Sunday, November 29, 2009

Out of gas

Last night's performance was a big success. It was also a marathon. The day began with a reception at Pak Susilo's house for brunch, followed by moving the gamelan, followed by a 4:30 call. The performance began promptly at 7:30 and went non-stop until eleven. In Indonesia a wayang kulit performance lasts eight to night hours ... all night. So we had to cut a lot. Even so it is demanding. After the show we had to move everything back, so we finally got home at 1:00AM. Fourteen hours is a long day for me!

As you can imagine, I was not up for a full-on attack on the E9 today. I did make it to the shop after a leisurely breakfast with my wife and her sister (who were off to Costco to shop the Christmas coupon specials), and I set myself the goal for welding in the patch I began last time. I almost made it. I would have, except my welder was out of gas.

I actually spent quite a bit of time tweaking the patch. It needed to be ground to fit and it required both a twist and some curve. That is why I cut the pattern from thin cardboard. I got it to where it fit without springing or flexing, so that I could just weld it on. I guess that is where I'll begin next time.

BMW091129-01 BMW091129-02

Monday, November 23, 2009

Gamelan performance

No work done today (well, yesterday) because I was in a rehearsal for the upcoming UH Gamelan performance. Maybe next week ...

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Badge mount finished, started on LH rear corner

I never wrote up last week's work, probably because it was so simple.

BMW091108-01 BMW091108-02

I began by sanding down the POR-15 Epoxy Filler a bit only to discover the area was still too low, so I added another layer and worked on the badge mount while it set.

I bought a propane torch to heat the badge mount but I could not get it to burn properly. I tried a hot air gun and it seemed to help. The basic technique is to create the dish by hammering on the shot bag, then flattening the warps with a hardwood or steel dolly. Soft to curve, hard to flatten. I don't know how general that rule is.

BMW091108-03 BMW091108-04 BMW091108-05

After sanding down the new material I could tell that the low area was finally filled. I stopped short of making it final because I lack the necessary sanding blocks for good concave work. I finished with a coat of etching primer.

BMW091115-01 BMW091115-02 BMW091115-03

Today I began by working on the badge mount. During the week I learned that my problem with the torch was that I had the gas on too high. Now that I had a nice blue flame I could take out the work hardening. When I had the shape close to finished I drilled some holes for the badge mounting studs, polished off the surface rust with a wire brush in the die grinder, and gave it the POR-15 clean and prep routine.

BMW091115-04 BMW091115-05 BMW091115-06

Next I turned my attention to the rusted areas on the LH side between the tail light and the trunk lid ... pretty much the same area as I have been working on the RH side. There is one big area and a lot of small rust-throughs, especially along the top edge of the tail light opening.

BMW091115-07 BMW091115-08 BMW091115-09 BMW091115-10

After grinding a bit some of the smaller rust-throughs merged. In this respect I was more agressive than in the past -- my goal used to be to preserve as much original metal as possible, but now I prefer to remove rusted areas back to full thickness steel.

BMW091115-11 BMW091115-12 BMW091115-13 BMW091115-14

As the damaged areas were removed it became apparent that there is a tricky place where a doubler panel attaches to the rear deck, where the weather seal goes. This area is rusted through and will be difficult to repair properly. A lot of bad stell needs to be removed, making a large, structuraly sound, welded on patch a requirement.

BMW091115-15 BMW091115-16 BMW091115-17

BMW091115-18 BMW091115-19 BMW091115-20

There was still some time left so I decided to make a pattern for the patch I was thinking about. The patch will need a spiral twist. I got as far as cutting out the piece and getting close to the finished size. All in all a very good day.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Tail light almost done, hammer forming badge mount

Last night was Halloween and our usual decoration thing morphed into a big block party. Very cool. My son Mike carved an intricate pumpkin in his original avatar style.

Halloween09-13

You can see the rest of the pics in my Halloween 2009 set on Flicker.

BMW091101-01 BMW091101-02

After a bit of sanding I could tell that there was still a low spot in the center of the area I was trying to raise. I took the radical step of adding filler in the middle of the session, hoping it would cure enough to work. I used a steel straightedge to check depth, which shows up as a couple of grooves.

BMW091101-03

While the filler was setting I got started on a practice run at hammer forming the badge mount area for the hood. More abount that later.

BMW091101-04 BMW091101-05 BMW091101-06

After the POR-15 Epoxy Filler cured I went back to sanding, and finally I could feel a continuous flow from one side to the other. After a lot of sculpting with my long sanding block and soup can (for the concave curve) I added a little more filler, mostly along the top edge, then shot everything with Evercoat Acid-Etch primer.

BMW091101-07 BMW091101-08

During today's session I got started hammer forming a replacement for the badly rusted hood badge mount. I'm a little deaf now, but it turned out a lot better than I expected. I even stayed late working on it. I need to figure out how to tighten up the radii. I also need to pick up a butane torch to heat the piece to relieve work hardening.

BMW091101-09 BMW091101-10 BMW091101-11

BMW091101-12 BMW091101-13 BMW091101-14