oh no Bengrim! I'm doing those runs because I love doing it and to make people happy, certainly not to be hated by people's wifes!
well at least I'm happy that it motivated you to fire up you lathe again
ok guys, so here is my small explanation on how I did the threading by hand but with the help of the lathe for a perfect alignment:
ok, appart from that, I continued on the non fun stuff to do and threaded all the holes for the ice cube system, 3 of them per piece. then I tested and attached each part to my own ZF-1 to make sure they fit perfectly! that was a fun moment putting then removing 36 screws.
here you can see how the holes are perfectly aligned with the ZF-1 frame, although it's not easy to hold a piece by hand and take a photo from the other hand on a smartphone...
and here with both screws:
oh yeah, and my ZF-1 is pretty much stripped at this point, I should post a photo when I get a chance of its current condition, pretty fun
at this point, the run is well advanced (60% approximatively and most of the lathe work is done, just waiting on receiving the mill...) and most problems are solved, you can't imagine how much things have to be thought about, tested, solved. How many things have to be found at the best price, purchased in bulk to try to save some money to all the buyers on the run... I think I have ordered the last piece yesterday, some small 10-32 bolts that I'll use to attach the very small 3rd clippard part at the bottom of the tubular MPA-3 part. I bought a huge job lot of clippard part at the time that included 11 MPA-3 parts and 11 of the small L fittings that go at the bottom but they didn't come with the special screw that go in there, so I had to find small bolts that I will modify slightly with the mill to make them perfectly accurate. That was the best way to have a big bulk order and save for everyone on the found parts.
speaking of found parts, I'm unclear if some of you guys wanted to get the gaz torch directly from me already unassembled and attached to the ZF-1 support? if that is the case, I'll need an idea of how many I need to purchase. I think the best way would be that I send a group PM to all of those registered here and ask you to respond if you want one.
cheers