25 Pounder info needed.

[David Dunlop]

Nicely done, Tony!

David

[Russ Gregg]

I'm going to guess you are a bit more than pleased with that outcome. Very nice job on a tricky repair.

[Private_collector]

Thankyou Gentlemen. I'm mostly happy with the finished product. The original magnesium casting is more porous than a sponge, and I wasn't able to fill every hole to full satisfaction. It's OK though. Yesterday evening i got the telescope sight holder put on, and what a drama that turned out to be. I got a couple of scratches on both pieces, unfortunately, but only one is highly visible. I'll need to sand that one out and touchup the area. It was such a stupid mistake on my part which led to the damage in the first place. My language after the event was not fit for human ears nor beast. Would have made a wharfie blush, in fact.

I still have a couple more things to work through, and then everything can go back together properly. One of those things is to get the upper dial sight base securing bolt machined. I was very fortunate to get an original donated to me, but the thread on it has been chewed on by someone. Most likely that chap with metal teeth from the James Bond movies, I should expect! I will get the thread lathed off, and a smaller diameter thread put back on. It won't look original though. The perfect repair would be cut the entire thread off, bore a hole, tap a thread in that hole, then make another portion of thread to original size one end and the thread other end to put into the newly bored end of original bolt. In fact, now that I write it, I will get a price for doing that way. I really should get my own lathe. For some reason the local machine engineering shops are hugely expensive. Might get time to look into that tomorrow afternoon.

Wait till ya see what the next little project is. Rob Nixon knows already. Should do, he got me the bits I needed....again.

[lynx42]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

Wait till ya see what the next little project is. Rob Nixon knows already. Should do, he got me the bits I needed....again.

Wouldn't happen to be the 25pdr uncut barrel Rob has for sale would it?

Regards Rick.

[Private_collector]

Rick, I do wish that were the case, but no. Much more unremarkable, sadly. The barrel is one item I dare not use an original. Such a purchase would have both Rob and I on several countries terrorist watch lists. That's something I would like to avoid, so I will be sticking with my pale imitation.
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That said, if anybody has carriage or cradle for sale, PLEASE CONTACT ME! Those items would be a huge boost to the build. I missed a genuine, good condition, platform on ebay once, because i considered the southern state it was located in, to be too far to travel to get it. That is a mistake I would not make again.
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Once the sight assembly is done, the next job will be the creation of the hand spike mechanisms x3.
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My most recent purchase was the above items. Quite rare items they would be too.
They are bigger, and heavier, than they look. You push the pedal down.....and the pawl raises up, allowing the withdrawl of the hand spikes from the tapered socket it locks into. Take a look at the next post to see what occurs if massive force is applied to one of these pedals without the pawl having freedom of movement.

[Private_collector]

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So here are the three sets needed for each gun.
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Look closely at the engineering which has gone into each pedal. It's VERY strong. A nice deap channel runs around the shaft, where i gather grease is provided. You also see the small hole right through the centre of each channel, affording better lubricant movement.
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Now look what has occured to the hole through the shaft shown above. The hole has clearly been distorted by the twisting of the shaft at the weakest point, right through that hole! HOW MUCH FORCE WOULD BE NEEDED TO DO THAT!! Incredible. It's not a problem for me, because it doesn't impede functionality, but I can't get my head around what must have been done to this little piece. You will also note, there is absolutely no damage to the flat of the pedal itself. Why? Surely something that damaging would have left some trace of impact damage to the pedal surface, but there is nothing at all. Fascinating.

[jack neville]

I would guess it has been seized and some leverage applied to free it. There is evidence of the shaft having been filed or similar as it doesn't look machined round anymore.