A Chequered Chieftain at #10

[Richard Goodwin]

Great result.

Vince

I got lucky Vince.....

[Vince Cutajar]

I got lucky Vince.....

Happens to me also.

Vince

[John Clarke]

Well done on the cutting Richard, I wish I was able to do the same trick.

[Steve Norris]

Hi Richard
That’s a great bit of craftsmanship, spot on result and no mark 1 eyeball needed.
Regards
Steve

[Richard Goodwin]

Routing operations resumed today starting with the exhaust box vent and the removal of the partitions within the slot. Unfortunately, after a couple of passes, the router decided she had had enough of lockdown and threw a wobbly.....with a flash and a pop, her suppression capacitor lost her top.......and a bl..dy fine mess she made too as you can see...

To be fair she is an old girl and she's had a lot to do this week and as most of us sparkies know, capacitors do have finite lives!

Not sure where I'm going to get the spares from with most of the shops closed; will have a search on ebay but until then, looks like I will have to turn my attention elsewhere temporarily

[Vince Cutajar]

How about here. Half way down the list.
https://www.sparetoolparts.co.uk/bosch/ ... -list.html

Vince

[Richard Goodwin]

Many thanks for looking Vince. I found that site earlier; found another where its £6 + vat. The problem is whether they are open or not since all the shops here are in lockdown. Hopefully, a couple of phone calls tomorrow and I'll find out!

VMT again for looking.

[Vince Cutajar]

Give them a phone call Richard. Most probably they are still doing online business with postal delivery.
I shouldn't suggest this but did you try cleaning up the mess and see if it works without the capacitor.

Vince

[Richard Goodwin]

I have cleaned it all out ready for the new part. I won't try and start it just in case its not only noise suppression; would rather wait. i do have a couple of Trend T5s with collet adaptors but they would be difficult to manage with this type of work and have nowhere near the fine adjustment that I need for this next stage with the vent. Hopefully, it wont be long before I get a replacement, ebay has one for £16 from Germany if I'm desperate which I am not

[Richard Goodwin]

Off the build of my Chief, Dave Dibbs is now taking orders for the Chieftain Commanders Cupola Detailing set. If you want one, see the link below and post a message. The cost will driven down, if more people buy it!!

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8123

[Richard Goodwin]

Whilst waiting for the replacement capacitor to arrive, the exhaust box has taken a back seat for awhile and I've turned my attentions to the engine vents on the rear deck. Tricky little buggers these so you will need a method to assemble otherwise, you'll be there for days trying just to put them together! This is the way I did it.......just concentrating on the first 3 grills to explain..

Despite being a pain, these are really nice....hard to see how else they could've been manufactured to ease that pain to be honest..

The first things to do are to square all the edges and frames up, ensure that all the slots are open and check and if necessary adjust for the fitment of any centre supports...

Now when I started to assemble the first one, I found that the slats didn't sit level with the top of the sides since the slots in the central support were not deep enough to allow it. To get around this, I marked up my vice jaws with masking tape and the length of the slat, suitably marking the centre point. Next I taped the whole set of slats together and then using the markings on the vice, proceeded to cut a groove in them...

You don't have to cut a groove in all the grills so just check first before you do!

With the groove cut, it was time to start assembly. I applied masking tape to the sides to help retain the slats in position once inserted. If you don't do this, be prepared for some real fun and games with copious amounts of verbal cursing

Once you get the two end slats in, the rest will go in easily. Now I haven't yet added any side brackets and there is a reason for this; I want to ensure that all parts of these vents are coated with etch primer before assembly since all parts are made of steel! So at this point, you may want to check clearance of any slat that is going down onto a screw head; if it does, you'll need to file a notch in that slat so it will sit down flat!
They look good assembled and even better, with the brass mesh over the top....note, if you don't have the slats fully home ie some are protruding above the sides, that nice brass mesh won't sit flat!

Didn't take long to do the others either...

Now as I said earlier, I want to ensure all parts are covered in etch primer. Since these parts are all steel, then they will rust if you don't. Mine have started to rust whilst in the packet so the complete assembly was immersed in vinegar for a few hours. This allows the vinegar to get to all parts and all surfaces easily.

I followed a similar process as used for the tracks but this time, no hot air gun, only kitchen towel but you have to be quick or they will rust before your eyes! When degreasing them, I took them out of the degreaser, scrubed each part with a grey scotchpad then rewashed in degreaser before quickly drying with kitchen towel. Then etch primed within 15 minutes; in small batches is best!

When the etch primer is nicely dry, you can assemble the parts including any mounting brackets; again the use of masking tape is highly recommended; leave it in place until after fixing in position! So once assembled, the next step is to glue them in place. I placed two strips of masking tape across the top to hold the grills down after checking they we all fully engaged and level with the top of the frame....

then flipped on one edge and proceeded to dribble a blob of Loctite down each slat. After two minutes, remove the tape on that side. Once dry, do the other side and again remove the side tape after two minutes! Once fully dry, remove the tape on the top and check the centre support is central and straight then again flip on its side and glue that as well along each slat and the ends as well.

Just when you may have thought you'd finished..........you now have to file flat the edges of the frame so that they will sit together and that the two end vents can open without catching its next door neighbour!

Btw, thats not rust, its just the camera angle and the amount of available light

The router is now up and running again and I've been working on the exhaust box vent amongst other things but more on that in the coming days.
Enjoy

[John Clarke]

Good explanation Richard, can't wait until the time comes.

[Richard Goodwin]

Just thought I'd add some further comments regarding Grills 4 to 10; you may not need to cut the notch in the slats going down onto a screw head for these grills but you will more than likely have to reduce thier length so they fit in the tray when the sides are installed. I won't be gluing these slats into position until I am ready to install them which won't be for some time methinks......Stephen, I'm after your record

[Richard Goodwin]

Time for an update on the exhaust vent. This is the actual vent....

E7.jpg (95.71 KiB) Viewed 2340 times

and this is the supplied item....

I want to try and make this look more like the original; there's nothing wrong with whats supplied, it conveys what it is but I want to change it for what I hope, is for the better. So what am I going to change? I'm going to remove the 'pretend vent cover and replace with another, remove the vent dividers, increase the width of the slot, round the ends and decrease the overall height such that the vent itself sits just above the engine grills. Nothing much then

So first of all, it was removal of the vent dividers and then removal of the vent top cover, both of which were done with the router. Its really important here to ensure the plate is firmly affix to your jig using double sided tape since it will be the only thing holding the work down when you skim across the top!!

The dividers were removed using the techniques previously described, however for the top plate removal, the guide bush was removed so it could be seen where the cutter was going and that the depth of cut was reduced to 0.1mm per pass with the last two cuts being 0.05mm. Now its important when doing this type and depth of cut to ensure than an even pressure is applied to both handles at all times; you don't want the router base to tip even a little!

Now whilst you can see where the cutter has been, you can hardly feel any surface imperfections and those that do exist can be removed with sandpaper. The depth of the original top plate was 0.25mm; I removed around 0.4mm due to the plate not being exactly flat.

The vent was then turned over, secured again with double sided tape and the base was then skimmed by 0.7mm; 0.1mm cut per pass with the last two being 0.05mm.

Next I took a file to the ends of the vent to round them off. This obviously removed some if not all in some places the groove between the top and bottom of the vent and would need reinstating.

VENT ROUNDED ENDS.jpg (118.15 KiB) Viewed 2340 times

The groove was done by using the cutting edge of a small file, being careful not to further decrease the top and bottom thickness either side of the groove.

Now I did breakthrough into the the slot on one corner but that wasn't a problem since I would be rebuilding the curve in the slot anyway. It was at this point that I realised I hadn't increased the slot width so it was back to the jig to enlarge the slot further. With that done, it was now time to rebuild the corners of the slot. A strip of 0.25mm Ali was cut and bent to the shape of the required curve and placed into position after have the appropriate side coated with a film of WD40. A blob of P38 was added to hold the former in position and when dry, epoxy was added...

Once set and with the former's removed, a paper template was made of the shape required for the new top of the vent. Once satisfied, this was transferred onto a piece of 0.5mm ali sheet and cut out with tin snips....

Its not finished yet because I'm waiting for my 10BA taps to arrive so I can fix the bolts in the slot then I'll be able to affix permanently, the cover plate.

Now looking at the overall height of the exhaust box relative to the engine deck vents, the exhaust vent need to sit slightly above so I cut a rebate in each end of the box top plate to further lower the overall height....

When you compare the heights and shape of the vent, I don't think I'm far off...

Now you'll see in the above picture that I've also drilled the holes in the side plates for the exhaust outlets. These were also done with the router. The big issue here is getting the router to cut in the right place so I used a different technique here which I show in the next few days..

There's light starting to finally appear !!

[John Clarke]

Well that's what I'd say is "Thinking outside the exhaust box"
Bewildering work Richard. I don't think you'll get many takers on that line of modification.