Just a little update... been dragging my feet a little on this one, but I do have some mundane updates....
I decided to make "pins" to replace some of the bolts in the boom area....
I just took some SS3mm rod and cut it to the correct length then chucked it up in the drill, then took my dremel with a thin cut-off wheel and cut a groove in each end. The groove is a little wide but seems to hold pretty well. I only needed to cut it down about .3-.4mm for the e-clip to fit good and tight..
Then I decided to see if I could do something to the boom to make it a little less toy like and a little stronger. It's only folded mild steel so it had a lot of flex and was easily twisted....
First I printed a piece to fit in the bottom of the boom so there was more material where the boom pin went through and used self tapping screws to hold it in place... that took the flex out of the mounting point
Then I made two small "pillows" for the inside of the boom where the dipper mounts, so now the dipper has some surface area on either side that keeps it from wobbling from side to side.
The boom tip was just folded over on itself and a single tack weld to hold it in place... I took some 5min epoxy and poured it in the tip, about 1/8 inch or so deep this bonded the the end so it was one piece..
Then I cut a piece of 22ga aluminum to cover most of the length of the lower boom. I used JB weld to glue it down. This took ALL the twist out of the boom and made it really rigid.. I was surprised and how well that thin aluminum worked, plus it makes the boom look a lot better..
I'm close to done just cleaning up some small things and painting stuff, waiting on my graphics, the swoosh has been the problem, I thought I had it but when she sent it back to me it was way to short, so we stretched it out a little and she is reworking it now.... Plus I realized if I have the door open on the right side most of the swoosh is gone and there is no place for the "winged globe".. so I'm trying to decided if I should leave it open and move the globe and deal with the missing swoosh or make a door and run the graphics over it.... If I close it up I lose the opening for my charging jack... not a deal breaker but inconvenient ...
Once I get the new swoosh back and finish up some details I'll post it up....