Building Kozo's New Shay locomotive

[crueby]

That looks great. The cad would be quite sturdy, with those brass bars.
How did you cut the brass sheet?

I thought the roof would need bars too, but once bent to the curve it was sturdy. Just got the bars soft soldered on, sides are quite solid. The sheet is 1.5mm thick c260 brass, cut it with a Bosch saber saw (they call them jig saws now?) With a fine tooth metal cutting blade. Leaves a smooth cut, cleaned up any jaggies with a touch on a disc sander and a file. The windows will be cut with a jewelers hand saw, which is basically a superfine fret saw.

[crueby]

Looking good, as ever    We have snow forecast for this weekend so hot work/running engines may be curtailed for a while 

Yeah, nice to have a dozen or so hobbies, always something to do no matter what the weather...!

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Man I've been following this religiously and loving it all.  Roger B , y'all get the beautiful picture perfect snow,  we get the old nasty stuff.  Another thing on the hydro,  make sure you use water that is hot enough.  We used to cheat when hydroing a big boiler and use really really hot water , if it didn't leak then,  it wasn't going to under steam

E

[crueby]

I've been using room temp water, did not think it mattered. Have heard conflicting information, whether hot vs cold makes a difference. In the book Kozo does not say anything about using hot water. Why does it matter for a small boiler?

[b.lindsey]

Crueby, are you going to emboss some rivets on the cab and if so I am curious how?

Bill

[crueby]

Crueby, are you going to emboss some rivets on the cab and if so I am curious how?

Bill

The rivet embossing is really pretty easy - carve a 1/2-round recess in a bit of brass (I used a ball-end rotary tool bit the diameter of the recess I wanted), and use a center punch to press the sheet into the recess. To get evenly spaced and size results, mount the recess block on your drill press table directly under the center of the chuck. Next to that, put a straight edge the distance away from the recess that you want the rivets to be from the edge of the sheet. Then, mount the punch in the chuck, and with the drill OFF (so it does not spin through the metal, you just want the pressure), push the sheet up against the straightedge, and pull the handle on the drill press down to emboss the sheet into the recess (have the back side of the sheet face up). If you have evenly spaced marks on your straight edge, you can use that to tell you how far to move the sheet between rivets. The punch should be a shallow angle, not a needle-sharp style, to push the metal without pushing through it. If the metal is thick, you may need to anneal it first. On thin brass it will work without annealing.
I used a set up like that to emboss the rivets on the boiler jacket strap (have not posted pics yet). I used the same recess block I used to back up the real rivets from the smokebox tube. When I get to that part of the build I will post pictures of the setup. It is an old technique. Kozo describes the same method in his books too.

[b.lindsey]

Thanks, I will look forward to seeing the pictures when the time comes.

Bill

[crueby]

Thanks, I will look forward to seeing the pictures when the time comes.

Bill

I took another look in the book - the false rivets are done on the tender shell, not really much oportunity for them on the cab since there are so many windows/panels. I went back through my photos of the real engines at Cass WV, and there would be some rows of small rivets on the cab edges and across the roof, but on the model those areas are too thick for the embossing method to work very well. So, will be doing the ones on the tender shell (which is thinner metal) per the book.

[crueby]

Got the cab side frames drilled for mounting holes, and then screwed and soft soldered to the panels.

After soldering on the extra panels that will make the window frames, filed off the screw heads flush with the panels. Second photo also shows the roof panel, bent to an arc and with the drip rails soldered on (hard to see in photo - they are angled up along the sides).

With the side panels clamped onto the mill table (the frame bars hold the sheet off the table) I milled out the openings for the windows and insert panels. In the book Kozo saws them out, but I think this was aquicker and straighter way to do it. Next few photos show milling out the openings in the two side panels.

Last photo shows the two sides with all openings made, ready for filing the edges nice and smooth. Next step will be to drill/tap the mounting holes for the insert panels, and add the window sill below....

[Roger B]

That's some nice sheet metalwork    What are you using for the cut outs, a 2mm ish end mill?

[crueby]

Think that one is a 1/8", so about 3mm. Goes through the sheet nicely.

[crueby]

Today I got the inserts for the side panels cut, and the ones that simulate wood planking scored. Did that with a high speed rotary air tool (like a dentist drill - wonderful sound...) and a tiny (0.5mm) cylinder cutter run along a straightedge.

Last three photos show the pieces after screwing the inserts into the left/right side panels, and the sides/roof propped up together to see how they look. Roof is not attached yet - that will get held by hinges from the front panel (not made yet - roof first, then scribe that curve to the front sheet).

I like the look - really going to change the appearance of the loco in one step. Next will start on the front panel and the floor.... Weather is still lousy, so this is more fun that fussing with the boiler outside!

[b.lindsey]

That's looking really nice Crueby!! The scoring adds a nice touch too. About time for another family shot isn't it

Bill

[crueby]

That's looking really nice Crueby!! The scoring adds a nice touch too. About time for another family shot isn't it

Bill

Family shot? Already running out of places to bury the bodies... KIDDING!!

Oh, you mean with the boiler and frame? Gotta wait till the front wall is made, that holds the side walls, and there is no floor on the frame to hold the side walls up. Already tried to balance them on the frame bracket, but no luck. Should have enough to try by Sunday! I can't wait to see the group.

[Johnmcc69]

That is some really NICE fabrication work! Beautiful!! 

 John