New Project

[CHJ]

Fantastic progress Derek, fingers crossed for the fitting of all the rods and free rolling.

[Dalboy]

Have started the coupling rods and have marked where they go on a piece were they will eventually be machined off just there while I do the ends of each one as I need them handed.
Also the note book for some vital measurements which need to be taken from the build rather than direct from the plans(this is stated on the plans).

Just going to set the front pair on the mill to drill the holes used for reference these will then be opened up for various bushes later on

(264.05 KiB)

[Andyp]

What some people are able to produce in their sheds still leaves me in awe.
Were you any sort of engineer in a previous life Derek?

[CHJ]

.......
Also the note book for some vital measurements which need to be taken from the build rather than direct from the plans(this is stated on the plans).

Yes in the real world, be it full size or scaled, individual fit inevitably provides the best outcome.
Multiple Zone tolerances have a habit of biting when least expected.

[Dalboy]

What some people are able to produce in their sheds still leaves me in awe.
Were you any sort of engineer in a previous life Derek?

Previous life before retirement I was a plant mechanic, I only had to measure in thousands of an inch then now with this I have to make lots of bits to that kind of tolerances.

I am still only learning as well as digging back to school days of trigonometry in some cases.

Yes in the real world, be it full size or scaled, individual fit inevitably provides the best outcome.
Multiple Zone tolerances have a habit of biting when least expected.

They do say that the real world things never measures up

[Dalboy]

Started on the centre joint for the coupling rod. All the marking out lines are only there as a sanity check at which parts need cutting away I will be using the DRO for final machining

(379.91 KiB)

The two rear coupling rods centre joint shaped and machined to thickness

(372.57 KiB)

Still need to slot the two on the left so the ones on the right will fit inside them they will be held in place with a bronze bush. Once they are complete I will then need to do the other end followed by slimming them down both height and width

(505.7 KiB)

[Dalboy]

Front coupling rods now slotted. some fine turning as the cutter left the surface a little ridged I think this was because I only had a long cutter of the size I needed. Next will be to open the holes to fit a bush the one on the left needs to be a tight fit where as the right hand needs a sliding fit. Then onto test fitting and final drilling of the holes at either end once I am happy with all that all the waste material will be removed as for now it helps keep the pieces more ridged for working on

(505.7 KiB)

(422.67 KiB)

[Malc2098]

Nice.

[Dalboy]

No real updates as I managed to stuff up one of the coupling rods then remade it twice
Still doing the machining on it as I had to wait for some metal to turn up.

I did however manage to get the slide valves made.

(227.23 KiB)

[CHJ]

It's progress, and it rarely comes without the odd frustration.

[Dalboy]

More progress after a break to make a Rubbish truck for a little boy.

Anyway managed to machine some reference surfaces on the cylinder block and the steam chest, this gives me somewhere to take all my measurements from

(325.05 KiB)

The steam chests almost complete by that all the main surfaces now machined and turned to final dimensions. since this photo I have driled and tapped for the packing material just a nut to machine and the mounting holes which will be done when the cylinder block and steam chest covers are finished.

(279.08 KiB)

More work on the cylinder blocks the mounting flanges machined on the tops and the port face brought to size to match the steam chest sizes. Still need to mill the ports but no cutter so have to wait for those. I have since mounted these blocks and started to bore the cylinders using a boring head on the mill

(388.14 KiB)

[droogs]

I thought the truck for the little boy was rather good

[Dalboy]

Spent the other day boring the cylinders quite pleased with the finish.

(303.6 KiB)

(307.42 KiB)

(205.62 KiB)

I also managed today to take the mounting flanges down to 1/8" and do a test fit to the frames a very light filing was needed to get them to fit comfortably with no slop I must get back to the coupling rods before I go to far

(375.58 KiB)

[CHJ]

Great progress, have you got a couple of meters of track section available for rolling tests?

[Dalboy]

Great progress, have you got a couple of meters of track section available for rolling tests?

No test track but will make myself a simple rolling road from some channel and 12 ball bearings