Man... I had the biggest day planned out. I bought a break, aluminum sheet, rivits/rivnut and sheers. I was going to get my airbox started.
Let me rewind a little. Yesterday I used some angle stock and flat stock to make a skeleton structure for the aluminum sheet. The flat stock was braised to the angle stock. That worked great.
Today I wanted to add a bit more strength to the aluminum angle stock so I attempted to braise the square aluminum stock to the angle stock. That was a complete dud. I figured, "hey, this is a great time to TIG", it's in a hidden area. I used some scrap of the exact stock I was planning to weld up. I intentionally went hard on the amps in some areas and light in other areas. I felt comfortable enough to do my actual piece, so I did.
The welds turned out good enough for my angle stock and square stock. The thickness of aluminum was different so I needed to start on the thicker material first and then move up to the thinner stuff. Near the end I was using a bit less filler rod.
While welding the square stock to the angle stock, the braised aluminum piece fell off. That's fine. I really wanted to TIG it anyway. Well, Turns out the thin aluminum stock is a real bastard. Also, my welder started acting up near the end. I think the tungsten was contaminated. After about four solid attempts at getting the flat stock welded up, I threw in the towel. My needs were out pacing my skills. I needed my buddy's help to wrap up.
Between getting the supplies and welding, my day of "getting stuff done" was reduced to getting supplies, welding one square stock to angle stock, welding one piece of flat stock and then not quite getting the other done.
The direction is great... but man, my idea out pace my skills. Obviously I need practice. It is what it is.
First couple pictures are my crashbar finished and mounted.
