I was given this sketch of a drawing and told to fabricate a part. Plenty of information!

Here’s a little farther along.

The drill that I was using had been sharpened with a Drill Doctor, and as such was cutting about as well as a piece of toast would have. It wasn’t a drill, it was a clever imposter.

Some cutting and some bending later, and it almost looked like a real part!

Until we realized that the swing on the hinge was off. Once we corrected that, it became obvious that the window needed to be larger. Since fixturing and modding the old part is about as much work to start over with a new part, I will be starting over with a new chunk of steel tomorrow.

It’s a rough feeling, knowing that you didn’t actually accomplish anything. I mentioned it to my dad.

“I feel like we’re back where we started.”

He countered “But we’re a lot smarter.”

“I’ll try to think of it like that.” I’m not very good at thinking positively.

“It had to happen. That’s what I mean when I say I engineer by discovery. We did some discovering.”