September 2001

Saturday 1st September 2001

Not much has happened recently due to the summer holidays, but I did manage a bit of work on the chassis over the weekend. I cut the aluminium plates on the axle side brackets to fit against the chassis cross members, and then bolted the four brackets onto the chassis. These will be what the wheels axles bolt on to.
Side view of chassis with axle brackets bolted on Front view of chassis with axle brackets bolted on
The next job was to cut out two holes for the bearings. The job would have been a lot easier if I had a tank cutter large enough for the job, but unfortunately I hadn't, so I had to do it the hard way. I drilled a number of holes and then cut between them with an open ended hacksaw to end up with a pretty ragged large hole. After a lot of filing I eventually ended up with two nice smooth holes ready to take the bearings. Axle bracket with bearings mounted, but without hole cut for the motor

The next thing is to cut another hole for the motor, and then repeat the whole process for the other three axle brackets!


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Saturday 22nd September 2001


I met up with an old friend of mine, Simon, who was a farrier, and who said he was happy to make me a couple of tusks in his forge. I gave him a rough sketch of the size and shape I wanted, and then let him do the rest. He gave me the opportunity to make the first couple of blows with a the sledge hammer, but after that, I had to let him do the skilled bit so that the tusks ended looking like tusks rather than twisted bits of scrap metal! Below are pictures of the tusks as they took shape. Simon the farrier Simon at work

Getting the bar hot in the forge
The bar is heated in the forge
Sparks flying
The conical form takes shape
There's a cone shape now
The cone is complete
Filing a point on the end
A point is filed on the end
The bend is put in place
The tusk is bent to shape
Hardening the tips so they won't bend on impact
The end is hardened
The tusks are finished, and only need cutting into two
The tusks are complete except for cutting into two pieces

 
 
 
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Last updated 22nd September 2001