| Well, I've got a little bit of time and a lot of work left to do, so I'd best get started. It's time to start grinding. I've got a lot of it to do, but I have a feeling that my previous experience has prepared me well. My task is fairly simple; make pieces of metal that look like this... |
 |
| Look like this. Easy, right? Just grind until all of the black around the edges is gone. Well, it isn't as easy as it sounds, but I never said this project was going to be easy. One down, over 40 to go. |
 |
| Two down. Now I can compare a matching piece from each side. This is why I've waited until now to grind everything down to its final shape. If anything is slightly out of symmetry, I can tweak until I'm happy with it. These look great -- seems like all that time I spent on the templates was worth it. |
 |
| Another view of the same two pieces. Here we can get a much better view of the angles. Looks good. If the rest of the pieces come out like this, I'll be in great shape. |
 |
| So now we know that I've been able to create two pieces of steel that are very close to the same shape. Of course, that isn't enough. Now it's time to see if this matching shape is actually the shape I want. This picture shows one of the pieces laid out on the master template. Judging from that angle, it looks like I'm in business. |
 |
| Seven pairs of pieces down and it's looking like I've got a very sound process. Everything is fitting together quite nicely on the master template, and things are even moving along at a pretty quick pace. I'm making better time than I'd hoped. |
 |
| Twelve pairs of pieces ground to shape now, and I'm feeling great. My time is starting to run thin, but I didn't even expect to get this far today. Everything beyond this point puts me ahead of schedule. |
 |
| Here's a closer shot of the previous layout, showing the fit of the pieces. I'm really happy with how the angles worked out, and welding this stuff up with gaps this tight should be a walk in the park. |
 |
| Nineteen pairs of pieces finished up now, and I've got things going like clockwork. Everything is still laying out on the template nice and lined up and there aren't any imperfections compounding. The whole process is going faster and easier than I expected. |
 |
| Here's a shot of everything I could get done today. I'm very happy with the quantity and quality of the results of the day's work. This gives me a good running start on tomorrow's work. |
 |
| Speaking of tomorrow's work, here's where it starts. This is all the steel I have left to grind to shape. Once this is done (should be quick, if today has been any indication), I'll set up the clamping system on my welding table, clean up the dirty pieces, and start welding this thing together. |
 |