The First Click

WARNING: The following entry has substituted all humour for dry, hard to follow, step by step instructions. If you are easily bored then you may want to sit this one out.

When I first went to view the SuperCamp, 21st January

Today, 6th March

My first target for Project SuperCamp was to have it Secure, Watertight and MOT'd. Today, I made big steps towards this goal. Short of a window in the back door, the SuperCamp is now secure and watertight; a single, yellow box. Both wheel arches are done and through some impressive balancing and metalwork skills I have fitted the back door.

What follows is an exhaustive journey through the mechanics of fitting the door. If you like revolving 3D CAD models, convoluted explanations of X and Y planes and over-enthusiastic metalwork sentiment then read on and enjoy. However, if you are one of those strange people who are not at all turned on by hinges, angle iron and relative positioning then I shall see you next time.

Two doors, one hole

Problem:  

a. I have two doors. One has glass in but has rusted beyond repair. The other is a bit rotten, but salvageable and has no glass and only one hinge...which will NOT come off.

b. The door frame has the old hinges attached, but they are rotten, seized and need replacing. The bolts attaching them are also seized.

This model shows the original design of how the hinges attach to the frame. 

The hinge does not bolt straight onto the frame. Instead, the bolts go through the frame into a plate. This clamps the frame between the hinge and the plate. All this is invisible from the outside as the frame is a double layer box section. There is no way of getting into the frame to the clamping plate. As the bolts were seized, my only choice was to cut away the whole section of the frame to remove the hinge and clamp plate together.

 Hinge removed, but must still chop away frame to remove clamping plate

Now there is effectively a hole in the frame where the hinges used to attach.

Solution:  

 The next model is my plan for attaching the the new hinges.

I will use a piece of Angle that will weld to the the frame, bridging the gap. Angle will have better strength and more welding area than a plate. This will compensate for any loss in strength through cutting into the frame.

Method: 

Drill holes in the Angle-

1. With relative positions matching up to the holes in the hinge. 

2.That correctly position the hinge (and the door) in relation to the frame once the Angle is welded on. 

Number 2. was done by precariously holding the door- with hinge attached - in the frame with the Angle sandwiched in position and then marking the position of hinge on the Angle.

Number 1. could not be done in this position as the hinge is closed and so the holes could not be reached.

Correct 1. and 2. positioning

Drilling the holes in the Angle

Once the Angle is welded into position, there will be no way to get to the nuts to secure the bolts, as they will be in the frame. Therefore I must weld the nuts onto the Angle in the correct position.

Nuts welded onto Angle

The door is then held in the position with both the hinge and Angle attached. This allows the Angle to be spot welded assuring it is in the correct position.

The door - and hinge - are then unattached, leaving the Angle in place. I have to remove the door in order to fully weld the Angle in position. 

Angle spot welded into position

Problem:In order the access the bolts for the hinge, the door must be in the open position. This door hinges from the top, which means undoing bolts whilst in the open position is rather difficult.

Solution:

The door-levitation-jig

The Angle is then welded onto the frame and the door attached permanently. Apart from some slight adjustments it worked pretty much first time. The first click shut once the handle and lock were attached was truly momentous. It was one of those moments when you don't quite know how you've pulled it off and one of the highlights of the project so far.

A Heat Sink

Reason for time between blogs- I am struggling to write anything more of worth on RelentlessSanding which occupies most of my time. This entry is about WheelArches which are much more fruitful.

What is a fad?

Recently, my time for the SuperCamp has been stretched. Work has that rather selfish habit of inflicting itself on me, to the detriment of things that I would much rather be doing. But like a human relationship, the bond between a man and his campervan must be nurtured, cultivated and given constant attention to stop it withering, dying or at best becoming bitter obligation. I don't want to be one of those couples sitting in silence in a restaurant. My hair receding, her headlamps dull and both of us dreaming of what could of been if eBay had not been invented.

But whether it be with people, activities or career I struggle to balance thirst for new experience, with staying power. And,

w  i  d  t  h    is of course no substitute for depth. 

I am capricious by nature. I become obsessed, plunge in with wallet in hand and then abruptly grow tired and discard them for the next thing whether it be Skydiving, LearningToBackflip or CollectingFightingFantasy books (all of which remain uncompleted). It is like my own endless stream of wedding dresses.

But what if the SuperCamp goes the same way!? What if I peter out and lose interest? Well unlike Rollerblading, ReadingSheetMusic or BecomingAnAccomplishedPhotgrapher (all of which remain uncompleted) the SuperCamp cannot just be thrown away or forgotten about. I am constantly reminded in the most vibrant of colours of my obligation towards her. If I don't finish her she will remain where she is, as a

Testament to Failure. 

A Monument to Flippancy. 

The Mother of all Wedding Dresses.

I put this flightiness down to the Sine wave of my internal movements, where the highs are high, the lows are low, and changes frequent. The SuperCamp though - despite my relentless personification - has none of this. It is, as far as I can tell, completely inanimate. In this sense it is like a huge HeatSink on my consciousness. I can arrive elated and excited to work on it but am soon leveled by it's blank indifference. Or I can arrive despondent and pessimistic about the whole project, but am again leveled by it's unsympathetic presence. It is still there, as sturdy as when I left it and completely unchanged by my mood. If I am a PetulantChild, she is my ApatheticParent.

Yes, I am stuck with the big yellow brute.

So, helpless as I am and carried forward on the tide of the project, along the MentalTimeline, I have set upon the WheelArches; the last frontier of the big welding jobs; the six-planed behemoths.

I have finally done it...a SuperCAD drawing...oh god...

Before - the WheelArch hole is averagely 7" wide. On one side of the width it is a right angle, on the other side it is a smooth curve. The length of the hole also covers a step like course.

The top edge of the gap is rippled and needed a bit of bashing and a bit of inventive clamping, to make a straight enough edge in order to get good welding contact.

Two make the curve across the width, I cut and overlapped across the 90˚ bend.

To straight-bend the patch in-situ, I scored it with an angle grinder, put on some mole grips...and folded.

I then kept adding planes down the staircase, welding as I go.

Welded

Painted

Next on the MentalTimeline is patching in the driver side WheelArch, followed closely by attaching the RearDoor, punctuated with relentless sanding of the bodywork.