Goodies

 

Car goodies for the jitney project. Upper photo is the remote oil filter kit that was back ordered for about three months. Lower photo is the steering box. It'll be a while until I'm ready for either of them but I've been buying parts and tools according to my monthly budget allowance. 

Since I hit my savings goal for last year, when I received the email from Arc-Zone about the sale on the tungsten grinder kit, I bit the bullet and ordered it. I do most all of my welding in the shop with the TIG welder now. If I need to work on something that requires stick welding I do it outside since my space is limited and has some flammable things so I don't want to risk burning the shop down with an errant spark. 

If you're not familiar with the TIG process, it uses a non consumable electrode made from tungsten that needs to be sharpened to a point if on both AC and DC current if you're using an inverter power source. The older transformer power sources would use a balled tungsten on AC. Either way, the tungsten is in very close proximity to the work piece and it's pretty easy to contaminate the tungsten if it comes into contact with the weld puddle. Then it's off to the grinder to clean it up. I'm hoping that won't be as frequent now that my eye sight is improved. I've still got fairly steady hands but if things can't always be positioned on the bench where it's easy to get comfortable, it's pretty easy to bury the tungsten in the puddle with one foot on the pedal, one hand holding the torch and dabbing in the filler rod with the other. The tungsten grinder is a bit of a luxury item but it will give me nice consistent points on the electrodes that should improve the quality of my welds, especially some of the thin stainless and aluminum I work on.