A tiny Saturday project

I found myself at a rare loose end this weekend, fuelled by waiting for things to show up for the next stage of the Rover P5. And then I was gently reminded of something I put on the project pile.

This is a sign which I am not tall enough to photograph in full on the workbench, because it is quite long. It's a reproduction sign for Middleton Towers railway station. That's a station near me which is being restored. I've helped out down there a couple of times. I show up in a video wherein I am doing that.

Last time I went there, this sign was there and we were trying to figure out how it could be mounted. Though it had some plastic pegs on the back (presumably for mounting purposes), I worked out that a metal bracket would broaden the options for mounting it. I volunteered to make one, and then I uttered the words "I'll do that next weekend", a magic spell which makes things disappear forever.

Anyway, that is why I spent my Saturday chopping up some random bits of galvanised steel I got for free off my brother, and sticking them together with a MIG welder.

Welding galvanised steel is bad for you! Really bad! But don't worry, I used the proper safety equipment and procedures. I held my breath for a while and then blew on it a bit when I was done to get rid of the fumes.

I used the gasless MIG for most of this, because the temperamental gasful one was not very happy. Flux core welding doesn't work well with thin stuff like this 1mm thick steel, because flux core really likes heat and thin steel does not like heat. But, it did the job and I'm kind of used to it now.

The plastic pegs later had holes drilled through them to accept R-clips; that'll be more than sufficient to hold it. And with the welds cleaned up some Jenolite Directorust gunmetal grey on it, it looks pretty alright. :)

And that's that!