WMD Part I by G-gnome

Reservoir Supports

To make the supports I started with some 50mm diameter stainless conduit clips. As only half the diameter (ie.25mm) of the res and end pieces are going to protrude into the case (and be able to be supported), I needed to make these clips 'shallower' whilst still keeping the same radius curve. I ruled up a piece of paper as a template, and marked off each side of the clip...



...before sticking them in a vise and bashing the ends out at the marked lines with a rubber mallet. I then cut off the excess, leaving around a 15mm tab.



Using the original ends as a template, I ruled curves on all the new ends, before grinding them down to the lines in my bench grinder.



Et voila! 4 supports. I drilled holes in the tabs, and matching holes in the case. Here you can see me test fitting. I tried M6 screws in the bottom row, but the clips wouldn't allow me to fit an M6 nut, so I settled on M4 top and bottom.



The final task was to drill and tap a mounting hole in each end piece. The hole went through both the end piece and the steel cap, with matching holes being drilled through the two end supports. The whole lot fitted together tightly with a couple of short M4 screws.



The reservoir just drops into it's cradle. As I mentioned before, I've still to got to make some covers to conceal the ends of the res, and stop it falling out if the case is tilted. These covers will not only make the res look part of the steel on either side, they'll also even up the different lengths of each end. I have a couple of other finishing touches planned as well.



It certainly looks better with a good polish. Luckily I had a few handy tools for this...