Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 15:35:44 -0700
Reply-To: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Pop top issue
In-Reply-To: <BANLkTins7PEWm0NQ3aEFq5tbk1veQ1AyvA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Thanks Mike S and Neil. I've been gone camping since Monday morning and
just got back. Have some catching up to do.
David B posted pictures of what a failing poptop hinge (pivot? pulley?)
looks like. The pulley looks to be bulging out of its housing.
<https://picasaweb.google.com/dbeierl/VanagonPopTopHingeTroubles#>
I can't tell if mine is undergoing the same failure. The poptop has
gotten harder to move.
Here are shots of mine:
<https://picasaweb.google.com/j.michael.elliott/PoptopHinges?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXnpcK_gtDDuAE&feat=directlink>
--
Rocky J Squirrel
On Mon, 2011-05-30 at 09:56 -0700, neil n wrote:
> You will likely see this during your inspection, but have a look at
> the cable where it passes over the upper arm.
>
> https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/PopTopStrutCableAndSpringEtc#5509195367211185330
>
> Top down, or most of the way down, exposes most of the cable. You can
> still see part of cable top up. Check if cables are frayed.
>
> Neil.
>
> On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Rocket J Squirrel
> <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Thanks. I wonder if anyone came up with an "everyman" solution. One not
> > requiring a lathe or Bronze Age metalworking skills. I'll eye the hinges in
> > Mellow Yellow this camping trip and if they look fishy I'll be needing to
> > fix 'em up. I'll raise the issue then.
> >
> > On Sun, 2011-05-29 at 22:02 -0700, neil n wrote:
> >
> > Oh.
> >
> > Maybe use PVC instead of copper? OD of that schedule (thickness) PVC
> > needed to be reduced or hole in arm embiggened much more so than for
> > the copper, but AFAIK, the ID wouldn't need to be altered. Personally
> > i would stick with metal. I just threw it out there.
> >
> > Neil.
> >
> > On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 9:56 PM, Rocket J Squirrel
> > <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Outstanding. There's another sentence maybe you could unpack:
> >>
> >> "Of note, a chunk of thicker wall 3/4" PVC found on bench fit bar OD
> >> nicely."
> >>
> >> Nice to hear, but I don't understand what this means.
> >>
> >> Would wearing 19th century deep sea diving equipment help?
> >>
> >> On Sun, 2011-05-29 at 21:48 -0700, neil n wrote:
> >>
> >> For annealing you will need:
> >>
> >> - Flux Capacitor
> >> - Box with window and gloves like Homer J has at work
> >> - 911 on speed dial
> >> - band-aids
> >>
> >> ;)
> >>
> >> I use a propane torch (like you use for plumbing at home) to heat the
> >> metal til it's red-orange in colour. It helps to have lower lighting
> >> to see the colour change though safety first right?
> >>
> >> With copper or brass, you can cool it down with water or air cool.
> >> Seems to make no difference. (other than any possible water spatter)
> >>
> >> Annealing = making metal softer. Working it will harden it.
> >>
> >> I don't recall exactly what I did to expand the piece but I either:
> >>
> >> used a socket on 1/2" extension in vice as mandrel, slipped piece on,
> >> hit it with a hammer making sure the mandrel was "backing it up" at
> >> all times. This spreads the metal. Or.....
> >>
> >> Pounded a suitably sized sockets through the pipe bit thus expanding it.
> >>
> >> Thinking now, maybe this isn't an evermans solution, but, well, there
> >> ya go. I've had some experience shaping brass (dent removal etc.) so
> >> this wasn't foreign to me. The ID is close so it didn't take much to
> >> get it to fit over the push arm.
> >>
> >> That 5 min. LePage epoxy didn't hold that great. But the piece is more
> >> or less held in place by the arms where they pivot.
> >>
> >> Neil.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 9:14 PM, Rocket J Squirrel
> >> <camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> "Embiggen" is a perfectly cromulent word.
> >>>
> >>> On that page, you wrote, "Bushing: 3/4" pipe. Annealed, expanded a little
> >>> w/normal hand tools."
> >>>
> >>> What, pray tell, hand tools does one use to expand 3/4'' pipe? And
> >>> annealing
> >>> . . . this is a process involving a leather blacksmith apron, asbestos
> >>> gloves, goggles with smoked lenses, and a small boy pulling on a bellows
> >>> --
> >>> right?
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
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