Author Topic: my stuff  (Read 65889 times)

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #75 on: November 14, 2016, 11:26:30 AM »
Over Sunday last (13/11) I finished off the 4 spring equalisers, here is the last of the spacer washers

they were fiddly little things, I dropped one but I was amazed to find it LOL, 3/16" in diameter and 0.035" thick (35 thou)
now to bag them up so I don't lose any of it

cheers Dennis  :)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:46:19 PM by DennisM »

Offline STDDIVER

  • REMLR Inc
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 567
  • THANKS 65
  • Location: Portland Vic
  • REMLR No: 482
Re: my stuff
« Reply #76 on: November 14, 2016, 04:49:25 PM »
Dennis - Brilliant work and very precise - I wish I had your skills! - I really enjoy this post

Frank

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #77 on: November 18, 2016, 08:24:08 AM »
Another day another task, still putting off the job on the 'motion plates' until I can have a go without too many interuptions, all my Series vehicles n trailers are on club rego, all inspected a few days ago and as usual the "Prince of Darkness' Lucas strikes, with so many lights that didn't want to work but a quick bump against the panel or the light itself and on they come, and the reason is that they sit for way too long while I'm playing with something else, there is an explanation, it comes down to jealousy LOL, anyway as per club constitution I have to take one vehicle to the rego inspection day tomorrow 19th Nov, so 113-372 has been slotted for the job.
But on the days in between I have been making the ends for the brake drag beams on the tender, and I'm sorta stuck at home, the wife is away in Rockhampton Qld, my neighbour is away so I'm looking after the poodle patrol here and the Jack Russell over the fence, well at least my neighbour pays me well for looking after his 4 legged child LOL, and I was waiting on a delivery from Hare n Forbes which arrived yesterday, a coolant pump etc.
Meanwhile down in the shed I reduced a length of 1/4" dia BMS to this pile of small parts

1/8" dia shaft cross drilled 1/16" and they are to be set up and have a 1/8" wide slot across the back end to fit on the brake drag beam as per the drawings

so clean all swarf off the mill table, wipe it down to be sure then fit my rotary table/3 jaw chuck

and as you can see I have milled a 1/8" wide slot across the back face, here is a closer shot, there is not much room for error, taken down to a depth of 0.09375"(3/32")

and after I removed the donor piece to check, I found the cutter was set 0.0005" too low, damn, I don't know if I can lift it
and still be within the desired range, methinks I will leave it as is and make sure I fit all of the the same way up onto the drag beam
here is a shot with a 6 foot length of the 1/2" x 1/8" flat bar into the slot

anyway I still have to make 113-372 ready for it's journey tomorrow, but first I have to move 5 vehicles to get it out of hibernation
cheers Dennis
ps Yes I'm now expecting a 'flood' of offers to babysit some of them LOL,.
pps STDDIVER they may look all the same but there are very minor differences in them all, as my eyesight isn't as good as it was
and I don't have DRO (digital readout) on the mill, I would have to learn from some-one how to etc, but mate Thank You for the compliment, cheers, Dennis
 
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:42:06 PM by DennisM »

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #78 on: November 20, 2016, 07:47:03 AM »
All went well yesterday with club rego 113-372 got a little warm well it was quite hot (air temp 35c) and hunting along @ 55mph didn't help either, it soon cooled down when I slowed down LOL.
Late on Friday afternoon I finished cutting the 1/8" wide slot in the back of the items I had made the previous day

they will be fitted to the brake drag beams when I get around to it, I'm off today to see my mate Tim @ Mandalong, he has
a guillotine and I need to cut some brass strips and also some alloy strips for my Series 1 door seals etc, anyway cheers Dennis  :)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:34:48 PM by DennisM »

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #79 on: November 29, 2016, 07:51:02 PM »
Gee, it's been 8 daze since I posted here  ;) moving along as you do because if I don't move it along nobody will, anyway I've been playing with plate work, ? have I mentioned before I dislike platework, anyhow the throatplate & backhead needed to be milled down to the same height

the pencil marks are where the holes will be for the bolts and rivets that will hold the brass strips that can be threaded to hold the outer boiler wrapper

all holes had been drilled etc, the mushroom heads removed so it will clear the boiler as there is not much room to play with, the work area

I wish I had a bigger shed, LOL.
All the 8 BA brass hex bolts will have to be shortened,

so I will need to add up all the thickness's of all the bits, turn some BMS bar to that thickness then tap it 8BA then machine off the excess off the brass hex/bolts so they are all the same length and will pull up tight.
I had to remove the steam dome housing and 10 of the 3BA stainless steel studs leaving 2 of them insitu then after cutting the throatplate in the center at the top, I was able to get it into place

I thought at one stage and was prepared to cut the plate in half, so some dimensions were added to the base of the plate, but at this stage that's
not going to happen, it did come together at the top, albeit a small gap which did pull in under pressure with a clamp

 but the proof would be when it was refitted to the frame of the locomotive.
I did need to relieve the base of the throatplate using a half round file and my Dremel tool with a flap sanding wheel, so to check where it may have been a tight squeez I had to stand the boiler on it's end, I wasn't too fussed on this as we have had some siesmic activity ( nothing like N.Z) here recently and if it fell well I would just put the whole item in the bin as I'm not prepared to start from scratch again

I didn't have it up for long for obvious reasons and the plate did come together

The next task was to lift the boiler up onto the frame, not an easy task I had to use a milk crate to stand on whilst holding/lifting the boiler onto
the frame, but because it didn't have the steam dome fitted I had nothing to hold in my left hand to guide it into the smokebox, and the more I pushed the more the loco moved along the railhead/turntable goddamn/bugger/blast it all LOL, anyway I did manage to get it secured eventually

then it was break out a torch to look for any problems it didn't take but a few seconds to find some, the throatplate had fouled the oil feed lines for the rear axle

that won't be much of an issue as I intended to cut off the throatplate just above the main blowdown valve which is located at the lowest point just above the foundation ring of the boiler, ? have I said before that I dislike plate work, well I dislike plate work, so I spent some time thinking about the current situation just looking at the engine imagining I was just a little kid looking up at this enormous engine

anyway to take my mind off it and relax I decided to turn a few small bits on the lathe for the feed valves on the boiler, they are 5/16" dia brass
with 5/16" x 32 tpi thread and I needed two of them

here they are showing one end with it's 60deg cone and the other end relieved to accept the 1/4" dia copper tubing, here is the drawing for the valve

anyway between all of that and rego day for all my fleet I think I have been sitting on my rear end twidling my thumbs cheers Dennis ps did I say how much I dislike platework!!!!




« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:27:20 PM by DennisM »

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #80 on: December 07, 2016, 08:18:12 PM »
Well, I had put this task off long enough, so after making 14 new smaller brass nipples for the boiler wall stays

it was time to take a few heavy items off the frame, make ready the stand to hold the engine frame etc, then lift it off the rail
and place it onto the 'rotisserie', either it's getting heavier or I'm getting weaker, damn it's heavy

the pony truck was the first item to be removed, followed by sucking out the steaming oil from the mech/lubricator
then swing it over to get to the five 6BA bolts that hold the 'motion plate' to the frame

 the lower one is out and I did some silent cursing etc as it was damn hard to get too, the tube spanner is a fiddly item to hold
and to get to those couple of bolts I had to work the levers through the forward/reverse to line up the tube spanner, it wasn't
too long and the motion plate was off

I had made these small bits some time ago and 4 x 8BA bolts that I could only buy in packs of 50 when I only needed 4

whilst undo the cross head/connecting rod, I dropped the cross head bolt through a gap in the benchtop, I also dropped the open ended spanner as well, I consider myself very lucky that I ws able to find both items, considering what's under the bench LOL sigh.
tomorrow I will mark out where the brake hanger block is to be fitted etc, drill all holes, then the inside face of the motion plate
has to be milled down to a thickness of 0.125 (1/8") this will allow the brake block/hanger etc to clear the front driving wheels
then I can cross drill the brake hanger block to locate the hanger pin in the bolt face of the motion plate, all very fiddly and time consuming
anyway cheers Dennis  :)
ps I'm now waiting on a parcel of 'Imperial' sized steel from the UK, as it's not available here in Oz anywhere,,.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 05:01:17 PM by DennisM »

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #81 on: December 08, 2016, 05:27:15 PM »
Nice n warm here today, which required the ceiling fan going while working @ the milling machine, the motion plate is all marked out, brake hanger bracket clamped and the motion plate drilled through with a No 43 drill (clearance size for 8BA)

then move it over to the mill and set it up with clamps to hold it

at this point I thought I'd better make a wobbler/pointer so I could check that the end mill would not track outside the scribed lines

and it didn't, so it was out with that chuck and in with the collet chuck and 3/8" dia 4 flute end mill, the first cut (and it's not the deepest cut LOL)

it took about 4 passes with the end mill and I had it down to the 1/8" thickness that is on the plan.
Next was to apply the 2 x 8BA bolts clamp it all up on the drill press, transfer a mark to the plate using a 3/16" dia drill, then swap for a 1/8" drill

and here it is all loosely fitted up on the frame

there is still a bit of fiddling to do with the RHS motion plate/brake hanger assembly before I put it all back together and do the LHS, all this work is really for show, as the brakes would not stop the engine/tender & a person sitting on it, braking will provided via a riding truck, anyway that was enough fun for one day LOL, tomorrow after I get home from taking 'Monty' our Pomeranian in a Santa suit over to where I used to work, the older folk there love him and will be pleased to see him. anyway cheers Dennis  :)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 04:45:53 PM by DennisM »

Offline mike_k

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 623
  • THANKS 54
  • Location: Victoria
  • REMLR No: 20
Re: my stuff
« Reply #82 on: December 08, 2016, 08:55:24 PM »
Coming along there Dennis,

Wont be long until you get to fire it up!

Are your blueprints scaled down from the original locomotive or made especially for your project?

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #83 on: December 09, 2016, 07:37:15 AM »
The blueprints/plans were drawn up by Ernie Winter back in 1981, the scale is 1 1/16" (inch & a sixteenth) to the foot scale, taken from the original plans of the 'P' or 32 class NSWGR loco, Ernie has a background in Fitting/machining, Architecture, he did take over a an older established business O B Bolton scale models, then after a few years changed the business name to his own E & J Winter which Ernie sold after suffering major issues after a car crash, the business is now owned by a younger chap who lives Lithgow/Bathurst area of NSW.
When I bought my blueprints all 20+ sheets they cost me back in 1983 $90.00, now they are almost 3 times that amount, I can clearly remember my 1st wife's father (fitter/machinist) saying to me "I think you have bitten off more than you can chew" well I never forgot that and I'm sure if he were alive today he would think twice about that statement, anyway if I had stayed with it back in the mid 90's it would be well n truly finished, my mentor Mr John Austin R.I.P passed away in Aug 2006,

 and as far as I know there isn't anyone in the town where I live who has an interest in building anything like what I'm doing, so I'm kinda sorta on my own, and it takes me some time to work out the 'how to' aspect of some jobs, but I reckon for an old bloke with no trade skills, I'm not doing too badly I think LOL anyway cheers Dennis :)
ps My friend John was a WW2 veteran (New Guinea) but was bought back to Australia because of his trade background and he worked and drove trucks up n down 'The track' now known as the Stuart hwy N.T.,,.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 04:35:00 PM by DennisM »

Offline 303Gunner

  • REMLR Inc
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 1127
  • THANKS 128
  • Location: Lithgow, NSW
  • REMLR No: 128
Re: my stuff
« Reply #84 on: December 11, 2016, 03:18:11 PM »
The blueprints/plans were drawn up ........in the scale  1 1/16" (inch & a sixteenth) to the foot

If you don't mind me saying, but what a prick of a scale to work with. How do you go converting an actual measurement like 28' 7 1/8" to scale? Give me metric anyday!!! or something neater like an Inch to the Foot. I've messed around in O Scale in the Aust/UK scale of 43.5:1 (which sounds better when you say 7mm to the Foot), which is much trickier than the US standard 48:1 (1/4" to the foot).

Quote from: DennisM
When I bought my blueprints ... back in 1983,  I can clearly remember my 1st wife's father (fitter/machinist) saying to me "I think you have bitten off more than you can chew" well I never forgot that and I'm sure if he were alive today he would think twice about that statement,
Keep on chewing and you can finish anything! A lesson learnt in an Army mess.

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #85 on: December 15, 2016, 11:09:19 AM »
Well it has been very warm in the workshop over the past few days, no A/C down there only a ceiling fan but I suppose I have it a lot better than some folks who frequent this site. Tony, I don't have to convert anything as the dimensions are on the plans so I guess that makes it easier for a dumb 'B' like me  ;D.
I did manage to finish the Fireman's side motion plate and remount it

the brake shoe fitted but it still needs a little bit of fetling to get the profile right, it looks better right side up

with that out of the way, it was time to unbolt the stand from the bench and turn it 180 degrees so I could dismantle the Drivers side Motion plate

and there is that hard to get at bottom bolt 6 BA, a tight squeeze nestled near the lubricator

I made a small stuff up, (forgot what I was doin) anyway I had to mill all the way to the top of the M/plate, the mistake will not be seen

my steel order arrived from the UK (Chronos) it consists of 1/2" x 1/8" flat bar, 1/4"Square bar hese are needed for brake drag beams etc on the 8 wheel tender.
The brake shoe profile is going to take me some time to get it right, the one of the right was done almost 30 years ago, and I'm
having trouble trying to recall how I did it,

anyway no rush to stuff it up LOL as I could manage that quite easily, anyway cheers Dennis :)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2017, 04:31:11 PM by DennisM »

Offline STDDIVER

  • REMLR Inc
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 567
  • THANKS 65
  • Location: Portland Vic
  • REMLR No: 482
Re: my stuff
« Reply #86 on: December 15, 2016, 03:16:02 PM »

Congratulations again Dennis - Beautiful work - Merry Christmas too.

Frank

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #87 on: February 14, 2017, 08:11:53 PM »
Well, it's been a while since I have posted anything in here, what with Christmas/New Year, daughter down from Rockhampton in Qld with her 3 kids for a month, a few shifts working with physically/intellectually disabled young adults, issues with Land Rovers, getting them ready for an Air Show etc etc, man have I been busy.
The Locomotive took a back seat whilst the visitors were here, as I couldn't concentrate using the lathe as one of them is near the shed door and the baby could walk in and cop some swarf, so not a lot happened, and the other issue, I had bought a few machine tools off ebay and they took their time getting here as well, but I have managed to get a move on.
I waited for a Fly Cutter that I needed to profile the brake shoes, I thought I had bought it from a seller here in Oz, turns out it was just a front for an extra $10.00 Au as it came from India

it did the job without any problems, the brakes are all fitted the mechanism moves back n forth, but they are only cosmetic value, as they will not stop the locomotive.
The front Pony truck had to come back off, as I needed to cross drill the pivot, but to get the pivot out I had to remove the oil check valve for the steam chests, very fiddly job, image slightly blurred sorry

getting the delivery oil line back onto the pump was damn difficult, I did some silent swearing I can assure you

but it's all back together now, hopefully it will not have to come off again

Now with those tasks out of the way, I needed to refit the running boards, as they have a mounting point just under where the boiler expansion plate is, the running boards are held in place by 5BA set screws, but they are only 5/32" in length,

they are way too long, so I had to make something to hold them whilst they were being shortened, a short length of hex/brass was drilled n tapped 5BA

this did the job nicely

I had to do this as I needed to make the boiler expansion plate brackets x 2

I quickly made a rough forming tool,

marked out some 1/16" thickness steel, drilled them the tapping drill size for 6BA
that will make it easier to transfer the holes when I'm ready to do it, the tool was put into action in the bench vice

that was the first stage a 90 deg bend then

and it looks like this x 2, you can see why I needed to mount the running boards as it's all very close

the top edge will need to be trimmed to size, but not just yet.
Before fitting the boiler to the frame, I wanted to make a new Ash Pan, I had made one 20+ years ago from mild steel
but over the past 15 months or so, I thought about the long term viability of having it in steel, ? it may rust out/burn out and I didn't fancy having to dismantle the locomotive to build another, so I bought some brass sheet and set about making it

here is the brass sheet, sitting on 2 x saw horses, as the temperature outside the shed was a whopping 47c, I was working only in shorts (n underwear of course) no shirt, I was swimming in sweat I can tell you

I had made some adjustments to the fire box grate as well

It has been marked out using all manner of small tools, including my optical center punch

all parts were marked out, but my mate who lives 45 k's away wasn't going to be home for several days, so I didn't have
access to his guillotine, he has often said just come down and use it, but my luck would be that some low life had been there stole a heap of stuff, I turn up and some one see's me in my very distinctive 110 and I would be the prime suspect, so I had to twiddle my thumbs so to speak for a few daze.
Not to be outdone, and waste too much time, I made 8 small pivots for the 8 wheel tender, these are pivot pins for the suspension on the tender

very small and fiddly, but I made the 8 of them without any stuff up's and the temp was up there at 46c again

this is where they fit on the tender frames

My mate Tim, rang me last night, he is home and I went there this morning to use Madam Guillotine, you make no mistakes doing this or you lose your head (get cranky++++ with self) anyway all went well no stuff ups

it was pouring rain at Tim's property, I love the sound of rain on a tin roof, I have a hearing deficit (too many years of shooting large calibre weapons Rifle/pistols) but the rain was heavy enough for me to hear it Lovely sound, anyway back at home, I had to remove the excess brass material using a hack saw, the first cut is always the deepest LOL

then some judicious filing with both pieces of the brass sheet clamped together so they end up being identical, I have made it almost the same size as the drawing

the next step was the form the lower floor section with it's radius, some off cuts of steel and a short length of 5/8" dia round bar, as I made the radius on the plate using using a 5/8" dia washer to mark it out, a quick heat with Mapp gas, quench mark it out clamp it tap it around the bar and it was done

all that's needed there is a quick wipe with a half round file and it will fit like a finger in a dogs bum LOL, anyway I have turned up the stainless steel pin that will hold the grate in position, it has a 3/16 x 40tpi on it with 2 nuts either side, the whole assembly will be riveted together and most likely silver soldered as well, anyway that's about where I'm up to at the moment cheers Dennis  :)
« Last Edit: July 01, 2017, 07:39:09 PM by DennisM »

Offline Mick

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1338
  • THANKS 176
  • Location: Melbourne
Re: my stuff
« Reply #88 on: February 15, 2017, 09:10:33 AM »
You continue to amaze me Dennis 😊👍

Offline DennisM

  • Veteran
  • ******
  • Posts: 1036
  • THANKS 256
  • Location: Hunter Valley
  • REMLR No: 70
Re: my stuff
« Reply #89 on: February 15, 2017, 07:48:27 PM »
Thank you Mick, but I still class myself as an amatuer cheers Dennis :)