Re: The Breakup (Miata build)
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:01 pm
I had a hard time accepting that a 'coupling nut' wasn't just a long nut, but couldn't find any evidence to the contrary until now. This weekend was pretty productive: Now that I have a membership at makeitlabs and I don't feel like I'm doing something wrong when I fire up a grinder, I've been encouraged to make stuff left and right. I just qualified on the TIG so I can use it whenever I want now (until this weekend, my welding experience was an hour of flux core welding and that was it), and have fallen in love with that thing. I'm not any good with it, but that really isn't the point.
While I'm waiting for the coupling nuts I ordered to come in (the same ebay seller I bought the coarse ones from was very helpful about pointing me in the right direction), I decided to work out a better mounting bracket. That quickly got out of hand (as it usually does).
The first version was an attempt to reproduce the commercial spec-miata versions of the mounting bracket. I have so many complaints about it, I'll leave it at that.
I tried bending a basic turnbuckle mount together, but I didn't provide adequate clearance to fit the turnbuckle into it.
I tried another, but it was too wide to fit the chassis:
Because my measurements obviously weren't working out, I made a cardboard template:
I eyeballed the bend, which was really challenging without a sheet metal brake.
That looked plausible, so I tried another iteration bending some aluminum. It didn't like being bent.
Although thinner or more pliable material may have worked fine, it was far too much work to make each iteration. I had to stop trying to bend metal on a bench vise, and decided to learn to use the TIG welder. It took a bit of practice, but I think my first tests came out reasonably well.
A little while later, I had the lower (body-side) bracket finished.
The upper (top-side) bracket wasn't quite as easy, so it took two iterations.
This week, the new coupling nuts will show up and I'll be able to mock it all up. I may need to give the lower bracket a bit more offset to keep the mounts from trying to compress the top inward.
Okemo is next weekend! I'll be in the Miata again, but at least this time I won't need to restrain my arms. Okemo looks much more straightforward to learn than Ascutney Long, and based upon the videos I've seen corner exits are generally visible from the apex, which is encouraging. The underpowered 1.6 Miata may be one of the worst suited for the hill, but I'll run it anyway and have a blast the whole way up.
While I'm waiting for the coupling nuts I ordered to come in (the same ebay seller I bought the coarse ones from was very helpful about pointing me in the right direction), I decided to work out a better mounting bracket. That quickly got out of hand (as it usually does).
The first version was an attempt to reproduce the commercial spec-miata versions of the mounting bracket. I have so many complaints about it, I'll leave it at that.
I tried bending a basic turnbuckle mount together, but I didn't provide adequate clearance to fit the turnbuckle into it.
I tried another, but it was too wide to fit the chassis:
Because my measurements obviously weren't working out, I made a cardboard template:
I eyeballed the bend, which was really challenging without a sheet metal brake.
That looked plausible, so I tried another iteration bending some aluminum. It didn't like being bent.
Although thinner or more pliable material may have worked fine, it was far too much work to make each iteration. I had to stop trying to bend metal on a bench vise, and decided to learn to use the TIG welder. It took a bit of practice, but I think my first tests came out reasonably well.
A little while later, I had the lower (body-side) bracket finished.
The upper (top-side) bracket wasn't quite as easy, so it took two iterations.
This week, the new coupling nuts will show up and I'll be able to mock it all up. I may need to give the lower bracket a bit more offset to keep the mounts from trying to compress the top inward.
Okemo is next weekend! I'll be in the Miata again, but at least this time I won't need to restrain my arms. Okemo looks much more straightforward to learn than Ascutney Long, and based upon the videos I've seen corner exits are generally visible from the apex, which is encouraging. The underpowered 1.6 Miata may be one of the worst suited for the hill, but I'll run it anyway and have a blast the whole way up.