A few brackets

I managed to sneak in a few hours of fabrication this week. I added in the gussets under the seat and the X-brace on the back of the frame. Here are a few pictures.

Lining up the gusset under the seat (frame is on its back)

 Welded into place

Before....

Half of the X-brace.....

3/4....

The completed X-brace!

I am going to weld the carabiner (suspension) brackets into place this weekend so expect another update by Monday. Also, I came up with a pretty unique design for a floor/tank protection which I am pretty excited about. I don't know if I will get to it this weekend but definitely expect to see it finished by mid week.

A Place To Sit

I've been making progress slowly over the last two weeks unfortunately most of that progress was finding a place to purchase the Chromoly steel for the final frame. I did manage to make a seat frame and mounted the seats to the main part of the frame.

The seat framework made out of 3/4" round tubing

 Lining up the seats on the main part of the frame

Tack welding the framework in place

 Welding on some supporting brackets.

 Rear portion of the vertical support

 Everything in place!

 So I got the seats bolted on and this thing is looking good!

I threw the burner on just to see what it looks like. I will be making my own burner brackets and the burner will be sitting a few inches higher than it is in the photo.

I only have a few more things to complete for the prototype and I am hoping to complete it this weekend. All I have left is a few support brackets, burner mounts, plywood floor and wood skids. Check back in a week for another update. 

Oh, and of course I need to leave you with one last photo....

"A face to the Name"

The title of this post may seem a bit unusual...but it fits this stage of my build perfectly. For the longest time I have had idea after idea on what the frame would end up looking like. I felt like I had built a sort of bond with a few of these ideas. Silly, yes I know. However, I knew the ins and outs of the frame but I had never actually seen. Well, Sunday that all changed. The clouds parted, the sun came out and work got done!

I arrived at 11am and was pleased to find Hans Paulson fully prepared to start working. Hans is a great guy. He has been building race cars since the early 70's and is very skilled in metal fabrication of all types. Bending metal happens to be one of the skills. I stopped counting the various sizes and types of dies he had on ONE of his racks. He even made some of them himself. Pretty impressive!

We got to work as soon as I was finished drooling over his tool collection. Han's took the time to set up the 1.5" die while I snapped a quick picture of our work area. You can see my mock-up frame to the right.

Han's making the first bend. I wish someone had taken a picture of me because I was so excited to have this all start to come together!

 First bend!

Working quick to the next bend

 One side almost done

Matching sides

More bending

One side complete!

At this point in the day I felt like I would blink and Han's had already finished the next few steps. Here he is bending the second side.

Two sides!

A couple more bending pics

Halfway through bending the front frame/seat frame

A few more bends...

Three of the frame pieces

Now to the welding. Once again, I was blown away at how talented Hans is. He had the frame pieces notched and welded faster than I could hand them to him! Plus the welds were beautiful!

Unfortunately my battery died and I was unable to take pictures of the front two vertical pieces being made and welded. When I got home I charged it and took a few photos of the finished frame (minus brackets etc.)

I got home much earlier than planned and decided to add a few of the gussets. I pulled out the tubing notcher and cranked out 4 gussets out of 3/4" tubing.

I plan on working more on the frame this Thursday and on the weekend. Expect more frequent updates now that I have the ability to work from my own garage again.

I am still waiting on my fan shroud to be made. Pictures will be posted as soon as I pick it up and install it.

I leave you all with two last photos to give you a better idea of what the whole thing will look like.

Wheels for the Inflation Fan

I attached 10 inch wheels to the inflation fan. I am still waiting on my shroud to be rolled for me. Here are a few pictures of the wheel installation.

The fan rolls around great with the new wheels. I am hoping to have the shroud made and installed this week.

As for the frame for my basket...I have it built! Well...kinda. I have the main part of the frame bent and welded together. I still need to attach the seats, gussets and miscellaneous brackets to it. Check back tomorrow evening for a LONG post with a LOT of pictures. My spirits are pretty high now that I have something to actually look at and admire.