Well, I got the vent installed. What an ordeal. I had a nice piece of acrylic that a gracious gentleman at Ace Hardware cut for me with the hole and everything. I thought he was going to use plywood - which I would have preferred - but I was having a couple pieces of acrylic cut at the same time for a window repair, and so I think he just cut it all from one sheet. It was okay though, I didn't mind. One of my concerns, however, with using sheet acrylic was that I needed to drill holes to install the vent hood, and drilling acrylic without a good table - I use a couple saw horses and wood beams - is very tricky. Sure enough, first hole I tried to drill cracked the piece. So I went back to Ace, and another guy was there, and he said he couldn't cut the hole for me. I went back and forth with him for a minute or so about how I got the original piece cut there, but he was not in the mood to help me out. So be it...
So I went to Lowe's and got some plywood and some White Satin Rust-oleum Universal primer-paint, then came back and whipped out my trusty saber saw. Turned out pretty good. I used silicone adhesive where the vent hood mates to the plywood piece, and sealed it with Loctite 2 'n' 1 Seal and Bond. I covered the remaining panes of glass with cardboard, and filled the gaps with wood putty
I also got my air configured and tested. The little Chinese compressor did an excellent job filling the 7 lb Kobalt tank. It took several minutes, and it got hot but not anything unreasonable for a small piston motor. I may upgrade, at some point, to the twin piston Sparmax that my local HL sells. The tank and all the lines/hoses/fittings held 53 lbs (the comp's cutoff) for well over an hr, and I did that a couple times to make sure. I still need to affix the little Chinese compressor so I can have it on the table without it sliding all around like the little plastic players in those old electric football games - I have some self-adhesive rubber pads that I'm going to try for this. I also need to attach my air regulator to the wall - I have all the hardware, I just ran out of time. I'm still figuring, my head, what I'm going to do for an airbrush holder - I have a Grex screw clamp type one, but it won't work with my table, and I think I want to do something different anyway
So all I got left, really, is the box and the ducting. Man, I'm beat. Lots of trips to the hardware store. Lots of filing and sanding. I really wanted someone else to cut that piece for me. Working with old windows takes some patience and effort. Good, solid, functional fitment don't come easy. But, it's also satisfying to put your own sweat into something, especially something like this. My mom and dad think it looks good, and it's their house, so that's all that's important
Well, that's about it for this week. I'm pooped. I can see the finish line now