A Restoration

[Alan64]

11 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Yes not an official moto although the public think it is.

“While the Postal Service has no official motto, the popular belief that it does is a tribute to America's postal workers. The words above, thought to be the motto, are chiseled in gray granite over the entrance to the New York City Post Office on 8th Avenue and come from Book 8, Paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus. During the wars between the Greeks and Persians (500-449 B.C.), the Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who served with great fidelity.”

Fidelity is apparently elusive, fleeting.

[Alan64]

[johninderby]

We can only dream of the postal service in Victorian London.

“In Victorian London, though service wasn't 24/7, it was close to 12/6. Home delivery routes would go by every house 12 times a day — yes, 12. In 1889, for example, the first delivery began about 7:30 a.m. and the last one at about 7:30 p.m. In major cities like Birmingham by the end of the century, home routes were run six times a day.

"In London, people complained if a letter didn't arrive in a couple of hours," said Catherine J. Golden, a professor of English at Skidmore College and author of "Posting It: The Victorian Revolution in Letter Writing" (2009).

And, not unlike us, most Victorian letter writers seemed more concerned about getting a rapid response than a long one. "Return of post" was an often-used phrase, requesting an immediate response, in time for the next scheduled delivery that day.”

[Alan64]

Yea, the heyday is over.  The Jubilees were used round that time.

These, and what I call my "Whitechapel" Jubilees...

But only if one might dare to travel there, and then.  Silent witnesses they are, and to an unspeakable horror. <heavy breathing ensues>

Then, later, we have this...

...and wondrous in its own right.

 

 

[Alan64]

The aluminum for the gap-filler is currently, "Out for Delivery, Expected Delivery by 3:45pm".
 

I'm...so...ex...ci...ted.  

[Alan64]

The aluminum arrived yesterday...

...and brimming with hope, promise, and merry respites.

[reezeh]

16 hours ago, Alan64 said:

The aluminum arrived yesterday...

Yay!!!  🎉🎊

[Alan64]

11 hours ago, reezeh said:

Yay!!!  🎉🎊

Everything has been going slow on this aspect.  I had to order a whole other sheet, for just one more piece, and then a few more hairs turned grey, or white rather, whilst waiting upon it to arrive.  Then, to top it off, it's to correct what those involved failed to do.  That gap is inexcusable, and it doesn't matter as to the marque of polar-scope. 

Something got lost in the translation when China began to clone that Japanese.

But on the bright side, I'm nearing the end.

[Alan64]

The two outer layers of the gap-filler for the polar-scope were sanded in several directions with 100-grit paper, then washed...

The centre layer was sanded on both sides; glamour shot...

All three will be J-B Weld-ed together.

[Alan64]

Now to wait.

[Alan64]

Not a glamour shot...

Only one side will be described, then all three layers sawn in unison.

[Alan64]

That's all I need out from that mess...

[Alan64]

Extra circles were described, and as guide-lines whilst dressing out the diameters with a sanding-drum, for improved accuracy.  Also, the pilot-hole for the scroll-saw's blade was drilled...

One nice surprise: I did not see any epoxy along the sawn edges...

[Alan64]

Here, it is just about to drop...

[Alan64]

A few more times round the inner diameter with the sanding-drum, and...

...dropped.

"Look Mum, no gap!"...

Much to my surprise, the outer diameter, of the thing or washer, where I had simply and randomly stopped sanding, turned out to be exactly as that of the scope-cap...

That is what is known, in a strange vernacular, as a "coinkydink".

Next, I will need to reduce the outer diameter of the thing until it drops into the cap.  It won't take too terribly much to drop it, only the thickness of the wall of the cap there.

[Alan64]

Drat... 

The thing just couldn't take the heat from the sanding and grinding.  It just wasn't in the stars to be.

I have enough of the aluminum to do it all over again, but why would I want to do that?

Back to the drawing board.

[Alan64]

I did learn from the failure.  I didn't take the scope-cap into consideration.  I will need to make the new thing the same diameter as the date-dial of the polar-scope, and with the same inner diameter as before.

I've ordered a 4" x 6" aluminum sheet, and 3.2mm thick.  I should've ordered that the first time.  I should receive it more quickly, as it will be sent from a state adjacent to my own.  We'll see.

[SpookyKatt]

Why remake it, why not just sand down what you have and re bond them and give it a final refining sanding ?

I mean its nearly there as is, why not just adjust them and stick them together, I mean this is just a spacer
after all. 

Edited August 29, 2021 by SpookyKatt

[Alan64]

On 29/08/2021 at 10:21, SpookyKatt said:

Why remake it, why not just sand down what you have and re bond them and give it a final refining sanding ?

I mean its nearly there as is, why not just adjust them and stick them together, I mean this is just a spacer
after all. 

Too late... 

The 3.18mm-thick aluminum is currently, "Out for Delivery, Expected Delivery by 3:00pm".

I would then have to grind on it further after re-gluing, and that's not happening.

[SpookyKatt]

Hows your plan to fit the dec motor coming along Alan ?  Have you got a way forward on doing that ? 

[Alan64]

Another reason why not to re-glue the old spacer back together again is that there's another glued layer which was subjected to the heat, repeatedly, as well.  It would've come apart before finishing up the grinding and sanding, and I did have a bit more to do.  Life's too short for all of that...

I've never had aluminum stock this thick before...

It sits right at 3.07mm, according to the caliper.  At that thickness, I won't have to radically adjust the date-dial of the polar-scope via its retaining-rings, like I would've with the old spacer; perhaps only very little or none at all.

The old spacer sat at 3.37mm, incidentally.

[Alan64]

7 minutes ago, SpookyKatt said:

Hows your plan to fit the dec motor coming along Alan ?  Have you got a way forward on doing that ? 

Ah, we mustn't rush these things.  I haven't even completed the mount yet.  It will be a challenge in enabling the fitting of it, and perhaps a fun one.

It has already been done, per a thread on CN.  But I didn't care for the manner in which it was done.  In any event, it was successful.

[Alan64]

Oh, if I'm careful in laying the spacer out on the sheet, I can probably get a total of three spacers out of it, in case mistakes are made.

[Alan64]

I couldn't describe the outermost circle right on the edge of the sheet, as this sheet is not quite squared, and it was not sawn but seemingly chopped out, as one or two of the edges are slightly bevelled...

But there it is nonetheless.  As to when it will be sawn out, that's anybody's guess, including my own. 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Alan64

[Alan64]