Today was the first time that I could get back into the workshop for a while so I decided not to over stretch myself and just mill up the locating slots in the twp base and two top pieces.

To help speed up the process in setting up each piece I used the straight edge of the table to locate a strip of angle iron. This raised the edge up high enough so each piece rested against it and the aluminum then clamped in place. Now this is where the DRO’s (digital read out) came into there own since once I set the depth of cut and ‘Y’ axis (I set them both at zero) then it was simple to just unclamp and then replace a piece. The end results were certainly good enough for this application.

After trying the back plate into one slot, the width was adjusted then full steam ahead with an aching arm and back from all that handle turning! I have a 12v windscreen wiper motor waiting to set it up as a power feed but decided that if I went on to make that project to finish this one it would be even longer before I could get back to the pair of seal engines!

After checking that all four parts slotted into the back plate I marked out in the channels the position of holes for the securing screws. These were then countersunk before finishing for the day.

Hopefully the next session shall see me cut the ‘T’ slots in the top ready for any fixings and the uprights between the base and top cut and secured in place. This will certainly see the last phase of the project come into view at long last.