Thread: The restoration of Wombat

Originally Posted by klonk

Better watch out for those wirebrush bristles that fly off and stick in your clothing.

Chipping welding slag one day, a piece flipped up and down the cuff of my gloves
That was the day I bought long, welding gloves rather than use gardening gloves.
The overalls are great but by cripes it's hot working in them... and they're predicting 38 for the next three days.

I had the briefest of tinkers in the shed Christmas Day when it was 37ish. It was like some kind of WW2 Japanese torture , like from a scene from The Bridge Over the River Kwai. What ****ed me off more than the heat was the bloody flies.
cheers,
D

Two problems continue to dominate.
The first is Dark61's heat - I sweat at the drop of the hat anyway but at the moment, it's flooding off me, pooling in my glasses so I can't see anything. My face mask has more dried sweat on the inside than dust on the outside and, I kid you not, there are puddles on the floor. Rehydrate, rehydrate, rehydrate.

The second is a bit more serious. Look at this photo. It's one of the many brackets welded to this chassis.



You can see where I've got the paint and rust off, you can also see in the corners where I can't reach. It's not helped by the cramped quarters due to the size of the bracket.

At the moment, just accepting it for what it is seems to be the best I can do, but that's hardly satisfactory and yes, I did have a damned good go at this. Short of chipping away with a cold chisel or trying to make one of those soda blasters someone posted recently (think of the mess, it's total loss), screaming and going inside for a cuppa makes the most sense.

Any thoughts on what I can do about this?

Crackers you will be there for ever if you are trying to get to that standard.
Try a small cup wire brush on a drill or a dremmel if you have one. Or a wood chisel to get into the corners.
On hard to get areas try some paint stripper to soften the paint or rust remover if it is rust.
Perfection will take a lot of time.
Sand blasting would be a lot quicker but costs.

I like to do some big areas to see some progress. It keeps the enthusiasm up.

Cheers,
Russ

Originally Posted by Brisruss

Crackers you will be there for ever if you are trying to get to that standard.
Try a small cup wire brush on a drill or a dremmel if you have one. Or a wood chisel to get into the corners.
On hard to get areas try some paint stripper to soften the paint or rust remover if it is rust.
Perfection will take a lot of time.
Sand blasting would be a lot quicker but costs.

I like to do some big areas to see some progress. It keeps the enthusiasm up.

Cheers,
Russ

Didn't think of the dremel.
I'm only at the start of things so it's a case of trying to work out where to bail out. I can assure you, I'm no perfectionist - stubborn and often delusional but I lack the patience for perfectionism.

The comforting thing is that there's a good layer of original primer so once you cut through that, it's largely bright steel. There are some pockets of rust under that, which show up in the earlier photo as grey - the only way you're going to remove them is by grinding the surrounding metal way and that's just daft. This is why my first coat will be rust converter.

Inside building bikes again this arvo. Judging from the weather forecast, that'll be the go tomorrow and the next day as well.

My plan is to do something, even if only an hour, every day.

Originally Posted by crackers

My plan is to do something, even if only an hour, every day.

Good plan! The only way to make steady progress.

Just made a dreadful mistake. I was out in the shed, grinding away, sweat pouring off me in the heat. Then I went inside for a rest and a cuppa, where the aircon is blowing and my chair is comfortable...

Think I've done enough for today.

G'day All,
Love your posts Crackers...
Use a propane torch and a small scraper to get into those corners. A narrow wire brush will clean it up nicely. You don't need much heat on the paint. Also as suggested maybe paint stripper. Watch out for fire hazards on the workshop floor.
Happy New Year to you all.
Chris