Today I tried to remake the rear light /camera mounting assembly. The old one with an awful lot of lumiweld on it was actually quite heavy. The number plate mount will be separated from the light assembly so the seat is easily removable leaving the number plate and associated lights hanging from the plugs in the end of the truncated frame tubes – design not yet thought through.
The blank was cut out from 2mm aluminium and then bent up. The welding did not go well. I forgot to clean the sheet with acetone before scrubbing with a SS wire brush and as the heat was applied an oily film emerged from the metal (presumably lubricant used during the rolling process) which then boiled and the lumiweld would not take at all.
Halfway through this one of the fluorescent luminaires in the garage started flickering badly then stopped working. I shrugged and carried on, then I smelt burning and started looking round for anything I had set light to with the torch but when I looked up smoke was blackening the ceiling above the now non flickering luminaire. Better turn the lights off then. There followed a bit of a pantomime as I climbed on my swivel chair to undo the screws holding the cover on the luminaire. They were very tight and rather than the screw undoing it stayed exactly where it was and I rotated around it as the swivel on the chair revolved.
I did manage after a fashion to bond the top and bottom halves of the tank together. In the end I used JB Weld (water weld) but made the mistake of applying it to the edge of the base then tried to put the tank top over it. By the time I had applied the putty to the entire bottom seam it was already starting to become unworkable and so when I tried to get it into the exact position it was already gripping and would not move. The top is about 5mm lower one side than the other as a result. Also the likelihood of this first pass of being a petrol tight seal is nil. I will wait until it cures and then have another go from underneath. Finally I will have the Caswell stuff to pour into the filler neck if only it will actually flow to the bottom of the tank.
Attaching the drain tube through the tank was not the nightmare I envisaged.
