Thanx Brendan (and Jason and Mike) for posting and reposting these photos. The shim pattern has to be accurate, and to achieve that I will bring it up during the Spring Work Weekend and actually fit it over the cylinders and modify it on the spot if it needs it. I will then modify the follow block to the point where it can be used. Working on curved patterns can be difficult. I have been working over 1 1/2 years on clamshell door patterns for CNJ 113 (with delays for other projects) where nothing is flat. At times, things don't work out and have to be junked and started over. I am currently working on the core boxes and have wasted much time trying to figure them out.
Bernie
When I was in college I had an internship with Bucyrus (now bought out by Caterpillar). Bucyrus made shovels, drills, and drag lines for surface mining. While I was there, the cost of metals was going through the roof and smaller mines that weren't normally profitable were. As such, Bucyrus was in the process of making lots of spare parts to bring a lot of shovels out of mothball status and was even reintroducing models of shovels that hadn't been built since the early sixties.
One of my jobs as a mechanical engineering intern was to take an actual "blue"-print hand drawing of a shovel bucket and redesign it for modern manufacturing techniques. Your "complaint" of no flat surfaces was the bane of that project as well. In addition to no flat surfaces, there were no defined curves and only general overall dimensions. Fun times and a real sense of acomplishment when the job is done.
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