Much messing around in the Manufactory Workshop this weekend, not all to good effect.
On Friday a number of parcels finally arrived at the Moran Manufatory's tradesman's entrance which proved to contain the parts necessary to finish the Aetheric Neuralizer. This meant that a number of problems I was still struggling to find an answer to had to be solved "as I went" which never goes well.
Not only that, some parts I had ordered that would form a vital part of both the aesthetic and electrical design turned out to be missing the mounting method I had assumed they would have. The tintype in the supplier's catalogue had been taken from a vantage that did not highlight this design feature, and I cuold not implement the mounting that the parts did come with so I was caught between a Gashant and a Steppe Tiger.
Over the course of the next day and a half I discovered anew that I shouldn't work when tired, especially when drilling large holes in things in which I want a minimum of holes, and that a quarter-inch hole in a PVC pipe fitting can be tapped to accept a 5/16ths threaded stud in a gratifyingly short time. Paint will hide all.
These holes were drilled for two reasons. Firstly, to be threaded so they would accept the eye-bolts for the shoulder-sling, secondly so the stems of the rotary potentiometers c/w on/off switch that will, with the addition of some nice red hand-wheels, place the device firmly in the "steampunk" milieu rather than the "Star Trek" one.
It was these potentiometers that proved so awkward to mount. I had expected them to have the popular large threaded bushing/skimpy nut & crown lock-washer affair so that I could make small brass plates and mount them in those - just as one would with a Marconi Receiver. However, these bally things came with tabs so they could be soldered to a circuit board directly. Useless for the task at hand, as they were too short to wrap around any metal strap large enough to provide a mounting in the tightly curved inner spaces of the Neuralizer's casing.
It was maddening, and I could not come up with a satisfactory solution to the conundrum until late Sunday night, when a combination of double-sided mounting tape and a piece of copper pipe turned out to work rather well.
I manufactured a screw thread onto the stems of the devices first so they would accept a nut, than the hand-wheel then another nut to secure the wheel. Then I applied a generous pad of the tape to the top face of the cylindrical body of the potentiometer and, passing the stem through the hole I had drilled for it in the Neuralizer, pressed it up against the inside of the casing. Then I cut a length of copper pipe that ran from the outer casing surface up to the inner face of the first nut, less a smidgeon.
The result was the pipe was sandwiched lightly between the Neuralizer casing and the inner boss of the handwheel, keeping the whole affair properly seated on the tape and preventing a ding to the handwheel pushing the potentiometer off its rather flimsy mounting.
Naturally, one of the potentiometers would not cooperate and despite these measures came loose and span in its mount so the switch wouldn't work properly. I "solved" this with the aid of some epoxy putty originally intended to allow a tradesman to do shoddy work instead of a proper job. I simply suspended my "must come off again" rule for everything and slathered the bally thing in white paste, which is setting up (still(!)) as I type.
I also secured the inner core of the Moran Aetheric Resonator to the crystal pipe that forms the actuating principle of the Neuralizer. Without this component the Neuralizer is but a tawdry prop suitable only for play-acting.
I was scrupulous when it came to cleaning the crystal tube, and it was only after I had secured the inner core with a special rubber formulation that would ensure an air-tight dust seal that I realized that, what with all the different problems I was solving as I went I had neglected to clean the core itself. Too late by then of course, D_sh It!
The good news is that with the exception of the fabrication of the battery box and the still-vexing matter of how to secure the Superheterodyning Tubes to the barrel, this represents the final problem with the Neuraliser, the rest of the job being a matter of straightforward "x requires y be done" tasks that should take very little effort.
The bad news is that I'm quite behind schedule and must now rush to finish by the debut date.
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