Just a quick update, I have booked the MOT for Friday the 12th. Currently I still have to finish the front bumper, fit a front number plate and fit the passenger seat.
I may make a little padded leather boss cover for the steering wheel centre hub.
I have abandoned the idea of TIG welding the grill for now due to issues with the disposable gas cylinders and regulator.
I bought a 110 litre disposable cylinder of pure argon and a suitable regulator, both from the same supplier. When I got home I connected them up with a suitable 4mm nylon tube to my TIG torch. Turned on the regulator, no hiss, no gas...
Together with a friend we checked and rechecked, but still no gas. I called the supplier, a national company, they told me the only solution was to bring the cylinder and regulator back to the shop, where they would try it and find a solution. Trouble is the shop is 67 miles from here. However, today I grasped the nettle and made the journey.
I am rather bewildered, We tried three new regulators on the argon cylinder I bought, none of them worked. I am positive there is gas in the cylinder because it weighs 300 grammes more than the marked tare weight.
We then tried ALL the pure argon cylinders they had in their shop, on both 'my' regulator and one of the other regulators, NONE of them worked. Eventually having tried several argon-CO2, we found the pure CO2 cylinders worked, then we found a 60 litre pure argon cylinder which would work too.
In the end I gave up, asked for my money back and left. Are these disposable cylinders and regulators usually so unreliable and picky? It seems the pintle which opens the cylinder sealing valve isn't doing it's job but it may not be as simple as that. I have never used them before so have no experience. At almost £40 for a crappy little regulator and only 110 litres of Argon gas, which I suspect wouldn't last an hour of welding, it would have been an expensive welding session.
As it is I have also spent at least £32 on petrol too, I don't get that back, and the suppliers weren't for giving me even a complimentary cylinder for my trouble, not that we could find two pure argon which worked!!!
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