Slightly Cracked

[nub]

Received my Crack kit a few days ago.  Have been waiting on a brass face plate and a stepped attenuator.  Today the brass face plate arrived from FrontPanel Express.  It is beautiful.  I am still waiting on the attenuator.  I started gluing up the box this afternoon.  I hope to have that finished by the end of next week.  I am hopeful that the face plate will shine up nicely.  Hopefully by then I will have the attenuator and I'll be able to finish it.  More to come, including pictures.
Still trying to decide about spiked feet or just using the rubber ones.     >.>

grrrrr...  not having success gluing the wooden enclosure together.  >.<   Think I will just screw it together, probably use an inside corner brace.
>.>  stepped attenuator does not fit in stock potentiometer hole...  
Waiting to borrow drill to fix issue of hole size.  Thinking about if it would be better to polish the face plate prior to installation - and also if I should or should not put some type of clear coat on the brass to prevent tarnishing/scratches.  hmmmm...   

[Laudanum]

Hmmmm.  The base should be real easy to assemble just using some painters tape and wood glue.  No clamping required.    It's even easier if you have a piece of angle iron but not necessary.  Just line the edges up nice and snug (along the angle iron if you have a length) and tape prior to gluing.  The tape acts like a hinge.  Do a dry fit first with the tape.   The wood is generally cut pretty well but it doesnt hurt to arrange the sections for best fit of the edges first.

[porcupunctis]

As for spiked feet, I have been using a neat trick I got from the Wardsweb site.  Walmart sells target arrowheads for a few dollars per package.  I can't remember how many are in the package but there is more than you would need for one base.  They are black anodized but if you want you can polish them down to a nice silver.  Just drill a hold and glue them in and you have some really nice spikes for almost nothing.  I've used them on my FPIII and for my Paramount bases as well.

Check out:  www.wardsweb.org I've learned a lot by going through his builds.  This is the Zen of Attention to Detail. 

I've done several of these glue-ups and this is what I do:  I get a long straight edge and lay all the pieces with the outside edge up and the bottom along the straight edge.  Once everything is snugged up, I run long strips of painters tape from end to end. Usually three strips overlapping.  I tend to overdue.  Then I flip the whole thing over and apply some tightbond (elmers like) wood glue to both inside edges of the base boards.  I smooth it all out with my fingers and I have a couple of cotton towels already dampened and ready to clean up.  Make sure that both sides of every surface that is to be bonded has some glue on it.  Then I just fold it all up and tightly tape the remaining edge.  After that, I just wipe off all the excess glue wit the towels and let it all set overnight.  I use a sharpened chisel to remove any glue bumps that might occur overnight and finish sanding from there.  You should have great results.

My experience with Brass comes from polishing the dress buckle when I was in the service years ago.  We took the clear coat off (somehow) just so we could polish the bare brass to a nice shine.  This took constant attention.  The coating on top was OK but not eye-popping.  If you want super shiny you will have to polish it on a regular basis.  I, on the other hand, would quickly become a fan of tarnished brass.  After all, it has a look all it's own.

[Grainger49]

We all have little tricks that we have found from necessity.  My first base wasn't even on the top edges, I fixed it with my router.

Then I found my kitchen counter (Formica) works well getting everything straight.  I put all the top edges against the back splash and apply tape to three joints.  Then wrap them all together and check alignment of the tops, if the bottoms are off it doesn't matter.  Finally apply glue to the edges, let stand a few minutes and wrap it all together.  Then check for glue oozes. 

[nub]

Thanks for the feedback about glueing up the wood enclosure.  I will try again using the tape method rather than trying to clamp. 

[Laudanum]

Thanks for the feedback about glueing up the wood enclosure.  I will try again using the tape method rather than trying to clamp. 

Yes, definitely try the tape method.  The bases are small enough that it's all you need.   I think that it was one or two of the bases that I built had a corner or two that didnt go perfectly flush together right at the very outer edges leaving just the smallest gap where two outer edges joined. The edges and everything else lined up perfectly, just probably a hair off in the angle cuts.  And the glue didnt fill the gap.   I lightly knock off the sharp edge of the corners when I sand the bases but I dont round them, I still leave the edge. Anyway, the sanding was plenty to eliminate those tiny gaps without using any filler.  So, if you find that you have any small gap at an outside edge or two, dont obsess about it, you can probably fix it easily just with the sanding.  If not, a little stainable filler pressed into the small gap will do the trick but again, probably wont be needed.   Also, I know this may be obvious so forgive me if it is, but clean off any wood glue that seeps out of the joint with a damp rag after you get the base together.  The wood glue doesnt take stain.

[Natural Sound]

As for spiked feet, I have been using a neat trick I got from the Wardsweb site.  Walmart sells target arrowheads for a few dollars per package. 

Excuse my ignorance but what is a "target arrowhead"?

[Laudanum]

Im pretty sure that porcupunctis literally means target arrow heads as used in bow and arrow (or crossbow) target practice ... :-)

[2wo]

If you go to a sporting goods shop, you can get the threaded inserts that are meant to be glued into the end of the arrow shaft...John 

[nub]

Re. the issue with the goldpoint stepped attenuator not fitting into the face plate - 15 minutes and a milling machine solved that issue.  Now to start polishing it - will have to get supplies so it may be a few days.  When I am happy with the results I'll take a pic or three and post them here

[pro_crip]

I found a few twists with my taper reamer got my goldpoints sitting just fine.


Rich

[nub]

re. few twists with a reamer - - what about the little angled point right next to the threads that keeps the attenuator from turning?  That was the reason I used a milling machine instead of just opening up the hole a little bit with a drill.  - cut a slot for it. 1/10 wide, 1/10 deep, 1/10 long - now it fits like a glove. 

[2wo]

Now, were did I put that milling machine? It was here just a minuet ago...John

[Grainger49]

A small file (Sears probably still sells them.  I got mine sometime in the 70s.) will make the notch.  Luckily the top plate is aluminum.

re. few twists with a reamer - - what about the little angled point right next to the threads that keeps the attenuator from turning?  That was the reason I used a milling machine instead of just opening up the hole a little bit with a drill.  - cut a slot for it. 1/10 wide, 1/10 deep, 1/10 long - now it fits like a glove.