Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)

[Kim]

Chapter 2.2, Tender Axles start about halfway down this post.

It’s been a while since my last update, but I have made some progress.  A few weeks ago, I started painting the tender wheels.  I did a couple of coats of primer, then painted them red.  It’s been pretty cold out in my shop lately, so it takes a while for the paint to dry! 


Today, I took the tape off.  And they seem to have turned out pretty well.


One of the things Kozo shows, is gluing sandpaper to a piece of plywood, then holding that flat against the wheels with the tail stock to clean up the ends of the wheels.
Worked a treat!


And it made some cool patterns on the sandpaper too!


After doing all the ‘front’ side of the wheels, I flipped them around and sanded up the backside in the same way.


And here’s all eight of them, half upside down, and half right side up.


Chapter 2.2 Tender Axles

Next, I cut four chunks of 3/8” 12L14 and faced it off to exactly 4.750”.  Then using the collet chuck, I made a few steps in each end like this. The bigger step (5/16”) is for the wheel, and the smaller step (1/4”) will go in the bearing in the Journal Box.


All four of the axels completed.


And here’s the current family shot.


Not much of a locomotive yet, but I’ll get there. One step at a time.  And this, my friends, officially completes my first step in Kozo’s book!  Only 34 or so to go!  (and this was an absurdly easy one! )

Thanks for stopping by!
Kim

[crueby]

That really changed the look.


 

[Ye-Ole Steam Dude]

Hello Kim,

Boy those sure look good, the sandpaper trick is a neat way to finish them.

Have a great day,
Thomas

[b.lindsey]

Those look great to me Kim. Love the sandpaper trick as well. So are the frames chapter 2?

Bill

[Kim]

Thanks Chris, Thomas, and Bill!
I'm pretty pleased with how the wheels look.  The paint really does pep it up some, doesn't it?  Those nice crisp lines... 

Bill, the next step is making the trucks.  Lots of parts and work there. I won't get to the frame till after the trucks are completed.  Interestingly, the first step (the tender wheels) is chapter 2.  Chapter 1 is the intro and general assembly drawings.

I'm thinking maybe I should start labeling my updates with chapters, so if anyone wants to reference in the future, they can match it to Kozo's book more easily. I think I may do that.

I've also thought about adding an index at the beginning of the build.  I'll just update it with links to where the different parts are.  It might be helpful to someone, but it would also fit my mildly obsessive personality.  It would be fun to have the index for the whole thing in one place

Kim

[b.lindsey]

Thanks Kim. I mis-spoke. What I had meant was the tender truck frames....my bad. An index may be a good idea, not sure anyone has tried that. Guess I will have to buy the book to follow along. Can't tell the players without a program right?? 

Bill

[kvom]

At least there are only 4 trucks.  I didn't build a tender, so no hands-on experience here, but the machining looks straightforward.  Bending the arch bars may be the trickiest part.  I would probably look for off the shelf springs.

[Kim]

Thanks Kim. I mis-spoke. What I had meant was the tender truck frames....my bad. An index may be a good idea, not sure anyone has tried that. Guess I will have to buy the book to follow along. Can't tell the players without a program right?? 

Bill

Clearly, everyone needs the hymnal so they can follow along 
But really, this is a great book, so I'd recommend it whether you care about my build or not!  Just a great reference for tips and techniques (at least for a less experienced machinist like me!)

And sorry for misunderstanding you.  But it worked for the good.  It will help me make things more clear going forward 

Thanks Kvom,
I'm going to give winding my own springs a shot!  Kozo give such clear information, I think I can do it.   Yet another fun thing to learn!

Kim

[Flyboy Jim]

Those wheels look great Kim. Well done.

I thought of something while looking at them. I know how much 12L14 wants to rust. Well, I just bought a couple of new planes for the woodworking side of my shop. The manufacturer recommends wiping them down with Camelia Oil to ward off rust. Here's the Amazon link to my source for Camelia Oil: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00362HBPQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm going to try it on the 12L14 fly wheel on my first wobbler build.

Jim

[Dave Otto]

Beautiful job on the wheels Kim!
I can see when building a Loco that finishing the parts as you go may be a better option than tearing the whole thing down for painting when it is finished. Is this what you are thinking for the rest of the parts and assemblies as you proceed?

Dave

[Kim]

Thanks Jim and Dave,

I had considered using a coat of clear matte finish on the unpainted steel to help keep it from oxidizing.  I was worried the oil would pick up dust and yuck.  But maybe the oil would still be a better soution.

Yes, I'm planning to finish parts as I go on this model.  I see other people doing this and thought it might be fun to give it a try.

Kim

[Kim]

This week I got started on Chapter 3, the Tender Truck Frames.  And the first step in that is the Journal Boxes.  The Journal Boxes require a few jigs.  Kozo recommends a couple of jigs to for milling the angles, and another one for drilling some screw holes.

I don’t intend on making the screw hole locating jig, but I did build the angle setting jigs.  I figure using the DRO will be better accuracy than I could obtain with a jig.

Chapter 3.1 - Journal Boxes

First, I’ll tell you about the Jigs. I didn’t exactly do things in this order. For example, I did some of the journal box steps while the steel for the jigs was cooling. But it makes a much better narrative flow this way.

I used 1/2"x 3/4" 1018 bar (CRS) for these jigs and finished a couple of pieces to 3”.  Before I did any significant milling, I decided to do a little strain relief.  So I heated them up with my torch for a bit.  I know its better to use an oven and soak it for a long time, but I don’t have an oven. So, I use the torch.  It seems to mostly work   This is an exciting shot of the two hunks of metal cooling.


Fist I did the 45^o jig.  I set that one up using some angle blocks and clamped it in the vise and cut the ‘V’ in it. (Forgot to take a picture of that).  That one was relatively easy.  But the 3/10 angle jig was more challenging for me. A 3/10 angle works out to be 16.69^o.  So, finally came up with this; I used a vice with a sine vice and set it to 16.69^o and I clamped that in the mill vise. (try doing this in the Taig! )  The workpiece being held long-ways like that wasn’t ideal, but I took small cuts and took things easy, and it worked out alright.


Here’s a close-up of the 3/10 fixture, just after being milled.


And here are the two angle jigs, ready for use!


But wait!  I have those cool number stamps!  Why not put them to good use:

Clearly I’m going to have to learn how to get those lined up better.  The numbers are going all which way.  Does anyone have any good hints on how to get the numbers aligned better and more evenly?

Here’s my blanks for the Journal Boxes.  These are cut from 5/8” square 12L14.  I only need 8 of these, but I made a spare just for fun!


I cleaned up the 5/8” blanks to the correct length (13/16”).


And here are all 8 (plus spare) cut to size and ready for the next operation.


This is where I leave off for today, and possibly till after Christmas.

May you all be blessed with a wonderful and merry Christmas!

Kim

[b.lindsey]

Thanks for the update Kim. Christmas wishes to you and your family too.

Bill

[cnr6400]

Hi Kim, re how to line up letter stamps - the old fashioned way was to make a 4 sided frame of square stock that is a sliding fit for 4-6 stamps side by side. A brass screw through one short side of the frame can be used to adjust for holding more than one stamp. If the frame and stamps can be clamped in place to the work or the vise holding it, alignment can be made very close to perfect. In theory you could hold more than 4-6 stamps, but because they are loose in the frame, they would be unwieldy to hold everything while using the hammer to make the impressions.

One thing to note though - check the dimensions on your stamps - on a set I bought a few years ago a couple were .008" to .010" bigger than the others, and one had a side at 95 degrees to its' neighbour! (it was a very cheap set, but still.....) A friend with a surface grinder sorted the big and unsquare ones quite quickly.

You may have noticed that the stamp impressions leave metal raised above the surface. This may not ever be an issue for you but the raised bits can interfere with making an accurate thickness stack of blocks or a height setup. If you mill a .010" deep slot on the blocks, then letter stamp in the slots, the impressions will be well below the surface. The die makers in the first shop I worked in used to do this so they could grind the blocks without grinding the ID letter and number stamps away when fitting the die blocks together. Again just an old trick of the trade.

If you plan to have your shop elves or gnomes make such a frame, be careful they start it before they get into the egg nog with Navy rum this time of year. Crueby on here has had some egg nog related shop elf issues this season......

Merry Christmas to everyone on the forum.

[crueby]

Yeah, thier partys are fun but messy...