Launch!

We have two pad heads that need repair. I have a box with spares of many of the parts that are used to make the pad heads, but the particular spare parts needed are blanks that need some shaping, drilling, and tapping. I likely have all the tools I need to do this, but am looking for any history on how Bill made the parts and assembled the finished product. My questions are:

1. Does anyone know what the material is?

2. Does anyone remember what Bill used to shape these parts?

I have a drill press, tap, belt sander, and bench grinder. Am attaching a photo of the part itself, a partially shaped blank (1 of 1 on hand), and a rectangular blank.

Thanks!

I'm recalling Bill told me that he used spare Corian, left over from counter installs.

Though I've not witnessed it, the word around Saugus is that Bill pressed the Corian into the shape of Spadpads with his bare hands.

I believe you are correct about them being Corian. Google says any carbide tipped cutting tool should work. My bench belt sander also seems to work well. Since I have Electrical Engineer hands and not Plumber hands, I expect I will need to use tools. Have also found/ordered some butterfly head stainless bolts to replace some of the bolts that have seen better days due to corrosion from engine exhaust, making them not tighten quite as well in the Corian blocks anymore. Ordered some larger diameter bolts for holes that are too stripped out so that I can drill and re-tap with oversize bolts.

Guy.

I designed, printed and used these swivel heads for the Cub Scout Pack Launch we held back in June. They held up very well on a hot day. As currently designed it supports up to a 1/4" launch rod, which is secured with a #10 socket cap screw by hand. The other rotating parts use 1/4" hardware to tighten. Perhaps I can modify (or make a new design) to work with our club setup? I could make a whole box of parts, and share the files for others if it works out, so we never run out :-)

Jeremy,

Those pad heads look really nice. We have a dozen or more of sets of spare parts for the current club pad head design. It will not take much effort to finish off the blocks we have to replace the couple of parts we need to fix the two heads in question, and I would rather use up what we have than to toss them unused. Thanks for the offer!