College Mopes and TIG Fingers

 I ran across this the other day: The average college student today - by Hilarius Bookbinder

Pretty much the same thing I've been dealing with lately. The fact that they don't know the basic things that everyone entering college should know is one thing, but the fact they don't seem too concerned about it is what bothers me. I know what a good welder should know and the conditions of the industry now. You try and tell them that it's a jungle out there but they don't seem capable of cranking it up and doing their best to prepare for a career. Oh well, 12 more days and they're on their own as far as I'm concerned.

I ordered one of these the other day - probably should have done it quite a while ago. It protects your pinky finger, or two fingers with the large one, while TIG welding. You need a pretty steady hand to hold the torch while welding and it's a lot easier if you can put a finger down on the material. I was welding on the bike frame yesterday and I was spending way too much time grinding the tungsten after dipping it into the puddle. I'm thinking the TIG finger would be a great help to steady my hand while trying to wrap a weld around round tubes, especially since my depth perception ain't what it used to be. At least I'm getting the bike frame welded up.

I did a little work on the jitney yesterday as well. I'm working on figuring out the floorboard. I made a pattern and I ordered a shifter boot. I figured out what to do about raising the seat up a little, so I can get on that and get the trials bike finished up. Things are moving along nicely now, but lots of yard work in the coming days.

 

The Magnolias are looking good even though we had a hellacious storm come through over the weekend and freezing temperatures last night. They lost some petals and buds in the storm and tinged the edges of some of the blossoms brown, but that seems to happen most years. No damage on the fruit trees, though. 

Music, Magnolia and Motorcycle

 

The man who pretty much started rockabilly music. Great entertainer but, man, he had what had to be the worst hairpiece ever at the end of his career.

I bought myself some Bossa Nova for my commute to the college. More like music to soothe the savage beast for the ride home.

The Magnolia trees are starting to bloom. I've got several different types, so I usually end up with blossoms on one or the other of them for about a month. They always look lovely and smell nice unless we get a late frost. I'm hoping we're done with the freezing temperatures until the fall, but you never know around here - we had snow on the first day of spring.

I started cleaning up the fork legs- lots of paint on them. Looks to be a really good primer, silver, clear, and then the bronze. It'll take me a bit, but I'll get them to shine like a diamond in a pig's ass, as the old saying goes.

I did a bit of "think time" on the Jitney yesterday. I need to raise the seat up some and make a pattern for the floorboard. Before I put the seat back in I'll make the protective shield that goes under it to keep the driveshaft hitting me in the naughty bits if a U-joint fails and a driveshaft loop to prevent the shaft from digging into the road and creating a giant pogo stick. 

I'll pick up the argon bottle tomorrow, and hopefully the fork seals will be here soon. Things are moving along.

Alchemy - Turning Cold Rolled Into Gold

 

2:23 of a dance tune - you'd just make your way out to the dance floor and the tune would be over before you got warmed up. It's a catchy little ditty, though.

The new trailer tires and wheels came in the other day. After doing the cost analysis on the back of the bar napkin, I figured it would be better to buy two new tires mounted on rims and be done with it. The old tires had a lot of sidewall cracks and to buy two new tires and have someone mount them wasn't going to save much. And if I had the Sportster or a big twin in the trailer and a tire blew out, I'd be up the creek without a paddle since I didn't have a spare tire. Now, I've got new rubber and I can use one of the old tires for a spare. And at my age, probably a lifetime fix.

I gave the trials bike levers the low dollar "gold" plated treatment. They look pretty nice - have to wait and see how they'll look once they're on the machine, though. If I don't like the look, it'll be easy enough to change.

I'm going out for breakfast this morning with my old running buddy and fellow tech teacher. Looking forward to catching up with him. It'll be back out in the shop later working on the front end of the bike cleaning and polishing the fork legs.

Out of Gas

I went over to the steel supplier yesterday morning to swap out my argon bottle only to find a note on the door they will be closed all week. Apparently, they went on spring break.

However, Surly and one of the grandsons came down with a welding job and some stuff to clutter up my place rather than theirs. The grandson is taking care of the welding job. The kid's going to make a good craftsman one of these days.

Big vise Surly picked up at an estate sale. You can spin the jaws around and it becomes a pipe vise. He got it for a steal. He didn't need it but the price was right and it'll go in the grandson's hope chest.

I did a little work on the trials bike, even though I couldn't do any welding. I got the piece made for the back mount of the skid plate. As soon as I get the argon I'll get it tacked on.

Repurposed street sign for the skid plate. When I moved in here there was quite the collection of signs that I believe were liberated by the young man who lived here prior to my arrival. Interesting that a former student was involved in an accident at an intersection that was missing the stop sign, and there was one of those in the collection that was in the soon to be shop. When I was leveling the sand floor in the building prior to pouring concrete, I also dug up a cardboard box that had a brassiere and a few other things in it. Too bad I didn't come across a "pirates' chest" with some gold doubloons or something of real value.

I ordered some fork seals yesterday. I'll get the fork seals installed and the legs polished up while I'm waiting on the argon. It'll all be together fairly soon.

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Looks like the Department of Education is done for and the power will return to the states, as it and most everything else should be as per the 10th amendment. There's been a steady downward trend in our rankings compared to other countries ever since it became a stand-alone cabinet in 1980. I'm not sure how well the states will do if you look at the condition of many of them, however. I've only got 14 days left in the system now. After that, I won't have to worry if college students can tell time or work with fractions. I'll just stay home and work on my projects.

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I came across something very interesting on a couple of spots I browse. On last Thursday's post at The LoneStar Parson, he reports on what has been found underneath the pyramids of Egypt. It's wild what they found and only adds to the mystery of why they were built and by whom. And I'll bet you a dollar to a donut, those guys could do some serious math.  

Closer and Closer

Change in the music, but variety is the spice of life after all.

Worked on the trials bike a little bit yesterday. I ran out of argon but I warmed up the shop so I could paint the swingarm. I'm liking the color - should go well with all the shiny aluminum that's going to be on the bike. The Rust-Oleum has variable spray patterns. I used setting number 3 which is low flow. It worked well painting the tubing on the swingarm. 

I'll pick up an argon bottle Monday and get back on the welding. I should have finished welding it before I had the eye trouble. My depth perception is off a bit, which creates a problem when welding thin material with the TIG. I had to grind the tungsten more than times than I would have liked after "sticking it in the soup".

I've still got a couple of things to do on the frame in addition to the welding - drill some holes, mount the skid plate and some additional cleaning. I'm planning on doing some of that today.

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George Foreman passed away the other day. Big George was only a year older than I am, so that hits pretty close to home. 

Rest in Peace, George. You were a great champion!

Now We're Talking!

 

I got the vintage trials bike stripped down. The frame's pretty rusty from being neglected for all these years but it'll clean up well enough. I took the cup wheel on a small grinder and polished up the swingarm and it looks good. I'll use some emery cloth on it to finish the job and then see about some paint. I'm going to paint the swingarm and see how I like it. If I like it, I'll paint the frame. If I don't, I'll sandblast the paint off the swingarm and get everything powder coated.

Hoping to have the frame welded up by the first of the week.

Trials Bike Nears the Finish

OK, this is it for the Bossa Nova music for a while. No telling what I'll come up with in the future, though. Probably should have put some Irish music up yesterday.

I started on finishing up the trials bike. It won't take long to strip it down the rest of the way - pull the motor and put it on the stand, the front end will come off in one piece. Pull the shocks, rear wheel and swing arm and that'll be that.

I need to weld in the piece for the chain rubbing block on the swingarm, drill some holes for safety wire, then finish weld everything. That shouldn't take too long. Hopefully I'll get that done this week. However, I start back to work this week, and I've got a few other things cooking, but welding up the frame needs to be job one - get it done before somebody shows up on my doorstep needing something.