Author Topic: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine  (Read 428566 times)

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #270 on: November 26, 2016, 03:17:53 AM »
Glad you were able to post an update Chris. Still checking in and following along as I am able to get onto the forum. It's been pretty good today so far, just the occasional glitch. I think the sprockets look just fine after tumbling too!!  Still plenty of contrast in my opinion.

Bill

Hi Chris, I am following along quietly, great show.

Thanks guys! I've had some good progress on it lately, may have to take a day off and let all the little nicks and cuts in the fingertips from handling all the trim parts today - the end mill leaves some sharp edges! Next post shows the parts I mean...

Online Kim

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #271 on: November 26, 2016, 03:19:45 AM »
Great work Chris!  I'm still following along!   :popcorn:

That is, when the forum lets me in...  :'(
Kim

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #272 on: November 26, 2016, 03:41:57 AM »
Chris---You are a magician. I love the stuff you are doing. Looking at the tracks fully assembled has dredged up an old memory. When I was a young kid, I had a favourite uncle, my Uncle Jimmy, who eventually would be the one to teach me to drink whiskey and play the fiddle---but I digress----I was at my Grandparents house, and my uncle had the timing chain off some old car he had torn apart. He had cleaned all of the oil and dirt off it and was letting me play with it, driving it around the kitchen table. I was absolutely entranced!!

I had never before seen such wonderful mechanical perfection. I remember asking if he could build me a toy bulldozer with timing chains for tracks, but he said that no, he couldn’t do that because he wouldn’t be able to make the sprockets for it.

Uncle Jimmy has been gone now for many, many years, and that memory is probably more than 60 years old now.---Brian

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #273 on: November 26, 2016, 03:44:47 AM »
On to making the edge trim parts for the track frames, which are slightly thicker parts that go around the top edge of the frames to simulate the shape that the castings had on the real hauler. I could have milled the frames from a thicker piece, but there are two places where the track tensioning rods go that will need holes drilled/tapped. Both places are too far in to reach with normal drills/taps. And, since there are other parts on the bottom edge that will need to be silver soldered on as well, I decided to do all the edge trim as seperate pieces. They will be screwed in place for soldering, then the screws filed off. And, since the shapes dictate that I cannot reach the vertical parts for drilling/tapping, those two places will have the trim pieces milled from a wider bar so they can be screwed in from the top.

Hope all that makes sense, it will when you see the pictures...

So, I started with making the T shaped parts that sits next to the center axle bearing block. I rough cut some chunks off of the bar, chucked each up in the mill vise. Since they were slightly oversize and rough cut, alignment was not an issue. First step was to mill the top flat, then take a pass on either end to square them up and leave the ends the correct length.

The the parts were turned over, height set with a parallel bar underneath, and the upright of the T milled in, the correct distance from one end so that the part will reach the lower horizontal rail.

Here is one of the parts set in place against the track frame:

And here are all four of the T's complete, two sitting as they will against the frames.

Next up were the U shaped pieces that will hold the tension adjusters for the front sprockets. To start, a chunk of spare bar left over from track plate making was clamped in the vise level, and a slot milled in it the same depth and width as the tab on the track frames. I was able to fit two of the parts in each piece of bar.

Here is the track frame tab being test fit in one of the slots

Once all 4 were slotted and then rough cut out of the bars, each was slipped over the tab to hold it vertical in the vise

and the depth set to mill off the top surface

down to dimension

then it was slid over to the side to mill the side of the part to size

and here are all the T's and U's milled out, ready to go:

Next step will be to cut/trim lengths of the bar at the bottom of the photo to length to fill in the rest of the edges, then drill/tap for the screws to hold them in place for silver soldering...

« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 08:47:49 PM by crueby »

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #274 on: November 26, 2016, 03:46:07 AM »
Great work Chris!  I'm still following along!   :popcorn:

That is, when the forum lets me in...  :'(
Kim

Its been no fun this week, missing our forum-fixes! I hope it gets sorted soon.

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #275 on: November 26, 2016, 03:49:57 AM »
Chris---You are a magician. I love the stuff you are doing. Looking at the tracks fully assembled has dredged up an old memory. When I was a young kid, I had a favourite uncle, my Uncle Jimmy, who eventually would be the one to teach me to drink whiskey and play the fiddle---but I digress----I was at my Grandparents house, and my uncle had the timing chain off some old car he had torn apart. He had cleaned all of the oil and dirt off it and was letting me play with it, driving it around the kitchen table. I was absolutely entranced!!

I had never before seen such wonderful mechanical perfection. I remember asking if he could build me a toy bulldozer with timing chains for tracks, but he said that no, he couldn’t do that because he wouldn’t be able to make the sprockets for it.

Uncle Jimmy has been gone now for many, many years, and that memory is probably more than 60 years old now.---Brian
I was kind of the same way, loved to take apart things and see how they were made, just loved seeing all the finely made metal parts inside things. Just not the same with plastic these days. I still love old machines and instruments, have a small collection of antique navigation instruments, sextants, octants, etc, mainly from the earlier wood and brass days. One later one is out of a B-17 bomber, I opened it up once to see the inside, it is a marvel of super tight tolerance gears and levers. Just amazing stuff.

Offline Flyboy Jim

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #276 on: November 26, 2016, 05:14:16 AM »
Good progress Chris. I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around the size of the full scale Lombard. Could you tell me what the height is from the bottom track to the top track where it goes around one of the sprockets?

After going back and forth.............and forth and back..............I finally got smart and printed out the picture, from the last page, of the side view of the full size tracks and your 3D rendering. Way better! It's much easier to see where the parts fit into the picture.........literally!  :)

Jim
Sherline 4400 Lathe
Sherline 5400 Mill
"You can do small things on big machines, but you can do small things on small machines".

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #277 on: November 26, 2016, 05:33:18 AM »
Good progress Chris. I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around the size of the full scale Lombard. Could you tell me what the height is from the bottom track to the top track where it goes around one of the sprockets?

After going back and forth.............and forth and back..............I finally got smart and printed out the picture, from the last page, of the side view of the full size tracks and your 3D rendering. Way better! It's much easier to see where the parts fit into the picture.........literally!  :)

Jim

Lets see, the hauler is 30 feet long and 8 feet 2 inches wide and 9 feet tall according to the spec sheet. Weight 19 tons.  The sprocket axles are about 5 feet apart, and the tracks are a bit over 3 feet bottom to top.

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #278 on: November 26, 2016, 11:51:15 PM »
Moving along on the top edge trim pieces, I sawed out the thin bars to rough length, milled the ends square, and then was ready to trim the middle bars to be a snug fit in the center span.

The bars on the ends I will leave a little long till they are bolted down, then trim them flush while in place - easier than all the measuring back and forth.
With the help of a handful of parallel clamps and one small bar clamp, I held the first set of bars in place on one of the track frames, with the back edge of the bars flush with the back edge of the frame (done while it was laying on the table), the track frame was held in the mill vise and the bars spot drilled for some temporary 2-56 screws.

Then they were drilled for the clearance and tap holes

and then the holes were tapped for some short 2-56 cap head screws to hold them all in place.

After silver soldering everything in place, the socket heads will be cut off flush to the bars. Next step though will be to mill off the overhanging ends of the bars so I can attach the end parts. Then I will start on the roller chain guide bars that go along the bottom edge of the track frames.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 08:48:11 PM by crueby »

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #279 on: November 29, 2016, 12:25:54 AM »
Okay, catching up on the last couple days, I had left off with the top edge rails overhanging the end a little, so those were milled back flush

and then it was time to drill the end for the temporary bolts to hold the end parts on. Since the plates would be too whippy by themselves when stood on end, I clamped all four together to stiffen them up, then drilled/tapped the ends:

Here are the parts so far:

Next up was to make the bearing block assemblies for the front end of the track frames. They are in two halves, with a thin bronze bearing around the sprocket axle. I started with two lengths of steel bar stock, long enough to make 4 pairs altogether, clamped together in the mill vise, and milled out the gaps between the bearings.

and took down the top surfaces to the desired height

The final shape will have a half round on the top portion, but with the flanges out the sides it was a bit much to try milling the rounded portion directly, so I took off the bulk of the metal at a 45 degree angle, using a wood angle block to set the part in the vise. I positioned each section with the bottom corner of the step at the top of the vise, so I could set the cutter height once and do all the milling.

Here are the two bars with the 45's milled in

With the bars done, I went back to mill in the matching recess in the end of the track frame. Started by milling in the recess for the flat top of the bearing block to rest against

and then used the same angle block to tilt the track frames up to mill the angled part of the recess

and here is how it looks with the bearing block held against it:

Then the bearing blocks had all the mounting bolt holes drilled

and the corners of all but 4 of the end parts were rounded off on the belt sander. The remaining flats were left to mate to the track frames.

and here are all the parts of the track frames so far all screwed together.

with a closer look at the bearing blocks. They will be drilled for the axle holes after the silver soldering is done, in case there is any mis-alignment during that step.

That finishes up the tops of the track frames for now. Next I will start on the flanges at the bottom of the track frames, once all those are on I will silver solder all the joints.

« Last Edit: May 31, 2018, 08:48:22 PM by crueby »

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #280 on: November 29, 2016, 12:43:27 AM »
Hmmmm ... Santa may want to use those tracks on his sleigh ... just sayin.
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #281 on: November 29, 2016, 12:48:41 AM »
Hmmmm ... Santa may want to use those tracks on his sleigh ... just sayin.

He can borrow them if I can get time in his workshop!

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #282 on: November 29, 2016, 12:58:47 AM »
What does he have in his shop that you don't ... besides friendly and hard working elves?
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline Don1966

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #283 on: November 29, 2016, 01:35:45 AM »
Chris I am just catching up on your build and buddy that is awesome........ :praise2:

Don

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Chris' Build of a Lombard Hauler Engine
« Reply #284 on: November 29, 2016, 01:43:09 AM »
What does he have in his shop that you don't ... besides friendly and hard working elves?
Elves are good to have around your shop. Gnomes, on the other hand, are malicious little buggers!!!----

 

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