Fasteners: Part Two

The putative subtitle here was to be "Let's Do Lunch"...  Well, the best-laid plans all go south when wives are involved.  Short version?  My wife and daughter were present at the unboxing, and talking Tony's ear off while I counted fasteners.  It wasn't an unpleasant meeting, but it definitely wasn't our usual printer talk that went on.

I had called Tony a couple of times yesterday to see if we were still on for lunch, and got no answer.  (I think I mentioned we both work some crazy schedules, right?)  Finally, my family and I went to lunch (we're down to one vehicle, and everyone wanted to go out...).

I grabbed all the hardware, just in case, and we headed out.  Sure enough, I got a call from Tony while lunch was just landing on our table.  I told him, "Yeah, come on, we're at McAllister's.  You want anything?"

"No, I've already had lunch with my Dad." came the reply.

So, just as we had finished lunch and were nibbling nachos and cheese to fill in the corners, Tony arrived and we got down to the unboxing.  I didn't bring the camera as it would have slowed down everything anyway.  Tony listened to my wife and daughter talk about Japanese cinema and Anime' (common interests for us all, to my pleasant surprise...) while I counted and divided the various sizes of fasteners at the table.

Tony presented me with another pleasant surprise:  the printed parts for the lower frame are ready, along with other parts I'll need down the road.  With these and the fasteners, this thing can finally start to take shape.

I have to say, the stuff from Marshall's was of exceptional quality.  The coatings on all the black fasteners were hard, glossy, and complete, and the zinc plating on the washers was bright, clean, and covered well, not the cheap "wash" type of zinc plating I've seen on more expensive stuff.

The packing of certain items was disconcerting, as various sizes of fasteners ordered in small quantities were mixed together in two bags which required some sorting, but most other items were ziplocked or boxed, and all boxes had their fasteners in an inner plastic bag and were coated with light machine oil to prevent rust.

So, all in all, it went well.  When I got home, I counted out my stuff again to make sure I'd gotten it right and discovered four extra 5 mm nuts in my kit.  I'll get those to Tony today at work if I can remember where I put them...  I'm also bringing some movies for him to watch.

So...   A pleasant outing, overall.  Now to get building.  Oh, and total cost for this purchase?  $87.04 for both of us, including shipping.  Not too shabby, seeing as it could easily have been twice this much.

Next:  Extrusion Prep and Lower Frame Construction.