Author Topic: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel  (Read 572841 times)

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1470 on: June 19, 2018, 01:03:39 PM »
Thanks guys, glad to have you along for the ride! 

 :cheers:

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1471 on: June 19, 2018, 01:09:26 PM »
What scale will you be using for this project?  :LittleDevil:


1:1,  am building it nexr to the lake in Buffalo... !  It looks very realistic!   :Lol:


...and will you be installing the 6th steam engine and scrapping the modern stuff?

Lovely pics ... Thanks

Tom
Only if Jo has the right casting set!


 :cheers:
Well, maybe we can make this one a community project, it would be so big. I contacted the folks at the Buffalo Industrial Heritage association, asking if anyone had ever made measured drawings of the Holly pumping engines there. I was expecting maybe they had a general arrangement view or two, at best.

One of them very graciously sent me a pdf scanned copy of the blueprints he had, turns out it is the original manufacturing blueprint set from Holly in 1912 for the entire pumping engine. Only 160 (yes, hundred sixty) pages!!   :o   Incredibly detailed, down to the brackets supporting the paltforms. Everybody take a part, make 5 sets, John can make us a diorama building to put them in, then we can drive the Stanley Steamer car that Zee wants me to build around inside it all!
Talk about a retirement project!

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1472 on: June 19, 2018, 08:25:08 PM »
Got the pivot axle bearing caps shaped down, usual way with a spacer rod and the end mill. These are not really bearings, more like holders, since the axle itself does not turn, the center block with the track axles moves on this rod.

End view, showing the throw on the axle pivot, not a lot but enough to deal with slight uneven terrain in the quarry.

Last piece for the tiller arm is the tube that the rod out to the cross screw rides in. Simple turning/drilling to shape on the lathe, then milled the bottom to match the slot in the end of the tiller.


Here is the tube loctited and screwed in place from underneath.


The sliding rod cut to size, a 4-40 hole in the end to hold the screw bracket, and slid into its place. It will ride in and out in the tube as the tracks are steered, coming out farther as they are turned to the side, since the distance to the cross screw changes as the track support turns.

And here it is set into place under the frame, held by the center pivot post into the bearing pad on the frame.

Next up is to make the bracket that goes on the end of the sliding rod, which holds the threaded block on the cross screw. When I bought the Acme threaded rod (1/4-16 Acme thread), I got a standard nut and also a threaded round bronze rod. I think I will use the bronze piece for the threaded block, just need to mill it square, probably easier to mill than the steel nut. It gets held in the bracket with a vertical pin, looking like half of a car universal joint. Then a bit of paint, and on to the track plates...

Online sco

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1473 on: June 19, 2018, 10:22:00 PM »
Great work on that complex part Chris - still following along,

Simon.
Ars longa, vita brevis.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1474 on: June 20, 2018, 12:27:11 AM »
Great work on that complex part Chris - still following along,

Same here. But I have to admit...I sometimes fear to look.  ;D
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1475 on: June 20, 2018, 12:54:18 AM »
Great work on that complex part Chris - still following along,

Simon.

Thanks Simon!   :cheers:


Great work on that complex part Chris - still following along,

Same here. But I have to admit...I sometimes fear to look.  ;D

You too Zee, thought I heard someone slurping a Hoppie back there!   :wine1: I was afraid you would bail out when I mentioned getting those blueprints for the Holly pumping engines. Though, that size project is better suited for a shop like yours!   :o
 

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1476 on: June 20, 2018, 01:05:17 AM »
I think this completes the parts on the rear track support assembly (will do the steering parts later). Final bits are the leadscrew nut and the bracket to hold it. The nut started with a bronze round threaded Acme nut that I bought along with the threaded rod. It is thick enough for the part, and large enough diameter to get the square part out of.


Milled the thing square, and drilled a hole through for the center pivot. The pivot cannot go all the way through, since the shaft will be there, but drilling through ensured the holes lined up. I ran the screw through to clear out the chips, all runs smoothly so fortunately no burs to worry about.

The bracket was milled out of a spare chunk of brass, and cross drilled for the pivot screws. The screws are stepped to be smooth where they go into the nut, threaded for the bracket.

And here it is assembled onto the end of the tiller arm. Swinging the tiller from center to about 30 degrees to one side moves the sliding bar about 3/8" - figure that is probably more than the sharpest corner they would want to make on a machine balanced like this on the tracks. It would be fascinating to read their notes on this stuff!

So, I think all that is left is some paint on the rear support/tiller, then can move on to the track assemblies themselves - this project is farther along than I would have thought, though there is still LOTS to go - 4 steam engines, boiler, 3 gear trains, 4 track assemblies, drive shafts, controls, piping, cab frame/walls/roof, doors, ......
 :cheers:

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1477 on: June 20, 2018, 01:07:40 AM »
Chris--Wonderful work. I check your thread every day.---Brian

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1478 on: June 20, 2018, 01:08:52 AM »
Chris--Wonderful work. I check your thread every day.---Brian
Thanks Brian, likewise! Love the new engine!

Offline 10KPete

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1479 on: June 20, 2018, 01:58:34 AM »
Chris, you really have a great advantage over most model makers in that you have access to the original. And that really shows in your work. Man, that's a great machine you're building there!

 :cheers:

Pete
Craftsman, Tinkerer, Curious Person.
Retired, finally!
SB 10K lathe, Benchmaster mill. And stuff.

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1480 on: June 20, 2018, 02:08:39 AM »
Thanks Pete! You are right, being able to see all the details in person really inspires going the extra mile. So glad I had those other projects under my belt before finding this shovel, could not have done this a few years ago.


 :cheers:

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1481 on: June 20, 2018, 10:58:51 PM »
Got a coat of paint on the rear track support assembly, really changes the look:

And got started on the rear vertical track plates. I have not shown this shot in quite a while, here is a rendering of what the rear tracks will look like:

What I am working on now is the vertical casting in the center, that will hold the track sprocket wheels and connect to the axle. There is one plate on either side of each track, with a spacer in the center. The rear sprocket axle is in a fixed position, the front one is on a sliding block to allow tensioning of the tracks. There is only one bottom wheel on the rear tracks, where the front tracks have three - the rear tracks are much shorter front to back.
So, started by milling 4 brass plates to overall size, then started drilling the holes for the axles and a slot for the adjustable axle. I used the rear left corner of the plates as my index point, lining it up with the corner of the mill vise, so I could position the table for each hole, and swap all four plates through, drilling the one hole at a time. Made the set go quickly, and all four came out the same.


Note the position of the layout mark on the left - that will come up in a bit...
After all the holes were in all four plates, set up on the rotary table (with a cardboard spacer underneath to allow milling all the way through without hitting the table), and milled the back end round.

It was partway through this operation that I realized that I had made a brain fart - the rear axle holes were too high up, centers should have been just above the centerline. I must have misread the plan, or misread the calipers, since it was .200 too high.   :facepalm:
So, silver soldered in a small length of rod to plug the goof, and re-drilled the holes. You can see the color difference on the next photos.
Next milling step was to angle off the front corners - did this with all four stacked up with a bit of rod in the axle holes to line them up. The angle was the same, 37 degrees, as one of the angle blocks I had made for the front supports, so that was used to set the parts in the vise.

The transition from the angled portion to the long edge was then smoothed out on the belt sander, leaving the parts in this state:

Next step will be to lay out and mill in the recessed areas on the sides - this will take multiple setups, to leave the bosses around each axle.
The sharper-eyed among you (yes, you in the back, I see the smirk) will notice an extra hole at 4:00 from the top center axle hole. This is not a goof, that hole is there in the real machine. Dont know why, it is unused, but they cast it in. Used during assembly maybe? Dunno.

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1482 on: June 20, 2018, 11:42:16 PM »
The rear tracks look like fun.  :popcorn:

I've run out of superlatives.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1483 on: June 21, 2018, 12:01:02 AM »
The rear tracks look like fun.  :popcorn:

I've run out of superlatives.
No Applause. Just send cookies!   :cheers:

The actual track segments are going to be a challenge - much more complex a shape than the Lombard ones were, not sure how to make them yet. Should be fun!

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #1484 on: June 21, 2018, 05:45:38 PM »
Continuing on with the rear track plates, laid out the first set of recesses in the sides, being sure to have two right side and two left side arrangements. Then double checked. Again....

With the first plate clamped back on the rotary table, using the outline traced there when milling the outside profile as a guide to placement, milled out the first set of openings.In this position, the arc around the end is centered on the table, so milling the rim shape was easy. I left the material around the axle boss large, that will be done in next step with the hole centered on the table.


After milling all four plates to the same stage, the axle hole was centered on the plate and held with a bolt in a bushing sized to the hole plus the hold down clamps. Then milled around the hole to form the boss.

After all four were done, put in a larger bushing to center the main axle hole on the rotary table, and went around the larger boss there.

And took out the rest of the opening, again leaving the lower axle boss roughed in, it will be taken to shape next.

So far so good, lots more cranking to go....

 

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