Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,735
- Location
- Teesside, England
Slightly less ambitious than making a motorhome from a bus, I've come up with a project. I haven't done much workshop-wise this year apart from resurrecting the crashed Honda I bought at auction as a birthday present to myself back in February.
So I was mooching about on Ebay, as you do, and I happened across a piece of kit that could make life a bit easier... but it was ££. There are cheaper alternatives, albeit not cheaper by much. Then I thought: why don't I just 'borrow' the design of the expensive one and have a crack at copying it. Well, apart from the duck's head, which would be a bit tricky.
I downloaded the photos, perused the meagre dimensions that were shared (such as, an M20 nut!) and cracked open AutoCAD.
Didn't take long to draw up something that looks 'about right', so I nipped round to see my friendly local fabricators to see if I could buy some box section and plate from them.
Amazingly, the guy took two paces, bent down and picked up two lengths of box that were almost exactly what I was going to ask for - and then a rummage behind the guillotine turned up a perfectly-sized bit of plate as well! Few shekels in the tea fund and away we go.
Spurred on by that success I just had to get back on the internet and find me a duck's head. Which arrived this morning, so now there's no excuse...
So I was mooching about on Ebay, as you do, and I happened across a piece of kit that could make life a bit easier... but it was ££. There are cheaper alternatives, albeit not cheaper by much. Then I thought: why don't I just 'borrow' the design of the expensive one and have a crack at copying it. Well, apart from the duck's head, which would be a bit tricky.
I downloaded the photos, perused the meagre dimensions that were shared (such as, an M20 nut!) and cracked open AutoCAD.
Didn't take long to draw up something that looks 'about right', so I nipped round to see my friendly local fabricators to see if I could buy some box section and plate from them.
Amazingly, the guy took two paces, bent down and picked up two lengths of box that were almost exactly what I was going to ask for - and then a rummage behind the guillotine turned up a perfectly-sized bit of plate as well! Few shekels in the tea fund and away we go.
Spurred on by that success I just had to get back on the internet and find me a duck's head. Which arrived this morning, so now there's no excuse...