Last friday I finished my acrylic panel and mounted it in my lightbox.
I started the week by cutting acrylic plates for my mesh press. The press comes in 5 parts.
- A base with a negative mold of the mesh shape.
- The plunger with a positive mold of the mesh shape.
- An alignment part that holds the plunger in place
- 2 plates that keep the mesh from crumpling on the edges.
- A mesh blank as the material to be pressed
I cut a rough blank with tin snips. To assemble the press I put one plate on top of the base. Then I put the blank in between the 2 plates. On top of the top plate I put the alignment device. Then I use bolts the clamp all the parts together. Then I put the plunger in its slot.
To press the material I jumped on the plunger. thankfully this was enough force to press the mesh, because if it wasn’t I would have had to find a hydraulic press.
After I cut off the extra material I realized I had an issue. The wire was preventing the mesh from being put on the thruster. threading the wire through the mesh would have required a massive amount of work.
the solution I decided on was cutting one half of the mesh and once it was on the thruster I twisted the wires around one another to rejoin it. After putting the cap on the mesh and screwing it on I realized that the clips were not necessary and that it was strong enough as it is.
Later in the week I centered the aluminum extrusions on JONA’s Frame. I also installed the new manipulator receiver.
On Thursday I acrylic welded the end caps onto the camera tube for the ROV and the tube for my light box. I clamped the end caps on then I used a bottle with a needle on the end to put drops of acrylic weld onto the seam of the joint. I let the weld run around the edges while it was tilted so that the weld run along the whole seam
