Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6 (1:144)

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

in the meantime I have fiddled around with the production of the connecting pins and, among other things, and have tried, brave as I am, to cut 10 wires all at once to test the limits of what is feasible.

I came to the conclusion that 10 mm would be a sufficient length for the cutting and have set the side stop accordingly. In order to be able to slide the bundle after each cut against the stop and to prevent the wires from flying away, I fixed it with several strips of tape and placed it at the stop.





When cutting I had to exert a noticeable pressure with the lever, but then it made Crack, and most of the first 10 pins had disappeared, which then gradually found themselves scattered on the tile floor. It's just good that the silver-plated pins are shiny and were relatively easy to find.

So I was just too quick with the matter and hadn't thought of the downholder, which I had actually thought about exactly for this purpose beforehand.

And since adversity is the school of wisdom, I've put an 8 mm wide steel block next to the stop for the second cut and hoped for its help, what then also proved its worth.



And then it went on easily with the next cuts the same way ...



And these first 50 pins are now waiting to be bent and then trimmed.



BTW, in this video that I came across by chance, I've seen (I didn't understand anything because I don't speak Japanese) that there is obviously also a double stop for the Miter Cutter, which would of course be helpful for certain things.



After that I've asked at RP Toolz and found out that this stop was made for the Sujiborido Company and is only available in Japan.

And since I meanwhile have a good rapport with Peter Horvarth due to my interest and inquiries about the blades, he graciously wants to send me such a stop for free , which of course surprised me and pleased me.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

in the meantime I have also learned from RP Toolz (Peter Horvarth) that the trapezoidal blade from Martor 5233.70 is a blade with 1-sided sharpening and 0,63 mm material thickness, which fits the Miter Cutter, as one can see in this image, so I have ordered 10 pcs. of which at rs-shopping.


Source: RP Toolz (Peter Horvarth)

The same blade is also available with a TiN coating, but for twice the price (10 pcs. 16,55 €).

And therewith the next steps are now the bending & cutting down of the wires, whereby I will proceed as I've described it in my Reply #2341.

For fun, I've counted the number of hand movements per pin and came up with 11 just for bending & crimping, which I hadn't suspected initially!

- Holder tubule into the left hand
- Pin into the right hand
- Threading pen into the tubule
- Taking crimping pliers
- crimping the pin end
- Putting pliers aside
- Placing the tubule with the pin onto steel ruler and bending the crimped end
- Taking chisel cutter
- Cutting off crimped overhang (2x)
- Putting chisel cutter aside
- Ejecting the pin from the tube

Next please!

In addition there are now still approx. 5 further hand movements during cutting off the crimped barb to the final length of 6 mm, which I will do, however, as a precaution, using a single-cut process so as not to produce too lots of waste.

However, I had to give up my previous variant of cutting off on the cutting mat, since my chisel cutter has probably become too blunt and has therefore only bent the overhang,



which is why I had to use a sheet of steel as a base, which then enables cutting off even with the blunted chisel cutter,



at least until my re-order of new chisel blades has arrived.

That is then in total approx. 16 actions, which have to be carried out 456 times, so more than 7.296 in total, in case nothing falls out of my hands during this stressful fiddling.

And if I'm honest, I have to admit that I am now shocked myself at this number and thinking about whether I should really do this to myself?

I have already been asked about this whether it would not be sufficient to glue the chain links together, at least in the straight areas of the chains.

But as a crazy lover for details, I will probably make this extreme effort and not shrink back for fear of my own courage.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

today the continuation of the pin cutting off was on the program, i.e. patience and perseverance were required for this monotonous work ...

The box with the pins looks relatively harmless in itself,



But the job is pretty stressful, not only for the eyes, but also the back (lumbar spine) because of the constantly stooped posture.



But the first 104 of 456 pins are now finished, at least the beginning has been made.



Now I can start the next small series, for which I first have to cut off pin-bundles on the cutter to 10 mm and then crimp their ends and bend them into barbs, i.e. the same procedure as before ...
The squirrel has a hard time feeding itself ...

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

Peter Horvarth, RP Toolz, quickly kept his word, because yesterday his package arrived from Hungary with the promised Double stop for the Miter Cutter, together with two trapezoidal blades, franked with 2270 Forints (6,18 €), which he did post on Tuesday (03/09/21) in Balatonfüred. Look here, that's what I call Customer Service - Made in Hungary!



Of course, I installed the Double stop right away, and also the 0,63 mm thick Martor blade (5233.70) with a 1-sided cut.





With that I am now also prepared for somewhat stronger things.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

after completion of the first 104 connecting pins it went now to the 2nd Round at which I've used the longer copper wires (Ø 0,4 mm).

After testing the 0,6 mm thick Martor trapezoidal blade (L=52 mm), I've decided however again for the thinner Martor blade (0,25 mm) belonging to the cutter, which seems to me to be more suitable for cutting the wires due to its shorter length of 38 mm.

For this I've again put 10 wires close to each other and fixed them as a strand by using tape strips,



which I've then positioned on the cutter, whereby weighting down again the first bundle for the cut with the steel block as a hold-down.



And then it was cut successively by sliding the strand again and again,



which worked again without any problems until the last cut.

With it another 150 pins have been cut now,





and then stowed away safely.



But as one can see from the furrow along the cutting line of the blade, the cutting mat is already quite overused by this ordeal, which is why this inevitably arises the question of the lifetime of the mat with this heavy use.



That's why I have already considered whether a cutting plate made of Acrylic glass (Polymethylmethacrylate, PMMA) would make sense, which I had bought as pad for cutting photo-etched parts some time ago.



There were no problems with the test cut, it shortly made crack, and the wire was through!

[spacerunner]

Since the blade of my little chisel cutter has reached the ripe old age of and has suffered quite a bit, I've found slightly wider blades at Martor and immediately ordered them together with the appropriate holder,



which of course I've tested on the acrylic glass pad on a 5 wire strand, but to my astonishment has failed.
Although I've pressed down the new chisel cutter with all my might, I haven't managed separating these 5 wire strand, which rather surprised me.



Obviously, when cutting with the Miter Cutter, by the principle of lever shears a significantly greater cutting force is generated that is sufficient to cut the wire strand.

Since I was interested in the length of time per pin in the single-cut method anyway, I then ran the stopwatch at 15 cuts on a single wire and came up with 90 seconds, which is 6 sec./pin corresponds.



Then I made a suitable cutting mat made of acrylic glass for the Miter cutter, but which with 2,9 mm is slightly thicker than the original mat with 2,75 mm, although I was hoping that this could be arranged to fit by using the blade's seat.





But as one can see in the image, my hope has unfortunately not been fulfilled because the blade no longer lies flat on the pad. What such a few hundredths are making up ...



Therefore, before the 3rd Round the original cutter mat was inserted again and with it another 130 pins were cut, whereby I also determined the time. In doing so, I came to 210 seconds for 10 cuts of the 10 wire strand, which means 2 sec./pin and is much faster than the individual cuts, which was to be expected.



This means that a longer round of crimping&bending&cutting off is about to happen again soon.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

somehow I must have lost track during my cutting orgy, because as I've discovered to my surprise, over 400 pins have been cut already so that I only still needed to cut two wires what was done in a trice on the back of the cutting mat.





With it the remaining approx. 350 pins only have to be crimped, bent and cut off, which will take a little bit longer ...



Nevertheless, how good that I have compared again.

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

today squeezing & bending & cutting off were on the agenda again, whereby at first I was interested in a time check for this handling.

For 5 pins I've needed 150 seconds, which corresponds to a time expenditure of 30 sec./pin.

That would mean if I would squeeze, bend and cut off the remaining 350 pins, that would be doable without a break in approx. 3 h (175 min.) what is illusional, especially since already after handling 20 pins under the headset magnifying glass the sweat is dripping off my forehead over the nose onto the floor, not to mention the veto of my uptight back.

That's why this monotonous but strenuous work can only be managed step by step.

Here at least 50 pins have already been handled and bunkered in the storeroom for the final cutting off to the final length (6 mm).
Now only approx. 300 pins are waiting in the small bowl behind ...



As I said, the squirrel has a hard time feeding itself ...

[Revell-Fan]

Oh why, oh why are you doing this, Mani..?

(And now I expect you to say: "BECAUSE I CAN!!!" )

Hats off to your dedication! Keep up the great work - and take care of your back!

[spacerunner]

Hello everybody,

today squeezing & bending & cutting off were on the agenda again, whereby at first I was interested in a time check for this handling.

For 5 pins I've needed 150 seconds, which corresponds to a time expenditure of 30 sec./pin.

That would mean if I would squeeze, bend and cut off the remaining 350 pins, that would be doable without a break in approx. 3 h (175 min.) what is illusional, especially since already after handling 20 pins under the headset magnifying glass the sweat is dripping off my forehead over the nose onto the floor, not to mention the veto of my uptight back.

That's why this monotonous but strenuous work can only be managed step by step.

Here at least 50 pins have already been handled and bunkered in the storeroom for the final cutting off to the final length (6 mm).
Now only approx. 300 pins are waiting in the small bowl behind ...



As I said, the squirrel has a hard time feeding itself ...