Steam Tractor 3/4" (Rudy K)

[Kim]

Hi Jim, Terry and Roger, thanks for the kind words!

One more update after the weekend. It took me a while to prep this update, because sadly, I lost all my pictures     So everything you see in this post is a 'post production' fake.  When I discovered they were all gone, I went back out to the shop and staged a few pictures. It makes me unduly sad. I had a good story line to go with my pictures. But I lost the whole thing. 

OK, enough wallowing in my self-indulgent self pity and I'll get on with this marginally documented update. 

I left off having just silver soldered my 2nd plug into the casing.  So I filed it down flush, and drilled the rivet hole.  After that, I put it back on the lathe and cleaned it up.  It looks pretty nice now!


And here's a close-up of my patch job.  The reason the ring varies in width is that the hole is threaded, and the fat part is where the thread is starting.

The last operation on the Boiler Shell is to cut a 3" chunk out of the back end to make room for the fire box.  To do this, I used a pair of woodworkers clamps to stabilize the tube. I clamped them such that the tips of the clamp were flush with bottom of the tube which helped to stabilize it and keep it from rotating.  I cut the long 3" cut first (slow and careful - I marked the part of the tube that was to be cut off to help avoid a potentially disastrous mistake!):


Then the other direction, from the bottom (remember, these photos are staged - the chunk had already been removed - I had to hold it in place for these pictures).


The bandsaw cuts would probably have been OK as they were since this portion will be hidden behind sheet metal.  But I chose to clean up the cuts on the mill to make things nice a tidy and so that I could use these edges as horizontal references.  Again, sorry, no pictures of this operation, but here it is, complete:


The next step was to make a bunch of shafts; the Rear Axle, Crankshaft, Countershaft, and Front Axle.  Most of these were noting more than cutting a rod to length.  But the Front Axle required some work - it has some tapers for interest, and some grooves for circlips to retain the front wheels.  No pictures of the construction, but here's a shot of the completed Front Axle:


And finally, I will leave you all with my current family shot.  All the parts I've made for the tractor to date (including the bit removal tool (at the top) ):


Next, I'll be starting the sheet metal work!
Kim

[vcutajar]

Quietly following along in the background and admiring your patience.

Vince

[fumopuc]

Looking at the parts should be a reason to open a bottle (of what ever), to sit down and to enjoy.

[10KPete]

Looking at the parts should be a reason to open a bottle (of what ever), to sit down and to enjoy.

Indeed! Well deserved!!

 

Pete

[zeeprogrammer]

Better to lose the pics than the parts.
But sorry for the loss.

Good looking parts!

[b.lindsey]

What  nice family shot Kim!!  And that boiler casing really cleaned up well. Sorry about the picture loss but the end result(s) speak for themselves!!  Well done.

Bill

[Don1966]

Great results Kim no matter if you loss the photos or not. Well done!

Don

[Kim]

Thank you all for your comments and support. I do appreciate it.
Kim

[Kim]

Well, I said my next step was to start the sheet metal work. Turns out I was wrong.  I needed to put in the rivets in the boiler shell.  Not as exciting, but it needs to be done. So that was my activity for the day.

As I was putting in the rivets, I messed up on one of them (OK, I messed up on a lot of them, but one was REALLY bad).  It had bent over when I was setting it and it looked badly out of line.  So I milled the head off and drilled out the rivet and did it again.

Just look at the one that's badly out of line (to the left of the mill), not all the other bad ones.


I still had a bunch of open holes, so I used those to line things up on, and used my cool new cheap-o DRO to move back to the right position to drill out the rivet.


And a few dozen rivets later, here it is!  The boiler shell is all riveted up.


NEXT time, I'll start the sheet metal!
Kim

[b.lindsey]

That's a lot of work Kim and I think it turned out very well. Just remember that back in the day the real ones weren't perfect by any means. I think we all look more critically at our own work. I hadn't realized how thick that boiler shell tubing was either but these latest photos really show it. Well done!!

Bill

[vcutajar]

I like the idea of that blue tape.

Vince

[Kim]

Thanks Bill and Vince,

Just remember that back in the day the real ones weren't perfect by any means. I think we all look more critically at our own work.

Yes, I was thinking about that too while I was pounding away.  All my imperfections HAVE to make it more like a real piece of machinery.  There's no way the did all those rivets without some marring of the shell, or nicking a rivet head or two

I've just decided to view this as my 'practice tractor'.  I'll learn all the skills on this, and then my next one will have fewer blemishes!  And building something real makes practicing much more fun compared to just doing practice rivets, etc.  As long as I'm learning and having fun, what more could I ask for, right?

I hadn't realized how thick that boiler shell tubing was either but these latest photos really show it.

Yeah, its a substantial hunk of steel!  The wall is 5/32" thick, and the boiler shell on its own weighs several pounds.  The tractor's going to be pretty heavy!

I like the idea of that blue tape.

Thanks Vince.  I wish I'd thought of it sooner.  I put the tape on to protect things after I'd put a couple of good scratches in it already.  I plan on paining it anyway, but I don't want to have to depend on filler too much!

Thanks,
KIm

[Dave Otto]

Hi Kim

The boiler shell is looking very nice; progress in the right direction too! Looking forward to more.

Dave

[Don1966]

Nice work Kim and believe me I am one to be very hard on myself and like Bill said we have a habit of being over critical of our own work.

Don

[joe d]

Looking good, Kim.

That IS a thick piece of tubing... must have gotten tired of it by the time you finished drilling all those rivet holes!

Joe