Hi
I'm getting close to a final assembly of the frames so I'm looking around to see if there is anything else that needs to be done before the assembly and paint. One thing that I have had in mind for a while is the buffers. The plans show 2 simple steel blocks, not very appealing
I fancy something more like sprung buffers.
You can see from the drawing though that there are angles that bolt the beam to the frames right where the buffers go which means that the type of buffer that has a plunger sticking out the back would not be possible to fit. Most of today was spent coming up with this idea that uses the existing bolt holes
Starting with some 1" square steel turn down, drill and flatten the bottom with an end mill to make the body
Chop off in the band saw
Face to size (sorry no photo here)
The plunger part is made from some 1" round stainless steel
Cut off, turn round and face. I have profiled the buffer head alittle, again no photo, sorry
The body is drilled and tapped M5 for a grub screw
The plunger has a 1/8" slot cut in it
The spring is 3/8" stainless steel and cut from a length
The back of the body is drilled and tapped M3 to match 2 holes in the buffer beam
The bolt holes in the buffer beam are M2.5 so the 2 holes for the buffer must be drilled out to M3
The buffer can now be bolted on from the back using 2 of the existing holes, no further mod to the beam being required
That looks a lot better, I'm happy with that
Cheers
Rich