snitzl

Hi All, Here's yet another installment on ' De Snitzlton '. I've removed the steam assisted gearbox and laid it to one side to get a few other jobs done. Progress has been a little slow due to the amount of time spent repairing my wife's aviaries which seem to need a little work to replace rotted wood every year. The coupling rods ( there are two per side ), are made up from brass and steel components assembled in a tufnol jig and then soldered. Wheels are turned from brass and steel with tufnol insulators on the main axle's and crankpin's. With the wheels fitted, the rods are located but not secured with nuts, just to check the mechanism. The motor bevel gear is bushed, fitted to the motor and the mechanism checks out fine. Quite relieved that there were no problems with the mechanism, its time to move onto the steam assisted operator and uncoupler That;s all for now - Thanks for looking.

Hi Mikkel, Yes it's all P4, I didn't mention P4 because some modellers seem to be put offf from looking at anything P4. I've been a P4 modeller for about 30 years and just think of it as true scale modelling.

Hi Mikkel, There's definitely some resemblance between that moon bugie and De Snitzlton, is that a little weird ?. As for alchemmy, so far, I've managed to turn brass into usable components and scrap, but not gold ( two out of three can't be bad though).

Hi Dave, I'm still enthusiastic and hopeful about finding a solution to animating the uncoupler and driver as I intend to do variations of this in other models for fun town, I just need to make some real progress on this loco first. When it comes to brass, I think I've inherrited Magpie instiincts, as like you, I still have some stock from the 80's.

Thanks Missy, I do nothing special when bending the plate, I should mention that I also make use of an engineers square and use rod to bend around that is about 2/3rd's actual size required ( it depends on what I have laying around ). I've been thinking for many years about making a bending jig to make the process easier, but not got round to that yet.

I've been working on a small 0:4:0 shunting locomotive for Fun Town's market stall's. I decided early on to design a new locomotive drawing inspiration from the transverse cylinder engine "Albion" and a small shunting loco De Winton. To make things even more interesting, the loco would be operated with DCC and include a DCC uncoupler with an animated operator and also, other as yet undetermined animations to be added as the project progressed. The project starts with a compensating chassis machined from solid brass featuring the same flexichas system as developed for the Flexichas Motor Bogies blog. Work then turns to body and reasonable progress is made before switching to the steam assisted uncoupler gearbox. The gearbox has been a real challenge for me and there are major issues yet to be resolved. To speed things along, I searched the bay for small motor's / gearbox solutions, chose a candidate and then purchased 6 units. First off was to determine whether the motor / gearbox unit was useful for model railways and then determine whether the gears were of any use for the 'steam assisted uncoupler' gearbox. During this project, I was reminded numerous times by JFK's famous moon speech : We choose to make these gears, not because they are easy, but because they were hard. Regards Snitzl

Hi All. Investigated this small N20 type motor / gearbox unit because I needed some tiny gears for a project I'm currently working on. The gears are obviously not up to Portescap standards, but even so, they are very usable and as other's have already mentioned, the complete unit is an extremely affordable option for the small locomotive. Regards Snitzl

Hi All, Here's an update on the steam assisted uncoupler for ' De Snitzlton '. The gearbox has proved very problematic with regards to gear fits, concentricty of the gears and getting the correct tooth form on the home made cutter's. After modifications, the gearbox was complete, but because of inefficiencies in the gearbox design, that little 4mm dia motor proved inadequate. I've not given up on the steam assisted uncoupler gearbox, but I do feel the need to make some progress, so I will switch to working on the body and wheels and spend some time rethinking a gearbox solution. Motor is now mounted above the bunker on a small bracket. ............ On test, the motor would not acheive it's ideal speed and would stall often. Motion from the gearbox is transferred to the front cams to operate an uncoupler mechanism and the operator. Thanks for looking : Pete

What a great way to store milling cutter's, here's my very out of control stash, this is most definitely not the ideal way to store milling cutters with all those sharp edges clashing with each other. Regards Pete

Hi All, At long last, I have a new collet rack for my lathe collets, been thinking of making one for years, nothing special, just a quick milling job. Made this old thing back in the early 80's, it's looking a little neglected. That's not lens distortion you see, it's had a hard life in one or two damp workshops. Decided on 6mm thick polycarbonate for the rack, which was machined on a milling machine. The new rack mounted to the lathe bench with a few additional collets. Thanks for Looking. Pete.

Hi Regularity, I notice from your images that the axles have insulation close to each end, do you know what material is used for this ?. I have tried styrene in the past, but the fit becomes loose very quickly, thought about trying acetal or nylon but not got round to that yet. Regards Pete

My very first scratchbuilt loco was a Lancashire and Yorkshire saddle tank. Here's a link, it's about half way down the page, on the left. Snitzl's Scratchbuilds.

It's allways nice to see some chassis compensation done in the Sharman tradition. I've not thought of using the gold contacts of relays for pickup contacts before, so I'll definitely give that a try. Think I must have a fettish for brass and nickel silver, looks really nice.

I've also read on some forum that the motor and electrics from an exercise treadmill ( walking machine ) can be an alternative option, bulky heavy item though.

The compound slide pictured above comes from a WW lathe designed by Pultra, which was the Pultra 'P' Series Lathe. Although this lathe has a different look to the earlier traditional WW lathe, the bed profile and centre heights are the same and parts are interchangeable. There's also an option to use the compound slide from the Pultra 1750 lathe, These lathe were plentiful during the war and still turn up on ebay from time to time. I recently purchased a Pultra 1750 on ebay for £250 complete with the compound slide. Both these slides come in 3 variants with regards to a full turn of the dial, standard 100 thou per turn, 25 thou per turn and 2mm per turn. To find an alternative slide, I usually search xbay daily for Watchmakers Lathe and Pultra lathe. If like me you find a cheap Pultra 1750, the collets for this lathe are 10mm shank, and not the more usual 8mm.

The lathe pictured is an early, quite rare long bed Pultra WW lathe, I also have a Boley and also an original Webster Whitcombe. All these lathes are very similar in size, the bed profiles are all the same and head stocks, tailstocks and cross slide / compound slides are interchangeable. Collet shank size is 8mm. For many years, I used a small Parvalux motor with a pulley system for the slower speeds, the new motor is like a dream in comparison.

Hi Polybear, Here's a link to the actual item purchased. 550w Sewing Machine Motor Listing I have noticed that the price for this motor has increased rapidly since my first purchase. Motor for the lathe was purchased 20th March 2020 for £68.71. Motor for the miller was purchased 19th April 2020 for £79.15 Latest price in the listing on the 12th May 2020 is £135.35. The actual motor is used by different manufacturers, with a slightly different control box. Hope this helps.

Go straight to P4, Do not pass GO. Honestly, I started in standard gauge then changed to EM gauage and then later to P4, this meant modifying most rolling stock twice, which can become very tiresome. For health reasons, think long and hard before taking the plunge. I've still got unconverted stock from 40 years ago.

A couple of months ago I searched online forums for a variable speed motor for my small Pultra lathe as the Parvalux motor and home made countershaft were getting a little noisy and bothered my wife as she watched TV in the room below. I discovered that some people were using what is described as a silent sewing machine motor. Searched the bay internationally for a 'Silent Sewing Machine Motor' and made my purchase. Silent Sewing Machine Motor A pulley that came with the motor was a little large for my taste, so I modified the original pulley to fit. Also, the unit is designed to work with a foot pedal, which I didn't fancy, so I actually shove a pancil between the alloy lever and plastic housing . Parameters such as maximum speed, motor direction and speed lock, can be set by pressing a couple of push buttons on the control box. I'm so impressed with the unit that I bought another and modified my home made milling machine and no more complaints from my wife. Here are a few pics... The Lathe is a watchmakers WW type Pultra ( bench mounted ). Here's the new sewing machine motor and bracket. The light grey control box is mounted behind the motor. Note the alloy lever on the underside for variable speed control. Details of the unit on the printed carton. The home made milling machine also has one of these motor unit's fitted. Hope this is of use to anyone thinking about a motor upgrade and I appologise if this motor has already been covered on RMWEB. Thanks for Looking.

A few pics from Snitzl Town and Fun Town , all scratchbuilt of course. Trestle bridge constructed from styrene sheet and brass wire. Yard Crane - Constructed from brass sheet with a few turnings. Just a small section of the wall on the 'Walls Traverser Cover', constructed from multiple layers of 0.5mm styrene sheet. Each stone is glued in place with solvent and later textured with dental burs. Thanks for Looking.

Hi DonB, I've come across the shadowgraph a few times over the years, one in a toolroom as you mention and two other's in quality control / inspection. Later version's of shadowgraphs are fitted with protractors and micrometer measuring. Not used to often, but great for checking micro profile's. DonB, sorry for the late reply, I was just browsing the blog.

I have to agree with earlier comments, what a lovely little engine. It's left me wondering how on earth you've managed to find the room to fit a motor and drive system inside ?.

Looks really nice Dave John. I've also had issues rolling boilers with or without the aid of a rolling machine, therefore, most of my later loco builds now have the boilers turned from solid brass with the boiler bands included. Sometimes I also turn the fire box and add a rivot detail wrap. They usually need boring out to make room for the motor but the added weight really helps with traction. Snitzl

Nice looking prototype, I don't think I've ever noticed sandbox's mirrored in such a way before. Quality of the etching's look very good and you've made a lovely job so far.

Most Interesting, Thanks for posting....