Author Topic: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)  (Read 242136 times)

Online Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #75 on: October 18, 2015, 08:08:20 PM »
Hmm... I'd considered using wood, but that seemed like a bad idea when I'm going to be holding a flame right next to it.  I was definitely planning to minimize surface area contact with any metal.  Is wood really a viable option for something like this?
Kim

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #76 on: October 18, 2015, 10:22:52 PM »
Kim, you might check out this website for soldering boards, they have a wide selection of sizes and materials. I have bought from them before with good results.

https://contenti.com/soldering-n-joining/soldering-tools/soldering-boards

Bill

Online Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #77 on: October 26, 2015, 03:55:07 AM »
Thanks Bill.  I've got a soldering board like this, but can you drill holes in them and build fixtures on them?  I hand't considered that.  As you'll see, I went a slightly different route...

After the fiasco of my first wheel soldering job, I decided to heed all the excellent advise I received and build a soldering jig to hold things in place while I soldered the spokes to the hub & rim.

Here's how I solved my jig problem. While it may not have been the ideal solution, it seemed to give me a pretty tolerable result.  MUCH better than my first attempt!

To make my jig, I cut two 5" lengths of 1/2" square CRS.  I milled a notch in the center of these two and then put them together like an "X".  I wasn't smart enough to remember to get a picture of this, but hopefully it will make sense when you see the pictures below.

I took my X and using my cool new Oxy-Acetylene torch, I welded these two pieces together.  This was kinda fun!  It's my first ever real welding job.  I'm sure it looks terrible, but I'm just unduly pleased with it. Hope it gives all you experienced welders a good chuckle :) Anyway, It doesn't much matter what it looks like, as long as it holds the jig together! :)


Then I mounted it to the mill table, leveled it as best I could (note the shim on the front right) and milled it flat.  Then I flipped it over and milled the other side.   This gave me a nice flat surface to hold the rim and hub against.  I think this was one of my biggest problems the first time - I didn't keep the rim and hub parallel, or even in the same plane!


Then I carefully drilled holes at the appropriate spots and put pegs in to hold the hub and rim in place, like so:


And here's how it looks with the rim and hub:


With my new jig in hand, I prepared one set of spokes for soldering.  I also put a metal band around the spokes to help keep them from popping out when the flux boiled.


Then I lit up the torch and went to work.  On my first try I didn't move the torch enough and started to melt one of the spokes!  :o  I quickly replaced that spoke and made sure to move the flame around and keep the direct flame off the skinny little spokes.  Here's the first side of the hub soldered up.


I proceeded to take the band off and solder around the outside of the wheel, heating up the rim from the back side, and applying solder, by hand from the front. This worked very well! (Thanks for the tip Dave).

Here's the completed wheel after a little pickling bath.  It still needs some clean-up, but its far better than the first one.  And it runs MUCH more true.  There's still a little run-out (not much, I can live with this) but NO wobble. I'm quite pleased. :)


Next step: carefully demolish the first wheel, while (hopefully) keeping the rim and hub usable!

Thanks for all your help, advise, and encouragement!
Kim
« Last Edit: July 07, 2017, 08:59:09 PM by Kim »

Online Dave Otto

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #78 on: October 26, 2015, 01:23:54 PM »
Nice work Kim!

Dave

Offline Don1966

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #79 on: October 26, 2015, 03:18:32 PM »
Awesome Kim you did it buddy........... :pinkelephant: the wheel looks great and you should be quiet pleased with yourself. On the wheel runout for next time, make the hole in the hub smaller so when you check the run out you can rebore to the correct dimenisions and correct it.  :praise2:



Don

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #80 on: October 26, 2015, 03:56:48 PM »
Wow!! That looks great Kim and should make the process far easier to control now for sure!!

Bill

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #81 on: October 26, 2015, 06:47:10 PM »
In the words of the great Foghorn Leghorn: "I say, I say,  the boy boy catches on fast,   now don't he"  :). Kim, that is looking great.  I'm betting the full scale ones had a small amount of wobble in the wheel,  now you just have to figure that in the scale of model  8):popcorn: :DrinkPint:, I'm here  :cheers:.

Cletus

Offline fumopuc

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #82 on: October 26, 2015, 07:57:13 PM »
Hi Kim, you are on the right way. It is taking shape. Experience has to be made by yourself. It is good to get tips but learning by making mistakes by myself is my prefered way.
Kind Regards
Achim

Online Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #83 on: October 26, 2015, 11:17:19 PM »
Thanks Dave, Don, Bill, Cletus, and Achim, for the kind and encouraging replies! :)
I really appreciate it! And I appreciate all the advice and help from everyone to get me here!
Kim

Offline TerryWerm

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #84 on: October 31, 2015, 10:35:09 PM »
Has anyone built one of these by threading the holes in the hubs and threading the spokes to match? Silver soldering the spokes at the rim would lock them in place but it would eliminate the problems of trying to silver solder the spokes at the hub.
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Terry
Making chips when I can!

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #85 on: November 01, 2015, 07:33:13 AM »
I've done it with wheels for Hit & miss engine carts, screwed to the hub and soft soldered at the rim. I did not go for silver solder as the rim expands a lot more due to the higher temperature and could give problems when it cools and contracts.



I have seen larger scale wheels done by fixing the rim end with a TIG weld which keeps the heat localised
« Last Edit: November 01, 2015, 07:38:07 AM by Jasonb »

Offline Bearcar1

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #86 on: November 01, 2015, 04:50:45 PM »
Yes, I threaded the hubs and added nuts to simulate tensioners. It was a bit more work and rather fiddly, but it turned out OK.
BC1
Jim


Online Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #87 on: November 02, 2015, 05:41:34 AM »
Interesting fabrication methods for the wheels.

Jim, those are some beautiful looking wheels you made there!  You're right, the extra effort really did pay off in the looks!

Kim

Online Kim

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #88 on: November 04, 2015, 04:40:23 PM »
My next task was to re-do my first wheel - the one that was way out of whack.

To do this, I cut all the spokes then heated things up to remove the short spoke pieces from the hub and the rim. This was followed by an extensive session of cleaning up the solder mess on the parts I wanted to keep.

After that chore, l soldered the wheel back together with new spokes and it went even better than the last one!  It would seem that experience helps a lot with this sort of thing :)

With both wheels soldered, I had to clean up the spoke ends that poked out of the rim.  To do this, I put the assembled wheel on a 1/4" mandrel and carefully filed off the spoke nubs.  I put some tape around the center of the wheel to keep from gouging it while filing.  I did this one spoke at a time with the lathe not under power, simply acting as a holding device.


After the bulk of the nubs were removed I powered up the lathe and used some files & sand paper to clean up the rim.


Cleaning up the inside of the rim and the hub presented a problem.  It was hard to get to. I tried lots of things but my final (and best?) solution was to make a small fiber disk for my dremel, that would fit between the spokes.  To do this, I cannibalized an abrasive wheel/ball/thing that I got from Harbor Freight for a few bucks.  I took it apart and removed one of the disks from that stack.


Then I cut little circles from it (I used that washer as a template)...


And mounted them on a little arbor for the dremmel.


Apparently I didn't get a picture of it in action (hard to do by myself) but it worked fairly well to clean up the harder to reach spots.  Not to Don's standard of metal jewelry, but it passes my (fairly lax) QC department!


The next step will be to cut and mount the grouters!

Thanks for looking in,
Kim
« Last Edit: July 07, 2017, 09:56:40 PM by Kim »

Offline joe d

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Re: Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)
« Reply #89 on: November 04, 2015, 05:09:17 PM »
Those wheels look good to me, Kim   :ThumbsUp:

Happily following along.

Cheers, Joe

 

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