MK Special

AnthonyEssington8982 · Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 1:53 pm Post subject: MK Special

Lets see what everyone has on the Anvil....

Stephen Blakey · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:15 pm Post subject:

Well you did ask...

I got distracted by a pal who asked, "can you make some of these" and presented me with the severely perished rubber moulding that goes under his headlamp mount. That's it on the right. Not much to go on.

These are the plastic prototypes to test the fit. You can mirror the model at the print stage so making a lefter or a righter is no problem.

The next stage is to mould them in rubber. Here's the mould cavity which is made by getting the CAD to subtract the part from a block. The plan is to inject that two-part polyurethane rubber in through the big holes and for the air to come out through the little ones. What could possibly go wrong? The next stage of prototyping will just be to fill the cavity with silicone sealer then squidge a piece of glass on top. I'm expecting a fair amount of flash at that stage but it is only a prototype. The eventual production volume is one of each…..

Christopher Carnley · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 9:58 am Post subject:

Will it stick or have you thought of the release agent?

Stephen Blakey · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 10:50 am Post subject:

People seem to use Vaseline or even grease applied with a brush. We're about to find out. One of the joys of doing it this way is that if the mould gets wrecked, you just print another one.

Stephen Blakey · Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:18 pm Post subject:

Well the prototype moulding is unbelievably well stuck in the mould despite a thin coat of grease. Strange because that silicone sealer often doesn't stick when you want it to. Oh well, back to the CAD screen (I have broken up my drawing board this morning, by coincidence).

On a more positive note and as a change from messing about with computers, I have recently undergone something of a BDC rite of passage, which is to cut up a MKVI bodyshell.

Most of it was done with a cheapo Screwfix reciprocating saw (Sawsall in the US?). I fired up my trusty 20 year old plasma cutter but sadly it died peacefully. I think the saw might have run its gears, however it put up a valiant fight and won.

Here's a section through the A pillar showing the copper roof drain. Everyone tells you that the rubber connectors are perished but they weren't on this car.

Flat-pack MKVI. We called at a country pub to use the loo shortly after this and there was an immaculate Silver Dawn in the car park. I managed to resist telling the owner that I'd just cut one of those up.

I now understand why people pay more for a MKVI without a body.

Christopher Carnley · Posted: Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:12 pm Post subject:

Been there, done that several times.

(Have you any of the knotty pine matchboard to spare?)

Did you see the Model A back axle?