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Thanks for the comments guys, hope you don't jinx me though, not done yet!! :D
Last night we changed out the thumbnail shrinking dies for linear stretch dies in the Lennox TE250 in order to tip the flange back horizontal again. We have a backstop / fence that had been notched for tooling and this did a nice job of getting the flange depth consistent.
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As this gets bolted to our linear slide and we'll need that to remain stationary, some Cerutti built clamp blocks are added.
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Linear stretch dies in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-euPrCTj9zI
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Next, we had been having issue with the Skat Blast cabinet, and given the sale going on this week at TP Tools, ordered a new high volume cabinet gun and nozzle, some high flow fittings, and while we're at it, how about some fresh glass..
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Amazing....we can see!
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But alas, all the new parts did not fix the losing media about 5-10 seconds in. So we figured this was a blockage with the suction tube, which requires removing the expanded metal deck inside. Which has sealant along front and rear edge. So a handy utility knife was employed, along with this fancy tool we had made up for removing tiles in raised flooring, as it did well in pulling up the expanded metal.
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The screen was tipped up out of the way and a large magnet holds it in place...
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Once we had access to the pickup tube, we noticed a hole in the inside corner that didn't belong.
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Once we removed the tube, we noticed it was more widespread...
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Well, I guess we have found the suction/media issue, and now have a used High flow gun/nozzle for sale. Luckily the sale is still going on, ordered the replacement tube last night..
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Wow. that sucks but I get it a friend borrowed my #100 pressure pot to use on a restoration job at state capitol and returned it with similar wear.
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That's after about 20 years of use on a part time basis, but I'd have never thought there was enough velocity that the media would have done that..
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Now to fold the outer perimeter of our air cleaner base. I thought of using a tipping wheel, but that appeared to be rather close for comfort. So a curved piece of bar stock in the scrap pile (resource inventory) was selected and a drum sander used to fine tune the radius to match our part.
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Then a hammer form was made to stretch and shape the "horn" of the base. Quite a bit of stretch needed but you don't know until you try...
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Video of hammer action:
https://youtu.be/am3PNWl467o
Alas, cracking occurred, so the horn was trimmed just down from the radius and a piece of 18ga was hemmed, rolled, and welded, to form a band. The band was tacked up for a test fit, we'll get it fully welded tomorrow and get all the parts bolted up with some rivnuts and press nuts..
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Yesterday we got our replacement tube from TP Tools for the Skat Blast 1536 cabinet. Can't remember the last time it worked like this, so I'd guess we've had a "leak" for a while now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VWNn523SDc
And since we replaced the nozzle unnecessarily, we now have a good used media blast cabinet gun for sale. Has the High Volume power head (20-25 cfm required) and tungsten carbide nozzle, if anyone needs one. I think $50 plus shipping would be fair. No trigger, intended for use with foot pedal. For a hopper/suction machine, it does work nicely..
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More travel for the day job, had to install a 24' video wall. Back in the shop finally, progress on the air cleaner continues.. We had some stainless mesh left over from our speaker grill fabrication that we plan on using to address air flow inside our pocket for the ignition coil.
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An 1-1/2" Rotacut is used to provide the hole in the pocket, two pilot holes spaced 1/2" apart will expand the hole for us.. The venturi effect inside the breather should promote air flow across the coil.
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Next, to hold the mesh in place some retaining rings will be needed. We'll use some MDF trimmed to size to fabricate these...
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Or the action version....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9xRENMU9l8
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The newly formed part has a tight hold on the hammer form, so much that we can clamp it in the vise, drill the two pilot holes to match the pocket, and drill out two 1-1/2" Rotacut holes without the part budging..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVM_iv-XZdw
The dynabride belt sander cleans up the points into flats, the side flanges are trimmed to size with a roloc sander, and then we can roll to fit the inside of the pocket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyHC0p9NKrE
test fit....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DxT-oGXcfk
Holes are added for some 3/32 rivets to clear the mesh
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Aluminum pop rivets are used to get a better view of the final look before we blow it apart for priming..
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9-Hp-O925M
We will be using press nuts in the coil to ease the pain of assembly, and we also added some more shiny stuff on the front end..
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I just bought one of those guns for my HF blaster and installed LEDs.
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Robert,
Huh, learned something new yet again - press nuts - good to know!
Thanks, Doug
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Are press nuts the same as rivnuts, i have a rivnut gun and assortment of nuts.
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The press nuts typically rely on a knurled pattern around the circumference to “attach” or dig into the surrounding metal. The hole must be a specific size and they get pressed in place. As the pulling force as you tighten is pulling toward the metal, they are pretty much there for good.
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Some equipment repairs were in order over the New Year's break, our tried and true Lathem time clock in the shop had given up the ghost. In speaking to Lathem, this model has been obsolete for some time and the only parts available are the print ribbon and a replacement motor. Doesn't help me with this little part...
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Quite used to this lack of availability in car parts, how hard can it be? A $1.99 package of music wire from Hobby Lobby and some round nose pliers, we are back in business....
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Next on the list, I had received a pair of Fairmount wire edge pliers for Christmas, which had quite a twist to the handles where it was difficult for the catch to swing over the adjacent handle:
https://youtu.be/r_saJkGxvKw
Since these aren't available for return at the local hardware store (obsolete), and also since they are drop forged, I decided to do some heating and twisting. The Meco torch was used to bring the handles to a light tan color.... and a twisting device employed with a bit of tension via ratchet strap as the handles cooled...
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....and here's a video showing their use on a test sample. These do a nice job of locking the wire tight to the flange as you stake and wrap the wire..
https://youtu.be/220OxhKXVoU
Finally, since the artist in the family had asked a few months ago, looking for a canvas to paint, I pointed her to the Lennox. Here is the layout on the one side in Sharpie in prep for painting..
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As far as the wagon, we are still here, back to one of the more boring stages..... applying epoxy primer and making black dust on the floor...
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And in the planning stage for one of the trim details, the owner had ordered a ball milled dash insert for the wagon many months ago, which was far too 1990's billet. So naturally I breathed a sigh of relief when it did not fit the dash contour. (go figure) I was leaning toward an engine turned panel as it is more of a hotrod flavor. Unfortunately, it is more of a TRADITIONAL hot rod flavor, and we were in the gray area there as well. So in the meantime, a buddy has a shop in Wilmington DE, and does absolutely fabulous detail work (had a hand in the Double Bubble wagon's fabrication), and has been using this ribbed stainless sheet for dash inserts and other details.. (his picture and work)
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This gives a nice classy and timeless look that is a better fit to the flavor of the car we have, so that is the direction we're headed... So to test a theory in adding a finished edge around the perimeter, we broke out the false wire edge Pullmax dies and installed them in the Lennox for a test run on some 19 gauge stainless. The "backstop" was setup to be just shy of a full wrap, which should give us a slight gap for the ribbed stainless to slide into. Our edge strips will be "outfitted" with some hidden press studs to hold it in place on the dash.
https://youtu.be/ktpJ4sSOqy0
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A little bit of polishing and that may just work.....