Sunday, April 18, 2010

Added support rods to frame, replaced hinge

Tonight I got to work strengthening the frame by adding two vertical supports under the shoulders.


Once I had measured up the size and location, I just had to remove the shoulder mounts to accommodate the drill.  The frame looked pretty sparse with those removed...




I bought some bar stock aluminum rods from Lowe's.  I bought the threaded type which made my cutting a lot easier.  Since I do not have a miter saw, it was slow work with the hacksaw.




It was a lot of work drilling and tapping the holes in this thick material.


Tomorrow I need to purchase some shorter screws since I was unable to thread much more than a .25 inch into them.  However, here's how the frame looks now with the additional supports in place...




The other outstanding issue I had to deal with was one of the front doors.  This door is the one the computer interface arm comes out of.  The door can not open as wide as it needs to for the device to deploy properly.


The solution was to remove the Robart hinges and replace it with the JAG one, which is designed for the skins and offers the radius needed to open further.


I also decided to retire JB Weld and go with Goop.


Due to the location of the door, I used a large magnet on each side to apply pressure while drying.




I've spent so much time re-doing hinges....if you can jump in on one of Jerry Greene's part runs when he offers these, get them!  Yes, they aren't cheap but they work exceptionally well and made to work for this specific purpose!