Record SS cap iron

[Racers]

Hi,

I got the top half of a Record SS cap iron from xy mosian and made a replacement end piece for it, just using a hacksaw, files and a drill. I took a couple of hours (including lunch)

Top, Record and mine

Underneath

Fitted

I now have two 4 1/2 size SS cap irons and have fitted it to my War finish Record 4 1/2 and it works better than it used to.

Pete

 

[xy mosian]

Pete, that's a nice bit of hand metalworking. Sometimes it's suprising just what can be acheived without machines. Well done, and it's good to see what was essentially scrap put to good, original use, use.

xy

 

[bugbear]

Hi,

I got the top half of a Record SS cap iron from xy mosian and made a replacement end piece for it, just using a hacksaw, files and a drill. I took a couple of hours (including lunch)

wow.

I would have been confident that the groove in the cap iron was not doable by hand - I would have expected the dubbing at the ends of the groove to be severe. It would have if I'd done it

Anything involved except skill and care?

BugBear

 

[Racers]

Hi, BB

I cut two slots with a hacksaw using a very tight blade and putting hand pressure on the blade to stop it bowing, then cut at an angle from one slot to the other to remove the waste. Even applying pressure to the blade I did have to file more from the middle, there are some marks from the big rasp I used to shape the underside near the slot. I am a fan of rasps I have found a few on car boot sales and they eat wood, metal etc.

I cleaned the rust off by rapping it in some kitchen paper and applying Cilit Bang, the paper holds their folded faces to the floor, sorry the Cilit Bang on whatever you are de-rusting with out using gallons.

Pete

 

[Gower]

Nice job Pete. Most impressed. I bought an upgraded cap iron from Clifton for my Stanley No.4 some time ago and thought it was their design. From your photos, it seems not.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[Karl]

Quality work Pete.

 

[matthewwh]

Jim,

Think of Clifton as a born again Record without the accountants poking their noses in and you're not far off.

Same men, using the same machinery in the same building, but when Alan Reid took over he told them to concentrate on making the planes right and let him worry about the finances.

Total culture change overnight, and the products speak for themselves.

One of the cleverest things about the the two piece cap iron is that it isn't supposed to be dead accurate, everything else in the system is machined to very high tolerances, but the fit between the top and bottom parts of the cap iron is intentionally loose so that any inaccuracies in the system manifest themselves there, where it matters least to performance.

That isn't to take anything away from Pete's metalworking which is quite remarkable, especially as it is hand worked; very, very impressive.

 

[woodbloke]

A difficult metalwork job to do...nicely done =D> - Rob