Vince's Tiger 1 late variant 2017

[Vince Cutajar]

Simon, I suspect Kent is not visiting the forum anymore. Wish I was living somewhere close to a real Tiger 1.

Vince

[Phil Woollard]

Kent is still on board I can promise you, he is ok!

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Phil. It's good to hear that.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Have all the parts to finish off the barrel sleeve.

Cute little things but fiddly to handle. As the screws will not be functional, I just drilled and glued them in. Also wasn't in the mood of setting up my 20kg dividing head and just used a tailor's inch tape to locate their positions. Must be an age thing.

Now I can continue to paint the mantlet. To not have my usual paint interference problems, I will be painting the barrel sleeve in situ.

Vince

[Ivano Costantini]

Hi Vince,
there were three pairs of equidistant screws, which contained an inner rubber ring that prevented dirt from entering the inner area of ​​the gun.

[Vince Cutajar]

Grazzie Ivano

Vincenzo

[Vince Cutajar]

Mantlet finally finished and installed.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Today it was a productive day. Finished work of the barrel. All it needs is painting.

Something that has been bugging me since I started playing with the recoil is will the recoil continue to work once the barrel is painted. Most probably it will work but at the very least the paint will start getting rubbed off and at the worst the barrel will start to bind in the plastic bush of the barrel sleeve. Fortunately whilst I was researching the number of grooves in the barrel locking ring, I came across the following photo.

If you zoom in, one will notice that there is a step in the barrel diameter as the barrel enters the barrel sleeve. It is even shown here:

http://tiger1.info/EN/Gun-dimensions.html

So first thing I did today was reduce slightly the barrel diameter to create the step. I then cut the two grooves in the locking ring. I made the groove 2mm wide and 1.5mm deep using a slitting saw.

Cutting the grooves with the slitting saw

Next and final component on the list is the muzzle brake. I suspect this will take some time to complete.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

Yesterday, for the first time, fitted the elevation mechanism and recoil mechanism together in the turret. A problem was soon evident.

As can be seen, the recoil cam hits the shaft that protrudes from the back of the elevation motor. Quick email to Kian (with photo attached) and quick reply was that they sent me by mistake the elevation motor that was used before they started using a cam operated recoil. Was offered to get the motor replaced but also was suggested that I cut the shaft to size.

I took the "cut the shaft" option which I did today. Clamped the motor to the table and supplied it with 24V so that I get a clean cut with the Dremel using a cutting disk.

Elevation and recoil mechanisms refitted and tested successfully.

Thanks Monique and Kian for a super customer support.

Vince

[Phil Woollard]

Vince, great work and the management to the rescue, Kian and Monique are just great and only a phone call away!

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Phil. Just trying to emulate your build.

And yes, a good customer support has become imperative in this day and age when one is dealing with customers from all over the world.

Vince

[Brian Ostlind]

Love the progress!

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks Brian. Nearly there.

Yesterday started work on the muzzle brake. Added a piece at the back of the central baffle to make it look like the real thing. Finished it today. I thought I would have to make this thing a couple of times but was lucky and got it right on the first attempt.

Also did the two notches at the front of the muzzle brake.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

More work on the muzzle brake is stalled for now. I need to source a piece of tooling which I don't have. A couple of local telephone calls basically confirmed that I need to get it from abroad.

So played around with the elevation and recoil. The painted barrel with the stepped diameter seems to be working for now. No paint rubbing and no binding in the barrel sleeve. The recoil cam is not hitting the elevation motor but the more I played with it, the more I became convinced that the elevation motor with a 18:1 gearbox is too fast for me. Unlike the turret turn, the elevation channel does not have proportional control. So it's either On or Off and the speed cannot be controlled.

The first thought was to fit an extra Viper module (ESC) like the turret turn. That involves opening up the Tiger for some new rewiring, plus it will cost me. Something I am not considering. Next option was to use one of those cheap PWM speed controllers one finds on eBay. Sounds like a good idea and doable. Then I remembered I had the original recoil motor which is unused. It is a similar motor but having a gearbox with a higher ratio (60:1). Quick swap of motors and test.

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Well it has slowed down the elevation mechanism. Maybe a tad too slow but in my eyes better than before. I have left the recoil sticker on it to remind me that this motor was originally not meant for the elevation mechanism.

Another plus that I noticed with this slower motor is that the barrel movement jerkiness has been practically eliminated.

Vince

[Vince Cutajar]

The tooling I need for the muzzle brake was posted yesterday so hopefully it will avoid the postal strike that is brewing in the UK.

Today, with nothing else to do, I finalised the position of the Arduino recoil box and also the turret wiring sub-loom. Even put the leds in the barrel. Managed to find the turret wing nuts and bolted them on and fitted the roof.

Gave myself a pat on the back. It is really turning out well if you don't mind me saying it.

Vince