Pz III New Build

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:47 pm

Last part of the brake vents took forever. How to start with a large piece of ally and spend all day reducing it to two small pieces:

All ready for assembly.

Regards

Stephen

Adrian Harris · Post by **Adrian Harris** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:47 pm

Lovely looking parts Stephen.

Did you turn the upper radius with the part mounted in the chuck like the upper picture

I can't get my head round why that setup wouldn't produce a larger radius than that, even with the offset.

Adrian.

Robert E Morey · Post by **Robert E Morey** » Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:38 pm

Steven,
Great looking machined parts!

Seems like the last ones could have been made easier from sheet and bent into a u-shape using a mandrel rather than machine them?

Sometimes we have to learn through several iterations how to make something easier?
Bob

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:07 am

Adrian - yes, it was really an excuse to try out the new rotary table. I tried it both vertically and horizontally. The piece was centred vertically on the centre of the 10mm internal diameter (outside dia = 14mm).

For Bob, yes, there was an easier way but I didn't have any sheet of the right (2mm) thickness) and hey, I'm enjoying making work for myself.

That's the great joy of the Armortek kits, you can do as much or as little as the mood takes you. I've banned my family from asking when it's going to be finished. I'm just about done on the major bits for the hull, just the welds and the surfacing to do so I'm going to return to the roadwheels and sprockets next.

Best regards and thanks for your interest.

Stephen

Pierluigi Patri · Post by **Pierluigi Patri** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:09 am

Hi Stephen

have you any other picture to show how did you turn the piece?

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:28 pm

Pierluigi

Sadly no, didn't think it would be of much interest. I'm sorry not to have taken a wider photo of the setup.

The four jaw chuck isn't mounted on a lathe but on a rotary table on my milling machine. That allows you to rotate the workpiece through 180 degrees in order to mill the top surface whilst keeping the rectangular sides and bottom. I then turned the work upside down and milled out the bottom to form the trough shaped pieces.

It would have been easier to bend some metal into shape but that wouldn't have taken me all day, caused me to scratch my head several times and use the rotary table for the first time. The good thing about beating your head against a wall is that it feels good when you stop.........

Regards

Stephen

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:31 pm

Pierluigi

Sadly no, didn't think it would be of much interest. I'm sorry not to have taken a wider photo of the setup.

The four jaw chuck isn't mounted on a lathe but on a rotary table on my milling machine. That allows you to rotate the workpiece through 180 degrees in order to mill the top surface whilst keeping the rectangular sides and bottom. I then turned the work upside down and milled out the bottom to form the trough shaped pieces.

It would have been easier to bend some metal into shape but that wouldn't have taken me all day, caused me to scratch my head several times and use the rotary table for the first time. The good thing about beating your head against a wall is that it feels good when you stop.........

Regards

Stephen

Fabrice Le Roux · Post by **Fabrice Le Roux** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 11:20 pm

Stephen,

"The good thing about beating your head against a wall is that it feels good when you stop........."

but the double vision (and postings) persist.

Did the acrylic blocks work out for the armoured glass?
cheers
Fabrice

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:59 am

Fabrice - for the record, blame the double posting on the double whisky that was intended to cure the double vision........

The acrylic block was perfect - I'll have a go at photographing it at the weekend. It hasn't got the clarity that you might want on a cupola vision port where you want to be able to see interior detail but it's certainly good enough for the driver's port.

I'll send you a piece.

Cheers

Stephen

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 7:10 pm

A few pictures of the completed steering brake vents. Firstly the real one:

The finished deal:

Now back to the running gear, sprockets and road wheels.

Regards

Stephen

Pierluigi Patri · Post by **Pierluigi Patri** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:34 pm

Perfect

Your work does not need other words.

Adrian Harris · Post by **Adrian Harris** » Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:52 pm

Looks spot on to me

Adrian.

Tim Bowman · Post by **Tim Bowman** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:42 pm

Hi Stephen

Another inspirational piece added to the list of parts you have created. I'm still in awe over those front hinges. Nice work. Also enjoy your inventive, and creative set ups.

Best regards
Tim

peter karlsson · Post by **peter karlsson** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 2:37 pm

hi there!!

i just must simply say sooooooooooooo beutyful

!!!!!

kind regards peter(peppe)

Stephen White · Post by **Stephen White** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 6:41 pm

You finish something and then......

The original hull escape hatches were manufactured with chamfered edges, so off they came and half an hour of machining later, now look like this:

Regards

Stephen

Pz III New Build

Brake Vents

Brake vents completed

Hull Escape Hatches