The Roof , The Roof, The roof looked like it was on fire!

The roof line is an area that we need to repair. The water has been pouring in through the rusted area so here we so...

I started with a failed attempt at a repair.
I cut the roof after the bend in the edge so I could use a straight piece of steel to do the patch. The problem was that there was not enough good material to weld to.

This is the straight piece attached .... Bad job

I had to cut higher on the existing roof , to get past the rot.
At this point the cut was in the curve of the roof-line so it required the steel be bent around the corner.
So... we had to build a die that will allow the replacement parts to be bent to the proper angle.

Thanks to George and Mike, we got the die for the press built!

and the replacement parts made.

And the first one installed

Number two!!

I drilled piece # 1 the other day too.
This weekend will be the replacement of parts 3 and 4 and drilling and hopefully bolting all of them in place.

Another window and More Bolts

So, a few hours were spent drilling the bolt holes for the copula steel. It is time consuming and not fun.
We are going through some drill bits.

I moved on to the south side window.
They are aluminum and pitted.
I used an aggressive wire wheel to remove the bulk of the pitting and then moved to a fine wheel to make the finish look nice.

 The screens look nice too!

Window Frames and Windows

TOO much time is being spent trying to drill out the holes that do not line up.

I really regret having the new steel prepunched.

It would have saved so much time if I just drilled them AFTER they arrived.

I have started adding bolts to the holes that did line up or that I was able to drill.

I did put a bead of sealer behind the plates to help keep water out.

My hopes are that the interior will be very nice so I want to keep out any and all water.

I have a feeling that is going to be a real task.

 

Drilling the plates was a pain.

The plates themselves were not so bad, it was the steel inside the caboose that makes up the support structure.

I burned up 2 expensive bits in 4 holes!

There has to be a better way. 

 

We also had to grind off the square portion of the underside of the bolt head.

I could not get the head to sit flat enough to seal.

When I tried, I was breaking the bolts.

We heated the bolts to remove the zinc treatment. I will go back and grind off the letters on the heads of the bolts later.

 

WINDOWS 

 

 

I removed the windows from the copula and want to repair and clean them.

The frames of the windows needed help first.

I had to weld a repair into each of the frames. The North side window frame required less repair. The North side needed the entire bottom cut off and a new piece of steel, the full length of the frame.

 

 

 

The repair looked really good.

I just might be getting this welding thing down!

 

So I moved on the aluminum windows themselves.

 

They had sealer around the perimeter. It was a mess.

I removed the seal and then banged out the high spots so we get a good seal on the newly straighten frames.

 

 

After I cleaned them, I had to straighten the dents in the screens.

They turned out great!

 

next I wanted to clean the frames. I used a wire wheel and it did a nice job.

I also made the choice to try and paint the frames.

 I used a special primer that is formulated for Aluminum.

 

I was going top keep them white but I thought that will still look dirty ,... quick.

So I went with black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Day for Flying Steel

Saturday started with removing the covering from the side of the copula and getting the steel panel ready to be lifted in place.

I wire wheeled the panel and used a good primer to seal the areas that would be covered by the lip of the opening.

 

After priming the panel, we attached a hoist flange

 

We had the holes pre-punched in the panel. That was not the best idea.

Four holes lined up on the entire panel.

 

 

Thanks to George, We were able to not only place the east side panel but we were able to remove, prime the opening, and place the west side panel too.

George is a good friend.