Armour Dreams

[Jonathan Moore]

Last three pictures for now.

Jon

[karlos59]

Coming along nicely Johnathan

[Jonathan Moore]

The finished article, well almost. I have still got to make the end cap and the oil seal retainer for the rear of the bearing housing.

Jon

[RichardT10829]

likewise with this thread, Jonathon i am getting withdrawals for your project and Colins Vickers.... you got any updates buddy :P

[Jonathan Moore]

To be honest very little has happened recently, I have made the oil seal retaining rings for the idler wheels and that's all. There is something about the Christmas break, everything shuts down and then it's nearly the end of January before it gets going again. I ordered material in December so that I would have it ready for early January but for some reason the 80mm Dia for the idler wheel shafts only turned up on Thursday and I am still waiting for some other bits. Still, it's given me extra time to spend on the Morris.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

I have been itching to get on with the Panzer but kept finding other things to do, so today at last some progress, I made the two idler wheel shafts.



Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

In my spare time I decided to get the tow hitch made, it's position has a bearing on the tie bar that runs along the rear of the chassis, so it needed making sooner rather than later.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

I have been making the idler wheel shaft housings, they are not quite finished as I need further information on the track tensioning system and I might yet have to make something up. Someone asked me to post pictures of how I make the various components, well as usual I didn't take any pictures of the actual process other than the last picture, which is of the material that I started with.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Moore]

At the rear of the tank, there are two flanges that protrude either side beyond the the chassis rear plate, these are where the idler wheel housings bolt on to the chassis.


Because the chassis tended to flex in this area, the joint between the rear chassis plate and the flange tended to crack, the solution to this problem was the incorporation of a strengthening rod, my job for today.

I have drilled and tapped each end of the rod so that the centre attaching bolt goes through the idler wheel housing, through the chassis flanged and threads into the bar.

[Jonathan Moore]

Just one more picture.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Idler wheel components.

[Jonathan Moore]

A few more

[Jonathan Moore]

Hello Heinz my dear friend,

Thank you for your message and kind words. The project is proceeding to schedule but the supply of what would be considered the ideal sized material is causing us some concern. It is testing our ingenuity, having to use what is available, rather than what would like to use. However I am confident that the alterations that we have made to the components will cope with the demands made upon them.

I have attached some pictures of the idler wheel housing and shaft, hopefully you can now appreciate how the rotation of the shaft will tighten the tracks. The unit is not yet complete as the shaft needs welding into it's eccentric end and the rotation lock needs to be manufactured.

My mind is already focusing on the next set of components, I fear many more sleepless nights ahead.

Johann

[Jonathan Moore]

…………………...

[karlos59]

Looking good Jonathan, these things take time and patience but are worth it in the end.

[RichardT10829]

fantastic fabrication skills Jonathon..... really enjoying this thread !

[Jonathan Moore]

Dear Heinz,

Once again thank you for your suggestions and observations. We have all but completed the idler wheel components, although we are unable to complete the final welding operation due to a quality issue with the idler wheel bearing retention nuts. We are currently awaiting a new supply of nuts that should be with us this week. Lubrication points have now been added to the relevant components. My concern regarding the idler shaft rotation locking mechanism has now been addressed after the receipt of new information.

We are now in a position where I feel that we can start to plan and manufacture the suspension leaf springs.

Until we communicate again,

Johann

[Jonathan Moore]

……………...

[Jonathan Moore]

I have been playing with my nuts, so to speak. I made the thread on the end of the idler shaft to fit the nuts from a Land Rover stub axle, using a genuine land Rover nut, thinking that it would save me some time. I then ordered four nuts from a british parts supplier and only one would fit. So I ordered another ten, my thinking was that I would have the four that I needed and some spare for my land Rovers, these things are always worth having about. Only one of the ten would fit, either the original stub axle or my shaft. It's not worth sending them back, so I decided to clean the threads out. Trying to centralise the nuts in the four jaw chuck using a DTI on the thread is a no go, so I put the nut in the four jaw, threaded the shaft in as far as it would go, about 1 1/2 threads and then, with a centre in the other end of the shaft, I clocked the shaft. Lining the threads up with the threading tip was a bit of a fiddly job but the result is fourteen nuts that I can use.

[Jonathan Moore]

The other job that I have been doing is making the springs. Reconstituted Land Rover series springs, cut and drilled, it's been like giving birth but I have assembled one for a trial fitting. I will add some detail to the proceedings when I make the other nine.

I didn't take note, when I visited the tank museum, of the number of leaves in each spring, so DRDM driver very kindly made a visit to the museum and took some pictures for me. I have to say a big thank you to him for very kindly helping me out. What those pictures revealed, was that each spring has a different number of leaves. At present I am going to make each spring with thirteen leaves and then when the tank is at it's full weight I can adjust the number as necessary.

Jon

[Mike Cecil]

Great work, Jonathan. Enjoying your build very much and marvel at your skill level.

Very much like the detail images. Could we also have some overall project images from time to time, please,so we can see the hull 'grow' into a tank?

Mike

[Jonathan Moore]

No Problem Mike. In the very near future, hopefully this weekend, I will have four wheel stations on so that I can move the chassis under the overhead gantry. I will then get some overall pictures. I can then start fitting the steering box and progress on to the drives. I still have to polyurethane the wheels and return rollers but that is coming to the front of the cue.

It's all now showing on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wXN0oTvDTs&t=61s

4 episodes so far.

Jon

[karlos59]

Looking good Jonathan

[Jonathan Moore]

Talk about high's and lows, this last week has been full of them, it's strange how stressed I can get over my baby.

I now have 6 springs cut and drilled and assembled. I was waiting for the other 4 to be delivered, which wasn't due until Monday, today, so I decided to get on with other things and blow me they appeared on Thursday evening. By then I was in the middle of getting 4 suspension arms and wheels on so they will have to wait.

The springs have to have 3 drilling operations on each leaf, that's 390 holes, if I only have 13 leaves per spring and the steel is spring steel, so it's tough. Slow speed and loads of coolant. Each spring has a keeper plate with an M8 tapped hole in and a 22mm clearance hole for the main M20 fixing bolt. Then, for each spring set of 13 leaves, each arm requires 4off 80mm x 10mm flat steel packing plates and 3off 3mm x 80mmpacking plates, all drilled with a 22mm clearance hole. As you can tell I have been drilling a lot of holes.

[Jonathan Moore]

First I drilled through with a 10mm HSS/Carbide drill and the opened it up to 22mm with a re-sharpened masonry drill.

[Jonathan Moore]

On Friday and Saturday I managed to get 4 swing arms in place and I put 4 wheels on so that we could manoeuvre the chassis under the overhead gantry.

[Jonathan Moore]

I have to say that although there's a lot of weight yet to be added, I was please with how it all sat. The reason for moving it under the gantry, was so that I could fit the steering box and start on the drive train and here's the low point. We tried the steering box, which I knew would be a tight fit but on Saturday I was convinced I was going to have to explore another option. If there was the slightest chance of using the box the front left swinging arm housing was going to need re-engineering. It's funny when you are tired, things seem so insurmountable. By this morning I had the answer and out came the plasma cutter.

[Jonathan Moore]

After all my worrying, I have still got some room to play with, when I have slept on it and decided what to do. All I have to do now, is rebuild the swinging arm inner bearing housing. And what difference did the extra 400kg make to the suspension...….. very little.

Jonathan

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

I have at last finished drilling the springs and I now have 10 complete springs and loads of spring steel left over, so if I need to increase the number of leaves I can. The last 4 springs that I assembled, I used 14 leaves instead of the 13 in the other 6 springs.

[Jonathan Moore]

The engine and gearbox are in place and the mountings all welded in. The exhaust manifold outlets had to be cut off, turned 180degrees, the angle adjusted and welded bock into place. Sorry but I forgot to take any before pictures. They need a little bit of tidying but I will do that once I have made the exhausts.