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Rookie Workbench (Slater's Lowfit)


commsbloke
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The piece I referring to is the one in the pic. These are used in conjunction with oleo buffers and instanter couplings so the couplings can reach the next vehicle. With the normal say 4-rib buffers or when using screw couplings then the one with the slot and 4 bolts. 

Hope that makes sense

Michael 

FAFF26B0-6F59-4A70-9E8D-9E26096FB133.jpeg

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There is more than one way to skin a cat! Top - my elaborate and rather ungainly method of bracing the sides (a standard van but same principle) and, bottom, a rather more elegant method on one I bought part finished!

 

The number and arrow is to tell me which way the roof fits - I find they overhang too much and sand them down so the doors would open. The bubble wrap stops them making a hollow plastic sound when running.

 

I've also included a couple of snaps of a home made compensation unit making use of the separate springs and W irons in the Slaters kits - the W irons have been mounted on a small rocking unit with the springs fixed to the solebars. Again not my work - its very nice but I've always used the little etches shown on here previously.

 

DSC_0520a.jpg.e6f37fde64b92f759e1342e025f39307.jpgDSC_0521a.jpg.0e9e83dc32bf07d10ddca84d9dcddeeb.jpgDSC_0526a.jpg.084d6cc38ca3ad01f3c3e6a391aec708.jpgDSC_0527a.jpg.10ef86deebc527f0db66e0ac6bf24ad4.jpg

Edited by Hal Nail
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Thanks Mike, yes I have now found the parts on the brown sprue.
Thanks also to Hal, I will be bracing but I think compensation is for a later build.

Tonight's little problem, I did drill through the buffer guides but i didn't clean up the wide part. So three of the buffers wouldn't seat fully. P1203240.jpg.df4d8fc98e88a029f08c3c0a9c1386b4.jpg


I am not sure what the pest tool is for cleaning these out and I probably don't have one.
So I bodged my way through by twirling a square needle file.
I think that a 2.5mm drill would also have helped clean up.

All that work shows that the gorilla 2 part epoxy hadn't done a very good job. Any recomendations for gluing metal castings to plastic?

Thanks
Nick

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14 minutes ago, commsbloke said:

I am not sure what the pest tool is for cleaning these out and I probably don't have one.
So I bodged my way through by twirling a square needle file.
I think that a 2.5mm drill would also have helped clean up.

All that work shows that the gorilla 2 part epoxy hadn't done a very good job. Any recomendations for gluing metal castings to plastic?

 

You're right, the best tool for cleaning up the inside of the buffer casting is the appropriate-sized drill, taking care not to take material off the casting.

For fixing the buffer castings I usually introduce super glue from the rear, around the mounting spigot.

Other methods are available...

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Agree, a good CA works well for gluing things like buffer housings to plastic.  I use Zap-A-Gap Medium.

 

Another point, don't use CA to secure the buffer nuts.  You won't be able to get them off again without serious risk of breaking the buffer.  I know because I have refurbished others kits that used CA and that is what happened.  A better choice to secure the nuts is Loc Tite Thread locker.

 

I did have a small bottle of Gorilla glue but when I went to use it, it had set solid.  Somebody on another thread mentioned that Gorilla glue has a short shelf life.  Zap-A-Gap stays viable for a very long time.

 

I did mention the powder in the buffer housings.  A drill of suitable size will get most of it.  To completely clean out I used a reamer but a square file will probably work fine.

 

John

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38 minutes ago, Nickey Line said:

 

You're right, the best tool for cleaning up the inside of the buffer casting is the appropriate-sized drill, taking care not to take material off the casting.

For fixing the buffer castings I usually introduce super glue from the rear, around the mounting spigot.

Other methods are available...

 

Thanks again Adrian and John

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38 minutes ago, brossard said:

I did mention the powder in the buffer housings.  A drill of suitable size will get most of it.  To completely clean out I used a reamer but a square file will probably work fine.

 

 You did thanks but  thought that I had blown them out.
The problem was only visible to me with two pairs of reading glasses and a good torch.
Also it wasn't just the powder in my photo you can see a large bit of sprue? in the hole.
My first attempt to clean out with a 2.2mm drill (my largest) it just grabbed on the protrusion.
I will try and keep track of the tools that I used as it may help other rookies.

 

Nick

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I also paint the wheels a sort of a grungy brown/black/rust colour first as well.  It does mean leaving the wheels off as long as possible and only installing after paint.  Everyone has their own way of doing things.

 

John

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Nick, how above running a flat bottom diamond burr down the body of the casting to clear any powder or other bits that may be left over from the casting process. Lidl have these set on sale this week at £2 .49 a set. The smallest is just over 1mm and the largest is just over 3.3mm. I use them by hand in a pin chuck and I find they work for all sorts of things.

Mike

image.jpeg

Edited by airnimal
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6 hours ago, airnimal said:

Nick, how above running a flat bottom diamond burr down the body of the casting to clear any powder or other bits that may be left over from the casting process. Lidl have these set on sale this week at £2 .49 a set. The smallest is just over 1mm and the largest is just over 3.3mm. I use them by hand in a pin chuck and I find they work for all sorts of things.

Mike


They look good and at a price I can get past Mrs Commsbloke

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On 21/01/2020 at 00:38, airnimal said:

Nick, how above running a flat bottom diamond burr down the body of the casting to clear any powder or other bits that may be left over from the casting process. Lidl have these set on sale this week at £2 .49 a set. The smallest is just over 1mm and the largest is just over 3.3mm. I use them by hand in a pin chuck and I find they work for all sorts of things.

Mike

image.jpeg

Nipped into Lidl today in Cardiff. Came out with the above. Plus a the cutting disc set and a mini drill. Too cheap to miss. 

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Not much progress, during the week

 

I also have had a little trip to Lidl, diamond burrs, and cutting disks purchased with a quid change from a fiver, thanks airnimal.


Buffer guides removed, epoxy cleaned off, and quick workover inside with the diamond burr. Glued back with cyano. On that note the model shop has thin medium and thick cyano. Any advantages of one over the other?

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  • Today I wanted to get the wheels on.
    First a dry run with the W irons, bearings and wheelsets.
    I believe that there was too much side-play on the axle. The wheels felt pretty sloppy.
    Not having any suitable washers handy I decided to try and make some from some evergreen 1mm sheet styrene that I had to hand.P1253244.jpg.707298106011822ccfada3dcfe0bf28f.jpg
  •  
  • On a second dry run these proved a little to thick, so I thinned down on a sanding stick.
  • P1253246.jpg.6e5f8b26f5a5d78b70b7b8c547b47352.jpg

    and fitted between bearing and W iron.
  • P1253247.jpg.f2c1b0236630f0fc442bf8b331e58481.jpg

Once fitted and glued to the solebars very little wheel-set play seen.

Continued with leaf springs and axle-boxes.
I used the larger type of axle-boxes although no info in the instructions about this choice.
Finally for today I fitted the vacuum reservoir.
 

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22 minutes ago, commsbloke said:

I believe that there was too much side-play on the axle. The wheels felt pretty sloppy.
Not having any suitable washers handy I decided to try and make some from some evergreen 1mm sheet styrene that I had to hand.

 

For future reference, to save a lot of fiddly work, Eileen's Emporium (among others) do a 1/8" ID fibre washer in a pack of 100 - perfect for this job.

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Today, a few possible gotchas in on picture.
P1263251.jpg.4cc3a5c7db2267d00ac27c8fbe23d1aa.jpg

 

If you build in the order of the diagrams in the instructions, the brake arms/shoes are fitted in fig.4.
The parts that pull on the brake arms (The brass A frames) in the photo are not fitted until fig.9.
The possible gotcha here is that the A frames need to pass through the brake arms.
Luckily I saw this before gluing .

Next the "A frames" with the long arm both point left if the vacuum cylinder is at the back.
Here my long arms are pointing to the left but the vacuum cylinder is at the front.
So off with the brake arms to reverse the "A frames".

 

Also as John said earlier "I like to work on things like buffers and couplings before doing anything else."
This is also stated in the instructions.
Now I can see that I am going to have fun fitting the split pin in the coupling shaft.

 

 

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One more question about the last picture.


Should the A frame with the long arm pass above or below the axle?
Or as the picture is upside down, between axle and body or between axle and track?

Thanks, Nick

 

 

Edited by commsbloke
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Some excellent info gained from the flickr user Jamerail's photos

 

It answers my question about the brake rigging
 

It shows that both the short "A frames" (brake pullers?) face the same way
Pointy end to the right if you are looking from the vacuum side.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/95430950@N07/23245573765/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/95430950@N07/36780177543/
 

And the long A frames pass under the axle
https://www.flickr.com/photos/95430950@N07/25963668260/

Many other useful Vanwide pics in this stream
Also the pictures in this stream show the same suspension and the large axle-boxes as shown in the Slater's instructions.
Most of the other pictures of vanwides that I have found show the possibly later suspension with the small axelboxes.

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Some work on the fiddly bits today.
First I cut a short length of the supplied brass rod and used it to connect the lever to the short A frame.
This was soldered at right angles. Please excuse my soldering.P2017413.jpg.987ece68970f93f034a439dfe9cb518e.jpg

The brass rod was then clipped so there was only a short amount protruding each side.
Note that when the A frame is swung down to point to the axle the part of the lever with one hole points towards the chassis.
Next I loosly fitted the folded etch (part 58) onto the remains of the rod.
P2017415.jpg.58eb3a0c18e95f6daacf3ee3a22de6e5.jpg

Now the A arm can be rotated into position and the flat part of etch 58 was CAed to the chassis.
Etch 58 was then soldered where it connects to the lever
The long A arm was then soldered to the two hole end of the lever.
The same process was followed for the other axle.

P2017419.jpg.391d76ca954da46287f05e2e62aa2b5f.jpg
 

Here you can see that I have also added one V hanger and made a start on the shaft between the V hangers.

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