Tiggerdad's Pretrip Report: November 14th-23rd

[jbrostek]

Thanks 5er, I've heard several people talk about having busted their globe while trying to cut the holes in them. I picked up my drill attachment today before I went into work.

Use painters tape and run the hole saw in reverse after you punch the pilot hole.

 

[tiggerdad]

Making some headway on this milkcan. I started off using some store bought acid. Poured it in the sprayer and used the entire gallon the can. It got an enormous amount of the rust off without all the elbow work. Only thing is that you really have to be careful with the stuff. Wear long pants, long sleeves, and eye protection. It is rough.

Took the can out after it dried and started doing some manual sanding to get to the rough places. It has a lot of rust pits in it. My oldest decided to lend me a hand. She knows what we are building, but doesn't know where the first campground is that we are going to use it.



Here is the finished sanded can prior to the primer coat.



and then after the primer was applied...



Got some dings to knock out of it before we apply the paint. Decided to leave the rust pits. It would be a lot of work to fix them all. Figure leaving them adds some age character to the can. Gonna let it dry and hopefully paint this bad boy today or tomorrow.

Gonna go out to my shop tonight and watch the Alabama and Tennessee game in the shed while I work on the globes and pipe for the lamp portion.

 

[ColleenFL]

Wow! Awesome job! Can't wait to see pics of it finished!

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Got it looking good there tiggerdad! Working on boats like I do, I used marine grade 5200 to glue the globes together, ones that stuff sets up its not coming apart.

Missed the games last night but glad to see Alabama win, bet your brother in law wasn't too happy. I really wished I could off seen Ole Miss and LSU, that looked like a good game. I'll be trying to catch the rerun on the SEC channel.

 

[snowmedic]

Milk cans are really looking good, looking forward to seeing the finished product in person.

 

[tiggerdad]

Spent the evening working on the globes and watching some Alabama football. I got so into what I was doing and trying to be careful that I didn't think to take a single picture of the work in progress on the globes However, I can report that everything went well. There were no lost digits, blood, or broken globes. There were only a few cursings, but those were directed at the television...

I did use the painter's tape, 2 inch which I ran completely around the globe following the molded centerline. I measured from the very top and went 8 inches to either side and made a mark which I used for the centerpoint of the drill attachment. I cut the holes with the drill in reverse, keeping the drill running slow, but not stopping it. I did notice that you have to watch for unlevel cutting and you need to lean the drill to make up for this and keep it cutting the same depth all the way around.

I glued the first globe in place last night using plastic cement and an elastic cable to hold it tight in place. Before church this morning I glued the other globe in place. By the time I got home it was pretty well set up and now just needs a cleaning.



I was also able to get the 2 inch pipe sanded and painted last night as well and it is out in the sun to ensure being plenty dry.

Now back to the can...

 

[ColleenFL]

Good job!
I used a 3" heavy duty PVC pipe.
Sounds like the drill bit (for door knobs) you have to be more careful when cutting then using a dremel with the bit for plastic, I could stop whenever I wanted to and it does not get very hot with dremel I used no tape only to hold the ears in place while glue was drying.

 

[MichaelaF]

Hate I'm going to miss you, but you can post some pics and give me a heads up on how things are going before I come in. You guys be safe on your travels and I'll look for some posts from you.

Will do!

 

[tiggerdad]

Today was paint day!
Now remember that this can is being painted with left over automotive paint, so I had to scour through about a hundred cans to find the colors closest to what I was looking for.

We started with standard black...



Then added some "screaming yellow"...



Finally, some "standard mazda red" and three layers of clearcoat...



I'll let this thing cure for 2-3 days then put the post and globes together and see how it looks.

For the buttons I am considering trying to find two big yellow buttons and using some magnet tape to apply them to the can so looks more realistic.

 

[SouthAlabama5er]

Lookin good!

 

[ruthies12]

That look great!!

 

[snowmedic]

Looking' good Tiggerdad.

 

[betmust]

Wow those are coming along great. Can't wait to see how them come out. I will have to take a ride by and look at them when we are there - I believe we have a few days we will be there at the same time....

 

[bama_ed]

Looking' good Tiggerdad.

I second this. Bama Ed

 

[jbrostek]

The cans are looking great!!!

I assume you using a standard aluminum lamp post? Did you setup a way to drop them into the can? I missed any pictures of that.

I would tell you that a toilet flange and 3" PVC works really well. We used that secured to the bottom of the bucket and 3" PVC to act as the reciever tube (glued to the flange.) When I setup the lamp I just have to drop the pole right into the PVC, plug in the head at the hidden pleg I setup in the top of the pole and two wingnuts hold it in place to predrilled and secured into nutzerts.

 

[tina.tina]

I LOVE how you decorated your can.

 

[tiggerdad]

Jbrostek,

I used 2" pvc pipe for my lamp. I chose pvc because it's lighter. Heard several people talk about how top heavy the lamps were so I was trying to cut back on weight. Also, the pvc is easier to cut and fit.

I was having some concerns about how I was going to secure the post to the bottom of the can. As it happened, I was cutting the grass and happened to glance over at my power panel box on the side of my house. I realized that that the conduit for the power cable went into the box, and was secured with a 2" female threaded fitting that was bolted to the breaker box.

Off to Lowes I went. Bought one of those fittings and secured it to the bottom of the can. I also picked up a threaded male 2" fitting and put it on the end of the post. I'll take you some pics in the morning. I didn't have the time to put it together before I came to work.

 

[jbrostek]

Awesome adaptation. We went with the aluminum standard light post but to counter the top heavy we shortened it about 18" I believe. I will have to take pictures of the setup for people to see. It breaks down easilly and other then the bucket being full of concrete, not too much weight. We used to use water, but I had several high wind days that resulted in a broken mickey light. So after the rebuild I decided to go that route, after that even 45mph gusts dont seem to give me problems.

Since its a standard bucket, I actually bought fake grass carpeting and it doesnt look that bad after some work to cut it down.

 

[tiggerdad]

Hey Jbrostek, at Christmas you could use a christmas tree skirt, that would look awsome! For right now I'm leaving the can empty. While at home it will be in the garage just to the side of the door for year long decoration, so no worry of wind blowing it over. I'll use tent stakes when camping and see how that goes.

Okay, according to my countdown today is 14 days until we arrive! I plan to pull the cover off the camper on Monday so we can start the pretrip cleaning (only bad part). For now, she waits...



I am happy to inform you that the Mickey Light is now complete!



I found some big yellow buttons and I used some magnet tape on the back of them to apply to the can.



I'll leave it together for now on the carport, but when I take it apart to pack up for the trip I'll take some pics of the fittings and mounts that I used to put it together.

 

[snowmedic]

Here's to a job well done.