Start on a long term project

[ozzie46]

    Well I finished turning the wheel treads and painted them.
 

   I ground up a 3/32 radius tool bit to turn the radius on the tread.

 


 Heres how it turned out.

 

  set the wheels on the frames to get a motivational shot.  ;D ;D

 

 


    I turned some spring pins and single pointed the threads on them and will be installing them and looking for some springs at the hardware store.
 
   A little off topic, but I gave myself Kozos' Pennys A3 Switcher for Christmas. That book is full of neat ideas on jig, setups and such.

  Ron

[Bernd]

Ron,

Nice job on that build.

I've got all three of Kozo'z geared locomotive books. Very well written and many ideas just like you said.

Keep up the great work.

Bernd

[NickG]

The frame / wheel assembly looks superb Ron, that should definitely motivate you! Just amazing work on those wheels - the only shame is, people won't realise they aren't cast! 

Nick

[ozzie46]

  Thanks Bernd, I'm really enjoying the book.

   Thanks Nick.  Now on to the cyls. Oh boy!!
  Ron

[DavidA]

Ron,

...These will be the steel tires for the aluminum wheels. ..

One thing bothers me about these wheels (they are very nice wheels)  and it is that I have found you always get corrosion between a steel surface and an a aluminium one. Particularly where there is moisture.

I was looking at a gear pump adapter plate I made a couple of year ago and noted that all the aly to steel joints had corroded. White fluffy powder everywhere.

Have you considered this point ? And do you think it could be a problem ?

I've visions of the tire coming free from the wheel.

Dave.

[ozzie46]

  Dave, No I had not considered this possibility.

   Would water be able to get in with a shrink fit? I don't know.
 
   Anybody care to elaborate on this?

   Ron 

[madjackghengis]

The corrosion is caused by electrolysis, with aluminum being on the wrong end of the scale, and the iron being parasitic.  If you've used locktite, that will prevent a catastrophe, and will stop the corrosion when it gets there.  Good cleaning of the junction, and some paint which likes aluminum, and sticks well to it, will stop the corrosion by keeping out humidity.  Nothing will stop it if it is submerged constantly, or repeatedly in water, particularly salty water.  Aluminum forms pores as it corrodes, so even a press fit will succumb eventually, as it makes its own gap as it corrodes.  Thin locktite, made for wicking into joints and threads would work well in this situation.  By the way, some side rake on the radius tool would get rid of the whiskers and give a smoother finish, along with stoning the edge with a nice hard Arkansas stone.  I hope this helps a bit.  mad jack

[DavidA]

Ron,

Guess you'll just have to hope for the best.

Reference your concern in item 45 on this thread.

How far out of parallel are the axles ?

It may be an idea to get the axles/bearing block completely fitted and some coupling rods made up before you dive into the cylinders.  Then you can be sure that the wheels will turn properly.
Far easier to carry out any remedial work at this stage.

Mad Jack,

Worst stuff we had to turn was inconel.  All the samples started out as square sections cut from parts.  You can imaging the hammering that the tool tips took from that operation.


Dave.

[arnoldb]

Very good going Ron  - those wheels are pretty as a picture; well worth the effort you put in!

Personally, I wouldn't be concerned about water damage in there; I'm sure you're not going to drive your loco in very wet conditions, and most of the time it will be indoors and not in use, so the affect of water corrosion would be minimal and very long-term.  If there is some, I'd think it would tend to make hubs fit firmer in the rims as oxides are generally "thicker" than clean metal and will expand in the seam.
If you're really concerned about it, give it a good coating of thin non-hygroscopic oil (NOT WD40!) on a hot dry day or after a good hot run - and the oil will wick in and protect it when it cools down and prevent moisture seeping in. That should, IMHO, protect the wheels for longer than the boiler (or both of us for that matter) will last.

Kind regards, Arnold

[ozzie46]

  Thanks for the info Arnold. I live in  a semi arid climate so humidity isn't a problem.

  Ron

[kvom]

The build looks good!  If you haven't rounded off the tops of the flanges on the wheels you might want to do so.

[ozzie46]

  Thanks Kirk. Yeah, I have to round them yet.

  Ron

[ozzie46]

   

   Got a little bit more done.

 Made up the motion plates. Nothing much to show here as its just marking out then using a drill press, band saw and a "Nicholson Hand Mill" aka file work.

  Heres the end result.

   


   


   


   Had to mill the angle for the mounting brackets to get it 90*

   I need to start on  the cyls but I need to make a milling table for my cross slide first so I can line bore them.

    Ron

[sbwhart]

Those motion plates look real well.

And the rest of the build looks excellent

We've a couple of Guys at our club that run Simplexes very nice engines lots of power.
 


Stew

[Rob.Wilson]

Hi Ron


Good to see your still hard at it   ,,,,,,,,,,, the motion plates look great 



Rob

[ozzie46]

   


    Stew, Rob

   Thanks for looking in and your comments.

  Ron

[arnoldb]

  That's some really nice work Ron.

The "Nicholson Mill" is a difficult, but very handy, machine to learn, but it really looks like you have it mastered 

 , Arnold

[ozzie46]

   Thanks for following along Kenneth. I haven't commented on your robots yet as the level of work is so far above me I'm just in awe of it. 

   Arnold, Thanks but I'm by no means a master of the files yet. Still a lot to learn.    I need to lower my vise so that it is parallel with my elbow. I've read that it more comfortable and easier to control the file. I find I'm rocking the file a lot and not getting the level planes I'm looking for. So much to learn so little time.   


   Ron

[saw]

It is with the biggest intresst I am folling your'e project. I am longing for the day when I can see this project built. You are doing very great, thanks for charing with us. 

[ozzie46]

   Thanks Benni.

       One of these days ..............   

   Ron

[ozzie46]

   

 Its been a while since I updated this thread so here goes.

  I made a plate to go on my cross slide to use it as a boring table to bore out the cyls.




   Made a boring bar out of some rusty bar and put it between centers to do the boring. Used a set screw to adjust the cutting tool and another to lock it in place.


 



 I used a  auto brake wheel cyl hone to hone the cyls. For got to take any pics of that.

 I used the off cuts of the steam cyls to make the end caps (?) for the cyls.

 

  I cut off as much as I could on my 4 x 6 saw to make it as round as possible be for turning them in the lathe

 

 

   
   For the steam chests I chain drilled around the inside of the blocks for the chests and cut out the center with a hacksaw,then milled the insides. I them made the valves and the vale nuts. The valves are cast iron and the nuts a re bronze. The cyls and the steam chest are sat iron as well  as the end caps/ cyl heads.

   

   The valve rods are stainless steel.

  I did some profiling on the cyls to make them more like castings ala kvom.


 

  I also took his idea of putiing 2 countersunk cap screws in th steam chest to keep them in place when the top cover is taken off.

  I'm going to mill a .020 depression in the covers inside of the gasket area and may do the same for the top of the covers. 


   That brings it up to date as of today. I will profile the other cyl tomorrow.


   The bolts in the steam chests are temporary, proper scale hex head bolts will be put in for the final assembly.

   Ron

 
   

[sbwhart]

Nice work Ron, iteresting arrangement for the side valve.

You can get castings for this loco, but like that your build without them.

I think I'll keep my eyes open for a set of drawings for this loco.

Thanks for showing

Stew

[ozzie46]

Nice work Ron, iteresting arrangement for the side valve.

  After reading your post I looked at  the pic,   didn't have the valve nut in the valve right.  

   Model Engineer had the plans for free download a few years back but I think they took them down not long after.

    Thanks Stew.

  Ron
  

[sbwhart]

Nice work Ron, iteresting arrangement for the side valve.

 
   Model Engineer had the plans for free download a few years back but I think they took them down not long after.

    Thanks Stew.

  Ron
  

In that case I've probably got them stashed away someware, I'll have to dig my back issues out.

Stew

[arnoldb]

Good going Ron 

The steam chest and valve photo hat me puzzled for a bit - till I realised the valve was not in its correct place :-)

Did you get a mill in the meantime, or are you still using the lathe and the Nicholson mills ? - the rounding over on the cylinder looks great.  And besides looking good, makes the block less "massive"  so it will heat up quicker resulting in less condensation in the cylinder.  Are you going to add drain cocks to the cylinders ?

 , Arnold