My last session ended needing fire bricks. After many phone calls revealed there were non to be had at the expected places -- building supply stores -- the good folks at the Hawaii Potters Guild directed me to Ceramics Hawaii on Kokea Street in Kalihi. I got three because they are fragile.
The first thing I did was practice setting up the weld so that the pieces would not move and so that I had room to weld. After practicing on scrap I set up the real thing, using metal plates as extra weight. The bricks isolate the work from the table, and attaching the ground lead without distorting the work was a challenge.
I decided to leave the piece flat to make welding easier. Now it was time to add the bend. To do this I clamped it in the vise with a piece on edge at the center line, then to do the bend I tapped a screwdriver as a wedge between the piece and the jaws. Worked great ... too bad I didn't get a pic.
After trimming away the extra material I started refining the fit. Soon the crumpled rusty metal at the nose was in the way, especially on RH side, so I cut it away. Sort of a turning point. With that removed I discovered a bump caused by a thick lap seam on the RH side. This required a deep flange to clear it.
As I ground away the curves at the ends I checked the fit with the grill. The last pic shows it best. I still have a little too much gap, but I plan on adding a layer of Epoxy Putty to soften the curves, so I need some room.
It looks to me like I need to remove a little more on the LH side, but it was getting late so I'll have to finish up next week.
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