Making the body

This page is under construction

Putting in the dowel rods:

When working on this part it is essential to keep the two pieces of wood together as much as possible in order to allow the spacers to line up when the two parts are out together. This is done in two ways, 1) there is a spacer put into the slots, and, 2) there are two holes drilled through the wood and dowel rods are out in place. These two procedures need to take place before any cutting takes place. When the dowel rods have been put into place the two pieces of MDF (medium density fiberboard) are joined temporarily for the purpose of cutting them. This should ensure that the two pieces of wood are the same size and that they are unique to the owner.

Cutting the wood:

The MDF is cut with the hegner saw.  The template is stuck onto the wood, the location of the pivot holes are marked and need to be drilled. The wood is set up onto the jig located on the drilling machine.  This jig is purpose built and is secured to the table of the drill so it will not move when drilling the holes.

 

On this jig there two location blocks located at the back. The wood is placed between them and held firmly in position. It is very important that the two pieces of wood are firmly fixed together. The first hole is drilled and then the wood is slid sideways and the other hole is drilled. When the two holes are drilled the wood is removed and the saw dust is removed so the next person has a clean space to work from.

Finishing and painting:

 

Making the spacer:

In this section there needs to be spacers cut, these are used to separate the two parts in order to allow the mechanism to move. The mitre saw is used to cut the spacers into lengths (20mm for the long ones and 10mm for the short ones. Two of the 20mm spacers are needed and only one of the shorter one; these are then glued with PVA into the groves in the position shown in the picture, THEY ARE ONLY GLUED INTO ONE SIDE.

Joining the spacer:

Both sides are joined together, BUT ONLY ONE SIDE IS GLUED, and clamped into the vice to allow the glue to harden. This should be left in the vice for 20 minutes and then the two parts should be separated, make sure that your name is on both parts before you put them into the project box.