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NSW 24 class mogul in 5" gauge


dajt
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I never finish my 7mm projects but now there is a 5" gauge forum I can post to that!

 

5 years so far. The tender took 3 years, and now 2 on the loco.

 

I've just finished the valve gear, and need to do the slide bars, crossheads, and inlet and exhaust plumbing and then I can try and run it on compressed air.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Slidebars are about done, except for the oil pots and mounting them on the loco which I need the crossheads for.

 

There was an failed attempt to use 12 mm sq bright steel, but I knew I was taking a risk not machining all sides of it and they did bend.

 

So 12mm sq black steel was machined down to 11.5 x 8 mm. Each one then put in the vice and a hammer used to make a 10deg bend in one end. One blank was marked out and finished, then this was used to mark the others and as a support in the vice while milling the long taper to save having to carefully align each one.

 

I've started cutting a length of 50mm dia cast iron down to a small rectangle to make the crossheads. They're 36 mm high, 16 mm wide, and 43mm long.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Crossheads under way. These are being machined from a piece of 50mm dia cast iron. Down to 36 x 16 mm... that took a while.

 

Quite tricky to make, and misreading the drawing means I have about 1mm down the middle to split them rather than the 10+mm I meant to leave!

 

Next is to split them and hollow them out.

 

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The crossheads are all but done, and I'm pleased with how they've turned out. I can do some cleaning up with a file but might not bother.

 

Then I almost cried when I cracked the boss of one doing something stupid. One of the club members suggested turning the thick end of the boss down and putting a sleeve over it so that's the next job. I was going to bore it out and put an internal sleeve in but I think the outside sleeve is a much better idea.

 

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So sorry about the crack! I'm sure a sleeve around the outside will make a fine repair. Will your piston rod be pinned, or threaded into the cross head? I hope the crack does not come back to make further problems when fastening the piston rod. Just curious, why was cast iron chosen as material for the cross head?

 

David

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The piston rod will be pinned and loctited. I'll have to be careful to drill behind the crack. The crack already goes halfway down to the square part. If I get a season or two out of it then I'll make another one, I just don't want to make a 3rd one now!

 

Cast iron was used because that's what the guy who designed it used. I assume because it will run well against the steel slide bars. It would be a rough job machining this shape from steel too, but I don't know if that was part of his decision.

 

I looked at your other post about the Simplex. Did you really get your loco running on air in 9 months? I've been working on mine forever (at least 2 years for the loco itself so far, and years for the tender before that!)

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Hi Dajt,

 

Okay, cast iron it is! Sometime in the future, if you have to remake it, you might consider bronze, gun metal, or steel. Cast iron is pretty brittle. You can always make slides for the cross head out of cast iron if you feel it is necessary.

 

Yes, I got my Super Simplex running on air in 9 months! I started in June of 2015 and the first test on air was in February of this year, 2016. I am now deep into boiler construction. I am an experienced machinist, but I know nothing about boiler building. The boiler has been a real learning experience for me! I hope to hydro test before the end of December. 

 

David

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Nice work dajt,I am building a 5 inch gauge MSWJR 2-4-0,   And i must say that your Tender is almost the same,was it a Dubbs loco,  As for your cross heads,a sleeve will work,but it will always be on your mind,( i know ) so your end up making it again,Most commercial castings for that will be iron or bronze,On my manor They were lost wax stainless steel with a bronze slipper,They should last for a long time. Garry

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Thanks Garry. It was a Dubbs loco, yes! I'll dig out my MSWJR book and have a look at the 2-4-0. Are you posting photos of your build anywhere? I would like to make some MSWJR stuff in 1:64 or 1:32 some day. I know the sleeve will bug me but this project is taking long enough as it is and I hate remaking parts when it isn't even finished yet. There will be plenty of time to make one when it is running or when I'm stuck for things to do later on. A stainless crosshead with bronze slipper should last a very long time, yes.

 

David, getting a loco going in 9 months is really something! I think I'd buy the boiler for mine if I could but we don't have commercial boiler suppliers here in Aus. A couple of the local club members have made many boilers between them so there is plenty of experience to draw upon. I already have the copper but it's all flat and will need beating into shape. That's a way off yet. I hope mine will be running on air in a couple of months. Really just the motion brackets, con rods, fitting up, and inlet/exhaust plumbing to do.

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Yes dajt i have some o gauge stuff on rm web somewhere on here i shall find it,when i can remember the title,and i have some of my stuff on here under 5 inch gauge locos,put that in the search box,I would give you a link,but im rubbish with that kind of stuff,I also have some pictures of my loco and mswjr wagon on the   SWINDONS OTHER RAILWAY site,on the first page under a 5 inch gauge wagon by garry owen,have a look . and keep the photos coming your work is good. Garry     

5" Gauge Engines
Started by mswjrApr 12 2013 19:14            www.swindonsotherrailway.co.uk
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Motion bracket and one crosshead anchor on. Pretty pleased with how it all went. The motion bracket anchor took a long time to make and fit... and it's only 18 x 5 x 8 mm! I'll trim the vertical screws later so they don't poke through the slidebar.

 

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One of the members of the local club designed it. He built bespoke engines for years as his job and once established would only do models of real locos so he knows a thing or two about designing anything he wants. He did design one beginner's loco which was published in our national mag, one of which you can see in the background of some of these photos. I didn't build it, I bought it in bits and made what was missing as my introduction to model engineering.

 

He decided to make a model of the NSW 24 class for himself, and asked another club member if he'd like to make one too as a follow up to his first effort. Word got around and about six of us asked to sign on. So he has supplied all the drawings and some words and off we go. I've been translating anything that makes sense into CAD for water or laser cutting, but that's really only the frames, hornguides, running boards, cab, and smokebox front and back. Me and another club member are pretty close in progress - he's working on his valves. Another club member almost has the wheels in the frames, but he's just taken over a model engineering supply business as well as having his day job so he's had to give it a rest. I don't think any of the others have really got into it, and they all live at least a few hours away, and in one cast interstate so don't have the advantage us locals have.

 

We all had to build the tender first to prove we could get that far.

 

The design won't be published as the designer has retired and doesn't want the mountain of questions etc that putting it out for general consumption would generate.

 

Having the designer and initial model only 10 mins drive away is an enormous help, obviously. I'm quite worried about running out of steam, but the encouragement of club members is keeping me going. It's scary seeing so many locos get to the rolling chassis or running on air stage. I've been at this one 4 or 5 years now and there is still a few to go. I don't work fast as I often don't know what has to be made really well and what doesn't matter, and have to stop after a few hours due to getting stressed about making a mistake or breaking something. Anxiety is not a good attribute when doing something that takes 1000s of hours of careful work! I don't particularly enjoy the process unless I'm pretty confident I can make the part OK, but I like the results when things go together.

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How great is that to have the designer living so close to you!

 

Well, so far, what you have done looks great! The tender looks quite good and represents quite a chunk of time spent. No doubt the rest of the loco will be of the same quality. I look forward to more photos as you progress.

 

David

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  • 2 months later...

Steady progress. The valve timing was done last week, but I had to upset it because I hadn't put the o-rings on the valve spindles so had to take them out again. I found one of the glands threads was too shallow so had to make it again.

Crosshead oilers made over the last few days, piston rods cross-pinned, piston rings on, and all bolted up. With luck I'll never see the pistons again!

I decided I'd take the whole loco apart to clean the rust off (again), and this time put it back together with all the bolts.

I have made the inlet and exhaust manifolds so I'm hoping it will be running on air as soon as I have it back together and redo the valve timing. The eccentrics should not have moved so that should be a case of getting the valve in the correct place on the spindle.

Regards, David.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the engine running on compressed air last week so that was a milestone reached  :locomotive:

 

Making a start on the smokebox for the NSW 5" gauge Z24 class. Can't get a good finish on the front so I think a lot of sanding will be required. The blanks were water-jet cut and the rivet holes were laid out in CAD then their coordinates printed out as a list and spotted using the DRO.

 

Regards, David.

 

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Made the slidebar oilers today. 6 of them, nice simple parts and once a system is going you can make them without thinking too hard. Also a picture of the inlet and exhaust plumbing.

 

Regards, David.

 

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I do enjoy these Model Engineering threads

 

Head over to some model engineering forums, there is some amazing work going on. There is some spectacular stuff here too in the scratch building area, but they're two different disciplines. I think I still prefer the model maker approach than the miniature engineering approach because there are so many compromises in miniature engineering. But it is a kick to make something that works like its big brothers, and I still go 'wow' when I see a live steam loco before its painted all steel and brass, gee they look good.

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  • 1 month later...

Got the engine running on compressed air last week so that was a milestone reached  :locomotive:

 

Making a start on the smokebox for the NSW 5" gauge Z24 class. Can't get a good finish on the front so I think a lot of sanding will be required. The blanks were water-jet cut and the rivet holes were laid out in CAD then their coordinates printed out as a list and spotted using the DRO.

 

Regards, David.

 

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Congratulations on getting your loco running on air! This is always a very significant milestone! Awesome!

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Finished detailing the conrods. Obv I forgot to mop up the oil before taking the photos! I am tempted to make a start on the boiler now and get that out of the way.

 

Regards, David.

 

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  • 1 month later...

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