Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6

[Harry Callahan]

I bought the same tool while ago and I'm totally happy with.  First you think that's too expensive but if you work with then it is fully worth. 

Its a highly recommend tool.

[roma847]

I can fully agree with that, Harry, 

it's a great tool for cutting work that I'm putting to an absolute endurance test by cutting the 456 pins for the Crawler track shoes. 

[roma847]

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!

 

 

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 squeezing & bending & cutting off is about to happen again soon.

[roma847]

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.

 

 

 

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

 

 

Nevertheless, how good that I have compared again.

[roma847]

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 ...

[John_W]

Looking good Manfred. Wish I had the space and funds to set up a workshop like yours.

I remember joking and saying you would cut and fit each tile separately. I see we are both following a thread where someone has actually gone and done it...

[roma847]

Thanks John, 

 

you'll laugh, I've actually toyed with the idea  when I glued the 25 m long SOFI pattern spiral made of 0,75 mm masking tape on the ET. Since then I have also 1 mm tape, which could be used for simulation the tiny 1 mm x 1 mm (1: 144) tiles, tile by tile. But this stupid fiddling for approx. 20.000 tiles would be too crazy even for me. 

 

I assume you mean Jinx's thread Revell 1/44 Space Shuttle Stack + New Ware Kit, right? 

Just wait and see!  As a newbie he has started boldly, but is far from the end of the line ...  I'm curious whether he'll make it, if so, I'll congratulate him. 

 

BTW, in 1:72 with 2 mm x 2 mm tiles that would be a bit easier, what a friend got started in our German Raumcon forum years ago, OV-105 Endeavour, but some time later no one heard from him anymore ... 

 

 

[bootneck]

Hi Manfred,

I loved your work on the MLP, which is awesome, until.........

I saw the fantastic work on your Crawler; those tracks are awsomerer! 

 

Mike

[roma847]

Thanks Mike, 

I hope I understand your joke with the German comparison correctly ... 

[bootneck]

No, it is just bad misuse of English to make the joke! 

 

Mike

[roma847]

You're a little rascal, my friend! 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

it's of no use whether I postpone this ordeal until sometime, or now grit my teeth and bravely carry on, especially since the inhibition threshold would be all the greater later.

 

And since I'm tough, I don't want to pretend tiredness, but get to work.

 

As you can see, meanwhile I've already had a few more sessions and most recently I arrived at 120 pins.

 

After I had squeezed, bent and cut off another 40 pins,

 

 

I had to take off the headset magnifying glass and wipe the sweat off the glasses to keep the perspective.

 

 

With this step now I have reached 160 pins,

 

 

but all of which have still to be cut to the final length (6 mm), but which I won't do until the end, when all the remaining 350 pins are squeezed, bent and cut and finally all 456 pins for the 8 Crawler chains are ready.

 

And that's why let's go on  ...

[RichO]

Hang in there Manfred!!  Good job.

[roma847]

Thanks Rich, 

I'm trying to do my best, because the countdown must go on ...  

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

unfortunately this game is not over yet. After another 40 pins and the 3rd sweat bead on the headset magnifying glass it was time to take a break and clean the glasses,  

 

 

as well as to safely stash the pins.  

 

 

So approx. 150 pins still remain and are waiting for their treatment.  

 

 

One consolation remains for me, because there become fewer and fewer pins in the glas ...

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

to get a better overview of the remaining squeezing & bending and to increase my staying power,   I've divided this confusing pile of pins in the glass into grouplets of 10, which I gradually have handled.

 

 

After these 40 pins I watched the Formula 1 Race in Bahrain.  

 

 

Then I've worked another 40 pins, and so now only remaining 7 grouplets.  

 

 

The remainder of the 70 pins will be done tomorrow.

 

 

And then the remaining 350 pins are just shortened to the final length of 6 mm.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

and now let's come to the last squeezing & bending round, it becomes time slowly too.

 

In the first step it went down from 70 to 50 pins, 

 

 

subsequently from 50 to 30 pins,

 

 

then from 30 to 10 pins.

 

 

And finally the long-awaited Countdown of the last grouplet was approaching: 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - Cut-off!!!

 

 

Hard to believe, but it's done, and so am I!!!  

 

The battlefield is deserted and the pins are safely stowed away.

 

 

Therewith the cutting of the pins to their final length of 6 mm can follow now, which then can be threaded into the Pin lugs of the Track shoes, which will finally result in the 8 Crawler chains.

 

After careful consideration, I've decided not to shorten the pins using the Miter Cutter, but with the already tried and tested Single-cut method using the steel ruler angle.

 

 

And so it will go on soon,

 

 

because 350 pins are already waiting for the final cut.

[RichO]

Running a marathon Manfred!!  Good job.

[roma847]

Thanks Rich for your nice compliment!

 

I'm sticking to Bruce Springsteen: Tougher Than the Rest ...

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

now there are no longer even 350 pins that have to be shortened to the final length (6 mm), therefore I'll get ready to work.

 

 

During the uninterrupted cutting of the 160 pins from the 2nd chamber, this time I no longer counted the pins, but only the beads of sweat ...

 

 

And in the end there were about 15 when the chamber was finally empty and I was played out ...

 

 

And therewith back into the chamber with the finished 160 pins, with which now more than half of the 456 pins are done, the rest is waste.

 

 

And the remaining 190 pins of the last two chambers, I'm going to do, maybe tomorrow.

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

let's go into the last two rounds, then this stressful chapter is done.  

 

This is the heap of 120,

 

 

which is half-finished here, 

 

 

and is done here.

 

 

Then it was the turn of the small heap of 70,

 

 

of which the last pin is waiting for the final cut.

 

 

And with that, the mammoth program was finally completed. Hipp, hipp - hurray!!!

 

 

And here everything is safely stowed in the box.

 

 

At this point I want to take a look ahead of what is coming now.

 

And that is certainly a similarly stressful challenge, because now the 456 pins have to be threaded into the Pin lugs of the chain links, from which then the 8 Truck chains arise ...

 

 

So there is still a lot of fiddling ahead of me, but that can't scare me!

[RichO]

Please do not spill the pins!!

[roma847]

Don't worry Rich, this pill box is absolutely safe! 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

I hope you found and looted all of the Easter nests, and hope you didn't upset your stomach.

My Easter bunny meant it particularly well for me and put 57 Track shoes in my nest.  

 

 

OMG, wherewith did I deserve this ...

With this in mind, Happy Easter for all of you!

[roma847]

Hello everybody,
after my Easter bunny was scampering on, I've picked out the necessary 57 Pins for assembling the Crawler chain,  

 

 

and so the first 26 Chain links were put together.  

 

 

As it quickly turned out, however, this arrangement is unfavorable for threading the pins into the Pin lugs, as one needs some freedom of movement for being able to position the tweezers with the pin exactly in front of the opening. That's why I've then switched to a pinning of pairs of the chain links.

 

But since the threading of the pins did not work right away, as a precaution I've aligned the first Pin Lugs of the pairs something with the drill (Ø 0,4 mm) that made things easier.   

 

 

 

Then the pairs were connected to one another, whereby the pins had to be inserted in with great care in order to prevent the 6 mm long pins from jamming or even jumping out of the tweezers.

 

 

 

After the first half of the chain was pinned together this way, 

 

 

the second half was next in line, 

 

 

with which finally the first of the 8 Crawler chains was finished.

 

 

With it only 7 Chains left over.