Author Topic: New member  (Read 4803 times)

Offline AndyRDG1175

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New member
« on: May 02, 2014, 02:19:05 PM »
Hi All,

My name is Andy Pullen and I have been a train guy since I was a toddler. I got started in Live steam when one of my brothers went to England back in the 1970s and brought a set of castings home with him. He had a track at our parents' place for many years and he would bring his models out quite often to play...I decided in high school that if I wanted to build locomotive models properly that it made sense that I go to work as a machinist. My current job title is "Modelmaker/Machinist" and I work at the US Naval Academy working in the shop for the Division of Engineering and Weapons. My main job is to assist Midshipmen with their Capstone projects.

I have a machine shop in my garage where I do my model work. I have 2 lathes, a metal shaper, a horizontal bandsaw and a ProtoTrak AGE-2 cnc milling machine. Unfortunately for my stuff; I don't have time to make parts for my locomotives, but, I do make lots of parts for other people. Sometimes stuff can be squeezed in for myself.

Currently, I have a Reading Camelback 0-4-0 in 1 1/2" scale that runs, a 1" scale Friends Models Atlantic under construction and a Kozo K-27 under construction. The first 5 pics are of my locomotives. The last one is of 3 sets of UP Big Boy rods and a set of Challenger rods that I have been machining for clients.
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Offline b.lindsey

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Re: New member
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2014, 02:33:56 PM »
Welcome to MEM Andy. Those are some beautiful parts pictured as are your engines. Having taught machine shop and been the lab manager over our machine shop for the mechanical engineering technology program here at UNC-Charlotte for the past 6-7 years (up through last August) I would love to hear what types of capstone projects your students get involved in. Assisting them with those projects was also a large part of the job here, and though I am still a part of the college of engineering, I do miss many aspects of working with the students on those.

Bill

Offline Kim

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Re: New member
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2014, 04:19:36 PM »
Hi Andy,
Welcome to the forum.  You've done some really nice work there!  Looking froward to seeing more!
Kim

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: New member
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2014, 04:22:26 PM »
Welcome to the forum Andy.
Very much looking forward to seeing more of your posts.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline AndyRDG1175

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Re: New member
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2014, 04:49:54 PM »
Thanks Bill,

We've made a lot of crazy stuff over the years. I've made parts for smoke grenade launchers, refrigerators that throw soda cans, tee shirt cannons, killer robots, radio controlled helicopters that drop live grenades...Plus a Formula SAE race car every year...

Some of the kids are great and really want to learn....they listen to the advice and fix their own mistakes...Some kids show up and have no idea what they want or need and those projects end up being in the "Polishing a Turd" class....

The shop at work is very well equipped. We have 3 cnc lathes, 5 cnc mills, 2 wire edms, 4 manual mills, 6 manual lathes, a surface grinder and a waterjet. Plus, a full fab shop.

Andy Pullen
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Offline Jadecy

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Re: New member
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2014, 05:07:59 PM »
Welcome aboard! Always glad to see new members...especially when they have cool pictures to share!  ;D

Offline steamer

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Re: New member
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2014, 05:23:53 PM »
Welcome Andy!

Dave
"Mister M'Andrew, don't you think steam spoils romance at sea?"
Damned ijjit!

Offline Coopertje

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Re: New member
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2014, 06:01:14 PM »
Welcome Andy! If those parts were produced in your garage at home you have some serious size of machines!

Jeroen

Offline AndyRDG1175

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Re: New member
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2014, 06:27:08 PM »
Welcome Andy! If those parts were produced in your garage at home you have some serious size of machines!

Jeroen

Thank you All for the welcome.

Yeah....I've been collecting machinery for awhile.

The first pic is of my Clausing lathe. I purchased it back in 1991 and moved it from a former employer home in early 1992 after I got it paid off. It has a Baltimore City Public Schools property tag on it. It had a sheared pin in the lead screw which was the only thing I could find wrong with it. Cost me less than a dollar to get that fixed! It has served me well over the years.

The second pic is of the Sheldon Shaper. It was purchased in 1995. From the same dealer...It had been in the shop at the Hagerstown State Prison prior to me getting it. It was missing a woodruff key.

The third pic is of the Reed Prentice lathe. I've had it since 2009. It came from HGR Industrial Surplus in Ohio. It's a 14" machine, but will swing a piece 16 3/4" in diameter. 30" between centers.

The fourth pic is of the ProtoTrak mill. It arrived in 2011 and replaced a Clausing 8520 mill. As you can see; it's a retrofit machine. The mill is a standard Sharp brand Bridgeport clone with the control added afterwards. The machine has been fine so far. The control is super easy to program.

Andy
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Offline fumopuc

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Re: New member
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2014, 07:06:13 PM »
Hi Andy, welcome to the group.
Kind Regards
Achim

Offline AndyRDG1175

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Re: New member
« Reply #10 on: May 02, 2014, 07:18:27 PM »
Hi Andy, welcome to the group.

Thanks!

Germany....I have a brother living in Stuttgart. He has lived all over your country over the years. Nuremburg, Furth, Bonn, Berlin, Heidelberg....

I also have some friends in Dusseldorf.
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Offline vcutajar

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Re: New member
« Reply #11 on: May 02, 2014, 07:22:03 PM »
Hi Andy and welcome to MEM.  You have some serious machines there.  Dale, in another thread is also doing the K-27.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does it mean when you mentioned capestone projects?

Vince

Offline AndyRDG1175

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Re: New member
« Reply #12 on: May 02, 2014, 07:29:26 PM »
Hi Vince,

I know Dale. Not personally....but we've chatted online about the project. It was his link in the Facebook group I started that prompted me to check this site out. He does nice work.

Capstone projects are supposed to show how much the student (or students) have learned in their engineering classes. They have to design something and build it and have something that actually does something when they're finished. Some students are really good and need only minimal help....usually with a complex part that they can't make. Quite a few don't know what to do. We've had some really bad ones....believe me. I wouldn't trust anything they designed.

The projects, for the most part, are assigned by a panel of professors with certain parameters that they have to meet. A lot of the projects are funded by defense contractors....DARPA usually has one or 2...

andy
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Offline vcutajar

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Re: New member
« Reply #13 on: May 02, 2014, 07:48:12 PM »
Thanks Andy for the info.  Learned something new today.  I believe we have something similar here at the university for the final year engineering students.

I also deal a lot with students in the aviation sector and when sometimes I have a difficult situation, before blowing my top off, I say to myself that many years ago I was also a student and there was somebody patient enough to instruct me, which usually calms me down.  Having said that, sometimes I have a feeling that I am talking to a brick wall.

Vince

Offline AndyRDG1175

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Re: New member
« Reply #14 on: May 02, 2014, 07:51:32 PM »
Thanks Andy for the info.  Learned something new today.  I believe we have something similar here at the university for the final year engineering students.

I also deal a lot with students in the aviation sector and when sometimes I have a difficult situation, before blowing my top off, I say to myself that many years ago I was also a student and there was somebody patient enough to instruct me, which usually calms me down.  Having said that, sometimes I have a feeling that I am talking to a brick wall.

Vince

Hey Vince....LOL!

I feel your pain...

Andy
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Offline Don1966

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Re: New member
« Reply #15 on: May 02, 2014, 08:47:10 PM »
Hi Andy, welcome to the forum!

 :hi:
Don

Offline ths

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Re: New member
« Reply #16 on: May 02, 2014, 09:31:06 PM »
Welcome to the forum Andy. Cheers, Hugh.

Offline Steamer5

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Re: New member
« Reply #17 on: May 02, 2014, 10:39:38 PM »
Hi Andy,
 Welcome, & as you might of guessed we  :Love: pictures! The ones you posted are great! .....any more you want to share? Those rods for the Big Boy look huge! what size are they?

Vince....draw a square on the wall....concrete or brick is best.......inside the square " bang head here until feeling goes away" then you will be all calm & most likey have forgotten what the problem was !!

Cheers Kerrin
Get excited and make something!

Offline PStechPaul

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Re: New member
« Reply #18 on: May 03, 2014, 03:43:55 AM »
Good looking tools and projects. Sounds as if you are in the same "neck of the woods" as I am. I was born and raised in Baltimore City, and I often go to Hagerstown to camp at the KOA and attend the Western MD Bluesfest. I'm also familiar with the Annapolis area.
 
I'm pretty much a newbie to the forum myself, and I'm also learning a lot about machining. Welcome aboard!

Offline AndyRDG1175

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Re: New member
« Reply #19 on: May 03, 2014, 06:30:42 PM »
Hi All,

I have lots more pics. My signature line has a Facebook page I started to show my stuff....Lots of pics on there. If you're on Facebook; check it out...I will be posting more on here, too.

The Big Boy rods are 1/8 scale. Roger Goldmann sells castings for Challengers. The Big Boys are being built using those castings. One is in Laurel, MD; one is in Florida, one is in Massachusetts and one is in Australia. Www.livesteamlocomotives.com is his website. They are all being machined out of stainless steel bar.

I am in Bel Air, MD. I don't know why that won't update in my profile. All but 2 years of my life I've lived northeast of Baltimore. Those 2 years I was living in Birmingham, AL working for the Southern Railway Steam Program.

Andy
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Online Roger B

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Re: New member
« Reply #20 on: May 03, 2014, 07:22:15 PM »
Welcome to the forum  :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:

That's some serious equipment and excellent work  :praise2: :praise2:
Best regards

Roger

Offline fumopuc

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Re: New member
« Reply #21 on: May 03, 2014, 09:07:01 PM »


I am in Bel Air, MD. I don't know why that won't update in my profile.

Andy
Hi Andy try to enter it under "Personal Text", I am sure it  will be visable than.
Kind Regards
Achim

Offline sshire

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Re: New member
« Reply #22 on: May 03, 2014, 09:57:24 PM »
Welcome, Andy!
Beautiful work and machines. You just missed a chance to meet some of the members of our asylum at Cabin Fever, but the next one is only a year away.
Hope you'll join in to the discussions.
Best,
Stan

Offline AndyRDG1175

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Re: New member
« Reply #23 on: May 04, 2014, 03:43:59 AM »

Hi Andy try to enter it under "Personal Text", I am sure it  will be visable than.

Perfect! Thanks for the tip.

Thank you all for the kind words.

Andy
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