Caley Jim Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 The chimney, dome and tank filler have now been turned and fitted. My method with Drummond domes with the Ramsbottom safety valves on top is to turn the dome (or the valve seating where they are not on the dome) with a cylinder on top the diameter of the longitudinal distance across the two valves, usually 1.75mm, file this down equally from either side to 0.5mm wide, cut a slot down the centre to create the separation between the two valves and then file/carve them to a roughly circular cross section. (Hard brass is relatively easy to carve with sharp tools.) A short No.80 hole is drilled between them and the spring made from a piece of 16BA bolt with the top and bottom turned down. This is then soldered into the hole and the top trimmed. In the case of this loco, the whistle is also attached to the dome, which posed something of a challenge. It was turned up from a piece of brass rod with a flange at the bottom which was then trimmed to make the manifold and pipe projecting from one side and was fitted into another hole drilled in the rear of the dome. Needing the wheels now to help make it look like a loco, but I understand they may not be too far away. Meanwhile there are plenty other bits and pieces to make, however there won't be any more progress for a week at least as we are off tomorrow for our annual dose of Lake District rain. Jim 6 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 Now with buffers and coupling hooks! Jim 9 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 Next up was to assemble the cosmetic frames which also carry the brake gear. These are half etched over almost all of their area and rather flexible, so I soldered lengths of 10thou steel guitar string along the top edges between the wheel slots to stiffen them slightly. Once the brake gear is fitted they become much more rigid. Two lugs at the back hook over the back of the chassis with a pcb spacer soldered across the back which buts up against the back of the chassis. To attach them, the cosmetic frames are then swung up and fixed at the front by a 14BA screw into the front frame spacer. Here I ran into an unforeseen problem, partly due to lack of foresight and partly to having had to change the body assembly arrangements for reasons I described in an earlier post. The cosmetic frames have to be attached to the chassis before it is attached to the footplate assembly, with the smokebox/tank/cab being attached last, the latter held by a screw through the front frame spacer into the smokebox. The problem I encountered was that the front spacer of the cosmetic frames partly covered the latter screw! Cutting this spacer back to clear the screw was not an option as that would have left it too fragile. The solution was to make a new spacer, extended backwards and incorporating a hole for the screw into the smokebox and use a longer screw. As the two screws are very close together, the hole for the 14BA one was deeply countersunk so that its head would be well clear of the 12BA attaching the smokebox. Despite not having the wheels yet (but see later) I decided to attach the brakegear fitting a pair of 8.5mm wheels I have into the front bearings and lining up, by eye, the edge of the brake blocks with the edge of the flange. This was repeated for the rear wheels with the centre blocks being aligned using the outside pull rods as guides. This should leave sufficient clearance for the 9mm wheels. The cross rods are 10thou guitar wire long enough to hold the pull rods. Inserting a set of wagon wheels into the slots in the cosmetic frames allowed me to workout how far these should be spaced out from the brake hangers. Once the pull rods were attached, the cross rods had a small section snipped out of them and short lengths of insulation off decoder wire slipped over the gap and flooded with cyano. On the wheels front, Nigel C came over here last Monday and, with my guidance from the drawing regarding dimensions, we drew up the artwork for the wheels, which has now gone to I-materialise for printing in stainless steel. They will be delivered to Alan Smith for fitting the rims and axles and, with any luck, I should have them before the turn of the year. Meanwhile there are plenty bits and pieces still to be made and fitted! Jim W 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 The rear sandboxes and front sand pipes have now been made and fitted. The former were filed out of brass (a pin from a broken 13amp plug) with a small piece of etch tag soldered to the top rear slope to form the lid and a length of 10thou. guitar wire soldered into a small hole in the bottom for the pipe. The front pipes, which emerge from an 'S' shaped fitting below the front of the front sandbox, were cobbled up from bits of copper wire with the pipes again guitar string. These pipes thread their way between the front brake block and the guard iron and so are barely visible. I've made all the pipes a wee bit short to avoid the risk of them catching on any track irregularities. Jim 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Caley Jim Posted November 19, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 19, 2019 (edited) The smokebox door hand wheel on this loco is slightly different to that on Tim's 'Valour' in that it has four distinct spokes as opposed to four holes, so a different approach was required. I started by turning down the head of a pin in my minidrill, firstly reducing it's diameter to 1.5mm and then flattening off the top of the head, but leaving a tiny dimple in the centre. The head was then thinned down from the back and the top part of the pin itself reduced to about 0.4mm diameter. In case anyone thinks this was straightforward, the one photographed is the fourth attempt! The other three either broke off at the pin head or I made the shaft too thin and it snapped. BTW, I forgot to include a bit of white paper in the original (un-cropped) photos, so these are not colour corrected. Next step was to hold the pin in a pin vice and use the four slots between the jaws to guide filing triangular areas out of the head to leave it with the four spokes. Some .25mm fuse wire was then wrapped several times round a No.54 (1.4mm) drill and a ring cut from the resultant spiral to form the rim of the wheel. Getting this soldered in place on the tips of the spokes was more a matter of luck than skill!! The locking handle was formed from fine copper wire, wrapping it round the shaft of the pin and then twisting the ends tightly together before flooding it with solder, with it tight up against the back of the wheel, and cutting it to length. It was then 'turned'down' by closing my smallest pin vice down until I could just rotate it around the lever without any resistance, then closing the jaws a tiny fraction (less than ¼ turn), running it down again and repeating this until any suggestion of the spiralling had been removed. I've used this technique many times before to 'round off' something which started off square or to smooth off something which can't be readily put in a drill, e.g. the spigots of the cast brass wagon buffers. Finally, the wheel in situ on the smokebox. It is just sitting there in the photo as it won't be glued in until after painting, it being bright metal. Jim Edited November 19, 2019 by Caley Jim Correction of link 4 2 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share Posted November 22, 2019 Most of the bodywork is now at the stage where it's ready to be painted and I don't plan to do that before I have the loco in running order, so I'm now turning my attention to making the bits to be fitted after painting. Yesterday I made up the backhead. The backhead itself is two pieces of 30thou black styrene laminate together and then cut and filed to shape, the firehole door and shelf above it being from 5 and 10thou styrene respectively, then painted black. The various pipes and fittings are cobbled up from copper wire, with the regulator handle cut from scrap etch. It's all no more than 'representational' since the only good view you'll get of it will be from over the top of the bunker. It is just sitting in place here. The pressure gauge sits above the backhead, so it and its associated piping will also be made and fitted later, though again, it will only be seen when viewed almost horizontally from above the bunker. I note in the last photo that one of the cabside lamp irons has gone awol, so that will have to be replaced. Jim 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Nig H Posted November 23, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 23, 2019 16 hours ago, Caley Jim said: Most of the bodywork is now at the stage where it's ready to be painted and I don't plan to do that before I have the loco in running order, so I'm now turning my attention to making the bits to be fitted after painting. Yesterday I made up the backhead. The backhead itself is two pieces of 30thou black styrene laminate together and then cut and filed to shape, the firehole door and shelf above it being from 5 and 10thou styrene respectively, then painted black. The various pipes and fittings are cobbled up from copper wire, with the regulator handle cut from scrap etch. It's all no more than 'representational' since the only good view you'll get of it will be from over the top of the bunker. It is just sitting in place here. The pressure gauge sits above the backhead, so it and its associated piping will also be made and fitted later, though again, it will only be seen when viewed almost horizontally from above the bunker. I note in the last photo that one of the cabside lamp irons has gone awol, so that will have to be replaced. Jim Hi Jim, I use flattened lead sheet filed and cut to shape for backheads. It probably doesn't add much extra weight, but every little helps! Nig H 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 I'm just about to start filling the smokebox and tank with lead. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted November 27, 2019 Author Share Posted November 27, 2019 (edited) After a somewhat frustrating time I have managed to make up a representation of the LH injector and ts associated piping. The injector itself is filed up from some 1mm thick brass with a spigot at the back which fits into a hole in the side of the firebox. Shallow holes were drilled with a No.80 drill where each of the pipes are attached. The frustrating bit was getting all the lengths of copper wire 'pipe' attached to it without getting too much solder on everything as the whole assembly will be left as bright metal. After several unsuccessful attempts I ended up setting the injector upside down on my soldering mat with lengths of wire, longer than required and with their ends well tinned, sitting in the holes and held in place with blue tack at the ends furthest from the injector. I then held the injector spigot in tweezers and applied the soldering iron to the back of the injector. This way most of the solder is on the back. The wires were then cut back to length. The clack valve was turned in the minidrill from a scrap piece of 12BA bolt, first making a small hole in the end for the wire. Once turned to size I then drill a hole in one side to fit over a spigot on the boiler side. I managed to inadvertently drill right through, in the process breaking my one and only No.80 drill!! Once the assembly had been test fitted and the pipe to the clack valve adjusted so that the latter sat vertically, a small length of fine wire to represent the support was wrapped around the pipe and passed through a fine hole in the centre splasher before being fixed to the wire. It will be glued in place after painting. BTW, the cosmetic frames have been removed to avoid damage to them when handling the loco. I wonder how many attempts it will now take me to make the RH one? Jim Edited November 27, 2019 by Caley Jim Spelling correction 4 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted November 29, 2019 Author Share Posted November 29, 2019 RH injector and pipework made up and sitting inplace The tale to this one is that I had the injector half made, spigot created and four holes drilled, and was in the process of cutting it off the brass stock when it suddenly parted and flew off into the hands of the carpet monster. A quick search failed to find it, so I set about another one. When I had finished filing it up and was walking out my study last night something glinted on the carpet at the door..... You've guessed it, the missing injector blank!! Ah well, if I ever decide to build another saddle tank I've got the beginnings of a RH injector for it! (CR side tank and tender locos had the injectors either on top of the boiler or under the footplate.) Jim 4 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted December 12, 2019 Author Share Posted December 12, 2019 On advice from the 'Any Questions' thread I purchased a bottle of Birchwood Casey Aluminium Black from Eileen's and have applied it to some areas, mainly parts of the main chassis which might be visible, any vulnerable edges of the body (including the steps and the coupling hooks) and the 'ashpan' section of the rear compensating beams. I'm very happy with the results, though it didn't work on the area around the wormwheel shaft bearings (which will just be visible in front of the firebox) due to the amount of solder used to ensure the bearings were secure. I also tried some on the chimney, but it was less successful there, though it has blackened the inside quite well. Jim 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted December 21, 2019 Author Share Posted December 21, 2019 I picked up the wheels from the PO today (they arrived yesterday, but we were out when they were delivered). 3D printed stainless steel centres. They are superb!! Many thanks to both Nigel and Alan. First job will be to make a card mask for the flanges and get them painted. There are two sets as we could fit that many into the print. Jim 7 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteT Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Jim. Those wheels look superb. Are they the new standard wheels or a special order? Pete T Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted December 22, 2019 Author Share Posted December 22, 2019 They are made by the same process a the new ones, but are a special order. The beauty of the new process is that 'specials' can be produced at much the same cost (depending on the size of the wheels). Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Izzy Posted December 22, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 22, 2019 They do look first rate. Development of a new design/process has I know been going on for a long time so thanks are due to all those involved. Izzy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 3 hours ago, PeteT said: Jim. Those wheels look superb. Are they the new standard wheels or a special order? Pete T 1 hour ago, Caley Jim said: They are made by the same process a the new ones, but are a special order. The beauty of the new process is that 'specials' can be produced at much the same cost (depending on the size of the wheels). Jim They're prototypes for a process, and we need to get prototype wheels built up into locos. Alan put an earlier set in a Farish 4F a while ago. The tyres are the same as ever, turned steel. There is a new axle, in steel, which has a flange on the rear to seat it into the wheel centre. The centre is 3D printed. Jim's wheel centres differ from "standard" wheels in the shape of the boss (notably the curved fillet between axle and crankpin area), spoke count, the spoke profile (narrow, rectangular with a flange at base around spoke, rim, and wheel boss), the addition of balance weights to suit the prototype, etc. Alan and I are still experimenting with the process. In the 3D print order which included Jim's wheels, there were some unexpected issues. Which means another round of tests, all part of learning and experimenting. I don't know if, or when, wheels done this way could make it to the shop. It is clear that they are significantly more expensive than the brass centres with brass axles, though we're still trying to work out how to cost the finishing and assembly processes. ( if anyone can do the centres cheaper, whilst maintaining accuracy, let us know........ ) I will be writing up the specification for the centres and how the CAD files are built for the magazine. Hopefully after another test round, if they don't throw up any more unexpected issues. - Nigel 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted December 22, 2019 Author Share Posted December 22, 2019 I won't be fitting the Association crankpins as I have always turned my own in the minidrill. The wheels were spray painted (acrylic matt black from a rattle can) yesterday and I turned up one crankpin before we went out for the evening. It will probably be tomorrow before I get round to doing the rest of the crankpins as I have a batch of new member forms to enter into the membership database and the church website to update first. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 The wheels have now had two coats of acrylic matt black from a rattle can and had the crank pins fitted. The crank pins are my own concoction which I've used successfully since before any were available from the shop. In this instance they have been turned up from the left-over shafts of the dressmaking pins used to make the smokebox locking wheel several posts back. The part projecting from the wheel is turned to 0.3mm and the holes in the rods opened up to suit. The section within the wheel is turned to 0.5mm with a slight taper until it will go about half way into the hole in the wheel. this is done with a triangular file which produced a sloped shoulder where it meets the un-reduced pin. The crank pin is cut off just beyond that and the excess filed back until there is just a countersunk 'head' remaining. The back of the crank pin hole in the wheel is lightly countersunk, the pin inserted as far as it will go, the wheel placed face down on a piece of plywood with the pin projecting into a hole and a punch used to drive the pin in until the 'head' is as near flush with the back of the wheel as it will go, anything projecting being lightly filed off. In the case of these wheels I then salvaged some small 10thou washers from an earlier, aborted, attempt to produce these wheels from layered etches slid them over the crank pins, with a little soder paint beind them, and quickly touched them with the iron to fix them in place. the backs of the coupling rod bosses have been heavily blackened, so hopefully that will prevent them soldering to the washers, but I will put a slip of tissue paper in there anyway as belt and braces. Next up to fit the wheels and adjust the compensating beam rocker to get the loco sitting level. Also to check that there are no isues over shorting inside the splashers, which will need to be lined with tissue fixed with cyano if there is. Jim 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 We----ell. I've had a frustrating time with this over the festive season, to the point that i ta'en a scunner to it at one point! The wheels went into the chassis fine and with the coupling rods fitted temporarily, having reamed the holes a little, and the quartering adjusted I got the wheels turning freely. Fitting the footplate assembly was a different story, however. Lots of problems with the wheel flanges fouling the splashers, the rear wheels fouling the footplate cut-outs under the cab and the tops of the oil boxes on the couplig rods hitting the underside of the footplate where i had added reinforcement, Dental stones and burs in the minidrill created some spaces for them, but they still had to be reduced in height. Once i got that lot sorted out there were still shorts occurring and they were only eliminated by lining everything which was anywhere near the wheels with tissue fixed with cyano. Then there was the cab splashers. The clearance between their inside faces and the backs of the rear wheels was negligible, so they were taken out (after removing the cab floor) and an 'L' shaped piece of etch frame from a corner soldered to their outside edges before re-attaching them. this was enough to do the trick. The front section of the cab floor then needed to be reduced in width to fit back in between the splashers and, of course, the lower part of the backhead was also now too wide! There were also issues with the coupling rods fouling the brake pull rods at bottom dead centre, As I say I got fair scunnert with it for a few days, but perseverance and determination won through in the end and she is now running!! The Paint shop awaits after the Forth & Clyde area group meeting on Saturday. Jim 9 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 Painting took a little time, at least the lining did as it took several attempts for me to create enough lining with which I was happy. Even so, it's far from perfect, but it will have to do. I also had some issues with the balance of it. the smokebox and tank are full of lead, but that put the weight too far forward and there didn't seem to be enough weight on the rear drivers to keep them on the track. A couple of chunks of lead glued to the inside of the part of the rear beams representing the firebox has helped that, along with several wee bits glued to the underside of the chassis at the rear. She has now arrived at Kirkallanmuir to relieve No. 499 shunting the colliery sidings. https://youtu.be/MG2VJtgbu1A Jim 13 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 A brief post script. I mentioned in the last post that there were issues with the balance of the loco. Unfortunately the way the torque is applied to the centre axle by the gear train results, whichever direction it is going, in the leading wheels being lifted slightly off the track as the loco pivots about the centre drivers. I tried jamming the action of the rear beams with some slivers of scrap etch and this seemed to improve things going forwards, however the problem was still there to some extent in reverse as the loco was still able to 'sit down' on the front wheels. I decided to bite the bullet and have effectively disabled the compensation by spot soldering the beams to the frames, making sure that all six wheels were resting on a flat surface while doing that. Happily track holding is much improved while the stay-alive maintains slow speed running (I timed it taking over 2 minutes to cover 1ft). In future I'm tempted to abandon compensation (it's main purpose was to improve current collection) and fit stay-alive if at all possible. Jim 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coal Tank Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Looks great Jim 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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