| 10 |
Before I can make some BID cable clips I need to make a small tent for curing the epoxy. Find a piece of melamine-faced chipboard that will span the cockpit to act as a base. Think about screwing chipboard uprights to the corners to support the plastic sheeting but realise that would not work well - awkward to store as well as inconvenient when working. Instead, find some redundant 20mm OD aluminium tube and 4 wooden blocks for bases. To go across the ends between the tubes, find some redundant 19" aluminium panel plates. Drill each block 20mm. Cut the tube into 4 equal lengths about 305mm. Clamp the blocks to the corners of the base. Drill, countersink & screw together. Turn right way up. Drop the tubes into the holes in the blocks. Mark and relieve the bottom plate flanges to clear the tubes. Clamp the plates against the tubes, drill 3/16" and secure with 5mm pop-rivets. Find a suitable offcut of polyethylene sheet and drape it over the assembly. Tape it at the ends and trim to just below the base. Didn't count the hours spent on that as productive, so now start the clock! Find a piece of 5mm brass rod to act as a former. Cut a couple of strips of BID about 500mm x 75mm and lay them as a double layer on plastic sheet. Find a couple of heavy pieces of melamine-faced chipboard to weigh down the layup each side of the rod. Try to pump some epoxy but the pump is seized! Take it out of the cupboard and tap the lever between the cylinders increasingly firmly with a mallet & copper drift until it starts to move. Just about possible to move it up again with an extension on the handle, and liquid comes out of both delivery pipes. Pump a few strokes to waste and it eases slightly. Put it back in the cupboard and with some difficulty pump 3 strokes. Mix and pour over the prepared BID. As the garage isn't warmed up (5C, 62% RH), the epoxy is rather viscous and slow to soak in, but eventually does. Apply a layer of peel-ply, then another sheet of plastic. Now put the whole thing on top of the 5mm rod, getting the BID strip as central as possible on the rod. Weigh down each side of the rod with the chipboard pieces. Put the mixing cup with the layup as a sample and erect the tent. Start the fan at thermostat 3 on half-heat. Will have to look more thoroughly at the resin pump - probably have to get another refurb kit. 28C, 19% RH inside the tent by bedtime. |
1392.0 |
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