45acp’s DIVORCED build!

Right now I'm working as a tech on a local hospital's Ortho/Neuro unit. It pays alright (about the same hourly as I was making at the prison in WY). Been going to school at the same time to pursue an RN degree, but I decided to give up on it for several reasons.

 

"Master of Indecision" might be more accurate?

 

Ah gotcha! Just curious to where most of your rig building time went to

 

y quit on the RN degree?

 

A myriad of reasons, really.
- I have full custody of my son and while I have family to help watch him, the study load is just too much to take on with work and family life. At the rate I've been going, I'll literally never get done.
- The cost, difficulty, and complexity of schooling vs. RN pay doesn't really seem to be there.
- It's a female-dominated career field and my co-workers are really good people. While I get along easily with them I seemingly can't make any friends which makes me really miss the camaraderie and friends I had at the prison.
- But most of all... while I like the career, it's been quite discouraging. I really love helping people, which is why I wanted to go into the field. But high patient loads combined with the feeling that all you have time for (from an RN perspective) is follow doctor's orders and push meds, creates an environment that feels almost completely devoid of any opportunity to provide 'true' care/compassion to someone.

 

all respectable reasons, im back finishing my BSN while working in an orthopedic surgeons office, honestly the doctor I work for is the only reason i stay here as he is a tight dude. The school and study load is pretty deep for what you really do. But they cover all the fields of nursing, which is an ass load. I will be making the transfer to emergency medicine as i prefer the 12 hour night shifts, but its a job that pays well in my area and also allows me the time off. I am young and dont have any kids so my time is a little more available. I am always curious why people choose something else, there was a few times in school i thought about different routes.

 

I've been an RN for a few years now and following your build and wondering what you did to acquire so many parts lol I do agree the field is filled with women yet at the same time males are taking over slowly. My last two jobs were on mainly male dominated floors. I'm currently a travel/contract nurse so I'm practically my own boss which is pretty cool.

 

Had to trim about 1/4" off width of the steel portion of the bottom shock bushing and switch to 1/2" bolts. So very minimal work and they fit and work a helluva lot better than the 35yo OEM shocks.

DSC00186 by Jonathan Krajnak, on Flickr

DSC00187 by Jonathan Krajnak, on Flickr

 

Nice glad they worked.

 

Why didn't you just.... Uhm... I don't know... maybe replace the fucking shocks with the ones that fit correctly?!?! Oh wait, I forgot who I was talking to.

 

DSC00199 by Jonathan Krajnak, on Flickr

 

Its waaaaaay lighter than it looks

 

Some of the welds look iffy... Just restart It'll be shitty tig welds for awhile then you will master them though... and when you do, restart it again. It'll be bitchin'

 

Still have a little welding/grinding to do, but I'm almost finished with a backbone for the 14 bolt. The newer 14 bolt (AAM 1050) uses metric M8 bolts for the diff cover, but I tapped two of them for M10 and they run through 3/4"OD x 1/8" wall tube that connect the diff cover and removable portion of the backbone. I also put a slight taper where the removable portion contacts the axle tube sections, so there won't be any binding issues with installation and removal.

DSC00203 by Jonathan Krajnak, on Flickr

 

How's the tig going?

 

It's getting better, but haven't had much time to practice (mostly because it was too damn cold out). I set up a new workbench area in the garage for tigging and mostly been focusing on getting the hang of the foot pedal. I'm also in the middle of building an adjustable rest for sliding my hand across to help keep it steady and avoid getting the tungsten into the puddle.

 

What electrode are you using?

 

2% Lanthanated, generally with a ~60 degree taper on the end. I bought one of those nice Pyrex cups with the screen for better gas flow and visibility

 

My favorite tungsten, seems to work well on most metals.