A Slow Day

Suffering from low energy levels today, so I took it slowly.

There are 13 moulds to be made and mounted on the Building Jig. I have mounted two moulds so far, #7 and #8. Just to remind you:

Today's posting covers the making and installing a third mould, #9.

To be able to put mould #9 in place I need two uprights bolted to the base. One is all ready in place and here is the second upright freshly cut.

I  position this upright on the jig base, cramp it in place. Then drill two 12mm (3/8") diameter holes through both the upright and the jig base. I insert one coach through the top hole and tighten.

TIP added after build: Cover the bolts and nuts in masking tape to protect them from glue: they take 30 seconds to undo ... but ... if glue falls on them and sets (as it did on many of mine) it can take 15 - 30 minutes to get each bolt unfastened. 

I used a spirit level to make sure the post is vertical and then insert and tighten the second bolt. Then check again for vertical accuracy and then fully tighten both bolts.

I want ALL the tops of the moulds to be 1250mm from the ground, so I subtract the depth of the mould, 750mm, from 1250 (1250 - 750 = 500) and measure and pencil mark 500 up from the floor on the two uprights and clamp a piece of timber between the uprights at the 500 marks - using a spirit level to check it's horizontal. This cross piece will support and accurately locate the mould when it's made.

I struggle curse and swear a Sterling board into the horizontal and then begin to mark out the mould from the drawing

I place nails at positions I have plotted. Then run a flexible batten around the nails and pencil in the curves (forgot to photograph this stage, sorry)

I then carefully cut out the mould using a jig saw.

I then placed the mould onto the support on the two uprights, made sure the centre line on the mould met the centre line on the horizontal support. I cramped the mould in place and screwed it to the uprights. 

Job done!