What about using countersunk rivnuts? that would save you drilling a lot of small holes and cut the number of countersinks in half.

metric countersunk rivnuts

 

"Rivnuts" is an excellent suggestion. I even have a rivnut puller somewhere. I had grown away from them in my fabrications mainly, I think, because of their tendency to spin on some occasions.

Another reason I like the anchor plate nuts I am going to use is that they are self locking.

 

Ah, missed that!

 

I am kind of stymied with this project right now since I sanded the hide off of four fingers on my right hand and some off the left thumb, in my belt sander while working on a Xmas present for my 5 year old grand daughter. Then I decided to change the disc on the disc part of the sander, but don't have the correct disc for it. So I ordered some, but have to wait for delivery. I couldn't find any anywhere in town. I need that to finish out the machining of the sandwiches of mounting tabs.

I have just about everything lined up to do production of these pans, so as soon as it all comes together and my fingers heal up some I will be back at it.

 

I have just about everything I need for production either here or on order, and what is not here yet will likely be this week. I have a workpiece set up in the press to do what I think will be the first production item; and with it I think I have solved the warp problem. I have the last two sandwiches of top tabs screwed together in groups of 5 for drilling the rivet holes. I also have a good start on the press plate carrier that I hope will eliminate the need to lift that heavy item in and out of the press in production. I need to buy a couple bags of bolts to finish that up.

 

Put me down for one when you get them ready Jerry!

 

Thanks, Dun. I predict that shortly there is going to be a new thread about the availability of these Pans and it will be under my Rennlist Basic Sponsorship, ReDesign by FEATHER. I am currently working on how to decide on the price of these, and there are several considerations in that decision. One factor that will come into play is that I will be eating just about all of the development of these Pans, except for perhaps a little bit toward the out of pocket involved. I think the price will be just about what it takes for me to justify making one together with what I think you guys in the 928 community ought to have to pay for one, given how they really fit in the overall scheme of things 928. I am pretty close to a final decision on the price; and it is going to be somewhat low at the beginning to allow for some upward change as time goes on. I hate to set a price kind of high for the early buyers and then find it necessary to lower the price later. That does not seem fair to any original buyers.

 

Another small task I need to complete is to bring the heavy steel press plate home and drill and tap some holes in it for eye bolts that I can use to help move it in and out of the press. That doesn't seem like much, but as heavy as it is there is nothing else to hold onto it by except the edges and that doesn't work too well.

I got the bags of bolts yesterday and put some of them in the carriage, but it is only about half way there. There are 18 wheels on it to roll the plate onto and off of and each takes two bolts so that is going to take a while by itself. I have the uprights cut although I'll need to cut two of them off when I determine the exact height for the plate to roll at. Then I'll need about 4 angle braces and a rod handle.

The rivets and a micro counter sink devise came in the mail yesterday, so that is some progress there. I hope the sanding/grinding discs come today or tomorrow.

 

I have a large rivet squeezer, but it is kind of cumbersome to work on rivets as small as the ones I'll be using here. So, I found a smaller one on eBay and bought it. I think I can clamp it in my mill vise and be able to rivet the nuts on these tabs with two hands. Otherwise, with a small item like these tabs it kind of takes three hands.

 

Yesterday I made some good progress on the steel plate carrier and have it about 90 percent complete. It need four more pieces bolted on for corner stiffening and a handle bar. I forgot my camera so I don't have a picture of it. It is going to be kind of like a heavy duty single-purpose shopping cart.

At some point in this thread I have wanted to provide a series of pictures showing the complete process of making one of these pans. I have taken my camera out to the other shop a number of times but have gotten involved in the process, and it is pretty involved, and forgot the pictures. I'll keep trying and maybe will get it done later this week or coming long weekend.

 

Now I think I'll put a couple of shelves in the carrier so that it has more than one purpose. There are a few other things that pretty much float into and out of the process that need to be kept track of and shelves in the carrier will be the perfect place for them.

 

I haven't built the shelves yet, but I did buy some plywood for them. I did make a kind of tray at the top of the carriage for bolts, tools and such and will put a plywood floor in it. I need to buy several 5/16 inch bolts for the shelves since the perforated angle I have left for that has slightly smaller holes than will work with the 3/8 inch bolts I have been working with. Now the fastener store is closed until next week.

 

At one point in the design of this carriage I was thinking of having it also work to hold the outrigger up against the face of the press for clamping on and for adjusting its location in the forming process. That did not seem to work very well with the original purpose of the carriage, and then I figured out that all I really need for the outrigger is a simple length of 2 by 4 to hold the outrigger up while I clamp and/or adjust its position. It isn't really that heavy or cumbersome. I haven't measured the length needed for that but will try to do that and cut it shortly.

I have the heavy steel press plate in the back of my truck today and will get it drilled and tapped for the eye bolts I'm going to use to handle it into and out of the press.

I still think that progress is movement in any direction.

 

This thread is exactly one year old today. I chose to read through some of the earlier posts because I hadn't done that for a while and I also wanted to see how my current focus on this project compares to what I had in mind at the start and in the early weeks. I think I am very close to just what I had in mind at the outset. The adjustable top mounting tabs is the big exception, and may turn out to be the most valuable aspect of this whole design. We have the input from some of you guys in large part to thank for that.

I worked some on the carriage this morning and up until just a while ago; and now I need to warn up the shop here at home so I can work on the heavy steel press plate and also make the aluminum bar handle for the carriage.

I had to change the orientation of the front uprights of the carriage to work with the design of the shelves I have in mind, so I only got one shelf worked up.

 

I have the carriage nearly complete. I finished the tray on top and one of the shelves, then have the lower shelf cut and ready to bolt in. I'm not sure what I need it for but I think it will come in handy.

I got the steel press plate drilled and tapped and put eye bolts in it to use with handles to move it around. It is mounted in the carriage a little low for rolling into the dies, but also a little high for removing it. I suppose splitting the difference is probably the best position to have it in.

I still need to put a couple of angle braces at the bottom front of the carriage since with the weight on it is is kind of wobbly.