I then switched from wood work to metal work; the tail plug assembly.
A piece of scrap sheet copper was silver soldered to one end of a 17mm OD x 1mm wall copper tube. This will be used for making the “plug”.
After trimming the sheet copper off with snips and filing a hole was drilled and tapped in the tube side. A brass 8-32 machine screw was threaded into the tapped hole and then silver soldered in place. This screw will be cut off and used for making a lug that will be a part of the bayonet mechanism of the plug.
A piece of 19mm x 1mm copper tube will be used to make the outer sleeve of the bayonet tailplug assembly. I started the slot with two saw cuts…
Then some small files were used to enlage and shape the slot…
More saw cuts and more file work to bring the slot at a 90 degree angle to the first slot…
When the pieces are all assembled with a cell in place the spring pressure will push the plug back. The notch will lock the plug in place, preventing accidental turning.
A short length of the 19mm tube with the filed slot was cut off. The initial sanding was done with 150 and 220 grit sandpaper. This piece was next polished with finer grits; 320 and 600.
Here it is with the still long and uncut plug piece fitted.
…more fine sanding on the plug piece and the two parts separated…
… and coupled…
The plug cut to length…
The plug and the bayonet sleeve…. The lug was filed down to the same level at the OD of the 19mm sleeve…
I reduced the OD of a dowel to fit inside the tailplug, by sanding of course.
The dowel will be cut shorter and fitted with a finger grip later.
The front portion of the rear block was cut off at the point where the bore hole changed from 17mm to 19mm. I only require the 19mm piece to hold the tail plug assembly. The front and rear blocks will later be glued to the bottom spline.
Here is the above trial fitting with the tailplug removed.
Here’s a close up shot of the tail end with the block moved out of place…
I soldered a spring to the tail plug.
That is all for now. Thanks for looking. More to come another day.