Saturday, June 02, 2012

Installed R5 Eyes and Antenna

Today I worked on installing the COM8 R5 eyes and antenna on my R5-D4 dome.

The eyes are drilled and tapped for a pair of #10-32 screws. The dome has a single hole pre-drilled in the center for each eye, but I'll need two holes on either side of each eye to match the screw pattern.

I used a piece of tape and punched holes in it with a screw to get the pattern for the screw holes in the dome.




I then transferred the tape to the dome so I could start drilling.



I used a 7/64" drill bit to drill pilot holes first.




After drilling the six pilot holes with the 7/64" bit, I went back with the wider 0.191" drill bit to accommodate the #10 screws that hold the eyes in place.



The two screws per eye do a good job of securing the eyes to the dome. If I were really meticulous, I would sand a curve into the back of each eye to match the dome profile, but I've grown lazy in my old age. And it's pretty hard to tell from any normal distance that there is a 0.1 millimeter gap.



A view from the inside. Lots of #10 screws holding things in place.



The antenna is also held on with a #10 screw, and a large washer.




Getting a little closer to the finish line.



I still need to work on attaching the aluminum struts in the dome breadpans, and the material that goes in the neck ladder. I also plan to drill a second Rockler bearing, so I won't have to go through the hassle of undoing dome screws when I swap between the R2 dome and the R5 dome.

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