Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2023 04
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Europa #435 G-RODO Build Journal - 2023 04 |
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Navigation & Acknowledgements |
| day | notes | hours |
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| 3 | Straighten sewing-machine spool pin plate using pipe pliers. Remove remains of riveted spool pin from one hole. Holes are 3.3mm diameter as checked by the shank of a drill bit; pins are about 4.5mm diameter. Looks as though the pins could be tapped M2.5 for screws to re-fix them. Washers would be needed, and maybe an insert to keep the screws centred in the holes. | |
| 5 | While doing a routine check of the battery state on the second-hand iPhone 6S that I bought for running Runway HD, notice that the screen is bulging away from the case. I suspect this is caused by the battery swelling. Some online research confirms that diagnosis. Order a replacement battery and some appropriate installation tools from iFixit. | |
| 7 | After clearing away some stuff that has accumulated on the floor, roll fuselage out onto drive. Remove windscreen from its polyethylene bag and offer it up to the fuselage aperture. Note some scratched lines inside the actual edge, presumably intended to be cutting guides. Take windscreen off and with the powerfile on lowest speed file down the bottom (forward) edge of the windscreen to where the marked line is visible. Smooth off with 300mm Perma-Grit block. Try the fit again. Needs more taken off in the centre of the bottom edge. Remove again and apply masking tape to central area of bottom edge as a guide for how much to take off. Take about 2mm off in the centre, tapering off towards the outside. Smooth off edges with short Perma-Grit block. Remove masking tape and try fit again. Now bottom edge fit looks reasonable all the way across. Outside bottom corners need pulling in quite a bit to locate in rebate, so use speed-cramps to hold them in place. There is now a fair amount of overlap beyond the rebate along most of the top edge. Mark the extent of the overlap with a felt-tip pen. Remove the clamps and take the windscreen off again. The width to be removed along the top edge suggests that cutting rather than filing would be better and faster. Try with a hacksaw blade in a padsaw handle after filing down a short area as a starter. It works, but is quite slow and liable to break off the waste and jump out of the cut. Try the MiniTool jigsaw with a coarse blade, but the cutting speed is too high and it is melting rather than cutting. Finally switch to the hand fretsaw, fitted with a spiral-tooth blade for cutting in any direction, and that works OK, although still rather slow and tedious. After cutting off all marked waste, smooth off edges with short Perma-Grit block. Try fit again and now looks quite promising. Wipe down windscreen with a slightly damp cloth to remove cutting and filing debris. Leave in the sun to dry off for a few minutes. Slide it into its polyethylene bag again. Roll fuselage back into garage and position windscreen on fuselage aperture. |
3725.8 |
| 8 | Draw up in CADintosh the shape of a shouldered bush to centre the sewing machine spool pin retaining screws in the bracket holes. Find a length of 6mm round steel rod from stock that can be used for making the bushes. Chuck one of the damaged spool pins in the lathe. Centre-drill the damaged end where it was riveted onto the bracket. Face off to the original base of the pin. Drill 2.1mm x 15mm deep - although the screws I propose to use are 8mm long, I only have taper M2.5 taps in stock so need a deep hole to get required length of full thread. Holding a M2.5 tap in the tailstock chuck with the tailstock unlocked, press tap firmly into the hole and rotate chuck by hand to cut the thread until the tap bottoms out. Remove pin from chuck. Repeat the whole above process on the second spool pin. |
3726.9 |
| 10 | Chuck the previously-selected length of 6mm steel in the lathe with about 40mm protruding. Take a skim cut along the length to clean off some slight surface rust. Face off and centre drill. Drill 2.5mm to about 9mm deep. Start to turn down the outer 1.5mm to 3.3mm diameter, but after last diameter check with vernier caliper at 4.4mm, stupidly forget that the tool advance is radius, not diameter, and go too far! Face off and start again, this time with brain engaged. After completing shoulder, fit rear toolpost with carbide-tip parting tool. Part off 1mm beyond the shoulder. Try it for size in the sewing machine spool pin bracket and it is perfect. Repeat the process to make a second shouldered bush. Clean the bushes and the spool pins with petrol and dry off with the blow gun. Remove the bracket from the sewing machine for access to its underside. Fit pins with M2.5 x 8mm button-head screws, putting the shoulder sides of the bushes on top of the bracket and washers underneath. Notice while working that other parts on the top of the machine are either bent or broken; will need to check against pictures in the manual. |
3729.3 |
| 11 | Comparing the parts on the top of the sewing machine with the manual reveals that the bracket of the Upper Thread Guide and Bobbin Winder Tension Disc has also suffered severe damage in transit - instead of standing up straight, it has been bent down to conform to the curve of the machine body. The thread guide is also crushed down against the adjustment screw. Remove the assembly, dismantle tension disc and straighten both the thread guide and the bracket. Re-assemble and re-fit to machine, | |
| 13 | Fit a new 100/16 needle and a fresh spool of thread on the sewing machine, leaving whatever thread was fitted on the lower bobbin. Check threading route with manual. Try stitching on a scrap of material. After several false starts, manage to make a reasonable seam, with correct balance between upper and lower tensions. |
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