minnie traction engine in 2"

[mal webber]

Hello all, things have been a bit slow in the shed ,so only managed to weld the t rings in the rims, thought I would show some pictures on how I went about it, the blocks you see on the mill were to help hold the t rings straight and together trying not to get to much distortion ,I used a angle grinder to smooth the welds down and some sandpaper to clean it up a bit, last two pictures shows before and after I done this.

Cheers Mal 

[joe d]

That certainly cleaned up nicely.

Looking good!

Joe

[Kim]

Mal, nice little jig you set up there to hold the t-rings in place.  I'd be afraid I'd get weld splatters on my face plate if I did that.  In fact, I'm sure I would.  Looks like you did a very nice clean weld though.

Thanks for the step by step pics.
Kim

[mal webber]

Thanks for looking in Joe, Kim, the face plate had a covering of anti splatter so no harm done, bit more grinding on other wheel then a couple of days of making strakes and riveting.

Cheers Mal.

[zeeprogrammer]

Still, an excellent welding job. Something I have no experience in...and would be very scared to do.

[Kim]

Thanks for looking in Joe, Kim, the face plate had a covering of anti splatter so no harm done, bit more grinding on other wheel then a couple of days of making strakes and riveting.

Cheers Mal.

So, I'm not much of a welder (if you couldn't tell ).  Is "anti splater" a real thing? Or are you pulling my leg?  Maybe it a code word for being a good welder and not making a mess every where like I do? 
Kim

[packmule]

Looking really good there Mal. You keep giving me targets to aim for. I see I need more practice with the welder to achieve that sort of finish.

[Roger B]

Thanks for looking in Joe, Kim, the face plate had a covering of anti splatter so no harm done, bit more grinding on other wheel then a couple of days of making strakes and riveting.

Cheers Mal.

So, I'm not much of a welder (if you couldn't tell ).  Is "anti splater" a real thing? Or are you pulling my leg?  Maybe it a code word for being a good welder and not making a mess every where like I do? 
Kim

Anti splatter is real, it's a spray that stops the little blobs sticking where they are not wanted.

[mal webber]

Hi all, Kim anti splatter is real as Roger said very useful for keeping the work free of unwanted splatter good on the nozzle as well, Bob plenty of practice and you will get there, you will be surprised how quick you will learn on the mig, Zee thanks for looking in. here's couple of pictures on how i'am getting along with the rear wheels, I marked out the wheel rim ,then milled a length of 3mm [about 10 gauge ] bit of steel for the strakes, rolled it in work, then in the band saw to cut them ,they had to go back in the mill after as the edge had a angle on them.

Mal.

PS the holes that are drilled in the rim are for the dummy joint plates not the strakes.

[mal webber]

Hi all, small update on the Minnie build 162 rivets and a lot annoying banging noise from my shed and one wheel rim complete ,trying to get this done with my little ones in the garden and constantly asking me what I'am doing was hard work 

[zeeprogrammer]

Looks excellent.

You might have said earlier...but what is the size and material of the rivets?

[mal webber]

Hi zee, thanks for looking in the rivets are 1/8  mild steel 

Mal.

[Kim]

That looks amazing Mal!

It looks like 4 rivets per grouter (think that's the right word?).  And then 2 more for riveting something similar on the inside of the wheel?  The grouters on the outside, I assume are for traction. But tell me, what is the point of the diagonal pieces on the inside of the wheel? 

How hard has it been using steel for rivets?  Seems like it would be much harder than copper or brass.

Kim

[10KPete]

I've seen that word, 'grouter', before in a couple of threads on traction engines and have wanted to say it wasn't right.
But with having seen it a few times I wonder if maybe it is the right term.

I have little to no direct experience with TEs but a lot with crawler equipment, new and old. The raised rib on a track pad segment is called a 'grouzer' or 'growzer' and I wonder if the TE would be the same?? All the model TEs I've seen
don't have a raised rib, only the pad. But I have seen raised rib growzers in pics of old TEs.

Most interesting.....

I follow all the build logs closely but the TEs get some extra eyeball time.

Pete

[joe d]

Looking fine, Mal!

I've understood the term "grouter" to refer to extended bits sticking out beyond the strakes for additional traction,
but don't quote me, I'm no expert!

Joe