Quartering Tool

[harry lamb]

It was never intended to work with anything other than 1/8" 4mm. scale axles and the only 'complication' I can see is the ability to alter the  B2B to cater for the now gone 'Exactoscale' wheelsets with 'grooved' journals which was exactly the reason it was made for in the first place! It works perfectly for 'OO', 'HO', 'EM' 'P4 and S4'. NOT 2mm, 3mm. or 7mm. or any other 'mm'.  Barring 'Romford' type and Hambling's and it does the job perfectly. Although presently O.O.U, railway modelling is, and has been for many years, no.3 on my current list of interests as I prefer sea angling and marine modelling. However, nowadays, I do enjoy converting RTR diesels with 'Penbit's bits' and my own form of compensation and springing when no suitable Penbits conversion pack is available. Complicated? The thing was made of scrap brass and N/S sheet and the base out of FG PCB so it must have been the 4 8BA nuts, screws washers and bolts that done it! 

Edited March 10, 2021 by harry lamb
made FOR in

[harry lamb]

Good evening. I have discovered a picture of my old quartering tool which had been in use for some time before this picture was taken. Originally made for Sharman's, U/scale, AGW and Maygib wheels. Unfortunately it was not successful with 'Exactoscale' wheels because of the pre mentioned problems with the 'grooved' stub axles. This was why I built the adjustable jig! 

[AndyID]

Nice Harry.

 

I'm not familiar with those grooved stub axles. Would they present a problem to a version like mine that really doesn't care about the axles at all?

 

Cheers,

Andy

[harry lamb]

Good evening Andy, I reckon your system is the only truly universal jig across a number of gauges whereas mine was and IS scale and gauge specific. Other than the adjustable one. The original jig's could only be used for EM/P4 and S4. Not 'OO'! But, the adjustable version could be squeezed up to accommodate 16.5mm. gauge wheels but I have never needed to do that. The 1/8" common steel axle is the datum I work to.  When I fit my wheels to, or when I used to, each axle would be fully equipped, cranks set, with it's own bearings to be presented into matched hornblocks (Mr. Gibbons) in the models frames plus spacing washers and gearboxes before wheeling. All completed axles being ready pre quartered, balanced, painted and ready to go in their allotted positions in the fully prepared loco frames. So, the conclusion is that yours is a block for all seasons whilst mine is axle specific. The field is yours. Regards. HL.       

[DCB]

The talk of Lord Nelsons having strange angles between outside cranks looks like people over thinking the situation and missing he obvious.   The angular spacing of the cranks from one side to the other is 135 deg, 90 deg and -135 deg. Putting it another way, with the drive axle seen in end elevation and one crank at 0 deg, then the others are at 135 deg, 225 deg and 270 deg.      However on a circle plus 270 degrees is also minus 90 degrees so the outside Cranks are spaced 90 degrees apart with the inside cranks at 90degrees to each other but at 45 degrees to the outside cranks.

The odd ones are the Gresley / Holcroft 3 cylinder locos, ( 2 to 1 gear designed at Swindon)  the 2:1  can only work with 120 degree spacing, however the inside cylinder when all 3 drive the same centre axle, has to be inclined, so what ever the inclination is from horizontal the inside crank has to be shifted a similar number of degrees from 120 derees to compensate, its why a properly set up Gresley has such an even beat.  Sir Nigel herself starting away from Grosmont on the NYMR wiith a heavy load is a relevation.   Then again I'm pretty sure one WC or MN has 120 spacing with an inclined cyliner and has a distinctly lop sided beat.

It don't really matter much in a model but the UP 2-10-4s with Gresley gear and exposed 2:1 gear might be an exception.

I better start building one of Andy's jigs before he patents the idea.

Edited March 15, 2021 by DavidCBroad

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, DavidCBroad said:

The talk of Lord Nelsons having strange angles between outside cranks looks like people over thinking the situation and missing he obvious.   The angular spacing of the cranks from one side to the other is 135 deg, 90 deg and -135 deg. Putting it another way, with the drive axle seen in end elevation and one crank at 0 deg, then the others are at 135 deg, 225 deg and 270 deg.      However on a circle plus 270 degrees is also minus 90 degrees so the outside Cranks are spaced 90 degrees apart with the inside cranks at 90degrees to each other but at 45 degrees to the outside cranks.

The odd ones are the Gresley / Holcroft 3 cylinder locos, ( 2 to 1 gear designed at Swindon)  the 2:1  can only work with 120 degree spacing, however the inside cylinder when all 3 drive the same centre axle, has to be inclined, so what ever the inclination is from horizontal the inside crank has to be shifted a similar number of degrees from 120 derees to compensate, its why a properly set up Gresley has such an even beat.  Sir Nigel herself starting away from Grosmont on the NYMR wiith a heavy load is a relevation.   Then again I'm pretty sure one WC or MN has 120 spacing with an inclined cyliner and has a distinctly lop sided beat.

It don't really matter much in a model but the UP 2-10-4s with Gresley gear and exposed 2:1 gear might be an exception.

I better start building one of Andy's jigs before he patents the idea.

 

Yes, it's how many puffs (valve events) there are per revolution. Stanier and Churchward synchronized the outer and inner cylinders to effectively create a greater piston area but Mansuel figured out he could even out the torque a bit by phase-shifting valve events by 45 degrees to make eight rather than four valve events per rev. A very clever idea overtaken by alternative technology.

 

Do please try my jig idea but I very much doubt anyone will obtain a patent on a V-block with two carefully cut pieces of cardboard

[AndyID]

4 hours ago, harry lamb said:

Good evening Andy, I reckon your system is the only truly universal jig across a number of gauges whereas mine was and IS scale and gauge specific. Other than the adjustable one. The original jig's could only be used for EM/P4 and S4. Not 'OO'! But, the adjustable version could be squeezed up to accommodate 16.5mm. gauge wheels but I have never needed to do that. The 1/8" common steel axle is the datum I work to.  When I fit my wheels to, or when I used to, each axle would be fully equipped, cranks set, with it's own bearings to be presented into matched hornblocks (Mr. Gibbons) in the models frames plus spacing washers and gearboxes before wheeling. All completed axles being ready pre quartered, balanced, painted and ready to go in their allotted positions in the fully prepared loco frames. So, the conclusion is that yours is a block for all seasons whilst mine is axle specific. The field is yours. Regards. HL.       

 

Hi Harry,

 

That is is a superb bit of engineering!

 

I confess my intention was to come up with something that lazy so-and-so's like me could use to quarter wheels with the minimum amount of effort

 

Cheers!

Andy

[AndyID]

On 02/03/2021 at 03:20, doilum said:

Is the perfect 90 degrees critical? Surely what is important lid that all wheelsets are the same.

 

Quite so. This will work with any particular angle of your choosing but 90 degree V-blocks are readily available. I suppose you could come up with something a lot more complicated if you really wanted to.