Some Assembly Required

After spending the day with friends I've done a little more on the Clayton build, specifically the rather fiddly brake leaver. This bit hasn't changed since I built one up for the first prototype so it still consists of eight tiny etched parts on a piece of 0.33mm nickel silver wire. Last time I found getting the front and back layers, which slot through the 3D printed body, aligned and straight very difficult, so the tool I included on the etch this time has two slots to make assembly easier.

So building the brake lever basically involves slowly laminating seven of the eight parts using the wire to help align them as well as keep them together. I pas the wire through a hole in piece of wood as well to help keep everything still while dabbing at it with a hot soldering iron. The eighth piece (the front support) is then threaded onto the wire with some solder paste on the wire and the whole thing then slotted into the etched tool to make sure the front and back supports are properly aligned. A quick touch of the soldering iron then fixes the front support in place and with the slots in the tool being the same as on the 3D printed body the completed brake just drops into place.

The tool also has a third use, in that the sticky out bit on the end can be used to make sure all the slots in the body are clear of wax support material so that the pickups, brake, and bell stand will all fit without being forced.