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Post by dhamblin on Aug 7, 2021 20:22:01 GMT
Spent the day dodging showers down at the Bluebell Railway for our 60+1 anniversary gala (the 60th anniversary being scuppered by COVID last year). Missed Chris Vine but there were some nice 5" models displayed and running on a portable raised track in the loco yard at Sheffield Park.
Regards,
Dan
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Post by keith1500 on Aug 7, 2021 20:22:22 GMT
My fourth attempt at making a bracket come solenoid mounting plate, in fact it’s my third attempt. One of the scrap pieces got used to test out a bending method which worked and lead to the success of the bracket. Signal instrument by GL5Keith1500, on Flickr A couple of improvements helped. Clean the metal with orbital sander, use marking out blue and scribe clear accurate lines. Signal instrument by GL5Keith1500, on Flickr The finished bracket has developed from the initial idea. so, after much bending, filing and silver soldering this mk4 bracket incorates many improvement on the original idea. Sprayed green it’s now ready for fitting. Signal instrument by GL5Keith1500, on Flickr
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,912
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Post by JonL on Aug 7, 2021 20:30:14 GMT
We had our MES members social day today, saw a few locomotives out but no-one steaming strangely, other than a few test firings. We got our 5" Planet out and the younger members (and not so much younger members) ended up driving it round most of the afternoon while the rest of us nattered. It was nice seeing the traction engines out too; I don't often see those.
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Post by ettingtonliam on Aug 8, 2021 17:23:07 GMT
I'm downsizing from a garage workshop to a shed workshop, so have to clear a lot of clutter. The big machines have gone so its bits and pieces. I put a list on the club noticeboard yesterday at 9 am, a chap came round at 1pm and bought most of it, and another chap came this morning and took some more. Result! I've put a strong bench at one end of the shed and have been installing my 'project'. Its a 1936 Drummond Roundbed lathe, long bed so its 20" between centres with a 4" centre height, and has had an aftermarket backgear fitted, as far as I can tell, since it was nearly new (Drummond didn't offer the Roundbed with backgear) I've been restoring it on and off for about 4 years so its about time it got put into use. Its now got an ML7 size spindle nose, a 2MT long travel tailstock barrel, roller thrust bearings to spindle and leadscrew, and graduated collars, handwheels to the cross slide and leadscrew. Anyway, there it sits now, with the overhead countershaft in place, all I need are some belts and to mount the motor.
Once that comes into use, I can sell on the other standard Roundbed that I've been using regularly, and free up some bench space.
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Post by cplmickey on Aug 9, 2021 7:51:12 GMT
Not today but over the weekend the Melton Mowbray and District MES held their annual open weekend. There were quite a few miniature traction engines and steam lorries on the events field and the railway had an almost constant queue despite the heavy showers on Sunday. A well sorted "Singapore" did sterling work passenger hauling on Saturday along with a Class 25 diesel. The 25 ran again on Sunday this time with a Royal Scot providing the steam interest. On the raised track a deltic ran both days. The site looked superb after a lot of work by members and it was fantastic to see it filled with people again and especially so many youngsters. There's a couple of short videos of the start of the road run on Saturday www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUtx9bzu1vI and www.youtube.com/watch?v=voP9bf53Hmw and some video of the railway to come shortly. Ian
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Post by steamlaser on Aug 9, 2021 11:02:06 GMT
Yesterday we went to view a workshop of a late member we have not seen for a number of years. There were three sheds joined togeather, one having a collapsed roof. The place was packed with large machines and piles of tools. The sister thought he had equipped the workshop before he had built the extension to the house! We have to clear the workshop totally, but it is going to be a saga to get things out. We have not "asset stripped" the place so hopefully we will find a dealer to take the lot. ( a garden clearance chap had walked off with all the non ferrous stock.) Fortunately the vultures did not get his models and they have gone to a good homes.
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johnd
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 282
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Post by johnd on Aug 10, 2021 18:32:45 GMT
It was going so well, painting wheel sets from a driving trolly. Then a set took off across the bench, launched itself in the air then hit the concrete floor. The result was a 1” flange chip on one wheel. Just what i need, more work. Tomorrow’s mission machine away the rest of the flange, screw and bond new flange ring, machine profile. Any other ideas?
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timb
Statesman
Posts: 512
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Post by timb on Aug 10, 2021 18:52:36 GMT
johnd, get some rubber matting for your concrete floor! I have some cut up pieces of old rubber belting which has saved many a finished part from dings and breaks such as this! Unless you can weld to it and build up the flange to re-machine I cannot see another way of fixing it short of starting again!!
Tim
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2021 19:43:57 GMT
I also had a mishap John, entirely my own fault, or should I say my poor memories fault. I have commented a number of times in the past how the cartazzi springs are too strong, or should I say, they lift the rear of the loco too high when the boiler is off. To allow the wheels to freely turn while fitting the con rods and setting the pistons I tightened the cartazzi spring hangers fully which allowed me to work on the model without having to press the back down each time I wanted the chassis to roll.The problem was, in my hurry to get the model ready for the weekend I forgot to loosen the hangers when fitting the boiler. This meant there was no spring left for any sudden drops in height during transit. To make matters worse my sons van is lowered with large wheels and little tyre sidewall. During transit I hit a number of potholes, well on today's roads there are so many holes it's difficult not too. The end result was one broken leaf on the left hand side, the top leaf. No big deal, after kicking myself for not paying attention I made a new top leaf which didn't take long. How the other side survived I have no idea as it looked like SNG's cartazzi spring when I photographed it at Didcot a few years ago, basically it was fully deflected the wrong way, it resumed it's normal shape once the spring hangers were loosened though. So the loco is now fully sprung again as it sbould be, I should thank the mishap though, I have now decided to load the springs up properly while most of the loco is still together, I don't expect the model to get much heavier, 10-20lb perhaps so it's worth doing.. I'll do a full write up on the process soon, it will be seperate to the previous weighbridge article as I need to do a new one for the mag. Anyway, that's my mishap described in all it's glory, I'll try not to repeat the scenario... Pete
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Post by keith1500 on Aug 10, 2021 20:22:50 GMT
johnd, get some rubber matting for your concrete floor! I have some cut up pieces of old rubber belting which has saved many a finished part from dings and breaks such as this! Unless you can weld to it and build up the flange to re-machine I cannot see another way of fixing it short of starting again!! Tim Similar here. I have old carpet tiles from office refurbs. They have saved many a dropped part.....except those heated for silver soldering. Mind you easy to find . Just look for the smoke plume!!
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Post by keith1500 on Aug 10, 2021 20:37:19 GMT
Signal instrument by GL5Keith1500, on Flickr This bracket was a bit of a tall order. Not much room for error and one error did creep in. When screwed in place the slider started to stick. The cause was the face plate was not truly up-right. It was leaning towards the mechanism. With no room to move the solenoid back and provide more space the only option was to correct the vertical tab on the bracket, which in turn would place the face plate upright. To correct this I decided to add some material and machine it true. I soldered into place a slither of brass. This was done using a make-shift soldering iron. A length of brass bar heated hot with a blow lamp and the end wetted with solder. It worked after a few heats. Signal instrument by GL5Keith1500, on Flickr The finished bracket. The error from top to bottom was 0.5 mm which can be seen in the wedge shape of the brass. A respray and that’s done. I think in hind sight I should have allowed for slithers of brass on all four tabs and machined them true. Still three of of four isn’t too bad. Signal instrument by GL5Keith1500, on Flickr
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,912
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Post by JonL on Aug 10, 2021 20:57:07 GMT
I love seeing this indicator coming together, I do like steam engines but this makes for a welcome change while still being on-theme. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by delaplume on Aug 10, 2021 20:57:11 GMT
Can't remember if I posted this earlier.......the water tanker finished and in service, just waiting for the transfers to arrive....
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2021 20:58:43 GMT
Love the make-up of your train Alan.. looks great...
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Post by suctionhose on Aug 10, 2021 21:14:04 GMT
Love the make-up of your train Alan.. looks great... Indeed! A very nice outfit..
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2021 22:36:05 GMT
Just got my car back...my son took it to do some work on it while I borrowed his van to take the loco for that event. I knew that be has been driving it each day as one of my other boys let slip that Richard had said on their whatsapp page, 'my god, dad's car is fast'. When he dropped it off tohight my wife dug a little deeper without letting on that one of his brothers had spilt the beans. He conceeded that the car actually scared him, he has never been pushed that hard into the back of the seat before, not in any car. My wife asked, what, faster than Pete's (other son, it's an ongoing argument between me and Pete) RS?... he said the RS (which as it happens he had been driving for the last couple of weeks prior to mine) isn't even in the same league.
It's good to know the boy's are finally accepting who's the fastest kid on the block ..🤣🤣🤣
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Post by suctionhose on Aug 11, 2021 1:38:33 GMT
Yesterday actually, (standing in Covid Vax queue at the moment) turned a bunch of tapered BSPT plugs for the TE boiler. 1/4, 3/8 & 1/2"
Don't often get to use the taper turning attachment on the back of the lathe, but once I got the hang of it, it went well!
Modern BSPT plugs from the hardware are made of as little brass as possible; hollow, undersize... I wanted good old fashioned solid gunmetal with standardized heads so I can do them all with the same socket.
No pics. You'll have take my word for it!
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Post by norfolkandgood on Aug 11, 2021 6:50:38 GMT
johnd, get some rubber matting for your concrete floor! I have some cut up pieces of old rubber belting which has saved many a finished part from dings and breaks such as this! Unless you can weld to it and build up the flange to re-machine I cannot see another way of fixing it short of starting again!! Tim Think I would go down the welding route, slowly building up the flange profile to keep heat/distortion to a minimum then machine. Guy
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johnd
Part of the e-furniture
Posts: 282
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Post by johnd on Aug 11, 2021 7:52:09 GMT
Guy
Wheels are cast iron so not sure my mig would be suitable, never attempted to weld cast iron, not sure you can?
Was going to machine tread off and fit new tread ring with 603 and some pins to be sure then machine new tread, what do you think?
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JonL
Elder Statesman
WWSME (Wiltshire)
Posts: 2,912
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Post by JonL on Aug 11, 2021 8:04:16 GMT
If cleaned spotlessly, would a chemical metal type substance prove up to the job?
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