Cool. And Zippy, yes, I thought about this. What I came up with to sandwich between the chassis and tube socket would affect things for the better. But the mass of the sheild brings something more. As you tap on the chassis with the device installed, I know it may seem like a person couldn't sense this(?), but you do get a sense of something different going on. Its maybe like putting a weight on top of the chassis and then tapping. Can you see how this might change things?
Also, as to the source for the white silicone material that I used? Well, that would be BiMart - and it was actually a Christmas gift to my wife. ?? Let me explain. I was considering what to use here and I went thru all my things - nada! But then somethng caught my eye in the kitchen. My wife's sister had given her these two pot holders. We rarely use them and frankly they look kinda odd. They have a hole in one corner so you can hang them up and they have a bumpy pattern to them front and back. Where we do use them is to put a hot pot down on a table or counter. .....So they start out as maybe 9X9, and now one of them is 7X7.
. Eh, it's still usable I figure, so shoot me.
. Anyway they can't cost very much and its the right stuff - soft enough, heat resistant, and fireproof! Go BiMart!
OK, tubetwang, et all, I will walk you thru what else I did to modify the piece for the TW install - and yes, I know you are all handy and adaptive cats. I will give you more detail later if you like.
Basically, the main task was adapting one of the socket types that I was already using in the TW, the Belton socket. This has the 3/4" diameter body and the correct pinout direction for the TW build. The supplied ceramic Russian socket (the one on the left in the above pics) was too big diameter-wise and had the wrong pin layout/direction. Follow? OK, so I had to open up the crimped metal that housed the socket itself - because I had to pull the socket out and reverse it. Yeah, I had to make it BOTTOM mountable. You can see the results in those pics, the socket on the right - this is not stock, it is altered as described. You can see my silicone sandwich meat (hot pad) there too, this was cut out with an Exacto knife. (Cut the hole as tight as possible.) The holes for the bolts are just drilled - and it is better if it is a small drill so that the bolts are grabbed by the silicone during install.
Also to prep the chassis, I used a Greenlee stepped bit and just went to the next opening size. Nothing radical here, just enough so the the top of the socket doesn't touch the chassis. You could just as easily do this with a rat tail file and check it as you go. The idea is to 'float' the socket as much as possible. But remember you must still be able to pull the tube out when you need to. And here the socket has a lip on it, pretty much 360 degrees around it, that the silicone sandwich has to match. Again, see pics. I didn't actually recrimp the socket back in its mounting bracket either, but it sort of snapped in, which was fine.
OK, fine so far? The sheild has two tapped holes in it to receive the bolts. I took about 3/32" to maybe 1/8" off the two cylinders that standoff the sheild. See these in the finished pic. Here I figured I could always find more bolts but these things are kinda important. They are relatively heavy material, probably chrome plated brass. Anyway, for this task I started with the vise method and a file but quickly moved to putting the piece in my hand drill chuck and directing it at a flat bastard file secured on a table. Spinning it and dragging it across the file in the direction of the cut made for pretty short work. Try to end up with a level piece, of course......
OK, cooking with rooster is over for this Thursday.
Most people stall out when fixing a mistake that they've made. Why?
