Author Topic: Textile Mill Diorama  (Read 112236 times)

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #720 on: October 17, 2018, 09:15:07 PM »
Thank you!

The picture above shows piles of cross ties ready to be placed between the beams. The beamwork will be left open to reveal engine details, but it will look as though the beams have been cut off to gain this view.

After the line shafts and the lights are in place, the floor will be sub floored and planked with yellow pine boards.

I intend to bring power up to this second floor. I haven't fignured it out yet, but a line shaft belt will come up to  floor flanged line shaft bearings. Such bearings do not exist, so I will have to design them to operate 6in. - 10 in. pulleys above the floor.

Offline 10KPete

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #721 on: October 17, 2018, 09:33:41 PM »
John, I think you can use the ceiling mounted line bearings just turn 'em over!

I'm really enjoying this build!

Pete
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Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #722 on: October 18, 2018, 05:02:55 PM »
Pleased to hear that Pete. I appreciate your interest.

You are right. I could just turn the line shaft hangers over and screw them to the floor. However, there were proper floor mounted pillow blocks for this purpose. They could also be raised on cast base plates. You can see both on page 355 of Chas A Strelinger & Co. 1895 catalog.

Pete, in the machine shop diorama, I designed wall mounted hangers similar to Fig 1263 on that same page. Line shaft hangers that are just mounted on their sides or right side up just don't look very nice and are not historically correct at all. I wrote PM Research and suggested casting wall mounted hangers similar to the ones I made in the photo below.

I understand why they did not jump at the idea. Just rotating the hangers they sell to suit the job is good enough. There probably wouldn't be enough sales to warrent casting them.


 

Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #723 on: October 18, 2018, 05:13:39 PM »
Why would they have put the 2nd floor line-shaft on the floor?  That would just use up their valuable floor space.  What about a belt drive from the 1st floor line-shaft - on the 1st floor ceiling, through a slot in the ceiling/floor to a 2nd floor line-shaft - on the 2nd floor ceiling?

Don

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #724 on: October 18, 2018, 05:50:22 PM »
Hi Don.

Good question. But hopefully, this photo is in public domain. It will explain where I am going.

Notice that there are no belts in front of the girls sitting on the high stools. There is a line shaft running down next to the baseboard in front of their feet. The belts are coming up from there to their machines mounted on the extended table.

Don, I wanted to avoild having my diorama start looking like a doll house, so I did't want to go up another 9 feet to put another row of line shafts that would come down to the heavy cast iron textile machinery from above.

This way, we wil give the impression that power is coming upstairs through the floor via belting. We will see the pulleys running in the floor mounted pillow blocks.

Thanks for asking.

John

Edit: Don, I forgot to mention that provsion will also be made for a full sized 6 in. belt to come through the floor and travel all the way up to the ceiling of the second floor. Its pulley wlll be on the drive shaft as well, but will be under an open hole in the floor. It just won't be belt. At this point, there is no second floor all the way up.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2018, 11:50:05 AM by J.L. »

Offline ShopShoe

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #725 on: October 18, 2018, 10:13:57 PM »
J.L.,

It looks like the girls have some kind of a foot control for their machines, which would make sense with the floor-mounted lineshaft.

It also looks like their are some electric lamps at the "workstations." I think your assumption that electricity is being used in your mill works with this.

I like to look at the details in old photographs like this to imagine how it all went together. I can almost hear the noise...

--ShopShoe

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #726 on: October 19, 2018, 12:59:35 AM »
Loving all the detail work as always John. I could use a few of those workbenches too if you can scale them up about 12 times :)

Bill

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #727 on: October 19, 2018, 12:12:57 PM »
Well Bill, Alice in Wonderland sipped a potion that reduced her significantly in size to enter the fanciful world of Lewis Carroll. Some of that and you would be right at home working at the bench.  ;)

The first set of line shaft hangers are up.




Offline 10KPete

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #728 on: October 19, 2018, 03:48:40 PM »
I agree, those would look silly mounted on the floor.....

 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:

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

Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #729 on: October 19, 2018, 10:15:50 PM »
John:

Looking at the picture I can kind of see what you're getting at.  It looks to me like the line-shaft at the ceiling, just to the left of the column, is the main drive shaft for that floor.  It in turn powers at least 3 other line-shafts in the picture including the one that is belted down to the line-shaft I believe you're referring to under the sewing machines.

Bottom line - it's YOUR mill, power it the way you want.  Screw 'em if they can't take a joke.   

Don

Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #730 on: October 19, 2018, 10:23:57 PM »
Hello Shop Shoe,

Yes, from what I've read, electricity went through many phases (no pun intended) as its use expanded.

This is a textile mill electrical board when single stranded wire and knob and tube were in fashion both in residential and commercial use.

I've broken with historical accuracy again here. I am using double stranded wire in conduit tubing. Junction boxes are made to turn corners. But the conduit tidies up the wire strands nicely on the vertical surface over the fire door. Otherwise, I plan to just glue sections of the wire under the beams.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2018, 10:40:38 AM by J.L. »

Offline derekwarner

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #731 on: October 20, 2018, 04:06:52 AM »
JL.....

Just a small point, belt drive Line Shafts were I believe standard lengths of ??? Ft, however were joined by Rigid, [non flexible] face to face bolted couplings...... Derek

[PS.....I am sure the large air ventilation ducting shown in the second image is a more recent after inclusion]
« Last Edit: October 20, 2018, 04:10:25 AM by derekwarner_decoy »
Derek L Warner - Honorary Secretary [Retired]
Illawarra Live Steamers Co-op - Australia
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Offline J.L.

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Re: Textile Mill Diorama
« Reply #732 on: October 20, 2018, 11:17:57 AM »
Hi Derek.

My first line shaft section is 12 ft. long. Strelinger & Co. sold  diametes 1/4" to 1" in 6' lengths; 15/16" to 2 15/16" in 8' to 24' lengths and 1/2" to 3 15/16" in 12' and 16' lengths. They note:

"We are prepared to furnish, at short notice, large Shafts of any diameter up to 12 inches and of any length to 30 ft. Prices quoted upon application."

Shaft couplings were of many styles; the flanged couplings like the ones you show or halved clamped couplings with eight bolts. All this info can be found on page 357 of their catalog.

But Strelinger preferred the Collin's Patent Couplings. "Collins' has given our customers and ourselves as well better satisfaction than any other."

The sleeve which was in halves were bored slightly smaller than the diameter of the shaft. Cone rings were driven well home with a copper or babbitt metal hammer or block of hardwood and locked by the ring nuts on either end - "the sleeve is so compressed upon the shaft as to prevent the slightest movements in the connection.

There you go Derek. More information than you probably wanted to know. The next page in the catalog begins showing clutch couplings, safety set collars and rod straighteners!

If you are into historical information of this sort, I highly recomment this book available at PMR.

Cheers...John




« Last Edit: October 20, 2018, 11:23:48 AM by J.L. »

Offline J.L.

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Lighting/Wiring
« Reply #733 on: October 20, 2018, 02:55:36 PM »
I've been looking forward to working with the lighting. This work has to be done while the beams are still exposed.

I ordered seven lights for the engine room and the shop and one light mounted on a curved conduit.

But the seven lights came with no mountings. These photos show the design of a threaded mount for each one. They are made out of 3/8" aluminum rod.

The first two pictures show the light over the firewall arch and the junction box on the other side.


Offline J.L.

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Lighting
« Reply #734 on: October 20, 2018, 08:53:06 PM »

The lights are mounted up against the ceiling of the engine room.. Boring a little hole through the threaded mounting stud made it quite easy (photo 3).

There are four; one over each door, one over the firewall arch and one over the workbench.

 

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