Michigan Electric 28

With Easter Sunday on the calendar, the shop was quite full yesterday.  We had all the regular Saturday folks, and a lot of the Sunday workers who came out a day early to have tomorrow off with family.

Traps

Ray Schmid continued on the restoration of trap plates for the stair wells on the rear of the car.  Many steps of sanding and painting will result in these looking like new.

Mats

After painting the plates, the final step is to install rubber matting on the top or wear surface.  The mats are cut and fitted and then the tricky part is to install them and adhere the matting to the top.

Molding

Meanwhile, Jeff Brady was working to set up jigs and fixtures on the table saw to produce some very small cross section moldings.

I do not get as much a chance to post updates on this project, since our schedules do not mesh very well.  But yesterday the crew on the 28 was out in force, so here are a few views.

Traps

Ray Schmid was continuing the many steps to finish the step well traps prior to installing them on the car.  They have been painted, sanded and touched up.  Later in the day new rubber matting was being cut and fitted for the top sides.

The Caul

A caul is a sort of form or bending jig needed to make specialty parts.  Jeff Brady constructed this large one for bending the new sheets of roofing for the 28.  Here, he is modifying it to be able to bend some runners for the roof mats.  It is a tricky process and one that is more art than science, largely disappeared from our society today.