Heat

There has been some lack of progress following the failure of my shop heater.  I followed all the instructions in the owner's manual, and went through the troubleshooting guide, all to no avail.  I attempted to contact the manufacturer with the symptoms, with, to date, no response.

So yesterday I bit the bullet and bought a new heater.

It is slightly different than the old one and is working quite satisfactory.  In fact, about two hours into my projects today I had to shut it off. It was getting just a bit too toasty in the shop!

The old one is sitting forlornly behind the new one.  The old is quite a satisfactory little heater.  But if I can't fix it (and the owner's manual is quite emphatic about that) it is useless.  I bought an extended warranty for the new one.

Here is the project for today:

This is the fabrication jig for the the aileron hinges.  It needs one more small part, a support close to the 1/4" rod sticking up near the right end.  That part will be added after I have the component parts made so I know exactly where it needs to go.  The metal plate will protect the wood from the tack welding heat and provide a grounding plate.  I plan to do the tack welding with the TIG.

This jig will make sense once I have a completed hinge to show you.  Patience!

I worked on some practice pieces today as well.  The major lesson I learned is that I need to spend some time learning to control the TIG with the foot pedal.  Using a set amperage does not work when welding on small parts.