East Barnet Joint Stock - a workbench

[micklner]

Personally I think,  once it is all painted what if anything, will actually notice ? It is very hard to tell from photos.

If yes, then I would either file the bottom of the ends a fraction to allow the sides to drop about the amount needed  to allow the sides to then cover  the gap, or solder strip to the base of the sides to hide any gap and file them flush with the body, if you do that then very hard to do any more soldering without them falling off/moving. Easiest option is to file the fraction of the  bottom of the ends.

[Jon4470]

Morning Chas,

 

Firstly I just wanted to say that the build is coming on nicely and looks really good to me.

 

Initially I thought that, if I was you, I’d ignore the sides not quite covering the folded up stands. As Mick says, it is hard to see in the raw brass - and it will be painted black ultimately which will further reduce visibility. But, if it bothers you, then Mick has suggested the options. Of these I would favour filing down the ends first….as long as the beading at the bottom doesn’t become too narrow (and visibly different to the side beading)

 

However, something else has occurred to me. This might help disguise the visible bend or…….make it more noticeable. There are brackets that attach to the footplate under each vertical frame of the body. I think that these really do need to touch ( or appear to touch) the sides. Does the fold get in the way?

 

If not, then I’m back to my first thought….ignore the problem🙂. If the fold does get in the way, then I think it’s a case of filing the ends and adding a strip to the sides, if necessary.

Jon

 

PS I know that you said you doubted your ability to solder a strip to the bottom of the sides……..just wanted to say that I disagree……I don’t doubt your ability to do this. …..and make a clean job of it.👍

[Chas Levin]

9 hours ago, micklner said:

Personally I think,  once it is all painted what if anything, will actually notice ? It is very hard to tell from photos.

If yes, then I would either file the bottom of the ends a fraction to allow the sides to drop about the amount needed  to allow the sides to then cover  the gap, or solder strip to the base of the sides to hide any gap and file them flush with the body, if you do that then very hard to do any more soldering without them falling off/moving. Easiest option is to file the fraction of the  bottom of the ends.

 

Morning Mick, thank you, good points all!

 

It's one of those things though that having once been noticed, will bug me when it's finished, so I'm sure it's better to try and do something about it. You know how something that niggles is the thing your eye is drawn to...

 

Good point about any strips soldered to bottom edges of the sides will be prone to move during later soldering. Perhaps using a wider strip - say 1/4" - of very thin shim, 5 thou, soldered along the bottom of the sides, with just the lowest fraction showing and a very narrow solder fillet to smooth the join, might make movement less likely?

 

I'm coming round though to the idea of filing the bottoms of the end structures and the areas of the floorpan where they sit. Reducing a fairly wide area like that and doing it really evenly isn't easy but it's do-able and while I initially thought it wouldn't be possible to achieve sufficient reduction in height that way, I think perhaps I can: the required lowering is very slight, after all, it's just that it looks large to me because I'm focussed on the problem. I'll see if I can learn more by measurement, though measuring things this finely, even with the very good digital calipers I have, isn't 100% reliable.

[micklner]

How about a length of 0.45mm brass wire on the sides ?. I have used that a few times , files flush easily and wicks the heat away for less chance of movement later. Using 177 deg solder would help as well.

[Chas Levin]

42 minutes ago, Jon4470 said:

Morning Chas,

 

Firstly I just wanted to say that the build is coming on nicely and looks really good to me.

 

Initially I thought that, if I was you, I’d ignore the sides not quite covering the folded up stands. As Mick says, it is hard to see in the raw brass - and it will be painted black ultimately which will further reduce visibility. But, if it bothers you, then Mick has suggested the options. Of these I would favour filing down the ends first….as long as the beading at the bottom doesn’t become too narrow (and visibly different to the side beading)

 

However, something else has occurred to me. This might help disguise the visible bend or…….make it more noticeable. There are brackets that attach to the footplate under each vertical frame of the body. I think that these really do need to touch ( or appear to touch) the sides. Does the fold get in the way?

 

If not, then I’m back to my first thought….ignore the problem🙂. If the fold does get in the way, then I think it’s a case of filing the ends and adding a strip to the sides, if necessary.

Jon

 

PS I know that you said you doubted your ability to solder a strip to the bottom of the sides……..just wanted to say that I disagree……I don’t doubt your ability to do this. …..and make a clean job of it.👍

 

Morning Jon, thanks for your kind words about the build and about my strip soldering abilities! 🙂

 

Like you, I'm now favouring filing down the ends because as I said to Steve P last night, the sides and ends have to stay in alignment. Good point about the ends' beading not becoming too thin: I think it'll be possible to avoid that, partly because I can also file down the top surfaces of the floorpan ends to get some of the height reduction. Also, there's no corresponding beading along the bottoms of the sides which might show up a difference in beading width.

 

Very good point about the side pillar bases: they do indeed need to appear to touch the sides and yes, the edge fold would prevent that, so something definitely needs to be done!! I made up those pillar bases a while back, ready to use when the time came, so while I'm measuring and deciding, I'll try them in place and see how they're affected too.

 

I just took a look at the photos of Miles Glenn's build using the Worsley Works etches that's on the Worsley site and that shows the sides fractionally too short - and I do mean fractionally - and with the floorpan/underframe painted black and it's not very noticeable I must admit... I'm still going to try and rectify it though!

[Chas Levin]

5 minutes ago, micklner said:

How about a length of 0.45mm brass wire on the sides ?. I have used that a few times , files flush easily and wicks the heat away for less chance of movement later. Using 177 deg solder would help as well.

 

Nice idea, Mick... I had already noted using high temp solder (mine is 188 I think) but wire might be much better than strip and perhaps easire to re-position if it does move.

I won't be able to do anything on it today, but I'll be able to turn all these ideas over in my mind while I'm out and about... 🤔

[micklner]

Wire is much easier to move (normally). I would still go for the ends option. Good luck !!

[Chas Levin]

4 minutes ago, micklner said:

Wire is much easier to move (normally). I would still go for the ends option. Good luck !!

 

Yep: I'm going to start with the ends. I'll measure things first, because if I can see that the amount of reduction needed should be do-able by filing, it'll make me more confident about doing it: it'll prove that the gap looks bigger to me at the moment than it really is.

 

Thanks all for your suggestions everyone 🙂