Replacing battery mount area of fender skirt

[California 72]

Good video. Been searching them for a couple weeks now, that's how I bullied myself into doing the work after saying, you can do that dummy. But as life has taught me, I might have jumped a bit quicker than normal meaning, I run this thru my head repeatedly while staring at the project. After yesterday, I'm thinking I need just a couple more sessions staring at it. I guess with the welder in sight too, brings it together more easily.

Did learn I can ground my table, that's good. I think I was confusing the MIG with Flux Core and the polarity swap. I think it was information overload when I was deciding between the two. Assimilated too much data. Resistance is futile.

The welder, as I stated earlier is the Weld-Pak 90-I, is the 120V version and his comment about the power does concern me as a beginner but it has to do with budget. The 220V version was another three bills. Believe me, I seriously considered it, especially since the garage is already wired for a 50A 220/240 circuit. Took care of that for the Fusion Energi but the Energi is now gone. Yeah, tell me about it, that energy too.

The helmet is auto darkening, YesWelder, bought it on Amazon. Gonna go thru a bit more detailed survey on things. Try to look at all the Pro's and Con's of these purchases and this one had over 15,000 ratings with 89% in the 4-5 range. Headed out to have a looksee now.

Got allot going on too. I got behind on some things around the house, that put me behind on the car and then we decided to tackle our "Builder created issue" as well. To attempt at trying to avoid the dread of TMI, that fight involves some water-table/foundation/soil incompatibility issues on a home we built just 3 years ago. The builder informed that everything was taken care of and, well? Not all people are willing to be honest. Anyhow, I'm staring at and working on that when I'm not at the car. Can't say for certain which is the diversion but I'm leaning to the car because it's a hobby and the house is survival and need albeit not my chosen job.

 

[72mokk1]

Don't worry about the power of your welder, I have had my 40 year old SIP out on a 75 foot extension cord on a 15 amp plug and the only difference is I have a shorter Duty Cycle time for welding...meaning I can weld about a 1/2 inch at full power as apposed to 1 or 2 inches.
Good luck on the house, Lord knows I been putting off fixing a slab crack in the garage from front to back.

 

[California 72]

Umm, err uhh... Just got off the floor with my Morons of America Union Rep, local 6-7/8 and he said my helmet was solar powered. He called to ask me about a replacement flash bulb for his phone camera. Needless to say, you can imagine my surprise when I walked outside of the garage and it was clear as day, being that it's day. For what it's worth or to improve my mental image, I saw the difference between the two I had in compare mode (battery vs. solar rechargeable battery) and checked the wrong box to add to my cart. It's sitting on the driveway now.

 

[California 72]

...Good luck on the house, Lord knows I been putting off fixing a slab crack in the garage from front to back.

Not wishing to take this way off topic but it does involve the car being it's in the garage. The garage slab sits on-top of a bed 57 stone, 4 courses of CMU block deep. We had "hollow" pockets 3 years ago and a small crack appear, about 2" long, at a zig-zag in the foundation wall. Last week it had expanded to 15". This week, the concrete is feathering, multiple chips splintering, so that means it's moving, and now has an offset of 1/16" with an 1/8" gap. The car sits just 4ft. in front of the crack, towards the door and the floor, divided into four sections by the expansion gaps, is becoming unlevel and not in a good way. I can't move the car and so I'm stuck waiting to see what happens. If I sound like a duck looks on the surface, believe me, if the ducks name was Willie Gault, he'd be moving slower than my mind currently is in panic mode.


Yeah, it's settled, the car is the diversion.

Edit: As far as the polarity switch for the welder, it's way to simple, even I couldn't get it wrong. The lead for the gun is attached to the welder and a twist and lock plug/socket has the plus and minus showing the sides. The ground clamp is separate so even I couldn't mix them up.

 

[California 72]

Welding 001, we're not to 101 yet, 100 more classes to go.


That is the repair of my original disc brake mount. When I pulled it off, it had a broken bolt, when the attempt to remove it failed, basically the drill bit walked even in my drill press, I was forced to replace it.

I did have a couple other attempts at welds today, one butt weld, a couple tacks and a panel overlay. None are worth showing due to the welder and my inability to recognize when it lags on power. I'm listening for that "bacon to sizzle" but end up with popcorn and a mess toward the end. Did do a semi successful pool weld since I'm going to try and replicate the spot welds. It was a fairly large area, larger than what would be around the shock tower or radiator support but once ground down some, the eyeball got really small. No pic of that because what it's attached to looks like I had my eyes closed and earplugs in.

I'm going to try and find a way to run a dedicated plug to the welder where my shop table and the front end are located. Thought about using the Fusion Energi hookup and just rewire for a standard plug since the breaker is 20A but I'm keeping it for the compressor. Less to rewire and since it's code to put the highest rated amp wire in for that type of outlet, regardless of its intended use, it's less hassle to run a new leg for the welder. I think it's me recognizing when to back off due to a power drop. Either that or I return this one and get a bigger model.

By the way, the brake caliper bracket? I was drilling it out to re-tap and you'll never guess what happened, the bit broke off in the hole and now I'm back to square one. I kind of grabbed a little too hard on a motion down and it snapped. Kept it well lubed too but it was also an older bit. By the way, mentioned bacon sizzling above, many years ago I learned to use bacon fat for metal drill, tool and die lube. No one had ever mentioned it until that day, so I would have and did laugh when the maintenance guy told me about it. Danged if it wasn't the greatest drill lube I ever saw. Either way, I have bolt hole repair down as long as I don't try and tap for new threads, I'm golden. Don't remember his last name for credit but his name was Henry, Maintenance Manager at Atria Villa Ventura in Kansas City Missouri 2002, when I worked there.

Edit; I guess I should clarify that the bacon grease wasn't remembered until writing the pre-edited post. While I kept it well lubed, it was with tool oil. Just a little too late for my own good. Then again, looking at my drill bit status, doubt it would have made a difference, I sincerely need to invest in some good bits.
On a serious, but comical warning, just don't lick your fingers while handling any work with that method. It really is a horrible thing to have happen. Yes, I'm speaking from experience. Doohhh!!!!