Got in a little time on the Ruston model today, made up the pivot brackets that will hold the bottom end of the main boom from some stainless flat stock:

These will have a single axle running from one side to the other, and the two brackets will be silver soldered to a wide plate that can be bolted onto the front of the cab floor. The slots that the end of the boom sits in are wide enough so that the boom can pivot up nearly vertical, and down below horizontal. The second smaller hole is for another axle that will hold guide pulleys for the crowd cables. On the real machine, the larger axle had a chain driven pair of cable drums to drive the crowd cables directly. The chain went back up inside the cab to another set of sprockets and clutches. For this model, I'll route the cables back to one of the electric gearmotors.

After the fun field trip out to the steam shovel, I got the bearings for the chain drum sections turned/bored out. These are not high speed or long-running items, so I used some brass, not bronze. They are a push fit into the flanges, and run free on the main shaft.


A view of everything test assembled:

Next step will be to do the final install of the chain guide rails and lower pipes, which got trimmed to length the other day. They need to be drilled/tapped for some screws through the base, and a large hole inside each pipe cut through the base plate for the chain to go through - the deck below would have a large room that the chain would collect in as it was hauled in as the anchor was raised. These rails would keep the chain from getting stuck on the drum and wrapping around past the pipe opening.

  Great looking sign / plaque Chris! I wonder who it was that built that fantastic model though?   

I had heard that the sign for the Marion steam shovel near here had finally gone up - I helped with the artwork for it last year, including the cutaway view showing the internals as well as cleaning up the old photos. Went out this morning for a look:

A closer view:

Everything is looking real nice Ron!

Dave