Thanks for the compliments 303Gunner and StdDiver, but I never loose sight of the fact that I'm just a mug having a go LOL,the 8 wheel tender has several major components, the body which is all brass, the
floorplate also brass, the chassis 3mm plate etc and the bogies/brakes.
The floorplate has a brass angle riveted along it's edge 68 rivets I think @ 3/16" spaces
well you can't buy unequal brass angle, so I had to mill one side off
this has been achieved but has not been riveted to the floorplate as yet, my T/A aka wife
has been busy with other things including baby sitting our youngest G/daughter 3 days a week.
I had already made many items for the brake rigging, now before going any further on the brakes
I needed to make 2 brake bell cranks and the mounts & shaft as seen in the drawing half section AA
the shaft was the easy part of the task 5/16" dia bar, ends machined down to 1/4"dia x certain length
the 2 bell cranks took a little more thought (well for me it did) on the how too, anyway it was achieved
without too much fuss, reamed 5/16" and 3/8" then shaped/filed etc
the mounts had to be fabricated from what materials I had at hand, then turn
up some bronze bushes that had to be silver soldered to the steel then reamed @ 1/4" ID
I had to machine some brass weld off the strengthening plate for the front draw bar, to allow the brake
shaft cranks to fit in that small space
the bell cranks on the shaft with mounts etc
the next issue was making it clear the chassis rail, I had checked all measurements the issue was
on the crank, it was relieved as well as the bracket for the brake column
and on the underside, you might notice I had fitted the brass floorplate with all it's screws, which
all had to be shortened from 1" in length to just over 5/16" that was fun not LOL time consuming
it was, I needed to do this just to check nothing was going to foul, fit/unfit etc etc
Next item whilst still working on the chassis were these items which had to be fabricated, they hold
the chains off the bogies and I needed to make 4 of them
side view of the plan
so I thought about it (how too) I couldn't see me heating and rolling the edges, so I used 3/16" dia bar
with the 1/16" hole which I uprated to 5/64", then using a hack saw put a cut across the broad face,
using a needle file open it up to fit the .8mm steel strip
then to this
apply flux and solder together, very fiddly job but successfully achieved
next task was to cut the slots, I used a 1/16" slitting saw very carefully
and after some little time I had all four done
hopefully if it warms up later in the day I will drill and rivet them to the outside chassis rails,
after twiddling my thumbs for a short period this morning, the warmth factor got it's act together and the mercury climbed to 16c, still damn cold in the shed though, so my motto is "if you don't do it who will" me you goose LOL.
So I set about drilling the 1/16"dia holes in the appropriate places and moved them in pairs to the job,
here is the LHS pair being fitted, the first one is always the most difficult
and in no time using my rivet squeezer I was fitting it's mate
and in under 20 minutes I had all four fitted
now thinking as you have too, as this is worse than doing up a Land Rover as there is no "green bible" to refer too
and you have to be on top of it at all times, there is a sequence of events, another 5 rivets in place
he far end of this strengthening plate has to be braze welded, that will happen after I have finished
with the brass floorplate, in my movements around the shed I keep looking at the bogie sets
and working out in my head the methods of machining the various bits that make up the bogie units.
The next task on the brass floor plate was to fit the unequal brass angle, which I had milled a few weeks ago
here it is being held down by 3 engineers clamps using 5/16" square HSS for clamping force
before center dotting and drilling
and with my T/A's assistance I drilled 6 x 1/16" dia holes and broke a bloody drill bit LOL, anyway
it now has 6 brass rivets in place
tomorrow I will drill the remainder of the holes using the bench drill, then put the pressure on my T/A
to help with the riveting process, then I will be able to concentrate on the bogies, cheers Dennis