1948 Triumph Roadster Supercharged plus other stuff…

Back on the plasma.

Just making brackets and getting the axes to slide smoothly.
The torch goes in the red circle.





I needed to make a replacement for one of the bits that I'd previously printed.
The mounting holes didn’t line up. And I can’t change the design of the print because I didn’t design it - the files for the print are in the plans I bought.
Rather than have an email to and fro with the plan people, I thought it would be simpler and more fun just to make it in ally.
So I started with this chunk in vice of the mill. Not a good pic, but all I have.





After a bit of waste manufacture, it looks like this. Use you imagination…
And I promise I’ll countersink the holes.
It’s job is to tension the x axis belt.






Next I made a bracket to mount the y axis motor.

Started by cutting holes in a piece of 4mm ally sheet





After some cutting and tapping threads, a motor can be mounted.





That motor is only mounted to the plate, the plate still has to be mounted to the bearing assembly.

And the X axis motor.





Mounting motors is a major advance, it’s no longer just steel, bolts and bearings,
it’s got bits which ( might ) make it come alive!

Thanks.

It is amazing the technology that is available now for home DIY and car stuff!

That's one long driveway!

Back to the plasma, now that civil engineering works have been completed and our place is accessible once again.

Welded a pair of 8mm nuts to each of the belt end brackets.
The nuts had been drilled through to take a piece of 8mm rod.
The belt then goes through the bracket, around the rod and back through the bracket.
A 3D printed retainer, the light grey bit in the pic, is then slid over the two pieces of belt that have their teeth interlocked.




It’s a very clever arrangement.

The plans for this gizmo are pretty good in general.
However there are things like spelling errors and other inconsistencies that lower your confidence in the whole thing.
They’re also poorly laid out in places, making it difficult to find a few things.
They’re not expensive though, so I suppose they can’t spend the time to fix those things.

With the belts in place, fabrication of the table is complete.
I still need to make some brackets for the electrical box and the plasma machine, once I work out where they need to be.

So I started on the electrical.

I cut the inside out of this blow moulded case, it’ll be the electrical box.




Then mounted the components to a piece of perspex, which is bolted inside the box.
Mounted an old 240v light switch, to use as an on/off switch.
And ran the first of a lot of wires.










Still waiting on a few electrical bits, but lots to go on with.


Thanks.

Took the clutch to town, to see if I might be able to get something locally.
But no.
All the spare parts places are chain stores and ( mostly ) staffed by children who know almost nothing.
Certainly nothing about a car that’s three times their age.
But I did unearth the name of a business that might be able to help.
They’re about three and a half hours from here, but have the word 'clutch' in their name.
And my wife is going past there next week.
So the plan is, she’ll drop the clutch friction and pressure plates off and they will advise as to what can be done.
Ideally they will say 'give us a reasonable sum of money and we will send it back to you all sorted'
We shall see.

Before that, I got the last of the battery terminals sorted.

Started with one of these.





Ground it to a better shape.





Soldered the old lead into the modded terminal.





Added some heat shrink.





And a before and after.
The later shot is one I took when I pulled the engine, just to remind me where the wires go…









And while I was in town, I picked up some steel and some wire, so I can get stuck in the plasma over the weekend.

Thanks.

Thanks Phil, nice of you to say.




I forgot to post a pic of the battery terminal in place.










The plasma machine is getting to a very scary stage.
It’s almost to the point of having to fire up the computer, and attempt a whole heap of stuff that I’m not comfortable with.

What if the computer says 'no'?

About the only thing left to do to the table, if I were really keen, is to paint it.
I’m not sure that will happen, even if it works.
Sparks and dust are a given, so it will probably look secondhand pretty much immediately.

The electrical side is almost complete, a few more wires to hook up.
The emergency switch for example, isn’t wired yet, but is installed.
Wires to motors have to be joined - solder and heat shrink.
Have to break in to the trigger on the plasma cutter, but I think I have worked out how.
Don’t know if my plasma machine is even suitable yet.


Then I just need to double check the wiring diagram and then it’ll be computer time.
Which I’m really scared of.

But I’m torn, I really want to have this working.

Here’s how it stands at the moment.







The water tray is complete, as is the cable support.
I’m waiting on some plugs for the ends of the square tube.


Thanks.

Electrons are not to be taken lightly.

I really don’t know what you mean though, what’s an AE35?

Cheers.

Bingo!

One of my favourite movies and authors, and sad to say, but I missed it entirely.

And high praise indeed, Jimi, if totally undeserved.

I thought there may have be some slender chance that the plasma might have moved today.
But as I should have known, the computer said 'no'.

The record should show that the controller is an ESP32.
And I must say it’s a tiny thing of some beauty.
As I said to the missus, how in the heck do they make that?

Anyway, I got all the wiring done. While double checking the wire list against the wiring diagram, I found a disparity.
Sent an email to the plan supplier with three questions.
They answered two reasonably quickly. The third, still unanswered.
Said they’d corrected a typo. They did, but really, was I the first to notice?

Couldn’t get the software that is supposed to connect to the controller to recognise it.
I should say that this stuff is not in any way stuff that I feel familiar with.
I’m very much the type that, when I finally find a way through some menu or other, ten minutes later I’ve no idea how I did it.
It’s like finding your way through a bog. Once you’ve passed it, your tracks are covered.

And I must say, the instructions, are not great.
Just enough to possibly help someone under the age of twenty.
I sent an email asking about it but no answer, but it is only just over 24 hours.

Anyway I lucked onto a forum post that was exactly what I needed. Also beautifully precisely written - enough so that I joined the forum just so I could give him a like!
That got me connected to the controller, at least when I had it plugged into the PC.
But when I removed the USB, the PC couldn’t find the controller.

Then I realised that the PC didn’t have Bluetooth.
I had assumed it did because of the 3D printer, but I think now that it’s using the wifi through my phone.

So I thought, ok I’ll try wifi.
When that didn’t work, I did a quick trip to town and bought a Bluetooth adapter, but that didn’t work either.

But all this meant I had flashed both wifi and Bluetooth onto the controller. It may not like that.

I’m not going to bother asking the plan people about this, don’t need the disappointment of not getting an answer. I just have a sense it might go in the too hard basket.

I’ve ordered another ESP32 and will see what goes when it arrives. That’s if I can navigate the bog again…

There was no smoke from the controller box, so that’s a plus.

Anyway, I did a bit of fiddling with the Triumph, but I’ll tell that story later, when I have a few pics.


Thanks.