Beginners Engine- Rob Roy?

[Daniel]

Hello,

I have tried to seaqrch this ropic but unfortunately you can't seach words that are less than 4 characters long!

I currently own a 5" Polly 1 loco and want to look into building an engine.
I have been advised that rob roy is a good starter but wanted to get people's thoughts on this.

I have a small unimat SL lathe so I can't turn anything too large and I have been told that the rob roy would be suitable for my small lathe.

I have some engineering knowledge but not as much with regards to building so is this a good engine to learn from?

All advice and comments are welcome.

Regards

Dan

[sonicspeed66]

The Rob Roy is a nice one to build ... i am building one at the moment ... If you go for one Alan's site has some very usefully notes about the corrections to make as the drawings and book can be misleading ..

I say Go FOR IT nothing tried nothing gained.

Mark

[kingsteam9]

Daniel,

I wouldn't put you off attempting it; I've part built Rob Roy and also own a Unimat SL but while it will cope with small parts, in my experience it's not man enough to do the larger items, e.g. wheels, cylinders etc. I did originally machine my wheel castings on a Centrix Micro lathe 1 5/8" centre height and that was an endless job as I was stretching the machine to it's physical limits, and the Unimat would be similar. Since then I've machined other larger parts on my Myford ML10 which is vastly better for the job both in size and rigidity. That said, the Unimat SL is a remarkably versatile machine and will tackle a wide variety of machining but won't cope with heavy cuts and needs a great deal of patience in use. I found that visible progress with a first time project is an esential factor in keeping up the motivation on what is in any case a long term project.

Can you get access to any larger equipment to back up what you can do on the Unimat?

Robin

[Daniel]

Hi Robin,

Yes, I could ask help of some of my model engineering friends if needed who own larger lathes. At the moment, I just don't have the space for a larger lathe but want to venture in to some building!

Mark, what is Alan's site? Do you have a link please?

Regards

Daniel

[Deleted]

Hi Daniel

To add to Robins comments I think the unimat will struggle doing such things as the wheels and cylinders, I also have a unimat although not the same model and wouldn't advise using it to machine such heavy items. As Robin says perhaps seek the use of a bigger lathe for those parts like a club machine if you belong to one or maybe get them machined for you by one if the model engineering companies. Of course you nay not wish to do the last suggestion if you want the joy of building it all for yourself.

I do hope that you take this project on though and wish you well in the build.

Pete

[rickhann]

Hi Daniel, I recently finished (not painted) my Rob Roy. Started it in 1992. I used a Mini-Lathe and a small drill press. My only regret is that it turned out to be more of a project than I had anticipated. In my opinion, the Rob Roy is not the easiest engine to build. Since it was my first and only engine, I cannot compare ease of construction, but from what I have read, A Tich or something similar might be an easier build for a first timer. Just my thoughts.
Rick

[Daniel]

Hi Rick,
I was looking at the Tich also but fancied something more scale in appearance?

I am still open minded on engine but wanted something relatively straight forward to build (even if there is such a thing?!) for a first timer whilst being small enough to most of the turning on my little lathe!

Dan

[Deleted]

The Rob Roy design seems to have a lot of support while doing a web search, Malcolm at Model Engineers Laser does a lot of laser cut parts for this loco including a boiler kit which helps greatly. I think one of the most important things when deciding on a loco to build is to choose something that you personally like in both design and looks, keeping the interest going is of great importance when you consider how long these things take to build.

Pete

[Jason]

Hi Daniel

If you are looking for a smaller engine I'd go for a Juliet over a titch, from my experience a far better track engine although not a passenger hauler!

Jason

[jgb7573]

And if you have only got a small lathe then use it! By all means get friends to help, but with thought you can probably do a lot of it yourself. One of our club members built a 5" Simplex on a Simat lathe, which is about the same size as yours. It took a while and required some fiddling around I believe, but he managed it and it was a reguler on the club track before he pased away.

[Daniel]

Pete,

Can you send me a link for that model engineers website please?

Regards

Daniel

[Deleted]

Hi Daniel

Heres the link

www.modelengineerslaser.co.uk/index.htm

Just click on the 3 1/2 tab along the top and go down the list to Rob Roy. For available kits first click kits in top column and then 3 1/2 in the column down the left hand side. I only explain this is it originally took me a while to work out how the page worked..... lol

Enjoy

Pete

[sncf141r]

Hey, I built some good parts of a Tich on a Unimat SL with vertical column.

1) I did other parts at a night school, eg, frames, etc. Eventually traded the Unimat for a larger, older lathe; wish now I had kept the Unimat. :-)

2) I'd think that anything cast iron would be near to impossible on a round bed Unimat SL.

3) My cylinders were bored/faced at night school, but the valve chest area was flycut on my Unimat - one experienced model engineer really doubted by the finish that I did it on the Unimat.

4) May I make a suggestion? Keep the Unimat for small parts, but get a larger lathe for turning. One of those small 7x8 (or 7x10 or...) lathes with integral chip tray would be great - move it off the bench when you want to use the Unimat, and vice versa.

5) Which ever way you go, make sure you *really* know how to sharpen HSS tooling - that was an issue with me that I did not know was an issue until much later.

6) Tiches are great locomotives, despite what others say. Rob Roys are fantastic locos, especially if you get the draughting right, as others have pointed out.

Cheers; JohnS.

[Daniel]

Thanks for your advice John, it has given me food for thought!

I have had a look locally but there doesn't appear to be a night school near me for model engineering unfortunately.
Following Jason's advice, I have also had a look at the Juliet which again appears to be a good beginners engine.

[kingsteam9]

Daniel,

I've got a Tich as well, built by a late friend, and repairing it has been one of the fiddliest jobs I've ever tackled, but I used the Unimat extensively for the small parts with success; bigger parts took some thought/juggling to set up/hold. Same thoughts again though about machining Tich wheels and cylinders on the SL - it could be done but cast iron castings of those sizes would be near the limits of it's capacity.

Robin

[sonicspeed66]

sorry for the delay here is Alans site its a good sorce of info

www.alanstepney.info/

Also where are you from ??

[Daniel]

I live just outside of Manchester.

[smallbrother]

Hi Daniel,

I have no prior experience but have machined some of the chassis parts for a 5" Scamp. The parts fit together although I know for sure that better folk could achieve vastly superior work. All I did was watch some stuff on Youtube, speak to a few people and ask questions on this forum.

I have a Myford ML7, which in itself was quite an experience setting up.

I believe you can buy the frame steel, horns and axle box castings for less than a hundred quid for most starter locos. I have seen some 3.5" locos and they don't half seem ultra fiddly which is one reason I went for 5".

Why not just pitch in and have a go at whatever you fancy?

I can honestly say that the satisfaction level for even a basic bit of work is immense.

Pete.

[Alan]

Have you access to a 2 1/2" gauge site. Theirs loads of desighns for that available and the castings are relatively cheap.

[AndrewP]

Dan,

I am building a Rob Roy as my first loco - first anything in fact and most of the machining was done on a Sieg C1 which is nominally a 7"swing lathe but that is frankly optimistic. I have the matching X1 mill for making round bits square.

I chose Rob Roy because there is a lot of me to haul around and thought an 0-4-0 might be cruelty to locos. The existence of a build manual was a major factor.

The book is a great help although being written by an experienced builder it makes some assumptions occasionally. Now that I am up to the platework there are huge gaps in the instructions, I wonder if he got bored with it!

I don't think there is anything particularly difficult on Rob Roy, I have made half a dozen of some bits to get 2 good ones but then most operations I perform I am doing for the first time.

Do check the lists of errors available, some of them require a little thought long before the problem becomes apparent.

Cheers, Andy