Author Topic: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)  (Read 327912 times)

Offline b.lindsey

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #570 on: January 22, 2020, 01:30:17 PM »
Fantastic result Kim!!  Must feel nice once done with this part and getting it watertight!!

Bill

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #571 on: January 22, 2020, 08:04:34 PM »
Thanks Bill!
I've fixed a few obvious leaks, but not sure I can claim fully 'water tight' quite yet, but I'll get there!
Kim

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #572 on: January 26, 2020, 02:25:53 AM »
To finish off the tank assembly, I needed to file off the exposed screw heads (these were the screws that held it all together while soldering:


Then I filed the bottom of the tank flat, making everything the same level:


I also verified that it did not seem to leak any water.  This was a little sketchy since I had to balance water in different sections of the tank.  It won’t truly be watertight till it gets attached to the base.  But I tried to verify that all the solder connections did not leak. And it passed my cursory test.  I actually did this first, so that I could do some re-soldering if needed.  But it didn’t seem to be.  At least not at this point :)

And with that, the tank is basically done.  I did set it in my pickling tank to try and get rid of more of the yuck.  It helped, but I really think I need new pickling solution.  So, I’ve got some Sparex on order.

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #573 on: January 26, 2020, 02:35:08 AM »
Chapter 5.11– Headlight Baseplate and Headlight Base

Next, I started on the Headlight base.  I guess it's more of a ‘tail light’ since its on the back of the tender. But that’s what Kozo calls it.  I won’t be making the light for it yet – that will come later when I’m making the engine.  He has you make two identical headlights at the same time, one for the engine, and one for the tender, which makes a lot of sense :).  So for now, we’re just making a base for it to sit on.

The base has five pieces.  Four of them make the Headlight Base, and one is the Headlight Baseplate.  The base pieces are cut from 1/4" x 5/8” 1018 bar.  The baseplate is cut from a piece of 1/16” 4130a steel.  Here are the rough-cut parts:


I took the four base parts, cleaned up the ends and milled them to length.


Then I drilled some holes in the end for some screws to hold things while I silver solder the base together.  These holes are 1-72 tapping size (#52 I believe).


To drill the matching holes in the cross pieces, I used the holes I just drilled as a template.  To hold the template in place, I used several small clamps and some extra bits of scrap.  Here’s my method for doing this; The pieces labeled A and B are the ones we’re attaching.  A has the holes drilled already. We’re going to transfer those hole locations to BC is an extra piece I’m using to keep B lined up with the end of A.  One clamp holds B and C together, and the other holds A and C together.  This way A and B are lined up.


In this shot, I’ve added a couple more scrap pieces and clamped on the ends to hold A and B in sideways alignment (you can’t see part B here because it's buried under the other pieces).


I held this setup by hand and rested the bottom of piece B on the top of the vice, then transferred the holes into piece B.  It worked pretty well.


After transferring, I enlarged the holes in the A pieces to #1 clearance size then tapped the transferred holes.


Then I test assembled the box that will become the headlight base.


Next, I’ll silver solder it together.  But that will be for next shop time.

Thanks for stopping by!
Kim

Offline Flyboy Jim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #574 on: January 26, 2020, 03:03:01 AM »
This is quite the journey you're on Kim. I'm enjoying following along.  :popcorn:  :wine1:

 :cheers: Jim
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"You can do small things on big machines, but you can do small things on small machines".

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #575 on: January 26, 2020, 05:40:26 AM »
Thanks Jim!
I'm enjoying it a lot too!

Also enjoying watching you with your PMR#5 build!  You're doing a bang-up job there!
Kim

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #576 on: February 02, 2020, 02:07:13 AM »
Continuing on with the headlight base…

I cleaned the parts and fluxed them up.  Oh yeah – and added a few little punch marks inside the joints to allow clearance for the silver solder to flow (Kozo’s recommendation).  Ready to solder:


After the soldering.  I actually did each corner in a row, all in one heating session.  I did one corner, turned it, added a bit of solder (as in this picture) and then did that corner, repeat.  I was able to do all four corners without getting a completely black crustified part!  I was pleased with that.


After some pickling and a wash-up, I set it in the mill, supported on the inside by a parallel, and milled down the screws that were holding things together for soldering.


Next, I took the plate, squared it up in the mill, and took it to size.  It's hard to see in that picture, but it is in the vice, sandwiched between two 1/2" parallels.  The parallels helped keep it from chattering since it provided good support close to the edge.


Here are the two main assemblies for the headlight base.  Still some work to go.


Here I’ve got the base in the mill vice and I’m using a few clamps to hold the plate in the correct position above the base to spot and drill through with a hole for tapping 1-72.  This way I know that the holes in the plate will line up with the tapped holes in the base!  The two holes in the middle are to mount the headlight itself (later).


Then with just the plate, I opened up the holes to a 1-72 clearance and then countersunk them.


Then I tapped the four holes in the base using my favorite little tap handle.   Have I mentioned how much I love that little thing?  Its probably one of my most used purchases I made last year!  It works so well for these little taps.  I really can’t recommend it highly enough!


And here’s where I finished up today.   I still need to cut the angle on the base so that the headlight plate will be parallel with the ground when mounted on the back of the tender.  But that will be my next task.


Thanks for taking a look,
Kim

Offline Flyboy Jim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #577 on: February 02, 2020, 04:05:43 AM »
Good progress today Kim.  :ThumbsUp:

Jim
Sherline 4400 Lathe
Sherline 5400 Mill
"You can do small things on big machines, but you can do small things on small machines".

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #578 on: February 02, 2020, 06:01:14 AM »
Thanks Jim!
Slow progress, but good progress! :)
That's the only way I can get it done!
Kim

Offline kvom

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #579 on: February 02, 2020, 12:51:27 PM »
Being lazy I likely would have made the "box" from a single piece of bar.   Soldering went well.

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #580 on: February 02, 2020, 05:46:33 PM »
Good point, that would have been less work.  But more expensive in materials, unless you had a chunk of steel that large already.  It would also make the tender heavier.  Probably no big deal though.

Thanks Kvom,
Kim

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #581 on: February 09, 2020, 01:46:15 AM »
Next on the headlight base is to carve the angle on the bottom so that it matches the top of the tender tank.

The angle I calculated based on the plans is just over 16 degrees.   But I know that my sides are a tad different and likely to be off a tad here or there :)  So, I measured the actual angle on my tank and use that rather than the calculated angle.  Here’s what I measured:


Interesting that it’s exactly 15o.  But that makes it easier because I have a 15o angle block.  So, I used that to help set up the base in the mill vise.


And used a 1/2" mill to carve it down.  The brass spots on the left are the brass solder screws.  Unfortunately, on the right edge, the remaining little nubbins of brass screw pulled out. :( I’ll fix those holes later with some JB-Weld.


After cleaning up the edges, I marked out and drilled the four mounting screw holes.


Then tapped them 2-56.


Here’s the finished headlight base with the plate screwed on the top.


And here we are in situ on the back of the tender tank.


The last step for the day was to mix up a dab of JB-Weld and plug up those unsightly holes.


Now we’ll let the JB-Weld set and then clean up around them.

Not a ton of progress, but at least I got some time out in the shop today!  And some time is better than no time!

Thanks for looking in,
Kim

Offline crueby

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #582 on: February 09, 2020, 01:53:33 AM »
 :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

Offline zeeprogrammer

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #583 on: February 09, 2020, 01:54:21 AM »
And some time is better than no time!

 :ThumbsUp:

I really enjoy your thread.

My dream is to build a Kozo loco and I'm learning a lot here.
Carl (aka Zee) Will sometimes respond to 'hey' but never 'hey you'.
"To work. To work."
Zee-Another Thread Trasher.

Online Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #584 on: February 09, 2020, 02:05:15 AM »
Thanks, Chris and Carl,
Appreciate your stopping by on this rainy Saturday!  (of course, this time of year, most Saturdays are rainy in the NW :)).
Kim

 

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