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Post by Cro on Feb 9, 2015 13:31:21 GMT
To follow on from my Stanier Brake Valves, help out a friend with a customer's rebuilder and to add to my list of parts I hope to start producing and supply in the future I have seen myself with a long list of drawings to wade through. I thought I would start a thread with my progress as I go with bits I will post updates of each and be happy to take feedback, recommendations or if anyone has requirements its always interesting to see what sort of bits people are on the look out for. The plan with these bits, like most of my bits, is to have them 3D printed and investment cast whether it be directly into wax to incorporate internal porting and complex items or in solid RP moulds to make batches of items. The current project I am helping on is a 7 1/4" BR Class 4 tank rebuild which is requiring a lot of detail added to it, I have collected a long list of drawings and started with one of the main items, the manifold, and also done some of the smaller detail bits which hopefully will be being produced soon. So here is the progress so far, all modeled for 7 1/4". - Low profile Oil trays
- 4 feed Grease Nipple Blocks, done for 3, 4, 5 and 6 feed
- Tube Cleaning Valve as a dummy fitted to the side of the smoke box
- Cab Side Windows in 3 parts, Top and Bottom hinges and window frame
- Scale Manifold with all the bells and whistle, this is how it will look when finished and fitted to loco
- Manifold in casting form with machining allowances
- Printed in wax and ready for the foundry by Mike J. The last photo shows the threads printed in the dummy shut off valves (all of the spindles have been left off to be fitted later on to look even more realistic rather than being cast in place)
Hope you like, Cheers, Adam
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Post by Roger on Feb 9, 2015 14:57:26 GMT
Lovely work Adam, they look superb.
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Post by Cro on Feb 9, 2015 16:49:34 GMT
Thanks Roger, been some hard work and time in some of these bits but getting there, got a long list of parts to go through but hoping by the middle of the year to have a finished prototype of each item. The Manifold is at the foundry at the moment and will hopefully have a photo of them in a couple of days!
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Post by Roger on Feb 9, 2015 16:55:59 GMT
It would be good to see some of these close up when they're done.
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Post by Cro on Feb 9, 2015 17:00:35 GMT
Will put up plenty of photos when I received them and you will have to come to Beech Hurst over Easter and see them, hoping to have quite a few bits by then.
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Post by Roger on Feb 9, 2015 17:56:47 GMT
I'll certainly do that.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 19:06:31 GMT
very nice Adam...i'm just sad that it's 7 1/4 and BR....oh well..perhaps I should spend a little time in front of the monitor and learn some 3D for myself...if only I had the time........ Pete
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Post by Cro on Feb 9, 2015 19:10:49 GMT
very nice Adam...i'm just sad that it's 7 1/4 and BR....oh well..perhaps I should spend a little time in front of the monitor and learn some 3D for myself...if only I had the time........ Pete Pete, These are just the beginning (I hope) everything I have done so far has been done for both 5" and 7 1/4" it just happens that the project needs the first bits in 7 1/4" so they are being made first. If you let me know what you had in mind and I'm sure it will find its way onto the list! Adam
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Post by gingerneer on Feb 9, 2015 20:02:48 GMT
Wow. Lovely work
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marcf
Hi-poster
Posts: 167
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Post by marcf on Feb 9, 2015 20:38:55 GMT
Credits due, your doing a cracking job
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Post by Cro on Feb 9, 2015 20:41:23 GMT
Cheers guys, much appreciated
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 20:55:06 GMT
sounds like you'll be too busy for mine Adam...but just to give an idea I intend to make scale backhead fittings for my Gresley A1...these will be the same as found on an A3 and A4, you name it I need it...you may well get there before me unless I fancy a change and decide to play around with the fittings for a while ready for when I need them...there's a lot of work in them..should keep me busy for a while.... Pete
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Post by Cro on Feb 9, 2015 22:19:35 GMT
Pete,
I am hoping to have all of these bits done by the middle of the year, along with the other LMS bits I need to do but I will need very similar ones for the V2 at some stage so I would make time for them. Those back head injectors are a big must for me one day!
Adam
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Post by Cro on Feb 12, 2015 23:26:37 GMT
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Post by runner42 on Feb 13, 2015 7:46:57 GMT
Hi Adam,
add my congratulations to the long list you will no doubt receive from members of this forum. I think your efforts are placing the model locomotive design into a new era of realism only previously achieved by painstaking attention to detail in manufacture.
Brian
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Post by Roger on Feb 13, 2015 8:17:16 GMT
I think you may well be on the way to a nice little niche business here. These parts are a delight.
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dscott
Elder Statesman
Posts: 2,437
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Post by dscott on Feb 13, 2015 13:41:11 GMT
Tilehurst to Beach Hurst over Easter? Great idea. I think we all have seen the future of our hobby!!
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Post by Cro on Feb 13, 2015 15:51:26 GMT
I'd like to think using these types of manufacturing it can move the hobby forward technically slightly, I mean traditional methods are proven and work well, I did my LMS brake valve disc using the dividing head on the Myford and it came out well but a CNC would still do it better and faster. I just love modelling bits in CAD from drawings and seeing the outcome in a casting or a 3D print. Hope fully by easter I will have a few more bits cast so come along over Easter weekend and i'll most likely have them with me
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Post by Roger on Feb 13, 2015 16:16:41 GMT
Personally, I don't see any difference in buying a 3D Printed and cast brake valve to buying a cylinder casting. The logic for doing those things are the same. The game changer is that anyone can enter into this line of casting at a reasonable cost provided they are willing to learn 3D modelling. I can only see this improving the detailing of locomotives. There's no crime in buying a normal valve or injector, so I see no crime in buying a 3D printed and cast valve. Doubtless there will be cries of Foul! from some quarters, but who cares. What you're doing is the future, and they are the past.
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Post by Cro on Feb 13, 2015 17:39:53 GMT
Yeah exactly and even a friend of mine who thinks the bits are lovely is still focused on doing this the "old fashioned way" and won't accept that this is how certain things can be made now. I mean I couldn't make this stuff to this degree of detail for the price it costs me to cast them and I wouldn't want too. I'd happily sit down for a few hours and model it to then have something to work on after though. The big test will be the V2 cylinder bloc when I eventually get round to working on it!
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