More tiny work

[b.lindsey]

That's what I get for trying to type on my phone Marv. Corrected now.

Bill

[mklotz]

That's what I get for trying to type on my phone Marv. Corrected now.

Bill

Well, sort of corrected.  "name IF eye doctor" ?

Oh, on that "shirt video"...was that silk or flannel?   

Look, I used one of those damned animated annoyances!

[b.lindsey]

Definitely flannel Marv. Think I have both corrected now. We should somehow archive your use of an emoticon...well done

Bill

[gbritnell]

The next parts to be made are the tamper, connecting rod and wrist pin. The tamper was cut onto the end of a piece of round brass bar. This gave me something to hold, both in the vise and dividing head.
The main body was cut as a U shape leaving the front end and 2 sides. The tamper was then moved to the dividing head and the hole for the wrist pin was put in, 1.0x.25 mm in one side and .055 in the other. The bottom was just a matter of milling and cutting a small pieced of stock but the top needed steps, angles and 45 degree corners cut into it. I left both the top and bottom about .005 wider than the tamper so after soldering I could file the extra down to blend it in.
The wrist pin was drilled and tapped for the 1mm screw and then turned to size. I then made up a short 1mm stud, screwed it into the wrist pin and filed it to length. The screw slot was cut with a .015 slitting saw.

[kvom]

Do you have some tiny hay and twine?

[Art K]

George,
Thanks for your photo's of past work, those tractors are amazing. I will be following along on the baler. I remember a few years back at Toledo, someone had made a model of a baler. My wife who worked in Dairy Science at the time thought the 1 X 2 inch bales were so cute. She asked me how hard it would be to build, I didn't even have a clue where a person would start a project like that.
Art

[crueby]

Stunning work. Again. Still!

Where did you get the plans for the baler?

And have you started training the team of mice to pull it?

[Dan Rowe]

I had posted an inquiry about obtaining more .8mm screws but haven't had much luck so I'll just use up what I have left.

George, here is a source of 0.8mm hex bolts:
http://shop.autographmodel.com/screws-with-thread

Dan

[gbritnell]

Hi Crueby,
Years ago I bought a reprint of a J. I. Case catalog and in there they had pictures of their stationary baler. I thought it would be neat to build one to go with my traction engine but there wasn't enough information.
Along the way my wife bought me a book of traction engines and one of the photos showed a Case baler belonging to an antique engine group in Pennsylvania. I contacted them and they said it would be in operation at their annual show so when it came up I drove over to take pictures and measurements.
Luckily for me it rained so they weren't using it and I spent most of the day taking dimensions.
When I got home I made a set of scaled drawings in 1 inch scale to match my engine.

[gbritnell]

I turned a piece of 1.00 brass to the O.D. of the wheels (.855) The full sized drawing calls for the rim to be .062 thick but scaling it down gives me .018 so I thickened them to .024. I turned up a piece of aluminum to mount the rims on for drilling the spoke holes (.020) I put notches in the rim to allow the drill to go through without drilling into the aluminum. I mounted the fixture in my dividing head and center drilled each spot with a 00 center drill followed by the drill. The angle on the center drill provided a chamfer for the solder to go into.
After drilling I remachined the fixture to allow the spokes to clear and go into the hub. The hubs were turned on the end of a piece of .187 brass bar. The spoke angle is 10.8 degrees so luckily when the stock was put into the dividing head the head can rotate to -10 degrees plus some. This saved me from cutting each of the hubs off and mounting them on a mandrel which would have been .059 diameter.
I them made a plug for the center of the aluminum fixture to control the depth of the hub relative to the rim. I put a .020 drill into my small hand chuck and reamed the holes in the rim at an angle to match the hub. (They were drilled straight)
The spokes were then inserted through the rim and into the hub and snipped off. With all the spokes in place I fluxed each spot and using my heavy duty soldering gun ( with the tip cleaned of most of the solder) and just a touch of solder I held it at each spoke joint until the solder flowed around the spoke.
I was going to solder the spokes into the hub also but upon removal from the fixture found that the hub was very secure with just the spokes soldered into the rim.
The last picture shows the size relative to a dime.
gbritnell

[b.lindsey]

Good gosh George. The dime shows the size perfectly. Its even smaller than I was thinking. Can't wait to see you scale down the knotter heads for the baling twine    Truly amazing and beautiful work!!

Bill

[kvom]

I went back to look at the 1" version.  Still lots of even tinier parts to go.  Quite a challenge.  I assume that since the engine isn't painted you won't have to paint the bailer either.  That lettering would be something.

[crueby]

Wow.

Just, wow.

The wheel is awesome.

And my shop elves want me to ask if you will make them some bicycles. Schwinn, size extra teensy.

[Steamer5]

Hi George,
 That is just gorgeous!
Don't know about Chris's gnomes, but I hope yours don't see it!

Cheers Kerrin

[Ian S C]

You may not have to worry about mini twine, in the early days they used baling wire, plain iron wire, about 16 swg, I think it was after the balers became mobile that the manufacturers changed to twine.
There is a model baler driven by a model traction engine some where around the Canterbury area, and when it's on display, the little bales get sold off for pet rabbit food, the last time I saw it the going price was $NZ 5 each compared to full size small bales at $NZ 40.  Size about 6" long.
Ian S C