Author Topic: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel  (Read 573997 times)

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4290 on: July 18, 2019, 04:43:06 PM »
Chris, this is the first time I have seen the hold down clamps used with a block of wood, now the choice becomes what wood to choose? Hmmmm would save me from removing the big vice and then having to square it all up again.

Mike
Hi Mike,
I have a stack of tropical lemon wood timber that I picked up back in my early ship modeling days, perfect wood for spars and detail cabin work, very fine grain. That is what this piece is. Any stable hardwood would do, the hold-downs in this case go through and are held by t-nuts in the mill table. I have also had cases where I threaded the wood itself for the posts, it works for a while but after a number of times removing/inserting the posts, the wood still works out and gets loose. Still, a good way to make a temporary holding plate without the expense of a big chunk of ali or steel. Other woods that work for this would be ash, oak, walnut, anything hard. I use offcuts of birch plywood too. As you are thinking, the block can be held in the vise for this - either thread the hole in the wood, or just put a t-nut on the bottom side of the block, let it pull against the wood.

Chris

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4291 on: July 18, 2019, 04:43:18 PM »
Good morning Chris,

Boy that penny in the photo really brings to scale the small size of that engine. Beautiful job :ThumbsUp:

Have a great day,
Thomas
:cheers:

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4292 on: July 18, 2019, 04:45:13 PM »
More on the engine stand - got the holes milled in, then set up to drill the screw holes to hold it together for silver soldering (the screw heads will be ground off after soldering). Started with the center plate to the base plate:

then the sides

ready to solder

test fit the engine first though!



Offline cnr6400

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4293 on: July 18, 2019, 08:58:39 PM »
That stand must have been a very heavy piece of cast iron on the original shovel. Sturdy though. Nice job on the fab!  :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4294 on: July 18, 2019, 09:07:06 PM »
That stand must have been a very heavy piece of cast iron on the original shovel. Sturdy though. Nice job on the fab!  :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:
Big chunk of metal, just under 2' tall, just under an inch thick. Glad I don't have to pick up the real one! Fortunately its a simple shape so easy to fab for the model.
Here it is after soldering and cleanup, ready to drill mounting holes for the engine and to bolt it to the floor plates.



Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4295 on: July 18, 2019, 10:44:44 PM »
Yeah, it may be a simple part to fab, but think about the poor schmoe that had to cast that back in the day.  That's a deep casting no matter which way you orient it.  Even if you made into a 2 part pattern that separated at the shelf level, it's still a long ways into the sand.

The skill of the old foundrymen amazes me looking at some of the parts they cast, and it all had to be done manually.  Carving the patterns, prepping the molds, pouring the iron, all of it had to be done by hand, or at most with some manually controlled equipment.  I was looking at a cast iron part of a roll set today that was probably 60-80 years old.  It was nothing but curves and it was not a solid cast iron part, it was cast with a core.  Those guys deserve a lot of respect for what they were able to do.

Think about how complex the steam controls for the original Marion were, that took a lot of skill to be able to cast that and get a usable part.  You can bet that the boss let them know when the number of rejects got too high.

Don

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4296 on: July 18, 2019, 10:52:44 PM »
Yeah, it may be a simple part to fab, but think about the poor schmoe that had to cast that back in the day.  That's a deep casting no matter which way you orient it.  Even if you made into a 2 part pattern that separated at the shelf level, it's still a long ways into the sand.

The skill of the old foundrymen amazes me looking at some of the parts they cast, and it all had to be done manually.  Carving the patterns, prepping the molds, pouring the iron, all of it had to be done by hand, or at most with some manually controlled equipment.  I was looking at a cast iron part of a roll set today that was probably 60-80 years old.  It was nothing but curves and it was not a solid cast iron part, it was cast with a core.  Those guys deserve a lot of respect for what they were able to do.

Think about how complex the steam controls for the original Marion were, that took a lot of skill to be able to cast that and get a usable part.  You can bet that the boss let them know when the number of rejects got too high.

Don
I totally agree! Some of the parts on the Marion are just amazing castings, the cylinder blocks for the crowd/slew engines are totally amazing in the cavities and passages that they have. Even the tracks are quite complex, all the undercuts and openings inside them. In those days nearly everything was a sand cast part on all engines and flywheels - look at the size and complexity of a flywheel for a large mill engine. Quite amazing what they were able to do! The large water/sewage pumping engines are chock full of enormous castings. And then they had to move them to the site...

Offline Steamer5

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4297 on: July 19, 2019, 10:57:34 AM »
Hi Chris,
 Tried to copy past picture but that didn’t work.

Ok a block that fits between the block behind the tracks, & the block that has the handle on it, the height so that it fits between the base & the under side of the frames....... does that make more sense?

Oh on the devils advocate front, the only thing holding the straps are the screws........

The little engine is looking neat!

Cheers Kerrin
Get excited and make something!

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4298 on: July 19, 2019, 01:56:42 PM »
Hi Chris,
 Tried to copy past picture but that didn’t work.

Ok a block that fits between the block behind the tracks, & the block that has the handle on it, the height so that it fits between the base & the under side of the frames....... does that make more sense?

Oh on the devils advocate front, the only thing holding the straps are the screws........

The little engine is looking neat!

Cheers Kerrin
I follow your description, will do some experimenting. Maybe a block that locks over the the tracks and frame.


Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4299 on: July 19, 2019, 03:12:02 PM »
Little more done this morning, got the engine bolted to the stand...

Ready for work on the moving parts now...

Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4300 on: July 19, 2019, 03:36:59 PM »
I follow your description, will do some experimenting. Maybe a block that locks over the the tracks and frame.

I vote for the blocks.  I'd hate to read that your air-bags saved your life in the crash, only for you to be taken out by your own model hitting you in the head.

You've already said that you're going to strap the board handles down to the tie-down points and that the handles are through-bolted, so the weak link is the Velcro straps.

Don

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4301 on: July 19, 2019, 03:50:59 PM »
I follow your description, will do some experimenting. Maybe a block that locks over the the tracks and frame.

I vote for the blocks.  I'd hate to read that your air-bags saved your life in the crash, only for you to be taken out by your own model hitting you in the head.

You've already said that you're going to strap the board handles down to the tie-down points and that the handles are through-bolted, so the weak link is the Velcro straps.

Don
The model is in the back of the car, it would not fit between/over the seat back anyway, so I think you are over-inflating (air bag, inflate...) the issue a bit.  :Jester:

Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4302 on: July 19, 2019, 06:31:58 PM »
The model is in the back of the car, it would not fit between/over the seat back anyway, so I think you are over-inflating (air bag, inflate...) the issue a bit.  :Jester:

Sorry, didn't know there was another seat between you and it that would slow the model down.

We gotta watch out for the big Elf you know, where else are we gonna get our fix of machining porn?

Don

Offline cnr6400

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4303 on: July 19, 2019, 06:53:07 PM »
Engine and stand assembly look out stand ing!  :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:  here's some extra for the others  :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Offline crueby

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Re: Chris's Marion 91 Steam Shovel
« Reply #4304 on: July 19, 2019, 09:03:44 PM »
The model is in the back of the car, it would not fit between/over the seat back anyway, so I think you are over-inflating (air bag, inflate...) the issue a bit.  :Jester:

Sorry, didn't know there was another seat between you and it that would slow the model down.

We gotta watch out for the big Elf you know, where else are we gonna get our fix of machining porn?

Don


Uh oh, a Swarf Groupie!!  Need another restraining order...   :lolb:

 

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