my stuff

[Mick]

Hi Dennis,

Yeah not bad - I've seen better LOL 😊👍

[DennisM]

And I agree with you Mick, so have I LOL, twiddlin my thumbs atm waiting on a 1/8" thick x 3" dia HSS slitting saw from the UK, all up cost was $37.00Au, same article here (and most likely an import from the UK) was over $130.00 +GST, no thanks cheers Dennis

[DennisM]

Well after waiting 9 days for the slitting saw to arrive it did, all excited I opened the package only to find they have sent the wrong size, I asked/paid for a 1/8" thickness blade

what I received was a 1/16" thick, damn, I sent an email but it came back overnight unable to send etc., so i found their company website and contacted them but as it's dark
in the UK atm I will have to wait probably another 24 hours

I'm not at 100% atm (Influenza A) damn coughing spluttering +++ I was in the shed yesterday out of the wind rain etc making springs, but I had used the wrong Mandrel

it is so easy to make mistakes when your unwell, this is the correct mandrel the spring on the left has the correct ID, I had to make 8 all up, whilst just finishing the 7th spring
this happened

the mandrel snapped, there is a lot of pressure on the steel during a spring winding operation, and the material is only mild steel

so it's cold n windy outside, I won't be doing anything L/R wise today, so I guess I will have to turn up another mandrel for 1 spring, anyway cheers Dennis

[DennisM]

Back into it, as it's too miserable to be out fiddling with anything 'Solihull', I made the new mandrel and wound the last spring

the finished item

To fit the compression springs I had to refit the 'horn stays' to stop the axle falling out of the frames, then looking at the job I
could see that I would need to make some washers to put under the springs, the OD of the springs is 0.200" so I turned down
some 1/4"OD mild steel bar

it is now the required size

then drill up the bar with a center drill first, then using a 1/8" drill to give clearance over the tie bar, then part them off @ 3/64" thick

that was no mean feat, I had to use the 90deg end of a scribing tool to catch the washers as they were parted off, anyway I've done
one wheel suspension set

and visitors turned up, so that put paid to the works programme, cheers Dennis

[Mick]

I'm looking forward to riding this train of yours Dennis 😊👍👍👍

[DennisM]

Moving along as you do sick or not, I have made the last of the pins that have to fitted to the top of the tie bars, I suppose they are mini shackle bolts and they have to be 1/2" in or 0.500"

in this image I have fitted them to the back springs, but the front springs still have temporary pins, while the 'Loctite' dries on the front pins

yesterday I fitted the pins to the other axle set, I'm up early as I'm trying to let my good wife sleep without me disturbing her with my constant coughing

I'm hoping that the suspension works as it should, at present it compresses/deflects, some other model Loco's I have seen with no leaf springs on the loco or tender
just useless (bought) springs cut down to suit, and they don't seem to have any issues, anyway there won't be much action in the shed as I have finally got an
appointment with a 'cardiologist' hopefully he will be able to sort out my issues with 'SVT', anyway cheers Dennis

[DennisM]

Moving right along as you do, the front pony truck assembly fitted n out of harms way

I have to remove the motion plates from the chassis, but that can wait until after next week (cardio operation), but in the meantime I had to make 2 small brake hanger brackets

I made the pair together, marked out drilled all the clearance holes for 8BA (No43 drill size) and 3/16" dia for the hanger pins, maybe split them tomorrow after the windscreen in my 110 has been replaced

as you can see the 8BA bolts I have are too short, so I looked on the net shock horror $36.00 AU for 50 set screws + postage, not likely says I, so a quick look through my hex steel supply, and yes I have the correct size, so turn it down to 8BA size which is 0.0866", I'm at 0.0863" LOL

a cut with the die and the thread is on, check that hex nut screws on without any issues, all good

change tools and part it off

one bolt @ 5/8" in length

 the hex head needs to have a slight radius on it all up time 9 minutes, I will make the other 3 tomorrow sometime, anyway cheers Dennis

[DennisM]

I made the remainder of the bolts after the windscreen was replaced in my 110 this morning, LOL it took me longer to replace all the electronic gizmo's back into place than the chap who did the screen anyway I'm happy with the 4 bolts, they will do nicely

anyway cheers Dennis

[Mick]

Hey Dennis,

It's coming together now mate - is it a train ? 😎👍

Cheers mate,

Mick

[R704]

Dennis, you sneaky bugger, 5 pages of steam right under my nose! 
Well done mate she's looking fantastic!  makes me want to get off my ass and do more on my Victorian Railways H class in 5"


I also work on a mates railway, 12'',  half and 1/3 size narrow gauge.  you may enjoy this: he has a few other vids on the locos too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Styopwy0rOA&feature=youtu.be

Regards,
Nick

[isuzutoo-eh]

Another puff-buff hey, I have been accumulating tooling and materials for a live steamer for a while now, and there's a 7.25" track opening about a kay from me to give further stimulus. Just need to progress the house and Landies further first...

[THE BOOGER]

Have to get a move on Mark those little people come along and take all your time and money

[DennisM]

This wasn't something I have just started to do, I started work on it in May (I think) of 1983, and worked on it on & off until around the mid 90's when teenage kids and other things took over, it sat unloved/cared for almost 20 years, until I semi-retired in August of 2015, but when you own 11 Land Rovers, 9 on club rego, 1 on full rego + 3 ex-mil trailers time seems to get away from you, as you do have to spend some time with the L/R's  , for example I made a start on applying polish to my 110, it washed last week for the first time in months, and I have only managed to get down the RHS front<>rear, still the other side and the rear to do LOL, a 110 is a big vehicle to polish, just as well I have a few milk crates LOL cheers Dennis

[R704]

I've had mine about 5 years or so now, i bought it started but barely, In that time I've made the 8 axleboxes to scale and designed for cageless needle roller bearings and machined up the 20 odd smaller wheels.
Being only 27 at present, I'm hoping it may be done by my retirement. But with a series 3(full reg), 97 fender(few things to do for reg) and a dead 97 disco PLUS  a 303 addiction on the side ....  well you know

[DennisM]

I still haven't tackled the 'motion plate x 2' modification as yet, I thought I would refresh my memory on some of the do's n dont's with the mill, as I would hate to stuff the motion plates through a simple mistake, so I set about making 4 of these for the tender

material required was not available so I used a length of 1/2" square BMS, marked it out for the holes etc

then transferred the holes by moving the template along the 1/2" square bar, note that I pegged it so it couldn't move

clamped the bar on the table and milled it down to 5/16" (0.312") as the bar had to be 1/2" x 5/16"

 then cut the bar at the points marked out, more marking out required, then using a 3/8"dia 4 flute end mill

and after some time 3 links were machined, with one to go

the next task was to determine the radius on the ends, I decided on a 1/4" radius, and marked them out to reflect that

1 down 3 to go, but on each link there is 4 faces to be milled, I have finished 2, my back is a little weary from bending over
and peering at the end mill and bringing the cutter down approx 0.005" at a  time

the X denotes the rear face of the link, anyway that's been part of my day cheers Dennis