Building Kozo's New Shay locomotive

[sbwhart]

Enjoyed the videos Crueby

thanks for showing 

Stew

[PStechPaul]

I also enjoyed the videos. I was there probably 15 years ago, and was fascinated by the unique design of the Shay. I had thought it used a worm drive, but it looks like it could be miter gears instead. I think that's what the small Shay at Rough and Tumble in Kinzers, PA had when I was there last year. I probably pay more attention to such things as I get into machining a bit more.

Did you also see the model trains? When I was there, the guy in charge lamented that some of the model engines had been stolen, and I think some others had been damaged or destroyed in a fire.

[crueby]

I also enjoyed the videos. I was there probably 15 years ago, and was fascinated by the unique design of the Shay. I had thought it used a worm drive, but it looks like it could be miter gears instead. I think that's what the small Shay at Rough and Tumble in Kinzers, PA had when I was there last year. I probably pay more attention to such things as I get into machining a bit more.

Did you also see the model trains? When I was there, the guy in charge lamented that some of the model engines had been stolen, and I think some others had been damaged or destroyed in a fire.

The Shay engines are all bevel (miter) gear driven, it can be hard to tell since they usually have a sheet metal cover over the gears on the shaft to keep debris out. The Heisler engine there is a v-twin arangement, with the drive shaft running down the center, vs the Shay arrangement with the drive shaft down the right side.

They do still have the model trains there - heard one of the rangers there complaining how the interns keep changing the cabling/etc when they play in there at night when watching movies!

Cass is a great place to visit, I had a ball there that weekend.

[crueby]

Small update - got the arms/links made for the manual feed pump. They are just bar stock, slotted/drilled to fit together. The handle is removable, has a slot at the end and a sleeve that slides on (held with loctite). Just have to make the cap and inlet...

[b.lindsey]

Still following along crueby. The feed pump looks good.

Bill

[crueby]

Got the last couple little parts done on the pumps, picture below of them. Just a little paint, and the axle pumps can go on the trucks.

Start of the boiler is next finally - first step (going by Kozo's sequences) is to make up a whole bunch of fittings that go through the shell of the boiler - alignment studs, staybolts, water inlets, steam outlets, guage studs, etc. All will be turned down from bronze round bar (going to have to find a compartmented box or bunch of bags so I can label them all, they will look pretty simaler, and there are a lot of them). I have not worked with bronze much before, yet one more thing learned on this build!

[crueby]

First few 'boiler bits' in the done box - from left to right they are an alignment stud used to fit the smoke stack flange, two water inlet fittings, a stud for the bell assembly, and a stud for the generator assembly. All of these will be soldered into the outer boiler shell.

Second pic is another few parts, the first blower pipe end on the left in front of the pipe itself (other end next up on the lathe), and two smokebox studs, which will mount on the front of the boiler and take the mounting screws from the smokebox assembly.

Not much to look at yet really, just the start on a lot of the fiddly-bits that hold the boiler and its add-ons. Few more larger through-fittings to make, then will start mass production on the boiler staybolts/nuts (24 of one type, 11 of another).

[Roger B]

Still following along    Interestingly all these designs, Shay, Climax, Heissler, were attempts to produce steam engines with the same flexibility as the internal combustion engines when dealing with heavy load on poor quality track. The standard rigid multi axle steam designs were not suitable.  The European Mallet, Beyer Garret and Fairlie designs were also solutions to similar problems.

[crueby]

Still following along    Interestingly all these designs, Shay, Climax, Heissler, were attempts to produce steam engines with the same flexibility as the internal combustion engines when dealing with heavy load on poor quality track. The standard rigid multi axle steam designs were not suitable.  The European Mallet, Beyer Garret and Fairlie designs were also solutions to similar problems.

Amazing how many ways there are to solve a problem and meet a need! I never really understood how tight and steep a bend those engines could take till seeing them in person down at the Cass park.

(going to stop by my friends brewpub later this week for a refill, will join you in the pint then!)   

[crueby]

Got the rest of the bushings done - first pic is the steam outlet fitting plus the water inlet and manifold bushings. Second pic is the collection of fiddly-bits so far (had to label them to keep track of which is which). Next can start on the steam dome base and the big collections of stay bolts.... Probably a couple days worth of those, lots to do. After that will come the wood forms for the sheet metal (then it can start looking like a boiler).

[crueby]

Got the steam dome base made - More to this one than just a cylinder so a few more pictures.
Started out with a bar of phosphor bronze, drilled the center hole (stepped hole to take the outlet pipe) and turned the rim down to size - stepped to fit in the hole in the boiler.

Parted off/cleaned up the part, and put it on the rotary table in the mill to drill/tap the rest of the holes. The rotary table made it very easy to lay out the holes, which lie on two circles - just centered the table on the drill, and cranked it out the needed distances. Then drilled a hole, turned it 90 degrees, ready for next one.

Back on the lath, started the parts for the clamps that hold the base to the boiler shell for soldering. First, bored out the center to the same diameter as the small side of the base part, and parted it off.

That dish shape was then sawn into three pieces, the outer two are the needed parts. They were then milled to width/length, and a hole drilled for the mounting screws.

The last two photos show the whole assembly. The clamps will be filed to an arced shape to fit the boiler shell later. Tightening down the bolts will draw up the base to the shell, and all the parts are soldered into place at that time.

That completes the boiler bushings. Next up are a whole lot of bronze staybolts....

[crueby]

First batch of boiler stay bolts are done. There are two type, first are a simple stud with a thread at one end for the front and back ends of the firebox (they get screwed into inner plate, soldered at threads, then other end is soldered into outer plate). The second style have a large head, and a flat nut.

The studs were turned to dimension in the lathe and threaded at the end with the die held with the tailstock, and then parted off.

The studs were then turned around, and the other end cleaned up and chamfered.

Third photo is all 11 studs done.

For the headed bolts, they are turned down to size and threaded, then parted off.

The nuts are drilled/tapped out of the leftovers, and parted off to size. The first edge of the nuts has a small chamfer, once all are made I will go back with a threaded holder and taper the outer edges of the nuts (does not effect function, just looks better).

First one down, just need to make 23 more of the headed bolts...

[crueby]

Well, got through the big-pile-o-staybolts making, and have begun the wood formers for the boiler sheets. These will be used to hammer the copper sheets over to form the actual boiler parts (with lots of stops to re-anneal the copper again). The formers were laid out on the wood, and cut on the bandsaw slightly oversize, and will be machined down to final dimensions on the mill (a bandsaw is a very handy tool, but hardly a precision one). the blocks are from some Sapele offcuts from a display case/drawer unit I did two years ago (shows up in background of some of the engine progress photos now and then). It is a very hard, heavy wood, and very stable, should work well for the formers. I was a woodworker long before getting into machining metal, so this will be kind of a nice blend of the two arts...

[b.lindsey]

You have been making some nice progress this past week crueby. I like the way you organize small parts too in the compartment tray. Helps keep the lost part gremlins away too

Bill

[crueby]

You have been making some nice progress this past week crueby. I like the way you organize small parts too in the compartment tray. Helps keep the lost part gremlins away too

Bill

Those must be the same gremlins that keep putting the full trash can under the vise where I am cutting off the teeny part....!