[craigimass]

Given a masthead as shown.....should I:

1. Drill through the ss bracket and then tap the casting on top and mount the windex with the standard mount....
or
2. Get the optional bracket and mount it on the side by tapping into the casting there.

Or, in this case, does it not really matter?
Opinions welcome.

 

[Giulietta]

I would just take the mast top and tackwels a nut on the SS piece.

You can also tap sideways and bend the windex arm upwards by 90deg

Tapping on th SS is also good, but the piece may be too thin to have a decent amount of threads, no?

 

[craigimass]

SS is quite hard to tap if it is good stuff, at least with my tools.....so I thought of drilling through it if possible - I guess I have to see how long the bottom of the windex threads are.

It is quite thick (the ss), but then again will be tough to tap at the same time as the casting below....I think.....
Just wondering if anyone has run into this exact situation and can save me some potential grief.

 

[Giulietta]

If that is the issue, just make an L shapped bracket and drill a hole on the side, and tap on the other..

Or get the one they sell.
The thread on the windex is maybe about 1/2 inch deep

 

[fullkeel7]

Looks like maybe you could drill out the top two rivets, use a peace of mylar or similar to transfer the existing holes to your new bracket of choice. Add the thickness of the new bracket to the length of two new rivets and install. Then hope to heck that an over weight pterodactyl doesn't use the your windex as a pooh platform.

 

[sww914]

Hand tapped threads into aluminum don't seem to do too well. I'd make or buy a bracket and rivet it on.

 

[craigimass]

That does sound like a winner....to rivet a bracket I make to the ss band...I have an air rivet gun and ss rivets (5/32 or so) in the tool pile.

Just for info, though, is that masthead aluminum.....or some much stronger cast metal? I suspect the later only because of the feel of it......maybe some kind of maganese or chromium alloy?

 

[sww914]

It could be pure unobtanium as far as I know but it sure looks like aluminum to me.

 

[craigimass]

Yeah, you are probably right....just a good alloy and possibly heat treated. I work with some lousy aluminum castings - purely decorative - and they are much softer than this and would not hold up with those pulleys and rivets, etc.