Day 9 - Sunday 7th June 2003

During the week, the other two pneumatic cylinders arrived. So, it was time to fit them and see what happens.

The first call of the day was to get a pillar drill - some drilling earlier in the project had seen smoke coming out of the really old electric drill I'd been using, and I'd wanted a pillar drill for a while. This was quite a cheap one, but it'll do the job:

Now, three feet were made. The ends of the cylinders were M8, so an M8 bolt with an M8 repair washer were welded together to form a foot:

Next, brackets were made to hold the cylinders in place. This was the first use of the pillar drill in anger. These were tacked in place, where I wanted the feet to go. Once I'd finalised the positions, then some bottom brackets will be made to hold them in place:

Now, plumbing for the air:

And now, it was the test - will it support its current weight?

No. Oh well.

The back holds the weight, but only just, and the front can't cope with it. This is because the cylinders aren't beefy enough for the job. I checked with the air from the welder (which can pump out over 10 times what the cylinders can support), and they still didn't manage it. This means I will have to:

• Get cylinders with larger bores
• Or get cylinders with higher pressure limits

I'll have to have a think about this...