Time to Grind

We got started WAY to early today.  Jack was out of bed hours before the crack of dawn and decided to set up camp underneath our bed.  Long story short, he managed to wake Sarah and myself up for good at 6:00am.  Since we had TONS of time to kill before school, I went to the garage to assess and plan.

My plan quickly formed and before I knew it, I was cutting on the cereal box again and sketching on the jeep tub.  This time, my area of attack would occur directly below the axe sheath in three small areas.  It did not take long to get the dimensions right on the cardboard, then transfered to the tub and then onto suitable pieces of steel.  At first I thought that that would be a good enough start, so I went back inside to check on everyone.  The agitations had subsided slightly and nobody was crying...yet.  So, back to the garage.

Picasso at work again

I thought, "Gee, maybe I'll just cut out the rectangles in my replacement patches."  Clamped 'em down and quickly got the cut-off wheel spinning.  I cleaned up the edges on the wire wheel and admired my work.  So then I figured since that chapter went really fast that I still had time to cut out the areas on the tub.  Those cuts went as expected and without any disappointing surprises.  The horizontal line just beneath the sheath proved the trickiest since my cut-off disc was getting smaller in diameter.  I was able to get all three rectangles "close enough" to then pry them off with the gentle persuasion of a screw driver followed by the snug tug of the pliers.  I filed the edges down, paying particular attention in the corners and then did a cleanup lap with the dremel tool.



Mind the Gap...before the cleanup lap



The test fit for all three pieces was close, very close, but I still needed to trim a bit off of each of them.  I placed them in their respective holes and then outlined the overlapping areas with the sharpie.  They were all small enough edges that needed to be removed that I could take each one to the grinding wheel for the trimming.  Perfect!

Again, I figured I was way ahead of the game this morning and knew I had to be pressing my luck.  I ventured back inside and things seemed to be progressing about as well as could be expected.  I refilled Sarah's coffee, stripped Jack's urine covered bedding and got the laundry started.  Yep, this Domestic Goddess can almost do it all.  After asking Sarah twice what else I could do to assist, she had nothing, so back to the garage...maybe I'll just tack weld each of the pieces in so I'll be ready to go full steam ahead later.

12 corners tacked and in place.   Looks good, let's start on the edges.  Just as I finish welding in the third piece, Jack opens the door and says its time for school.  He strolls out and informs me that I have a great looking nasty old jeep.  Sarah comes out and says it smells like something is burning.  Well, I've been welding, so more than likely my skin, clothes and shoes are singed or still burning.  They pile into the car, Nora is still sleeping, so I go and take a look at that lazy state of Texas from yesterday.  Might as well finish that guy up while I have the equipment at the ready.  And now, its time to grind!  ...but maybe this afternoon...I've got a few more domestic duties to take care of.



Three for three welded



And a look at both areas.  Lazy Texas on the lower left and the threesome on the lower right patiently waiting for the grinder