Good day?..Yes and no...

[3100 special]

Today was one of some progress towards the panel but, not so much on the panel.
So the day started off alright, go to Harbor Freight to pick up a stick welder. I wasn’t getting the penetration I wanted on boxing the frame and was sure that I wanted this and the rest of my front end to be sound. They a low end welder for 109.00 (Chicago Electric) and I had a 10% coupon. While there, I figured I’d pick up on a welding cart that I had been eye-balling for a while. This way I could get my MIG and stick all in one nice place. They had the cart down to 39 bucks (plus that 10% coupon) so, in the shopping basket it went. They also had gotten some more of the 2 ½ ton floor jacks that I was also looking at the time before (39.95)…grabbed one as well.
While looking at the 12 point sockets to resolve my stuck locking lug nut problem, lo and behold I found the nut extractors folks had told me about. They had a set of several sizes for 18 bucks. So, I figured this was going to be a great day.

Off I went to Home Depot to get the 220 plugs I would need. I planned on using the wife’s dryer plug; I just had to make myself an extension cord. Once home I started the mass assembly. Everything went together well; it’s just that the collective time spent on all of the above ate up a lot more of my day than I wanted. I figured that I would take a quick shot at removing the lock lug nuts with my new extractor set…wrong! The largest one was not quite big enough to go on the nut. I’ll keep the set anyway. It’s good to have these around for smaller nuts that are boogered…

So!...NOW I get to start on the panel again. I put my plate for the passenger’s side in place and quick-tacked it with the MIG. Firing up my new stick welder I discovered I could not draw an arch to save my fickin’ life. I haven’t used a stick welder since 1981. Back then, I was reasonably good with one. Now I do remember the basics and that you had to get your groove and find that sweet spot. I’ll be danged if I could find it. Damn thing keep sticking. I think it was partial irritation with not being further along on my work and the fact that the sun was speeding towards the west. I finally wrapped it up determined that tomorrow will be the day…