3/8-3/21

I missed last week's post so this one will be regarding the last two weeks.

So far, I have welded 6 of the 8 needed corners. I also began disassembling the track to prepare it for modifications so that the new pieces will fit. We discovered that we can use a "U" bracket to connect pieces and the one piece can do a number of jobs. At the connections we are considering a modified U-bracket, but it depends on how much time we will have.

Most of the time has been dedicated to getting something built, which we have been taking huge steps in the right direction.

3/1-3/7

This week has been successful relatively speaking, TechShop extended their dates of availability until the 23rd of March which gives us more access to a reliable welder and welding tools. So far, 3 corners have had all the brackets welded to the lower tracks. Welding the upper guideway to the bracket has proved to be very difficult as the cast aluminum, guideway, and filler rod all have different melting temperatures. The guideway and the bracket are also so thin that the welder is basically melting them into oblivion. Jez and I have been looking into aluminum based adhesives. We have not yet found anything that would be economical in quantity. We also expect that if we use an adhesive, it would become easier to build and make sure all the components are within tolerances.

2/22-2/28

This last week I have been working on more practice welds. I consulted a friend of mine that is very good at welding and I believe I have gotten it figured out and prepared to start welding the actual project. There have been a couple of complications. The TechShop is planning to close as of March 2nd and I have been trying to get all the mock ups and parts assembled to complete all the welding before hand. That does not seem likely. The welder in the shop works, however, there is no argon in the tank. 

The parts that Kevin bent has been mocked up. It takes a bit of fine tuning to make sure all the needed dimensions are done correctly. It is relatively easy and I dimensioned some blocks of wood to make sure all the parts would be within tolerances.