Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Baby Black Widows

I have started building my set of Baby Black Widows for the PFR-3A.  They arrived the other day and I skipped one step in the construction and began by finishing the brass pieces first.  Jerry W5JH's instructions would have you begin by mounting the knurled heads on the screws; but I figured I can do that while the lacquer is drying after I spray the finished brass pieces this weekend.

I bought both 220 and 400 grit sandpaper at Home Depot.  As Jerry suggested, I masking taped the sandpaper down onto a flat surface, our freezer in the basement.  I gloved up one hand and began sanding the brass pieces.  Gloves are recommended so you don't get any finger oils on the clean brass.  Finger oils on brass promote tarnishing and an uneven look.  When I did the fine and final sanding, I donned two gloves.  Being able to switch hands was a boon towards preventing hand cramping while moving the pieces back and forth along the sandpaper.  These are pretty small pieces and you have to hold on to them very well so they don't go launching into space!

The sanding is done and the brass now has a nice "brushed" finish.  I have wrapped the pieces up in a silver polishing cloth for safekeeping until I can spray this weekend.  I will need to stop back at Home Depot for some 4/40 screws so I can fill the threaded holes before I spray the lacquer so that the threads don't get "gunked up".

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

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