Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2021 05

index

sitemap

advanced

search engine by freefind

go to list of milestones

Navigation & Acknowledgements

day	notes	hours
1	Not happy with the progress, so stop parting. Deep-drill the workpiece 1/8" so that the parting tool won't have to go right to the centre. Re-fit the live centre and move the parting tool 3mm further towards the chuck as I've realised that a shoulder on this part, to provide more depth for tapping, would be good. Later try another parting tool (made from a hacksaw blade) but that suffers from just as much chatter as the first insert type and does not cut so well, so return to the original one. Lubricating the cut with paraffin oil (kerosene) does not seem to be much of an improvement. Proceed slowly and eventually just before reaching the centre hole the chatter stops and the cut goes nicely. Centre drill the new face and again deep-drill it 1/8".	3538.6
3	Decide against any more use of the parting tool on this particular job, as it takes a long time and is very noisy; hacksawing would be faster. Face off the workpiece. Advance the tool 6mm towards the headstock and make a light scratch cut around the workpiece as a sawing guide. Remove from lathe chuck and hacksaw around the line. Return to the lathe with good face against the chuck and face off until 5mm thick. Open up central hole to 5.3mm. Tap by hand with 1/4"-20 BSW tap in tailstock chuck. Start to countersink for screw head but too chattery so unscrew chuck from lathe and use snail countersink in bench drill. Try the fit of the screw but the thread on the screw is not fully formed up to the head and binds before the head beds into the countersink. Drill out the tapped hole 1/4". The screw head fits better now, but further countersinking still needed. Once satisfied with the fit, return chuck to lathe and take a very light skim across the face to remove the slight burr raised by the countersink. Returning to the 3mm piece parted-off earlier, find an offcut of aluminium about 1.5mm thick to space the workpiece out enough so the facing tool will clear the chuck jaws. Turn down the shoulder to 14mm diameter and skim the 3mm thick face to clean it up. Open centre hole to 5.3mm and tap it 1/4"-20 BSW as for the other one. Remove from chuck and attach the shouldered 3mm piece to the 5mm piece with the CSK screw. Grip the screw in the drill chuck of the vertical mill. Lower the chuck to the milling vise. Adjust the X feed until the workpiece is just touching the fixed jaw of the vise, lock X travel, then do up the moving jaw to grip. Release the screw from the chuck. Fit 2.8mm drill bit, but mill won't start! Check the fuse in the mill head and it has blown. There is a spare one handy (1A glass, 20mm x 5mm) but the fuseholder is a bit manky and won't fit in again properly. With a bit of fiddling get it to go in and stay, but the whole fuseholder will need to be replaced at some stage. Once mill is running, advance Y feed by 11mm (5 turns + 40 graduations) and drill through both parts. Retract Y feed by 22mm, remove backlash and drill again. Change to M4 tapping size 3.4mm and drill through again. Advance Y feed 22mm and drill through there. Swap to 4mm drill bit and drill through upper (3mm) piece only in both places for M4 clearance. Remove workpiece from vise and undo the screw to separate the parts. Countersink both holes in the 3mm piece for M4 CSK screws. Tap the 5mm piece M4 in both places. Set remaining piece of 1.25" aluminium bar in lathe chuck and true by eye. Face off the sawn end then scribe a line around it 7mm in from the end. Remove from lather chuck and hacksaw off around line. Chuck it in the lathe, good face against chuck jaws.	3541.6
4	Face off workpiece to 6mm thick. Drill out to 5.3mm and tap 1/4"-20 BSW as before. Remove from chuck and fit to a long bolt. Hold bolt across the milling vise with the aluminium disc against the side of the jaws and tighten up bolt, then close up the vise. Fit centre drill and centre it on the X-axis by eye on the end of the bolt, lock the X-feed, then centre it on the edge of the aluminium disc in the Y-axis. Centre-drill, drill 2.8mm x 8mm deep. Enlarge to 4mm x 8mm deep. Slacken off the vise and the bolt. Turn the aluminium disc 90°, using a spare 4mm drill bit in the hole to align and tighten up again. Drill 4mm x 8mm deep. Repeat slacken, rotate, tighten, drill for 180° and 270°. Drill a small hole in the overhead panel, centrally between the middle fixing holes. Open up to 14mm with a step drill bit. Clean up the fabric and glass edges with a scalpel. Fit the 3mm and 5mm pieces to the hole with the 1/4"-20 BSW CSK screw - fits well and looks fine. Remove screw and 5mm piece with its M4 tapped holes. Drill through the 4mm holes in the 3mm piece and clean up edges. Check assembly with BSW and M4 screws, then fit 6mm locking piece and Lumix camera. All fits OK and looks satisfactory. Degrease the the 3mm and 5mm pieces and the BSW screw in acetone. Mix a batch of Evo-Stik Control epoxy. Part-assemble with the M4 screws. Insert BSW screw about half-way, then coat the remaining threads and countersink with epoxy and tighten the screw. Wipe off excess epoxy. Tighten the M4 screws and fit stiffnuts and finally tighten the BSW screw again. Fill around its head with a thin layer of epoxy and leave to cure.	3543.3
5	Epoxy sample on mixing sheet cured but still quite flexible. Re-fit overhead panel to cockpit roof.	3543.7
6	Cut about 30mm off 3/4" round steel bar stock. Chuck in lathe and face off. Skim the circumference to remove surface rust. Reverse in chuck and face. Turn down to 14mm diameter for about 22mm. Check fit of choke T-handle on it and turn down further in small increments until it goes into both ends of the handle. Decide to do the lettering on the second face by hand with the club hammer. Insert the mandrel just made in the left-hand end and strike O, H, and C in turn. Spacing not perfect but adequate. Put mandrel in RH end and strike letters K & E. Rub down burrs around letters with emery paper. Fit to choke control cable and try movement - seems fine.	3545.9
8	Clear up and put away tools from cockpit area. Remove the temporary support shelf. Lift the cushions from the starboard seat. Take out the blue foam inserts and vacuum out the seatpan recesses. Cut out, with scalpel and Dremel burr, a hollow in the bottom of the outboard foam block to take the stall-warner sensor with its wiring and tubing.	3547.0
10	Rivet nuts and setting pliers delivered.
29	Rummage through the composite offcuts bin and find the pieces cut from the door frames for access to the handle mechanism. Drill and countersink one to fit an aluminium M5 rivet nut. Try pulling it with the pliers but the travel is not enough to make it grip. Adjust the pliers and give it another squeeze; that clinches it a bit better. Try a screw in it but the rivet nut turns quite easily when the screw bottoms out. Try a few more times with mixed success; the final attempt to get a tighter clench results in the threads stripping out of the rivet nut! Try one of the stainless steel rivet nuts instead and that clenches nicely. A screw inserted and tightened with the T-handle hex driver still manages to turn the rivet nut but I think that some epoxy around the clench area would prevent that. Decide that the small weight penalty of the SS rivet nuts is worth the much better security. Quite a hefty pressure was needed on the pliers to clinch it, so will have to take the doors off so I can squeeze the pliers against the floor using my weight rather than the strength of my fingers.	3548.6
31	Unscrew and remove overhead panel (1/8" hex key). Unscrew and remove starboard door (#2 Phillips & 1/4" AF socket).	3548.8

go to previous page of journal	go to list of narrative pages	go to next page of journal
	Return to Rowland's home page

This page last updated 2022-06-28 12:37. I try to make this page as accessible as possible, by adhering to HTML 4 standards.
I welcome comments on this website. However, because of the amount of spam it attracts, I no longer post a direct e-mail address on any page. Instead, please click here to contact me. You will have to confirm that you are human before the message will be sent on to me.