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Tweedledee

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I'm hoping the eye protection was on your head, hence no photographs of goggles? 

 

With just a few tools, it's amazing what can be achieved with the addition of some patience and forethought. I have the same saw and stand, they're great and once set the saw can be remarkably accurate.

 

Good luck with the build, I'm not even remotely jealous. Honest! 

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Good set of tools. A man needs his tools, I think it's a primeval thing :lol:

 

And I'm envious about the air conditioning, something I seemed to have forgotten in my planning.

 

Look forward to your threads Pete.

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 Nice ,I got that saw off the  evoloution  ebay shop £50 never been used factory refurb A condition ,btw you can buy a diamond blade for cutting tiles ,could do with the saw bench though 

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If you are tapping aluminium, keep an eye on it, as the ally can clog on the tap (galling) and it just rips out further material, this completely destroys the thread. I use a bit of WD40 to help it through and it is easier to clean off than oil based lubes.

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11 hours ago, banners said:

I'm hoping the eye protection was on your head, hence no photographs of goggles? 

 

With just a few tools, it's amazing what can be achieved with the addition of some patience and forethought. I have the same saw and stand, they're great and once set the saw can be remarkably accurate.

 

Good luck with the build, I'm not even remotely jealous. Honest! 

Cheers, eye protection dangling around my neck when not in use. :thumbsup: 

 

They seem like a heck of a lot of machine for the money. :)

 

38 minutes ago, BAZ said:

If you are tapping aluminium, keep an eye on it, as the ally can clog on the tap (galling) and it just rips out further material, this completely destroys the thread. I use a bit of WD40 to help it through and it is easier to clean off than oil based lubes.

Thanks very much for the advice Martyn.

 

I'm about to drill a pilot hole and drill out to 8.5mm and tap an M10 1.5mm pitch thread though a 25mm square solid ali bar very shortly. I need one on each corner for rod end spherical bearings for the collimation adjustment. Never tapped anything since school hundreds of years ago. Seen it on YouTube though and will take my time doing it. I have WD40, but was going to use CT90 cutting and tapping fluid. It says it is for drilling, hacksawing and thread cutting in all materials Inc aluminium. Which would you use? Any other advice welcome. :)

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A fine array of tools there Pete!?

I was wondering when you would be starting on this project. :D

 

Your cutting fluid should be ok, best thing to do is practice on a spare piece of material first, get the tap started and work your way in three or four threads, going in a full turn then back a quarter turn each time (to break off the swarf), then take it out and clean it with a brush and carry on etc.

 

Do you have a taper tap? If so start with this and go all the way through and then use your plug tap last.

you will be fine!

cheers!

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CT90 will be fine Pete. Most people will recommend WD40 as it'd easier to get hold off.

 

Just make sure you keep backing the tap off so to not clog the hole and break the tap. But then saying that it's pretty hard to break a M10 tap.

Edited by Doc
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Cheers all. Useful advice thanks.

 

First hole drilled and very successfully tapped. :2thumbsup::2thumbsup::2thumbsup:

 

No taper tap just the 2nd tap. Taking my time the 2nd tap did the job fine.

 

I've learned a lot doing that first one and gained loads of confidence. CT90 or WD40 seemed to feel no different, but I ended up just using WD40, as spraying regularly was a little more convenient than squeezing the CT90.

 

Tapping a hole is surprisingly satisfying. :)

 

2016-08-07%2011.41.47.jpg?raw=1

 

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Nice one Pete

I use WD40 on all my drilling and tapping jobs, its useful on the lathe as well. There is something very therapeutic about drilling, filing and bashing bits of metal. Is that why a lot of us blokes have sheds or is that just to get away from the other halves for awhile :D

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Very pleased with todays progress. :)

 

Had a lovely time engineering while listening to Planet Rock blasting out.

 

Drilled lots of holes, tapped 5 of them and made some finishing touches to the cell frame. The aluminium frame just needs bolting firmly to the plywood so it can be welded.

 

Thanks for your interest and useful tips. I'm new to this engineering lark. I know what I'm trying to achieve, but the method of getting there involves quite a learning curve for me. After todays experience I now have total confidence in tapping threads, and it is a great feeling to have learned something new. :)

 

cell1.jpg

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Thanks Mick.

 

Yes, the outer circle marks the edge of the mirror.

 

I'm looking for someone who can do a neat welding job, so I can drop the thing off and have it sorted. I had a quote from a guy in Mansfield who wanted £170 just to weld it, but I thought that was a bit steep, so I'm shopping around.

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Instead of welding maybe design it so it can be bolted together. You could include a few pins/dowels so you know the alignment is always correct.

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That's not really a bad price. 

Not when you considered the cost of the gear to do it. 

A basic AC DC tight welder will set you back 3 grand.  A bottle of pure Argon is another hundred quid. 

Plus the guy's rent rates and electricity. 

And not to mention welding thin walled Aluminum to solid bar is unbelievably difficult. 

I know it sounds a lot I have had many people tell me my prices for welding Aluminium was high but it is a highly specialised skill to do it properly. 

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2 hours ago, Graham said:

That's not really a bad price. 

Not when you considered the cost of the gear to do it. 

A basic AC DC tight welder will set you back 3 grand.  A bottle of pure Argon is another hundred quid. 

Plus the guy's rent rates and electricity. 

And not to mention welding thin walled Aluminum to solid bar is unbelievably difficult. 

I know it sounds a lot I have had many people tell me my prices for welding Aluminium was high but it is a highly specialised skill to do it properly. 

 

That should be Tig welder (stupid predictive text :facepalm: )

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8 hours ago, Doc said:

Instead of welding maybe design it so it can be bolted together. You could include a few pins/dowels so you know the alignment is always correct.

Good idea Mick. To save some money, I will have a think about doing it that way. 

7 hours ago, Graham said:

That's not really a bad price. 

Not when you considered the cost of the gear to do it. 

A basic AC DC tight welder will set you back 3 grand.  A bottle of pure Argon is another hundred quid. 

Plus the guy's rent rates and electricity. 

And not to mention welding thin walled Aluminum to solid bar is unbelievably difficult. 

I know it sounds a lot I have had many people tell me my prices for welding Aluminium was high but it is a highly specialised skill to do it properly. 

Sounds like the going rate then.

 

I'd prefer to have it welded, but at that price might consider Micks suggestion.

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A little bit more progress today.

 

Bolted the mirror cell frame accurately in position on 12mm ply, and took it back to the guy who quoted me £170 for welding. After seeing it in the flesh, and with a bit of persuasion, he knocked £50 off, so I left it with him. ;)

 

My whiffletrees are being laser cut for my £50 discount above by a company called EMS (Mansfield) Ltd - good name. :2thumbsup:

 

cellbolted.jpg

 

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Good bit of negotiation there Pete.

Looking good

Next time you need bits cut let me know I have a water jet at my disposal ;);)

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1 hour ago, Graham said:

Good bit of negotiation there Pete.

Looking good

Next time you need bits cut let me know I have a water jet at my disposal ;);)

Thanks Graham. :)

 

That would be marvellous thanks. There will be a PM coming your way as soon as I get chance to draw up some more plans for the next bits. Need six identical trefoils cutting to support the mirror. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

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Another productive afternoon. :)

 

The mirror cell is now one homogenous lump of aluminium after welding. The welds are large and very strong.

 

Got the wiffletrees from the laser cutter which need a bit more work yet, and fitted them together with the wobble bars. The whiffletrees are clamped in place with needle roller thrust bearings top and bottom so they can move freely to provide equal support to the mirror edge. They are height adjustable so I can set them to support the mirror edge exactly at the centre of gravity, which is a little under half way up from the mirror back due to the sagitta (quite deep on an F4). The final step is making it an 18 point suspension system. Each end of the three wobble bars will have an aluminium trefoil supported on plain end bearings. Each trefoil will have 3 nylon pads to support the mirror. Graham is cutting the trefoils by water jet.

 

I also made a large circle cutting jig for the router using some plywood.

 

Had some company all afternoon, the handsome fellow in the last photo was giving me some ideas about my next bit of engineering - the spider. :D

 

cell2.jpg

 

cell3.jpg

 

spider.jpg

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