CS-13 Spacer

Ever since Brock Mfg closed its business, some of the pre-fab parts are harder to find. This CS-13 is one of the examples. I am fortunate to have a small table-top lathe for making these types of parts. I made the spacer out of a steel rod. It was not as difficult as I anticipated.

SC-1 Safety Catch

The plan recommends SC-1 as a pre-fab part as well. However, I was not able to find the part from Aircraft Spruce, Wicks or the Cozy Girrrls. Since this part calls for stainless steel, I thought I needed to locate a sheet metal shop to help me with this part - until I came across a stainless steel angled spatula at Michael's Fabric Store while shopping with my daughter. Its about ~1.25" wide, 13" long and a bit narrower than plan dimension, but it has a nice rounded tip. All I had to do is to cut the center slot, drill the two end-holes and find a brake to bend the 2 angles.   

Holes drilled and slot cut, with some difficulty. Unfortunately the spatula  broke when I was trying to bend the 90 degree angle...I gave up and sent a distress e-mail out to the Cozy forum. Within a day, I received numerous private e-mails offering ideas and fixes - unbelievable! The most convenient of them all was a new source for getting the part (Jack Wilhelmson) for $18 (shipping included). I have to spend that much just to get the minimum quantity of stainless steel...If I knew there was a source, I would not have attempted to make it (as suggested per plan). I received the safety catch from Jack Wilhelmson about a week later. It is made out of spring steel and is quite flexible - good choice of material for this application. The center slot, however is much wider than the plans dimension. I decided to hold off installation.

While I was contemplating using the purchased safety catch, I decided to repair my broken spatula per Wayne Hicks recommendation - just because it was such a simple but great idea! The idea was to replace the 90^o bend with an aluminum angle and then attach the broken spatula to the angle aluminum bracket. I did just that with a small aluminum angle (left). Took me about an hour to make.

Then I drilled 2 rivet holes on the broken spatula and riveted it onto the bracket. Here's a picture of the repaired spatula and the purchased supplied safety catch. The repair one may not work as well as the purchase on, but I sure like the looks of it better...