The 'madness' has started all over again

[DennisM]

It's been a while since I have added to this blog, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, and a lot of work in my shed on this loco, all while my ex-mil vehicles get left behind, sigh, I can only concentrate on one thing at a time, anyway here we go, as you can imagine there are literally hundreds of different parts that have to be either fabricated or machined from castings, here are the buffers turned down from 1.250" round stock

here are both front n rear buffer beams fitted with the buffer stocks

front n rear pony trucks needed to be fabricated from 3mm steel,

and a section through the axle

but let's start with some of the smaller items, the long suspensio bolts were made from hex steel, turned down n threaded, fitted with the spring cups as well

then some of the parts which needed to be duplicated sometimes x 4 etc


starting to resemble the frames for the trucks

almost a complete assembly

now needing axles n wheels


I'll have to upload more images cheers

[DennisM]

Moving along as you do, still working on the pony trucks making the radius rods x 2, was a time consuming exercise, turned from solid bar and milled etc

 with bronze bushing

wheels turned on a mandrel, but still needed to have the flanges turned


here is a backward step showing the pony trucks with the center boss n springs, radius rods and a number of frame stretchers

the pivot pins x 2 needed to be made

they need a hex/castellated nut on the base, so out with the diving head and do it

the almost finished nut, just needed the rough edges filed off

and a split pin through it

more to come, I hope it's not too boring

[DennisM]

It was now 2023 but still making progress, I suppose any progress is better than none LOL, turning my attention now to the main frame in particular the hornblocks axleboxes which are a split item shock horror LoL

after milling all 4 blocks (8 when cut in half) they were milled to size all over and then milled to suit each of the openings in the
main frame

then cut and riveted into place

attention was then turned to the axle boxes which I had mentioned were the split type, not an easy task for an 'amateur' like me
if I stuff it up it means that I would have to wait some length of time toget some replacement castings, so wiith that in the back of my mind I went carefully into the darkness LoL

taking my time I carefully machined them to the sizes on the drawings

as you can see it's a drawing with lotz of lines on it gawd help me, here is one in the rough

the all 8 were at the same stage ready to be bored/milled

it was about this time that my little puss 'Harvey' got really sick, the Vet locally wasn't sure what the issue was anyway to cut a long sad story very short we took him to sash but there nothing they could do,he was put to sleep late March, we had him cremated R.I.P Harvey, he was such a beautiful natured pussy cat only 7 months old, he was a Scottish Fold breed

we still have him, he is with Charli (std POodle and Harriet another cat all cremated

and I might add my 1st wife passed away on the same day but in the morning, she was only 70y.o
it was a sad couple of days.
Moving along I started to plunge mill the axle boxes, knowing full well that any stuff up'shere would spell disaster

luckily no stuff up's happened thankfully, here is one with a 3/4" axle slipped through, the axles had been turned between centers
before hand, and the split axlebox had been cross drilled to keep them in place

the axle boxes needed to have a set of pins made x 16 these held the suspension springs in place under the frames, they were made in 2 pieces then silver brazed together

here are 4 I still needed another 12 of them

all was going well, the axles fitted the axleboxes, which in turn fitted the hornblocks so I turned the frame upside down and loosely fitted it all up

more to come

 

[DennisM]

The axle boxes now had to have oil lubrication holes drilled in them to lube the axles and the horn cheeks when the loco is moving along irregularities
on the track (minor inconsistencies) if no lube they would stick and cause issues
 
 with that now behind me, I could turn my attention to machining the driving wheels, the loco is a 2-8-2 wheel configuration, the leading axle has flanged wheels, the second axle along with the 3rd (main driver) ae flangeless, the 4th axle is flanged, this allowed the loco to negotiate tight curves on mine sites shunting yards etc, so with this info in mind off we went, first up was to rough them out getting rid of the hard cast sand skin


next step was to ream the axle hole so they could be mounted on a mandrel to be finished off

all 8 await their turn on the yet to be made mandrel

It was around this time that after losing Harvey our other cat Mr Freckle

 was missing other cat's company we were lucky to get him a friend, her name is Mae, she is just beautiful as well, also a Scottish fold breed

and me wanting a smaller friend for Mae we got another Scottish fold breed called Lucy, she is adorable they all live happily here with our other little dogs, no fuss at all

Back to the tasks LoL next step with the wheels/axles was to cut the keyways, I started with the axles, setting them up in a 5C square ER32 collet chuck, set on center using a wobbler etc then an undersized end mill cut the keyway, after getting it spot on, lift the block rotate 90 degrees n repeat the operation x 4 axles

rotate 90deg

check n recheck, spot on
 
Next task is to quarter the wheels, this required a jig which I had to make before hand, and a broaching tool which I didn't own, but was lucky enough to borrow one, on the condition if I broke it I owned it and replace it with a new one, luckily that didn't happen, here is my jig for the job

it was a nerve wracking task but was achieved without any drama's the broaching tool after use

wheels looked good with the keyways cut and the crankpin holes drilled reamed etc

The crank pins were made from silver steel, I die cut the threads and milled the flats using a ER32 collet set

the driving pins

the others

all 8 of them

wheels quartered.

the frame is getting heavy now with all the extra's on it, the 3rd axle assembly isn't fitted

as it has to have the 'Eccentric sheaves' turned from Cast iron bar, I sourced a supply in Sydney and they posted it to me, I bought a 200mm length x 65mm dia bar, there were a number of steps taken in the process of machining them
here is a closer shot they could be seen in the previous image, 4 larger ones are 2 forward and 2 reverse, the smaller on is the axle water pump

anyway that's enough for the time being maybe some more tomorrow, cheers

[Chazza]

Fantastic work Dennis!

Sorry to hear of your losses; I share the pain with you when a pet dies. It is good that you have something to keep you occupied,
Cheers Charlie

[DennisM]

It's another year and in 5 months time I will have been at this build for 2 years, they do take a lot of your time, but I'm happy to put in the hours on most days, sadly though I can only manage to be either in on the tools or doing something to my vehicle fleet, which sometimes hasn't turned a wheel in many months.
I took a day off from the 10 class back in early December, starting with 112-501 started up fine, moved out of the shed dropped down onto the road and that's where the fun began

somehow I managed to get the gear stick jammed in the gate between 1st n reverse, the vehicle was immobile, too heavy to push up the driveway off the road, so I had to work on it where it stood by removing the floor sections. All the screws bolts etc came undone with no effort at all, the vehicle was brought back to life in 1999/2000 and the floor sections hadn't been removed in all that time, it was showing a few minor leaks/weeps as to be expected from a Series G/box selector rod seals

anyway the root cause was the ball on the end was as dry as, a quick spray with WD40 and some grease applied fixed the issue, I reversed it back up the drive and replaced the floor, I took it for a drive along with 113-372 (Provo) and 112-655 gunbuggy, and later put them back in the big shed.
Back into the 10 class, I had made a start on the Eccentric straps, they were a bronze casting x 5, 4 at one size and a smaller one for axle water pump, first up they needed to be machined flat and to a given thickness
 


I have been collecting the bronze swarf n brass for a friend who is going to try n cast some items for himself for one of his projects, the eccentric straps had to be cut in half, faced off where the 2 faces meet then have a 'fitted' bolt made for them but before I could do that I had to make my own slitting saw mandrel/chuck, I do have a commercial one but it's way too big I needed one with minimal overhang, so I set about making one




that was a success it sliced the bronze easily, next step was to make the fitted bolts, 8 at one length, and 2 for the smaller eccentric axle water pump, they had to be turned down to size and length, then a hexagon machined on the head, I didn't need to make nuts as they were readily available


Dec 21 was another sad day, our little Shi Tzu 'Sophie' crossed the Rainbow bridge, she was 15+years old, she was such a beautiful natured little person

that was our 2nd loss for the year.
Back into the ongoing project, still working on the valve gear with a plethora of things to make, I'll have to up load more images, the straps are 80% complete, some tricky stuff needed to finish them off,

 

[DennisM]

Moving along as you do, the valve gear is an extensive bit of kit as seen in the drawings







phew what a headache was my first thought, but breaking it down into component parts I could see that I was going to be busy making small parts for some time, starting with the Eccentric straps, they needed to be connected to the operating rods, so I set about it

these items needed to be silver brazed to the rods, but they hd to be fabricated first then a jig made so that they are all the same length


all ends made and tagged to their eccentric strap

I hope this isn't too boring

[Chazza]

Nice to see you at play again cobber,

Cheers Charlie

[muddy]

   good work mate

  looks like you are injoying retirement

[STDDIVER]

As always, beautiful work, Dennis, never boring - always enlightening.    Frank