Make light work of the task at hand

As the kids are embarking on the next stage of life, we realize that we need to 'bone up' on some life skills to help ensure survival really. What I'm talking about is cooking.....and Jeff. Anna is a good cook and has proven herself to be very proficient in the kitchen with respect to cooking and baking. Jeff on the other hand....although admittedly a crack pot Mac&Cheese maker, is perhaps a little light on the classic culinary skills. Being that he will be living in a shared accommodation setting next year and responsible for his own meals....we figured he needs to know how to do more than Kraft dinner and skip the dishes. Tonight we made tacos , with pulled chicken and fresh made tortillas. But as grown up as they are....they still get bored and need to challenge each other from time to time.    

Speaking of challenge, now that step one is complete with the rear bumper....it's time to make things more complicated...

Deconstruction of the front......I mean what could go wrong?

While Jeff tore apart the trucks front end....I kept plugging away on the design and fabrication of the rear ladder mounts.

Dedicated tubes with the same inner diameter as the bolts, with a recess for the bolt head. This is after welding.

Still need some fine tuning but once cleaned up and put in place.....they are looking pretty good!
 

Happiness is happiness

I will prewarn those of you who want bus and bus only...this is thin on bus but thick on love. 

As a young, newly married, man I remember doing some work with my Dad at my parents  place in Manitoba. I cant remember the specifics of it all but, suffice it to say, that I was the beneficiary of his time and generosity. I specifically remember  feeling a little sheepish that I was  an independent married man and yet I needed help to get where I needed to go. Turning to him, I humbly said, 'thank you Dad, I couldn't have done this with out your help, and I will pay you back!' My Dad, being my Dad a man who chose his words wisely, said 'You're welcome, being able to spend time with you is what makes me happy, I'm just glad that you still want my help. And if you want to pay me back, then offering the same opportunity to your kids is all the payment I will ever need.'

    I think of that moment all the time, especially now as my kids are growing up and becoming more and more independent. But whenever they call me up (snap me is more likely) and say "hey Dad! can you help me with...." I've already dropped my personal project and mentally said 'Sure!' before they can finish their question.

Anna called me up the other day and said in her gentle way, "if you want to come see our new place (moving in with two other Bragg Creek girls in Calgary) we are getting the keys after work." I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Seeing the excitement of the girls gave me joy.....and the energy to move their stuff into the new pad!

 

Jeff was not far behind, his request actually happened months ago. He asked me if I would help him build custom bumpers for his truck. The following months of talking about it, planning it, and researching design ideas is what got Jeff through some of the burn out times in first year engineering! Being that I can weld, but not a 'welder', and because I don't have all the equipment, experience or know how to do any of this..... I said "Sure!". I can buy tools, but I can't buy time with the kids.

The last number of days Jeff and I have been making noise in the garage as we design our way through the project......and I know Poppi is smiling down on us right now watching it all happen.

Special kudos to my buddy Doug, who was very generous to lend us his BRAND NEW, STILL IN THE BOX plasma cutter for the project....let me tell you kids, this sucker is a game changer. If you do metal work and never used one its equivalent to the difference between seeing a picture of a car vs driving the car.  This is fast and clean and easy to make shaped cuts.....really....I think I'm in love.

And now for a touch of bus. Further on the ladder inner support saga, by turning my horizontal support 90 degrees(now running parallel to the path of the door hinge mechanism) and making one per side, I was able to unobtrusively achieve what I set out to do! Now just the bottom supports........(cue the theme from the 1907's movie Jaws) 

Happy Michelle Weekend!

May never disappoints, spring has sprung the birds are chirping the grass is growing.......and then Michelle's birthday rolls around.

The general rule of thumb is we will have snow at somepoint on or before may long weekend....which is a fair statement...but in our house we always count on snow for Michelle's birthday.

So there was no surprises when our birthday hike for Michelle was in the snow. Luckily it was very mild.....but snow none the less. No short shorts and sun tanning! 

After celebrating the birthday girl.....and mothers day, I was let loose in the shop with the intent on making progress on the rear ladder. Specifically the inner mount supports

Thanks to the purchase of a tube notcher at my brother Shawns suggestion(insistence really) for Jeffs truck project, it was easy peasy to get a nice apposition of the two supports into one mount.

Things seemed to be going along smoothly(foreshadowing: que low level uneasy music). I was able to simply create a horizontal support running off the air chute  frame. However....in my enthusiasm....I had happy blinders on and was focused in on the cross member and how it matched up with the inner ladder mounts that I totally overlooked a key design component.

The picture on the left is the dry fit of the cross member. Just to the right of the inner ladder mount framework you can see a hinged round piece of metal. That my friends, as you can see in the right photo.....is the "D shaped" door hinges for the rear engine door. I'll give you a minute to visualize the mechanics of how that moves. To cut to the chase, it swings back when you close the door......straight back.....right into the cross member support for the inner ladder mounts.

Well.......THATS not going to work! Back to the drawing board!
 

30 Years....whoa!

            Time flies when your having fun, one minute your graduating university and getting married, the next your back at the spot where you said "I do" thirty years later to recreate your wedding photos!

With the help of the expert Poppy Morrish of  Wild Poppy Photography we had a fantastic day skiing and laughing and enjoying a surreal moment in time 30 years later

    

Michelle sit fit her dress.....my tux was a little less forgiving, but fortunately the love is stronger than ever. Here's hoping that in another 30 years at 82 we can do it again for the 60th anniversary!

Spring has sprung in the rockies......which means one day your looking for a tee time, the next day your looking for a snow shovel! It also means all the university students are finishing exams for the year so that means I get to spend more time with my kids!<3

The ladder mounting continues. When I had the ladder made I was pretty loosey-goosey with how it was going to be mounted and had them fabricate the ladder using the body of another clipper as a working template. The fact that things are as good as they are is a testament to their attention to detail.

So I needed to become creative in a mounting option that also allows the quick and relatively frequent unmounting with ease 

So I fabricated two mounting platforms that will bolt onto the back. The ladder will then bolt down to the platforms with knurled finger bolts 

 

Being Married for 30 years is one achievement, but having a set or Sorel winter boots for 30 years is some sort of record. The boot tops long since ripped/melted/wore out, so I cut the top off and used them as, what Cecil Smith used to refer to as, pee rubbers.......its a Thompson/setting lake thing.....if you have to ask you don't want to know. But after time....it was time. In Michelle's opinion it was time 10 years ago but....I'm stubborn. NONE THE LESS! I bought new shop shoes....and they are even steel toed!

A step up

Back in 2016...ish, I was convinced that my work shop could be shared. By 2017 I had gotten the boot. Half of my shop had been taken over for a family gym area, and the sharing of the space wasn't working for either area me or the exercise area. So between that and a desire not to lay on the ground outside when working on Fillmore, I created a storage/work space for my shop and Fillmore. So you can probably appreciate then my trepidation when I come home from work and find someone

 "sharing" my work space. I will admit it is for woodworking/painting project which does fall into the 'dog house' mission statement.

Although admittedly I was a little disappointed she was drinking neither hot coffee or cold beer. 

None the less, my work continues on the ladder installation. I have mapped out where it will be situated.

Next was creating mounting gaskets/pads

A wee challenge as the mounting foot is flat and the surface is curved. I ended up making a multi layer wedged footing and shaping it with good ol' sandpaper.

 

The easiest way to access the underside was through the top. The ladder is mounted to the skin....the body panel, but it is unsupported. As soon as you put significant weight on the ladder the skin will deflect (and bend) if not supported from underneath.

Getting my upper body in there was a wee bit comical. Although I just about slid down onto the engine at one point, this was actually a stable balance position...

In the end I got a really compact and super stable support.

Which I then celebrated with a hot cuppa joe and CBC classical music!

Next will be doing a double support for the bottom of the top section and the top of the lower hinged section.....stay tuned.

The house that is never finished...

 I used to shake my head in wonder how someone could build a house and then for years seem to stall out finishing it by leaving small jobs undone! But here I am! And now I'm "that guy". The more we use the bus there less I feel there is an urgent need to get done.....or better put the less I'm willing to keep Fillmore out of commission due to a job started but not finished.

Not wanting to sound like I'm making excuses but I also have spent a great deal of time this past few months rebuilding the upper end of the 1970 VW bug engine which will be our tow vehicle

It was basically a big game of leggo, take pieces apart, put them back together again....albeit with a lot of new pieces that weren't cracked or warped.

And in the end have a functional little gem!

It was a little challenge to get it from the work shop to my garage where the beetle is on the lift, but I managed with a little standing in the sun and thinking about it.

Meanwhile as I was cleaning up the workshop making space for whatever comes next.....I thought...."its time, time to see what this will look like. So I built a platform to help me reach up and position the ladder for the back end of Fillmore.

I have some wiggle room as to where I can mount things, but it has become evident that it cant just hang on the skin. I will have to develop an internal support mechanism to transfer the load onto the frame.

After a lot of humming and haw-ing.....I think I have a plan. Not concrete yet but lets say a soft road map of action.

The Devil's in the details

So As I get ready to install the 'back shelf' as I have grown to call it. I realized I was about to install the shelf overtop of a very important piece of the puzzle. Specifically the element control for the cook top. After install in the counter I had the control tucked in behind until a time that I figured out where to best mount the control panel. Out of sight is out of mind.......good thing I remembered

I have to make sure I don't pull a bone head move and mount the control over top or behind where the elements are. Nothing more frustrating than having to turn down the heat for a boiling pot of water and having to reach through the stream from the offending pot to do so!

This is actually a great opportunity to get two birds with one stone. You'll notice a small square in the back shelf. That is the air supply or intake for the cooktop. I was brainstorming how I can leave that open but yet stylishly cover the opening. In walks in the brushed aluminum bracket that I have been hording for just the right moment.

Some measurements and tracings, then re measure and re trace...finally after the appropriate amount of humming and hawing.....I committed. 

Set in place it has the desired effect I was looking for. A stylish mounting bracket for the cooktop that visually covers the air intake. I still need to create a small mounting block inside the back shelf. Then we can deliver to the bus interior.