Hot Work

It was touching 40°C here and as a consequence the air conditioning units went on early.  However I (probably stupidly) went outside and removed the boxing from the last of the concrete kerbing before landscaping the area. 

Next I decided to do some preparatory work on the diff drop kit.  The kit didn’t come with all the required bolts so I took it to the wholesaler in order to ensure I purchased the right size.  That proved to be a problem.  12mm bolts were obviously too big but 10mm bolts also wouldn’t fit.  In the end I decided I could make the 10mm bolts fit by cleaning out the holes with a 10mm Tap.  My assumption was the holes had been made smaller when the kit was powder coated.

This is where the Tap & Die set from Aldi proved to be valuable.

There’s an art to using a Tap & die set which I was taught as a young apprentice electrician.  Back then we used steel conduit (tubing) to protect the cables and each end of the pipe had to be threaded once cut and bent to shape.  Two turns clockwise and then half a turn anti-clockwise to clear the swarf from the teeth.  Repeat the sequence.

 

Some swarf in the teeth of the Tap

and some around the holes

quite a bit had fallen down onto the bench top

Whilst I was in the shed I complete the first coat of paint on Jacques house.  By this time I was starting to melt.  Not helped by the sound of Jan doing lengths of the pool.  It’s times like this I wish I had larger hands and feet.

Another hot day forecast for tomorrow (and the rest of the week).  I’ll have to find some inside jobs.