Discovering and resolving problems

Today I found out that I was being a moron when I read the part about the mini chopsaw on Troy's site. He had specifically said that it wasn't big enough for the 3/4" alum angle, and I didn't see that.

So, rather than drive an hour to return the chopsaw (which I'd have had to do to have enough extra cash for a bigger saw), I returned the alum angle to Menards and got 1/2" instead. It's small enough to fit in the mini saw, will still be sturdy enough for a frame, and was a fair bit cheaper (spent $10 for 16' as opposed to about $1/ft for the 3/4"). I also got some post screws and faucet washers to use for mounting the motherboard.

Rather than drive all over hell (Dubuque) to find someplace I could walk in and buy sheet metal, I took one more look at Menards. Man, that shit is expensive: 24x24" of 22ga steel for something like $40. Are you kidding? For that money, I could buy an appliance with more metal in it than that.

So, I did:



Well, I didn't spend that much, of course. Went to Goodwill and found this bread machine for $7. Perfect. The outside of the machine is fucking filthy, but that's Goodwill for you. (Clean up someone else's old crap before we sell it? Why?)



So, apart it comes. There, in the first pic, is everything we won't be needing (well, I'll save some of the screws, and that LED display might be fun to play with sometime). And, in the second pic, the one thing I do need.

And...I cut myself on a sharp edge in the process. This, boys and girls, is why we should wear the fancy gloves we just bought. Oh well; nothing serious, but rest assured I'll be wearing those gloves for the next step.

I even almost got out of re-bending it, but it's a little too narrow one one side and way too wide on the other. Certainly, I could re-design my case and fit everything into the bread machine case as-is, but that ain't how I roll. So, it's time to flatten it out and plan the cutting!

I think I like the vents being there, but if they don't line up right when it's cut down to size, it's Bondo time.

Here we are, gloves and all, ready to pull the thing apart at the seam.



I got some of that crap out of the way to start with. That's a flat-lock seam...that'd be a bit of a bear to get apart if I didn't know the trick.

I had a really nice tool for this at a factory I used to work in, but for a small job like this, a good metal putty knife works just as well. Just work from one end to the other, prying it up a bit...



...and it comes right apart. Now that piece will be easier to work with.

Last thing I did tonight was to start the flattening process, mostly to get an idea of the consistency, to make sure it's what I want.



You can see the edge has a bit of a lip on it. I nibbled it out at the corners so it will flatten properly, and filed them just enough to knock the edges down (even with the gloves on, I don't want a saw blade sticking out of my workpiece).



There it is, carefully opened up. When I get back to this at an hour at which pounding it with a mallet is acceptable, I'll work on flattening it the rest of the way.

That's it for tonight; gotta go back to work in the morning. Thursday or Friday I'll be back to it; I'm getting anxious to start cutting and piecing the frame together.