Fabricating the baffle tension rods that hold the cylinder baffle shrouds tight against the cylinders took much more time than I could have believed. The plans make it look easy, but the actual work with those stainless steel rods is anything but easy..
I used a hacksaw to cut the rods to length and then put them in the vise between two wooden boards to make the bends. Not too bad. Then came the cutting of the the #6 threads with the die. I used a lot of oil and worked slow to not break the wire rods. I trial fitted the rods and then went back to lengthen the threads. The baffle shrouds were bent so that one had to grind off part of the flat washers to fit the rod at the shroud hole. Of course, it was difficult to get the tools into the areas to install the all metal lock nuts and tighten them. The horizontal induction snorkle on the left side made it difficult to install the rods and install the nuts.
Except for a mid-afternoon snack, we worked contiuously most of the day and were happy to go home.
Using the cutting die to make the threads on the rod.
I could only get a small Crescent wrench in this area to tighten the nut.
