individual rails to the drill press when I locate the pieces that will be bolted up.
I ordered my material to finish the cowl/dash assembly. I'll need to bend that piece in an arc as well. Because it will be made from square tubing, that'll be a little tougher to bend. I figure if they could do all of this 90-100 years ago, I should be able to. Right?
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