OP
mickeyw
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2012
- Messages
- 64
- Location
- Surrey, UK
- Tractor
- 1987 Renault 68-12, 1981 JD1640, 1973 Ford 3000
Hi, it's been a while since my last update, but I've had a few productive evenings this week.
I've made progress on the sliding wedge. I didn't have a nice thick piece of plate for the base of the slider, so I decided to double up with some 1/4" plate. To make this more like a single piece of steel I drilled 3/8" holes through the top plate, and plug welded through to the lower plate, like this:
I'll also weld around the edges later on.
Next for some lateral guides to keep it on the beam. I'm not sure quite how much clearance to leave, so I sat the slider on the beam and clamped more plates to the underside of the slide plate, adjusting their position until the whole thing ran up and down the beam smoothly. I then tack welded them in place and drilled the clamp bolt holes through.
Then for the keeper plates, not sure if that is the correct term but it'll do for now, that stop the wedge assembly jumping off the beam. I had some 2x1/2" bar, so a couple of lengths of that were cut. I tacked them in place to hold everything in place while I spotted the bolt holes through.
So looking on the end I now have this construction.
The keepers will need an angle machined on the inner top corners to provide the correct clearance against the underside of the beam.
I've made progress on the sliding wedge. I didn't have a nice thick piece of plate for the base of the slider, so I decided to double up with some 1/4" plate. To make this more like a single piece of steel I drilled 3/8" holes through the top plate, and plug welded through to the lower plate, like this:
I'll also weld around the edges later on.
Next for some lateral guides to keep it on the beam. I'm not sure quite how much clearance to leave, so I sat the slider on the beam and clamped more plates to the underside of the slide plate, adjusting their position until the whole thing ran up and down the beam smoothly. I then tack welded them in place and drilled the clamp bolt holes through.
Then for the keeper plates, not sure if that is the correct term but it'll do for now, that stop the wedge assembly jumping off the beam. I had some 2x1/2" bar, so a couple of lengths of that were cut. I tacked them in place to hold everything in place while I spotted the bolt holes through.
So looking on the end I now have this construction.
The keepers will need an angle machined on the inner top corners to provide the correct clearance against the underside of the beam.
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