Engines > From Plans
Another Pennsylvania A3 Switcher
JCvdW:
Thanks Sanjay, Chris and Kim for checking in!
I finally had some time to paint and finish the tender frame. I am still pondering whether to paint all the screw heads.
Time to start with the tender tank proper!
Roger B:
Nicely done :praise2: Do you have a length of test track you can try it on?
Kim:
Your tender is looking great, JC! Nice paint job! :ThumbsUp: :popcorn:
As for the screws, I don't know what to tell you. I ended up just using a permanent Sharpie to cover the shiny screws, but I didn't paint them. It's not perfect, but it made me happy! :embarassed:
JCvdW:
--- Quote from: Roger B on January 25, 2025, 08:14:10 AM ---Nicely done :praise2: Do you have a length of test track you can try it on?
--- End quote ---
Hi Roger, Thanks for checking in. No test track yet. The local club track is about 30 km away. Will have to take it there soon to at least see if it fits!
JCvdW:
Thanks Roger and Kim for checking in. The permanent sharpie is something to remember!
In the last two month time in the workshop was very intermittent, but some progress has been made.
Given the price of brass, I took Kim's lead and made the tank floor out of 304 stainless steel plate. This machined more easily than what I expected.
The wooden former and backing plate for the copper side plates were made with my home made CNC router.
I also used it to cut out the copper profile for the side plates and to separate the two halves after forming. I have never used the router to cut metal before, but it seems to handle brass and copper sheet quite well. It is going to be very handy for all the sheet metal work to follow.
The bottom horseshoe member was carefully mounted to the floor to ensure proper alignment with the side plates. The top horseshoe member was then formed to mirror the shape of the bottom member.
The vertical board was mounted to the bottom horseshoe member to provide a good reference for the rest of the parts of the coal bunker.
This required endless assembly/drilling/tapping/disassembly/drilling/assembly operations, adding one or two screws at a time, until everything was screwed together.
I used the sheet metal function of Fusion 360 to create the profiles for the verge board and top strip, and then cut those with the CNC router.
It is always very satisfying to see how well the parts then align after bending.
The coal bunker turned out to be quite complex, and I am very glad that I first studied how Kim and Blondyhacks approached it. This definitely allowed me to avoid quite a few pitfalls!
I decided to defer all soldering until all the sheet metal parts of the tank are made and screwed together.
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