It hasn’t been a good couple of days in the workshop for various reasons, one of which is Friday the 13^th! Yesterday the bandsaw broke and a clamp on my only magnetic base for holding the DTI snapped today. I worked out that the blank I had cut for the Seal had the wrong end too long! Getting the face plate to fit my Turner lathe took 3 goes of removing studs, fitting the right ones eventually then working out how I could get sufficient travel to cut the various cams on the blank didn’t go well. The top slide doesn’t have enough travel (I prefer to have the cross slide power fed for accuracy) because the DRO fitted before the lathe was delivered to me new comes between the cross slide and the tailstock.

The only bright side to the couple of days was Mike coming down to pick up his stainless steel wing mirror brackets [photo] and with his help drilling the mounting holes in the correct position and then countersinking the right side (for a change) of the brackets. Before I had chance to give them a good polish Mike zoomed them away to see if they would fit, promising to bring the car back over the weekend sometime so I could take a photo for the websites. Well today Mike did arrive and was pleased with the results. They fitted the car and gave the required amount of adjustment. Since the stainless steel was quite substantial they were rock solid so no flapping will be encountered.

My only regret with the wing mirror brackets was the line sustained by the bending machine. I went to considerable trouble protecting the steel but to no avail. I thought they may polish out but are too deep and any grinding done to remove them would weaken the area requiring the most strength. Mike didn’t feel they were a problem and to be fair when they are on the car they don’t cheapen it.

I was pleased that the first attempt was rejected because I wasn’t happy either. The current solution is far more satisfactory and well worth the extra effort. Mike has given his permission to have the photo’s shown so here they are.

Well today I completed the countershaft for the Myford refurbishment and am really pleased with the results (that makes a pleasant change!) and you can read all about it on either the main website or my Myford specific site www.myfordml7.co.uk

Yesterday i spent a little time on making up a template for the wing mirror brackets. Some time ago I was asked if I could make some extensions for wing mirrors mounted on the 'A' post of a classic MGA sports car. The end result was some short stainless steel rods machined to fit. However when placed on the car they didn't really suit the task so another solution was required. This time, rather than adapt an existing arrangement, a new bracket all together is being designed, and made.

The initial idea was to try and get some stainless steel sheet of sufficient thickness to form the brackets. Failing the sourcing of the stainless steel, then brass brackets would be made and chromed. Following a tip from the owner of the MGA, a small local engineering firm (not a usual sight in our fishing port of Brixham) sold some 'scrap' stainless steel to me. Beacuse of its shape a design was drawn in colabaration with the MGA owner, that would allow two brackets to be cut from the steel sheet (see photo below).

Since the material was just about enough I thought it would be best to 'practice' on some brass of the same thickness. So a paper template was the fisrt stage in setting out the shape of the proposed bracket which mirrored in some imensions the original brackets. After chain drilling, the shape was achived by sanding on the linisher working to the scribe lines.

The next stage was to bend the brackets to shape to see what allowance was needed in the bends themselves. So the metal roller/bender/guilotine tool was brought into use and the first bracket produced. The result was a bracket with nice 90 deg. bends but the marks may have to be adjusted to account for the final shape required. One good reason for 'practice'. The template bracket will be tested against the car itself to see what, if any, tolerance is available when bending.

Another lesson to note from the exercise was the 'mark' made by one of the bending jaws. The proper stainless steel brackets will need protection at this point when they are made. So until the bracket is tried, little esle can be done on this small project.