Armour Dreams

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

Continuing with turret gearbox, the next item that I needed to make was the handwheel. Not quite as simple as around disc as it contains a remote trigger for the MG34. It would have been a casting but as I don't have that option, I fabricated it.
It started life as a flat piece of 10mm thick steel plate which I cut, turned and then added the relevant bosses.

[Jonathan Moore]

A quick grind with a burr and a shot blast made it look something like the original.
Then the wall of the bosses needed to be machine away so that the two are connected as when it is finished a pivoted arm fits in the channel and a slot for a drive key needed machining into the opposite side of the center boss .
The handle obviously contains the trigger mechanism, I made the outer housing from separate bits of 3mm plate welded together and then I ground the outer profile to shape.

[Jonathan Moore]

In the pictures I have just dropped a 6mm bolt in the the top of the handle to show how it operates. When the trigger is pulled it raises a rod which raises the pivoted arm held in the channel of the wheel. The other end of the arm, which is slotted into a rod that runs up the center of the gearbox shaft, is pushed down this in turn pulls and pushes a series of rods linked to the trigger on the MG.
And that's as far as I got today as I promised myself to spend the afternoon gardening.

Jon

[Jonathan Moore]

Evening All,

I had a couple of hours this afternoon so I made the linkage that runs from the trigger grip to the top of the gearbox. I don't know whether there was a spring in the original linkage or if they just relied on the spring in the MG trigger assembly but I have incorporated a spring as my linkage will not be attached to the MG when it is installed. Hopefully the attached pictures are self explanatory as I can never work out how you put the words next to the individual pictures on this forum.

[Jonathan Moore]

The two pictures show what happens to the spindle that runs vertically through the center of the rotation shaft, when you operate the trigger. The other picture shows where this component is situated on the gearbox. In simple terms, when you pull the trigger in, the spindle is pulled down and when you release the trigger the spindle pops back up.

[super dave]

All I can say is wow, Keep up the Great work

[James P]

When it comes time to stamp a hull number on that tank of yours find the total ever made to end of production, then add one.

[Jonathan Moore]

Originally Posted by super dave

All I can say is wow, Keep up the Great work

When it comes time to stamp a hull number on that tank of yours find the total ever made to end of production, then add one.

Sirs you are too kind.

Thanks for the comments.

Jon