The Belton 50703 Hold-down clamps arrived today, so I sat down with those, cut some of the 3/32" ID hi temp silicon rubber sleeving to the circumference of the hole in the hat (1.85" long), slit it and rolled it into place, so that fits nice and snug, seating the top of the EL-84 tube. I used the 3/16" ID hi temp sleeving to fit onto the four fingers of the clamp 'hat', making the two with the springs a touch longer to cover up the spring/finger joints. Bent the four fingers in a touch so they'd cradle the sides of the tube.
I had a collection of the mounting flanges that is received with the new thin spring-wire hold-down clamps that everyone uses, put a 3/32" Taper Pin Reamer into my small tap wrench and opened the upper holes of the two mounting tabs for the spring wire clamps, just large enough for the Belton hold-down spring clips to pass thru. Installed a tube socket to the assembly to install an EL84 tube and took a look at the results.
The mounting flanges that come with the spring wire clamps is thin metal, and I suspect trying to open them up with a 3/32" drill may be a problem. Not so with the smallest taper-pin reamer I had. It did leave a burr, but that worked well getting the clip thru the hole. I had to use needle-nose pliers to hold the clip open to slip it thru the hole.
I also thought of using a short threaded #4-40 standoff or male-female #4-40 stud-standoff, with a a Keystone right-angle bracket or solder lug....still would have to enlarge the hole for those tiny clips to pass thru.
When I first saw these Belton 50703 clips installed, I was afraid the amount of tension I saw on the springs would be too much, but, actually not....just right.
Now, I need to get the Hiwatt Little Rig back here to the shop, as those have now gone into our rental inventory from Hiwatt, and remove the spring-wire clamps and install these, along with all of our Vox inventory and others that use that stupid spring-wire clamp. Never did like those.
The Hi Temp Silicon Rubber tubing.....the inside hole of the 'hat' uses 3/32" ID, 7/32" OD, P/N 3038K12 (10ft length), and the spring/tab & wings use 3/16" ID/5/16" OD, P/N 3038K14. McMaster-Carr. https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/127/159/
I had a collection of the mounting flanges that is received with the new thin spring-wire hold-down clamps that everyone uses, put a 3/32" Taper Pin Reamer into my small tap wrench and opened the upper holes of the two mounting tabs for the spring wire clamps, just large enough for the Belton hold-down spring clips to pass thru. Installed a tube socket to the assembly to install an EL84 tube and took a look at the results.
The mounting flanges that come with the spring wire clamps is thin metal, and I suspect trying to open them up with a 3/32" drill may be a problem. Not so with the smallest taper-pin reamer I had. It did leave a burr, but that worked well getting the clip thru the hole. I had to use needle-nose pliers to hold the clip open to slip it thru the hole.
I also thought of using a short threaded #4-40 standoff or male-female #4-40 stud-standoff, with a a Keystone right-angle bracket or solder lug....still would have to enlarge the hole for those tiny clips to pass thru.
When I first saw these Belton 50703 clips installed, I was afraid the amount of tension I saw on the springs would be too much, but, actually not....just right.
Now, I need to get the Hiwatt Little Rig back here to the shop, as those have now gone into our rental inventory from Hiwatt, and remove the spring-wire clamps and install these, along with all of our Vox inventory and others that use that stupid spring-wire clamp. Never did like those.
The Hi Temp Silicon Rubber tubing.....the inside hole of the 'hat' uses 3/32" ID, 7/32" OD, P/N 3038K12 (10ft length), and the spring/tab & wings use 3/16" ID/5/16" OD, P/N 3038K14. McMaster-Carr. https://www.mcmaster.com/catalog/127/159/
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