VICKERS MK6B's resto

[colin jones]

I know this is not military related but I needed a new letter box so I made one that I assume nobody else has. Well certainly not on my road anyway.
My old letterbox has been terminated.
Just looking again and it is military related as he is holding a 50cal ammo tin.

[David Dunlop]

So if somebody backs into it, Colin, will it automatically repair itself?

David

[colin jones]

David, if they did that it would be "Hasta La Vista Baby" he's a Terminator. That's what he does. Oh! as well as collect my mail

[Lynn Eades]

Up to your usual standard Colin. HE appears to have left his shorts behind

[Luke R]

I hope you concreted him in good and proper Colin, it's the type of mail box that would go walk about.

[colin jones]

Lynn, are you suggesting I need to put a pair of pants on him I haven't had him complain yet but certainly got the attention of my mail delivery people and a few passers by I just decided that I did not want a Gender Neutral letter box
Luke, he's not going anywhere fast as he's welded down to a 20mm thick plate with lots of ties into the 1/2 ton of concrete below. If he does get stolen, he won't be too hard to identify.

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Colin,
A lot of work went into that, well done.
At the Great Dorset Steam Fair in England a 20 foot high welded sculpture of a WW1 soldier was put on display, made from identifiable items of scrap, here is a link to a BBC news item, hope it works:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-38516957

[jdmcm]

Ok...how much for the mailbox terminator???....My order has been placed! Drop him off at Empire Disposals for the boat ride to Canada...just bloody fantastic!

John

[Sean Mayo]

Hi Colin,
that is a great letter box. Did you put solar lights in his eyes? I can imagine someone driving by at night time and seeing some red glowing eyes and hitting the gas petal.
Regards Sean.

[colin jones]

John, I am surprised at the offers and comments I've had with him considering I just made him for a bit of fun. I wanted to use his manly attribute as a lever to open the lid of the letterbox but thought is might cause a bit of a problem with the lady postie that delivers here.
Sean, the red eyes certainly is on the cards and maybe a predator on the other side of my driveway.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Great. You've had your fun...NOW GET BACK TO THE VICKERS!!!!

We addicts need our fix.

[Jesse Browning]

Put me on the list. I need one of those to open the door when the pesky salesman comes by. Jesse.

[colin jones]

Bruce! I am very sorry my letterbox deviated from the Vickers so this is a copy from the last previous page in case you never went back one, so here is where I am.
Jesse, I'll put you on the list
Back to the Vickers now as I have just got my blank gears back. I had to drill and tap the main ring gear and made a tool to fit my mill that allows me to tap the holes straight and true. After I have completed the gears, ring gear and the drive shaft I have to send them all in to be hardened. It certainly has been quite a unique part of this project but a very important one.[/QUOTE]

[Peter Duggan]

Colin,

Your workmanship is mind boggling. Your thread is my morning fixture, along with the first cup of coffee.

Keep up the great work, Peter

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by colin jones

Bruce! I am very sorry my letterbox deviated from the Vickers so this is a copy from the last previous page in case you never went back one, so here is where I am.

Thanks Colin!!! ...the shakes and cold sweats are subsiding...

(but I do like the idea about red eyes in Mr. Post box)

Just wondering why the Brits would think two planetary gears operating an outer gear and driven by a central shaft made sense instead of a simple driven end. I imagine the whole thing is filled with grease or hypoid so it suffers from that other Brit characteristic of perpetual leaks?

[Lynn Eades]

Bruce, Because it is a good way to go from high speed low torque to low speed high torque. The sun gear is self supporting, being loaded from opposite sides.
Probably lighter than a big pinion and gear arrangement, especially considering the line in and line out are the same axis in this case.
Without carefully counting teeth, it is probably somewhere between a 12:1 to 15:1 reduction.

[colin jones]

Wow, I will be ever so glad when this part is finished as is so time consuming to get it right. I have machined up metal plugs to go in place where the bearings go and have a centred hole. It all needed to be assembled so I can use the centre hole to transfer the centre location to both sides and it has been no easy task. It maybe the total wrong way but it is progressing. Now that I have the centres I can move on and machine the bearing centre shafts. These recess part way into the bottom housing and a bolt goes through the centre and threads in place. I sure am lucky to have one original.

[colin jones]

I had to reduce the size of the gears to fit just below the ring gear. I am hoping to finish all parts for this drive this week so I can get them hardened and back for final assembly and installation.

[David Dunlop]

Am I correct in thinking, Colin, that although two different engines will be in service between Wombat and Bower Bird, you must still fabricate essentially two sets of Powertrain items at this point in the project? What we see in your recent posts is essentially ‘x 4’?

David

[colin jones]

Hi David, no I am going to make wombat hydraulic drive as that will take care of the turning and reverse all in one. There are some very good system components out there with 2 speed pumps and they are generally all variable speed. At this point and time I haven't given too much thought about Wombat. As it will be so totally different I just didn't want to have two different lots of componentry around my workshop and get myself all confused. You know we are all accused of non multi tasking

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Peter Duggan

Colin,

Your workmanship is mind boggling. Your thread is my morning fixture, along with the first cup of coffee.

Keep up the great work, Peter

Colin, you need to find a hobby. Something to spark your creative side. Sitting on the internet all hours of the day and night isn't doing you soul any good. ( )

Terry

[colin jones]

Hey Terry, perhaps you're right but this creative stuff is all in the mind I think
I have assembled, disassembled, made adjustments so many times I think i'm wearing out the bearings but almost there now. The small shaft with the gear is the final part of the fabrication. I have to get a disc welded to the end and it's not something I can do. The particular steel is called "EN36A" and is wonderful to work with and can then be hardened anywhere and depth required. The piece that needs to welded on the end is also the same material as I found out that if it is not compatible it will fail and the welding process is extremely specific and not within my ability. It must be welded with special rods, heated to 600-650deg, covered in some kind of sand with regulated cooling. As this small shaft it the final drive "FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION"
and not a time to cut corners. Anyway, it will be off to the specialty welders tomorrow, get it back Monday, off to the heat treaters Tuesday, get the parts back some time next week then it will be the final assembly, engine, tracks and so on.

[colin jones]

Of course the picture are about face. Anyway after the disc is welded to the small shaft I will need to face it off on the lathe and then drill, dowell and bolt the clutch housing to the end. There will be some serious torque on this part.

[David Herbert]

Colin,
What are the dozen or so small holes drilled radially half way along the shaft ? I did wonder if they were related to the indexing of the gear teeth but although it is hard to see, I think there are less holes than teeth so not that.

David

[colin jones]

Spot on David, they were for indexing. I was going to machine them off but as it made no difference I thought I would just leave them there. All the other gears had them too but needed to be machined off.
Colin!

[Andrew Rowe]

Not to hijack your thread, but his name is NED! , Cheers Andrew.

[David Dunlop]

Well, that’s two of your crew accounted for now, Colin.

David

[David Herbert]

Should post boxes have a thread of their own ?

Hanno, please delete this if you want !

David

[colin jones]

Andrew, is that in Aussie Ned or a Kiwi Ned.
David, any suggestions for the third.

Back to the serious stuff I have completed the centre shafts that hold the bearings for the gears. I have changed the design as the original is very complicated and from what I can see is unnecessary. The material used is the same as the gears but I won't be getting them hardened as they don't move at all.

[colin jones]

Each shaft is held in place by the recess top and bottom and there is no way they can move whereas the original is held in place by a wedge bracket and bolt. The last photo shows the heavy plate/bracket which needs to be bolted down to the underside with a series of bolts. Very strong once completed.