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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 21:38:51 GMT
Pic287 Cylinders fitted to brackets and doubler plate. Now I have changed things again here in as far as the doubler plate is concerned. Don says to cut the plate from 2.5mm brass to 4 3/8"x1" size and then sweat it to the soleplate. Mark and then drill 16 No.44 holes and tap 8BA for the brackets . Now the problem here is to remove the body I'd have to dismantle all of this first and that would be a pain, also I wouldn't be able to observe the brake operation for setting up with the body in the way, yes I could turn the chassis upside down but then the brake geometry would be all wrong so I've changed things a little.. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 21:55:24 GMT
Pic288 Ok so I want the doubler to stay with the chassis, there's a few things to consider . First the doubler needs to be longer to fit across the frames rather than between wheels, it needs to be stronger as it will be self supporting and it needs to have sections removed for wheel clearance. Here the chassis has been clamped to the mill bed, it's at times like this that I'm glad I bought a mill with large bed. Naturally the doubler must be flush with the top of the frames so first job was to machine a step ( 1.6mm deep, half doubler plate thickness) in both frames having first worked out the correct position above the brake shaft. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 21:58:57 GMT
Pic289 Machine a corresponding step underneath both sides of the doubler plate which is now 1/8 steel instead of the 2.5mm brass. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 22:07:56 GMT
Pic290 Doubler plate fitted, note the recesses cut to clear the wheels. The plan is to leave the plate like this as it should be held firm once the tender body is fitted, since it will be trapped between the frames within the machined steps. However if in practise this proves unsatisfactory I can remove two rivets from either side that currently fasten the 1/4x1/4x1/16 right angle stiffeners and replace them with 8BA hex heads having first drilled and tapped to suit, this may require some 1/4 sq supports being soldered to the underside of the doubler plate first but that's easy enough. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2011 22:27:04 GMT
Pic291 Last picture for tonight just to show progress so far, as you can see it's getting a little busy under there. The links between brake shaft and cylinder are lengths of steel that after having the two No.30 end holes drilled they were then joined by chain drilling with No.37 bits and then machined with a 1/8 slot drill. The pins connecting them are temporary until I find the energy to machine some up. The links are made of a thicker material than to drawing, 1/4x1/16 seemed just a little fine to me so I beefed them up to 3/16x1/8. Back soon Pete Attachments:
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robmort
Hi-poster
3.5" Duchess, finishing 2.5" gauge A3 and building 3.5" King
Posts: 172
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Post by robmort on May 17, 2011 10:18:11 GMT
I've been following your project with great interest - magnificent job! I'm struggling to build a 2.5" gauge F.Scotsman tender, particularly joining brass sheets which have distorted. So a question - when you assembled the tender panels did you braze/silver solder them together, or soft solder - and if soft what power iron did you use or was it a torch?
Thanks, Rob
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 12:20:15 GMT
Hi Rob First off let me congratulate you on your choice of loco, the Gresley Pacific's are truly beautiful machines not that I'm bias in any way of course.. Regarding solder used I did start with silver solder , the belly tank was assembled so but when it came to soldering the tank to the soleplate I had all types of problems as mentioned early in this thread. I think the fact that I couldn't get enough heat evenly over the soleplate due to it's shape ( splashers cut out) and the fact that the tank stopped me from getting heat under it and being close to the splasher holes , the soleplate refused to stay flat. So I ditched it and started again using soft solder which has worked well with no problems. The soft solder used had a low melting point of 188c and I used a torch. Due to the large flat areas on this tender you do still need to be careful when heating up. Of course using such a low melt solder you need to use varius heatsinks at times to stop previously soldered sections falling apart. Due to my previous problems with the soleplate I bolted it to the chassis when soldering first the internals and later the exterior sections so that I could be sure that the soleplate remained true, especially as it is fixed with so many small bolts to the chassis. Even so you still need to take care when heating and try to ignore the groans and creeking sounds . Don't hold the torch in one place and if using a big torch keep the flame turned down and moving evenly around the general area and not on the part to be soldered directly. With a low melt solder and bakers fluid you won't need much heat to get the solder to flow. Hope this helps, have fun and don't forget to post pictures...:-) Pete
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2011 21:02:55 GMT
Evening all I've spent the last few days doing a few little bits and pieces so I'll add the pictures here so that they are covered or I'll forget. Pic292 The axle box covers have now been profiled and the oil tray lids now have 14BA round head screws acting as pins, these are a tight fit and have no need of nuts to secure them so once painted will look like pins . Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2011 21:09:33 GMT
Pic293 The correct pins have now been made for the cylinder links, if you remember I had beefed these up but I decided I had gone a little OTT so have machined them down a little. Although they did clear the valves they were a little close for comfort hence why I've reduced them. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2011 21:16:43 GMT
Pic294 I have now run the two vac pipes for the brakes although not all connected yet. The main engine feed is 3/16 and the smaller pipe from the reservoir tank is 1/8. I made up some P clips which hold the 3/16 pipe to the intermediate stays with 8BA hex bolts, the 1/8 pipe is attached to the larger pipe via clips made up to hold the tro pipes together. Both the 3/16 and 1/8 pipes have Tee's soldered on, both of which are 1/8 for connecting to the vacuum cylinders. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2011 21:26:43 GMT
Pic295 Here is the pipework that connects to the cylinders between the main 3/16 engine feed pipe and the side of the cylinder diaphragm that holds the brakes off. I bought some 1/8 ID rubber hose for connecting these pipes up but it's not a tight enough seal so I need to find something else like silicone. The hose is attached for now as it's the only thing that holds this pipe in place, or at least that's how I see it, the cylinders pivot on their fulcrums to allow for suspension movement which means this pipe needs the flexible connections to work and since it's so small I'll leave it to float not that it will move much. I haven't done the pipework for the other half of the diaphragm yet, hopefully I'll do that tomorrow. All for now.. Pete Attachments:
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Post by spamcanman on May 19, 2011 7:57:39 GMT
Hi Pete, I understand your club is having an open day this weekend will you be there as I'm hoping to take my Manor on the Saturday.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2011 11:09:24 GMT
Hi Tony I was thinking of popping in,although I'm no longer a member as mentioned before , having now decided to join your club at some point in the future ( if you'll have me of course... I'll let you know if I can go( if SWMBO will let me having made noises about wanting to go to London zoo this weekend), I know which one I'd prefer.... Pete
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2011 16:52:53 GMT
Tender steps I wasn't planning on doing these yet, in fact I'm in the middle of fitting the brake and water piping but while in B&Q with my wife on Sunday I spotted some alloy unequal angle that although a little wider and higher than needed was of the correct thickness so bought a length to see how it would look. Pic296 Here the height is being reduced to size, I even left the barcode sticker as proof... Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2011 16:58:29 GMT
Pic297 After machining to size and squaring up the flat end ,a small slot was cut to allow for the bend as shown here after which the step was completed by filing the curved angles to shape. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2011 17:09:04 GMT
Pic298 Steps loosely fitted in place, I have yet to decide how I'll create the embossed single dashes that were used by LNER. There is an embossed plastic sheet which fits the bill so I may bond that to the steps if I can't think of another quick way to achieve this with metal. Next I'll cover the water valves/handles and pipework after which I have two options. Take the tender apart for painting or start the loco... Not sure which yet but I'm sure glad to have reached this point, it's been a lot of work but I've enjoyed it immensely. Pete Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2011 19:41:56 GMT
Evening all Water valves and pipework Pic299 Picture shows a test of the water valves working to check performance before final fitting to the chassis. Items used are 2x 90 degree 1/4" tender water valves supplied by Bruce Engineering, connection to belly tank via 2x 1/4" by 3/8x32 thread unions. Test result was good, flow rate was very good and no leaks from tender which was filled to the rim for the test. Also the tank emptied a look quicker than I had thought so see no reason to fit a drain plug as I had originally planned. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2011 19:45:59 GMT
Pic300 Mounting U brackets to the underside of the draw box to hold both the brake and water pipes in place via 8BA hex bolts. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2011 19:48:00 GMT
Pic301 Brackets and pipework fixed to chassis Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2011 19:53:30 GMT
Pic302 View from rear showing the two 1/4" pipe connections ready for fitting to the belly tank. After looking at this for some time this seemed the best place for disconnecting the water pipes to remove the tender body for future maintenance as I can access these pipes without to much difficulty. Attachments:
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