Worseter - update

[45609]

SPANKING!!

 

So, after 2 months of silent spanking both John and I have sore hands and Mike hasn't been able to sit down for weeks without wincing.  Apologies for the lack of updates from my side but today has some significance. This evening John will be taking delivery of his wheel set.  My last post mentioned the manufacture of the axles and, in all honesty, compared to the previous work these have been quite straightforward to make. They were also done quite a while ago.

 

All are made from precision ground 1/8" steel bar stock.  AFAIK you can only get this from Ultrascale. It is a free machining grade and as a result is very easy to drill and face off.  The process for each axle is to first saw blanks off the bar.  These are slightly over length to allow for cleaning up each end face in the lathe.  The first facing operation is very quick as there is no real need to measure anything or pay attention to how much is being removed.  Enough to fully clean up the face squarely is sufficient.

 

 

The axle blank is held in a collet chuck to ensure it runs true as the next step is to drill the axle end. The 9F wheel is distinctive in that the axles have a large hole in the end faces so this has to be replicated on the model axles.  For this operation I use a stub drill with a "four facet" or "split point" tip. What the hell is one of those? I hear you ask.  A couple of images for comparison are probably better than my words.  Drills mostly come with a chisel point geometry as they are cheaper to make, especially for small sizes.  They are good for general work, however, they have a tendency to wander when starting unless a centre point has been drilled beforehand.

 

 

A split point drill has two additional faces ground onto the tip of the drill that brings the tip to a true point rather than a chisel shape.  Even down to diameters as small as 0.3 mm these drills start precisely and do not wander.  However, I must stress this is when drilling with a machine (lathe or mill).  The stub length also adds rigidity to the drill and adds to the precision.  You are unlikely to find this type of drill from your typical model railway tool supplier.  You must go to an industrial tool supplier.

 

 

The photo below shows my 1 mm split point stub drill in action. The axle end has been faced off square with the turning tool and then the drill is pecked in to depth.  A drop of oil on the drill tip also helps things go smoothly.

 

 

This is the result a clean, round and concentric hole.  I don't drill all the way through.  Instead I just go a sufficient depth, 3 mm or 4 mm, to give the impression.

 

 

The final step on each axle end is to touch a piece of 800 grit emery on the axle end to just break the edge and remove any burrs.  If your turning tools are sharp the burr should be hardly visible.  I find the tip of a finger tells you more than the eye can.

 

This process is completed on one end of the axle and then it is turned round in the collet chuck and done again.  Before re-chucking the axle has to be measured carefully with the micrometer so that the right amount of material can be removed.  I'm aiming to get the axle length the same, to within 0.02 mm, of the width of the wheel set when measured across a back to back gauge.

 

Cheers....Morgan

Edited November 1, 2016 by 45609

[Porcy Mane]

I don't drill all the way through.  Instead I just go a sufficient depth, 3 mm or 4 mm, to give the impression.

 

Softy.  

 

Worth the wait though. Very nice.

[Mike G]

Exceptional, this will be some engine.

[Killybegs]

Exceptional, this will be some engine.

 

No pressure on me then!

[Killybegs]

It will be a while before Morgan's beautiful wheels get fitted but with the coupling rods back (Morgan needed them to set up the crank pin bushes), I was able to check the rolling chassis with the Sharman wheels that I have been using to get things set up. Shock horror, serious binding. A quick check revealed that the centre drivers the wrong way round in the chassis. All the bearings are numbered and a 3 does look a bit like an 8 and vice versa! With those swapped around, there remained a very slight tight spot but that can wait until the proper wheels go in when it may disappear anyway. The rear of the coupling rod was also just catching the pipework under the cab on curves, so that received a little fettling. Now that I am happy that everything is sitting at the correct height, I can fit the bracing to the pony truck.

 

[Dave Holt]

Hi John.

Looks suspiciously like a 9F to me........

Is it an illusion, or is there a gap between the slide bar and its support bracket? If so, I take it either the bracket or cylinder assembly are not in their final positions?

Dave.

[Killybegs]

Hi John.

Looks suspiciously like a 9F to me........

Is it an illusion, or is there a gap between the slide bar and its support bracket? If so, I take it either the bracket or cylinder assembly are not in their final positions?

Dave.

Hi Dave,

 

That would be because the top half off the slide bar is missing and won't be fitted until the cross head is in place.

[Killybegs]

........ and in case you don't believe me .........

 

[Dave Holt]

Never doubted it for one moment.

[Killybegs]

The cylinders are pretty much finished. The drain cocks will be fitted later as will some stub steam pipes to the top of the cylinders. These also carry what I think are probably snifter valves (please feel free to correct me), Which I will rescue from the Bachmann chassis. The valve gear is also nearly there. It's all fabricated but the lifting arms won't be fitted permanently until later, along with expansion link/eccentric rod/return crank assemblies. Everything will also need chemically darkening. 

 

Everything was tested for free running after each joint was made, which is a pretty laborious process. Things that seem to move freely before being soldered don't always end up that way. A prime example were the valve guide casings. When the casings were soldered in place, the valve spindle/combination lever assembly was binding. I used a 1.15mm drill to ream out the tube and shortened the length of the valve spindle, this did the trick. Needless to say it was the last joint to be made that caused problems. This was the one between the bottom of the combination lever and the anchor link. The fork on the anchor link was not long enough to accommodate the projection on the rear face of the lever as the angle between the two narrowed. In the end I had to break the joint, and file off the projection before remaking the pinned joint. At least I knew what to expect on the second set. The observant may spot that the fixing bolts of the offside valve casing are missing. That's because the photos were taken immediately after the final test run and, as they retain the valve spindle, they are the last things to be soldered in place.

 

 

[Dave Holt]

Very nice indeed, John.

How are you planning to disguise the cheese-head screws you've used in the expansion ling support brackets?

Dave.

[Killybegs]

Very nice indeed, John.

How are you planning to disguise the cheese-head screws you've used in the expansion ling support brackets?

Dave.

I have prepared some screws with the heads filed up to look like part of the connection for the mechanical lubricator. However, these won't be fitted until the final assembly as it's much easier to take cheese headed screws in and out.

[NHY 581]

Bloody hell!!!

 

Top drawer modelling here me thinks!

 

Looking forward to the article in MRJ.........

 

Rob.

Edited November 11, 2016 by nhy581

[Killybegs]

Bloody hell!!!

 

Top drawer modelling here me thinks!

 

Looking forward to the article in MRJ.........

 

Rob.

 

Please don't hold your breath. The second part of the Brit article has yet to appear and there's also an article on upgrading the Airfix large prairie sitting in the queue!

[Killybegs]

When the 9F does get finished, I will have to stop building locos for a while and get on with some wagon bashing. In the meantime I thought I would just check to see how many mineral wagons I have built so far. Quite a lot it seems, as you can see in the pic below. However, half of those need painting and most of those need buffers and couplings! Incidentally, that's just about the length of train that will fit in the fiddle yard. Of course that's just the empties, I will need the same number of loaded wagons to go in the opposite direction, not to mention a few more for local freights. Oh well, we all need something to do to keep us out of mischief!

 

[Horsetan]

....The second part of the Brit article has yet to appear and there's also an article on upgrading the Airfix large prairie sitting in the queue!

 

At least there'll be something worth going to WHS Ealing for, particularly your Large Prairie project.

[Dave Holt]

Interesting 2-0-0-6-0 wheel arrangement!

[Killybegs]

The cylinders have now been finished off with the addition of short lengths of steam pipe casing and the snifter valves rescued from the Bachmann chassis.

 

To represent the casing, I made up a length of rectangular tube from 1.0mm black styrene. The end of this was shaped to fit the profile of the top of the cylinder, making sure it was vertical when viewed from the side, sloping when viewed from the front and in line with the upper section on the body, then trimmed to length. Once I was happy with its location on the cylinder (held in place with blue tack while the chassis was offered up to the body), I drilled a 0.5mm hole in the top of the cylinder wrapper centred on the casing and soldered in a short length of brass wire. The tubes were then filled with epoxy around the brass pins. Hopefully this should keep them in place.

 

The snifter valves were cleaned up and secured to the casings with solvent. These will be a bit vulnerable without the body fitted.

 

You will also see that the once shiny valve gear and motion is now looking a little grubby.

 

[Killybegs]

I've been finishing off a few bits and pieces on the body. Fitting WR style lamp irons, buffers, coupling and vac pipe.

 

The lamp irons were filed up from scrap etch and pinned to the footplate with 0.25mm brass wire. As they were welded in real life, no bolt heads/rivets were required, so they were filed smooth. I drilled the footplate 0.5mm as 0.25mm drills have a habit of breaking in the metal that is used for the body casting. This also gives you a bit of 'juggle room'.

 

The buffer heads are Kean Maygib, but the bushes at the back are from Alan Gibson, as used for wagon buffers. The reason being that they are small. The rear of the buffer beam was recessed for the bushes with a 2.0mm drill. The buffer housings were opened up to 2.5mm to take the buffer heads. The backing plate to the buffer beam on the chassis was notched to allow it to slide over the tails of the buffers. 

 

The vac pipe was fabricated from 0.6mm brass wire wrapped with 5amp fuse wire. The bracket was filed up from n/s strip and is pinned to the buffer beam in much the same way as the lamp irons except that it has rivet/bolt heads.

 

I also got around to fitting the front steps to the chassis.

 

 

[Dave Holt]

John.

I wish I'd thought of that mod for the buffers on my Bachmann Crab. As it is, I kept the original buffers but they're not a patch on your conversion, but it's too late now as it's being painted and weathered by a friend.

Dave.

[Killybegs]

Having made all those alterations to the loco, it would be silly not to take a look at the tender. Not too much to do there. Wrong! How about this lot for a start:

Fit P4 wheelsets and brass pinpoint bearings. This meant thinning down the inside of the frames.

Modify mounting for draw bar from loco

Thin down 'window frames' and glaze

Thin down lifting brackets at rear

Replace short handrail knobs on the top of the tender with medium ones and change the rear one from 'plane' to 'knobbed'.

Cut out openings in sides of steps to top of tender

Insert step (0.25mm styrene) full length of buffer beam between brackets on buffer beam and those on the body. This also helps to bring the body level, although it needed a further narrow strip of 0.25mm under the body to get it right.

Remove moulded lamp irons and replace with BR(W) type.

Fabricate and fit vacuum pipe and bracket

Fit screw coupling

Cut off moulded guard irons and replace with more prototypical ones from n/s strip

Cut off moulded brake hangers. Fabricate new brake hangers and pull gear from n/s strip. I have saved the gear at the front but modified it to take the new pull rods which spring into the ends. The central hangers also have pins to spring into styrene brackets on the inside of the frames.

Reduce the thickness of the frames at edges and around openings.

Remove ladder, straighten then thin down uprights. The ladder was bent because it had been poorly fixed at the top. Glue was removed from the locating holes in the top of the tender and the ladder now sits square.

 

Two things that I could do nothing about were, firstly, the slope at the top of the sides. This is too steep. Strangely, the bottom edge of the 'windows' which should be parallel to the slope is at the correct angle. Secondly, the frames are too far apart overall. I guess this is largely down to them being over thick. Surface details, such as springs, are consequently too shallow, etc. I could of course have built a new chassis!

 

 

 

 

 

[Jub45565]

The tender chassis sideframe thickness is a common problem - and aside from the running qualities of a sprung chassis is the big selling point of the Brassmasters easi-chas conversions for the Bachmann 3F and 4F.

 

Comet do the Tender underframe as a separate item, which could be a quick way forward - just a shame it isnt designed to be sprung in which case it would be a no brainer!

 

Lovely work though!

[Mike G]

Sprung tender? Like this?

 

BR standard tender V1.docx

 

If anyones interested PM me.

 

Mike

[Horsetan]

Sprung tender? Like this?

 

BR standard tender V1.docx

 

If anyones interested PM me.

PM sent.

[Killybegs]

Not quite there yet, just the small matter of those beautiful wheels to fit, then on with the brake gear, etc. However, in the meantime, here's something to be going on with until I pluck up courage to 'bite the bullet'!