Today in Crappy Pics

The day started by responding to crisis for Naomi, her car was overheating and leaking water. So I went out and took a look at it and attempted to fix it. I replaced a hose and two clamps, but am not 100% confident I had the problem nailed down. In the process...
"Oh there's the bleeder valve". The fabled coolant system bleeder valve which was supposed to be there but has never been found before. :P

After leaving South I went home and cut the grass, nice huh?


After cutting the grass, I started working on the actual building phase of The Spotlight Project for Ashley. I started by experimenting with bending the aluminum I planned to use for the swiveling mount, the experiment was a success. To bend the thick aluminum I mounted the piece into my vise clamp then grabbed a big piece of square tubing and torqued down on the thing.
So next i needed to figure out how much clearance a spinning QBeam Max would need. So I mocked up a model and measured the necessary values..... (yes I am the duke of Ghetto, because James is the king).

Then I transferred all this to the aluminum....
Broke out the level in an attempt to prevent my bends from being twisted.

Proceeded to make my two bends..

Then I went to the computer and used Graph Paper Printer to print out a piece of paper with 1/8th inch divisions, then used that to check my bends for being right and to layout where I needed to drill (as if it was gonna help)

Next I took on punching a good pilot then drilled two holes completely off center :/ . I have got to be missing something about drilling, other ppl's hand drilled holes come out reasonably right...

Then I continuted mutilating the project by using a bit intented for something completely other than aluminum.

Once I had done my worst the bushings more or less fit, hopefully well enough for the axles to line up....
Finally I went to Big Lots and bought this 99 cent turkey baster, but I had other plans for it than flavorful poultry. I intented to shove JB weld through it, in order to bind the pulley I bought to the motor I scavenged. It worked wonderfully, this is an aftermath picture of the setup....

And these are the pieces drying.... A good (hopefully) successful day of building :]


And now... for something completely different




Killer 7ft Spider AHHH!!!
I saw this spider in the bushes while mowing the grass, she is HUGE at least 3in long. So I got Grandma and my camera out there and snapped a few pics. When I uploaded the pictures I had no idea this was waiting for me, LOL. Gotta love unsuspecting optical effects. :D