Busy week ahead but will get back to the tender in due course.
Sunday 8 August 2010
4-Jaw and a Hacksaw
Finished the axleboxes today, still need to sort some springs out but otherwise the front bogie is now pretty much finished, shown here resting on top of a machined block of brass that will eventually be a Dee cylinder block!
Busy week ahead but will get back to the tender in due course.
Busy week ahead but will get back to the tender in due course.
Saturday 7 August 2010
Axleboxes and more on rivets
An interesting week, I have soldered four of the tender parts together and will be soldering the remainder when the present gusty weather conditions have passed (it gets a bit tedious when the wind blows out your blowtorch every 5 seconds).
So pleased was I with the tender sides that I sent Malcolm at Model Engineers Laser a picture and commented that the riveting process was easy enough and in my view there was no need for laser spotting the rivets or etching. Anyway, within a few hours I had an e-mail in my inbox from Roger Thornber. I tried to explain to the wife that a 'newbie' to Gauge 1 getting an e-mail from Roger is a bit like someone who has just started going to church getting an e-mail from Jesus. Anyway, Roger had sent a picture of his etched 8F tender sides which looked stunning.
For those who come across this blog and want to repeat my approach to the rivets, it basically involved the Metalsmith riveter (see links), a photocopy of some scale drawings from PDH (see links!), some slow-setting paper glue (e.g. UHU or Pritt-stick) and a digital caliper! I cut out the photocopy and stuck the copy of the left-hand tender-side face-up to the inside of the right-hand tender side, then before the glue set, I carefully positioned the copy in place using the digital caliper and measuring from the bottom of the tender side to the bottom edge of the rivets, basically sliding the paper on the brass and measuring to ensure that the main horizontal line of rivets was exactly horizontal. Then it was a case of just carefully punching the holes through the marks on the paper. The riveter has a guide built-in also which adds another degree of comfort when doing the horizontal line but it obviously cannot be used on the vertical lines as there is no straight-edge to run against (because the tabs are in the way). To do the other side I peeled off the photocopy I had just used, flipped it over, aligned with the digital caliper as above and punched through the holes in the paper. It’s a bit ‘Blue Peter’ rather than Model Engineering but it works!
I realize that the above method will not work if the paper does not sit perfectly flat on the photocopier (you will get curved lines!) and it also relies on the both the drawing and the laser-cutting to be accurate (which they were). As I mentioned to Malcolm, it took me less than an hour to do both sides so it is quick (in the grand scheme of building a G1 loco) and I think an effective alternative to etching.
Anyway, with the wind postponing any soldering today, I took shelter in the shed and changed the 3-jaw chuck on the lathe for the 4-jaw (remembering to protect the lathe bed first in case i dropped it!) and set about machining the front bogie axleboxes. I hadn't used the 4-jaw before but got to grips with it quickly and was soon getting the hang of centering work and I have made good progress on the axleboxes which i hope to finish tomorrow.
I have also bought a big lump of brass and plan to use this to further refine my 4-jaw lathe skills... I have the G1MRA Dee and Project books and thought that it would make sense if my first attempt at machining cylinders and valve gear was an inside cylinder loco rather than making mistakes on expensive castings (the Dee cylinder block is very small and that volume of brass costs less than pint of beer, not to mention the fact that G1MRA books are excellent and have been described to me as a "great introductory course to model engineering"). This was the round-about excuse I gave the wife anyway for daring to suggest starting on a second engine before completing the first!! She has kindly bought me a boiler, wheels, and a complete Model Engineers Laser Dee platework kit for my 'model engineering course' for my birthday! How I ended up with such a good wife is beyond me, but God bless her nevertheless!
So pleased was I with the tender sides that I sent Malcolm at Model Engineers Laser a picture and commented that the riveting process was easy enough and in my view there was no need for laser spotting the rivets or etching. Anyway, within a few hours I had an e-mail in my inbox from Roger Thornber. I tried to explain to the wife that a 'newbie' to Gauge 1 getting an e-mail from Roger is a bit like someone who has just started going to church getting an e-mail from Jesus. Anyway, Roger had sent a picture of his etched 8F tender sides which looked stunning.
For those who come across this blog and want to repeat my approach to the rivets, it basically involved the Metalsmith riveter (see links), a photocopy of some scale drawings from PDH (see links!), some slow-setting paper glue (e.g. UHU or Pritt-stick) and a digital caliper! I cut out the photocopy and stuck the copy of the left-hand tender-side face-up to the inside of the right-hand tender side, then before the glue set, I carefully positioned the copy in place using the digital caliper and measuring from the bottom of the tender side to the bottom edge of the rivets, basically sliding the paper on the brass and measuring to ensure that the main horizontal line of rivets was exactly horizontal. Then it was a case of just carefully punching the holes through the marks on the paper. The riveter has a guide built-in also which adds another degree of comfort when doing the horizontal line but it obviously cannot be used on the vertical lines as there is no straight-edge to run against (because the tabs are in the way). To do the other side I peeled off the photocopy I had just used, flipped it over, aligned with the digital caliper as above and punched through the holes in the paper. It’s a bit ‘Blue Peter’ rather than Model Engineering but it works!
I realize that the above method will not work if the paper does not sit perfectly flat on the photocopier (you will get curved lines!) and it also relies on the both the drawing and the laser-cutting to be accurate (which they were). As I mentioned to Malcolm, it took me less than an hour to do both sides so it is quick (in the grand scheme of building a G1 loco) and I think an effective alternative to etching.
Anyway, with the wind postponing any soldering today, I took shelter in the shed and changed the 3-jaw chuck on the lathe for the 4-jaw (remembering to protect the lathe bed first in case i dropped it!) and set about machining the front bogie axleboxes. I hadn't used the 4-jaw before but got to grips with it quickly and was soon getting the hang of centering work and I have made good progress on the axleboxes which i hope to finish tomorrow.
I have also bought a big lump of brass and plan to use this to further refine my 4-jaw lathe skills... I have the G1MRA Dee and Project books and thought that it would make sense if my first attempt at machining cylinders and valve gear was an inside cylinder loco rather than making mistakes on expensive castings (the Dee cylinder block is very small and that volume of brass costs less than pint of beer, not to mention the fact that G1MRA books are excellent and have been described to me as a "great introductory course to model engineering"). This was the round-about excuse I gave the wife anyway for daring to suggest starting on a second engine before completing the first!! She has kindly bought me a boiler, wheels, and a complete Model Engineers Laser Dee platework kit for my 'model engineering course' for my birthday! How I ended up with such a good wife is beyond me, but God bless her nevertheless!
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