[modeleng] Re: Smokebox Door Hinges (again?)

Hi Jeff,

Try this one, I asked a mate how he did his. Create a former out of 
resin/fibreglass even wood using the smokebox door as a pattern. Gently form 
your hinges around this and they should fit like a glove.
Hope this helps,

Dave.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Harry Wade" <hww@xxxxxxxx>
To: <modeleng@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:46 PM
Subject: [modeleng] Re: Smokebox Door Hinges (again?)


> ----Original Message-----
>>From: Jeff Dayman <jeffdayman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>It's a lot of work, but . . .
>
> Barry, Jeff, Al, et al,
> I'm crushed.  All this knowledge, all this talent, no magic bullet.  Well, 
> no one said it would be easy, but it's occurred to me that decent results 
> might not be as difficult as I (or you) imagine them to be.  A short while 
> ago I cut a narrow strip of writing paper and laid it along the 
> approximate path of the strap.  To my surprise, as it made the transition 
> from flat (smokebox front) to curving door surface, the strip did not go 
> wiggling off at some odd angle, it actually appeared to the eye to remain 
> relatively straight.  Somehow this also suggested to me (I can't explian 
> why) that it won't take all that much relief on the back sides of the 
> straps to appear to lay flat aginst the door, perhaps a few strokes with a 
> disk in a Dremel.  (BTW, the door front is 8-5/8" radius.)
>
> Still, some change in angle was visible at the transition and confirmed 
> what I've suspected all along, that it would be necessary to somehow 
> determine the shape of the straps "in-the-flat" such that when applied to 
> the door would be visibly straight.  How to do this then?
>
> In a brain wave just now it occurred to me . . . glue strips of paper to 
> the door and mount the door on the mill.  Chuck a tube in the spindle and 
> in the tube insert a pencil, maybe with a light spring behind it.  Move 
> the mill table so as to scribe all edges of the straps.  The pencil will 
> automatically follow and account for the compound curvature of the door 
> and then you have a fairly accurate template for the straps, which I would 
> guess will not be all that curvey.  A little bit but not much.  This won't 
> elimnate the work of shaping the hinges but it should all but eliminate 
> the tedious cut-and-try of getting the straps straight.  I'll report back 
> on this in a couple of days.
> Regards,
> Harry
>
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