Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)

[Kim]

After I started the build, I wished I'd left space for an index.  Since I didn't, I'm adding it to the beginning of my intro post.The actual introduction starts right after the build index. Please skip up there if you don't want to read the index

Index of Kim's Kozo's Pennsy A3 Switcher Build:
Chapter 2: Tender Wheels
Chapter 2.1 - Tender Wheels - Reply 20
Chapter 2.2 - Tender Axles - Reply 105

Chapter 3: Tender Truck Frames
Chapter 3.1 - Journal Boxes - Reply 116
Chapter 3.2 - Journal Bearings - Reply 142
Chapter 3.3 - Columns - Reply 157
Chapter 3.4 - Bolsters and Side Bearings - Reply 170
Chapter 3.5 - Tie Bars and Arch Bars - Reply 201
Chapter 3.6 - Coil Springs - Reply 234

Chapter 4: Tender Frame
Chapter 4.1 - Side Sills - Reply 251
Chapter 4.2 – Front End Sill and Rear End Sill - Reply 262
Chapter 4.3 – Front and Rear Bolster - Reply 296
Chapter 4.4 – Drawbar Pocket and Drawbar - Reply 298
Chapter 4.5 – Front Steps - Reply 303
Chapter 4.6 – Step Brackets - Reply 323
Chapter 4.7 – Rear Coupler Pocket - Reply 329
Chapter 4.8 – Foot Board - Reply 342
Chapter 4.9 – Center Pins and Drawbar Pin - Reply 348

Powder Coating the Trucks and Frames - Reply 360

Chapter 5: Tender Tank
Chapter 5.1 – Tank Floor - Reply 421
Chapter 5.2 – Side Plates - Reply 447
Chapter 5.3 – Side Corner Members - Reply 463
Chapter 5.4 – Bottom Horseshoe Member and Top Horseshoe Member - Reply 475
Chapter 5.5 – Verge Board - Reply 480
Chapter 5.6 – Vertical Board - Reply 489
                       Vertical Board Revisited - Reply 507
Chapter 5.7 – Front Plates - Reply 503
                       Front Plates Continued - Reply 518
Chapter 5.8 – Top Plate - Reply 528
Chapter 5.9 – Rear Corner Member - Reply 546
Chapter 5.10 – Soft Soldering and Filing the Bottom - Reply 552
Chapter 5.11 – Headlight Baseplate and Headlight Base - Reply 573
Chapter 5.12 – Coal Stopper - Reply 589
Chapter 5.14 – Dummy Side Plates - Reply 599

Chapter 6: Tender Manhole
Chapter 6.1 – Mounting Plate, Manhole Plate, and Lug - Reply 613
                       Manhole Plate - Reply 619
                       Lug - Reply 629
Chapter 6.2 – Manhole - Reply 620
Chapter 6.3 – Manhole Cover - Reply 634
Chapter 6.4 – Hinges and Pin - Reply 637

Chapter 7: Steps and Handrails
Chapter 7.1 – Steps - Reply 641
Chapter 7.2 – Handrailing - Reply 644
Chapter 7.3 – Handholds - Reply 661
Chapter 7.4 – Handholds - Reply 673

Chapter 8: Hand Pump
Chapter 8.1 – Pump body - Reply 683
Chapter 8.2 – Plunger - Reply 710
Chapter 8.3 – O-Ring Retainer - Reply 712
Chapter 8.4 – Plug - Reply 724
Chapter 8.5 – Suction Valve - Reply 725
                       Suction Valve Screen Retainer - Reply 742
Chapter 8.6 – Link - Reply 731
Chapter 8.7 – Lever - Reply 746
Chapter 8.8 – Handle - Reply 752
Chapter 8.9 – Pins - Reply 753

Chapter 9: Tender Piping
Chapter 9.1 – Drain Pipe, Drain Plug, Suction Stud, Delivery Stud, Suction Strainer and Nut - Reply 760
                       Drain Plug - Reply 761
                       Suctoin Stud and Delivery Stud - Reply 761
                       Suctoin Strainier and Nut - Reply 767
Chapter 9.2 – Nipple Joints and Nipples - Reply 768
Chapter 9.3 – Union Nuts - Reply 768
Chapter 9.4 – Pipe Tip - Reply 771
Chapter 9.5 – Pipe Clamps and Tube Clamps - Reply 771
Chapter 9.6 – Rubber Tubes - Reply 771
Chapter 9.7 – Bending a Copper Tube - Reply 774
Chapter 9.8 - Assembling the Tender - Reply 783
                       Adding Lettering to the Tank - Reply 802

Chapter 10: Main Frame
Chapter 10.1 – Side Frames - Reply 793
Chapter 10.2 – Pedestal Braces - Reply 818
Chapter 10.3 – Rear Axle Boxes - Reply 824
Chapter 10.4 – Front Bumper and Footplate - Reply 839
Chapter 10.5 – Remaining Work for Side Frames - Reply 832
Chapter 10.6 – Corssties and Pins - Reply 851
Chapter 10.7 – Front Coupler Pocket - Reply 853
Chapter 10.8 – Foot Board - Reply 866
Chapter 10.9 – Drawbar Pocket and Drawbar Pin - Reply 873

Chapter 11: Axle Boxes
Chapter 11.1 – Front Axle Boxes and Axle Box Caps - Reply 878
Chapter 11.2 – Bushings - Reply 886

Chapter 12: Driving Wheels
Chapter 12.1 – Driving Wheels - Reply 891
Chapter 12.2 – Driving Wheel Axles - Reply 972
Chapter 12.3 – Pump Eccentric and Lubricator Eccentric - Reply 973
Chapter 12.4 – Crankpins - Reply 974
Chapter 12.5 – Side Rod Pins - Reply 978
Chapter 12.6 – Quartering - Reply 983

Chapter 13: Side Rods and Main Rods
Chapter 13.1 – Side Rods - Reply 995
Chapter 13.2 – Main Rods - Reply 1026
Chapter 13.3 – Bushings and Spacers - Reply 1042
Chapter 13.4 – Cotters and Bolts - Reply 1049

Chapter 14: Cylinders
Chapter 14.1 – Cylinders - Reply 1055
Chapter 14.2 – Steam Chests - Reply 1095
Chapter 14.3 – Steam Chest Covers - Reply 1111
Chapter 14.4 – Steam Chest Cover Casings - Reply 1123
Chapter 14.5 – Rear Cylinder Heads - Reply 1131
Chapter 14.6 – Front Cylinder Heads - Reply 1138
Chapter 14.7 – Cylinder Head Covers - Reply 1144
Chapter 14.8 – Piston Rod  Bushings and Valve Stem Bushings - Reply 1150
Chapter 14.9 – Bolts and Nuts - Reply 1151
Chapter 14.10 – Tee - Reply 1162
Chapter 14.11 – Steam Deflector and Exhaust Deflector - Reply 1204

Chapter 15: Pistons and Crossheads
Chapter 15.1 – Pistons - Reply 1210
Chapter 15.2 – Piston Rods and Pins - Reply 1223
Chapter 15.3 – Nuts - Reply 1223
Chapter 15.4 – Crossheads - Reply 1228
                       Crossheads Continued - Reply 1240
Chapter 15.5 – Crosshead Pins - Reply 1232
Chapter 15.6 – Slippers - Reply 1235
Chapter 15.7 – Assembly - Reply 1286

Chapter 16: Guide Yokes
Chapter 16.1 – Tie Plate - Reply 1300
Chapter 16.2 – Guide Yokes - Reply 1320
                       Guide Yokes Continued - Reply 1337
Chapter 16.3 – Guides - Reply 1332

Chapter 17: Valve Gear
Chapter 17.1 – Valves - Reply 1370
Chapter 17.2 – Valve Nuts - Reply 1389
Chapter 17.3 – Valve Spindles - Reply 1397
Chapter 17.4 – Valve Spindle Yokes - Reply 1399
Chapter 17.5 – Combination Levers - Reply 1404
Chapter 17.6 – Union Links - Reply 1412
Chapter 17.7 – Link Brackets - Reply 1417
Chapter 17.8 – Radius Rods - Reply 1422
Chapter 17.9 – Link Blocks - Reply 1427
Chapter 17.10 – Expansion Links and Trunnion Plates - Reply 1438
Chapter 17.11 – Link Brackets - Reply 1453
Chapter 17.12 – Return Cranks - Reply 1462
Chapter 17.13 – Pins - Reply 1473
Chapter 17.14 – Setting Return Cranks - Reply 1475
Chapter 17.15 – Eccentric Rods - Reply 1476
Chapter 17.16 – Bushings - Reply 1495

Chapter 18: Reversing Gear
Chapter 18.1 – Running Boards - Reply 1551
Chapter 18.2 – Support Plates and Brackets - Reply 1566
Chapter 18.3 – Stand and Quadrant - Reply 1573
Chapter 18.4 – Reverse Lever - Reply 1603
Chapter 18.5 – Latch Lever - Reply 1610
Chapter 18.6 – Spring - Reply 1611
Chapter 18.7 – Pin and Collar - Reply 1619
Chapter 18.8 – Reach Rod - Reply 1625
Chapter 18.9 – Reverse Shaft - Reply 1630
Chapter 18.10 – Reach Rod Arm and Reverse Arm - Reply 1647
Chapter 18.11 – Reverse Shaft Bearings - Reply 1655



Welcome everyone, to my introductory post for my new build of Kozo’s Pennsy A3 Switcher!

I’m sure this is no surprise to anyone since I’ve been talking about it, asking questions about it, and doing some pretty serious planning on it for well over a year now.  But, this is my formal intro to my build thread.  So, if you’re too disappointed, please feel free to skip on past to the next post.  I promise not to be offended.

As an intro post, here is my obligatory photo of what I’m shooting for.  This is the cover photo from Kozo Hiraoka’s book “The Pennsylvania A3 Switcher”. 


The final engine will be 38” long, 10” high, and 7” wide.  It is a  3.5” gauge, 1:16 scale (3/4” to a foot) model of an 0-4-0 Pennsylvania Switcher Type A3.  The drivers are 3.25” diameter and the cylinder bore is 7/8” with a stroke of 1-1/4".  It will have Walshaerts type valve gear, will be coal-fired with a running pressure of 100psi.  Engine plus tender will weigh-in at about 62 lbs.

So, this will be quite a monster for me!  More than double the size of the steam tractor I did. And a MUCH more serious steam project than I’ve taken on in the past.  But I’m ready and very excited for the challenge!  And isn’t that half the battle right there? (He says with naοve optimism ).

With that lengthy introduction, let me now introduce you to my BOM spreadsheet.  Kozo’s book is amazingly complete and gives excellent instructions on all his fabrication techniques.  But!  It does not include a bill of materials!  So, what does any self-respecting anal-retentive engineering-type do?  Create a spreadsheet, of course.
Last Edit: July 20, 2020, 01:55:39 PM

I’ve attached my spreadsheet to this post.

If anyone is ever interested in doing this build, I would think having the BOM available would be helpful.  I went through the book, entered every piece of stock as specified by Kozo, broken down by section and part number within the section (and often sub-element of a part within a section).  It includes all fasteners, jigs and the sacrificial screws Kozo uses to hold parts together while silver soldering.  That’s the first sheet. It's labeled “A3 Switcher BOM” and has something like 850 unique lines.

The second sheet is the Materials List.  This has one entry for each type & size of material used and summarized the total number of inches (for bar, rod, hex) or square inches (for sheet material) that are needed for ALL parts using that type of material.  it has more than 350 lines, but only 260 something of them ended up being used in my final version of the BOM.

The actual materials listed are based on “My Material”, not on the type originally specified by Kozo.  He did almost everything with 360 Brass.  I substituted a lot of 1018 (CRS) or 12L14, or even Stainless in some places.  But I did leave Kozo’s originally specified material listed on the first sheet.  And someone could move to using that material if they wanted to.

The completion of my BOM spreadsheet took me almost a year of background work, so was no small task in itself.

Late last week I did an inventory of my stock on hand against this Materials List.  Then I entered that into the spreadsheet and it told me how much of what I needed to purchase.  After that, I went through the spreadsheet and did some more substitutions and combining of lines.  For example, if I need 1” of 5/16” brass, I’d look at changing it to 12L14 or if it needed to be brass (because it comes into contact with water) I would just combine it with the 3/8” brass.  I made some fancy columns to help me combine lines.  Not intuitive, but if anyone's interested I'd be happy to explain it.


Last weekend, I spent hours placing a big metal order.  I ended up going mainly with On Line Metals, and with Speedy Metals.  On Line Metals generally had better pricing on 1018, Stainless, and Brass, whereas Speedy Metals had better prices on 12L14 and had a larger selection of sizes of 1018 than On Line Metals. Unfortunately, shipping from Speedy Metals is 2x more than On Line Metals because they are on the far side of the country from me. But I tried to get it all these two larger orders.  Shipping hurt, but it could have been worse!

And yesterday a bunch of my metal started showing up! This was the bulk of the order from On Line Metals.  Speedy Metals won’t arrive till next week.


After opening the containers and comparing to the shipping invoice (all correct, BTW) here’s what I’ve gotten so far.  And this is probably about two-thirds of what I ordered.


In addition, there’s a bunch of fasteners, non-metal parts and various new tools I’ll need for this build.  I also kept a list of tools I needed to order for this build.  That’s also one of the sheets in my spreadsheet.  Here’s what’s arrived from that list so far:


Kozo uses a TON of random sized threads in his build.  He uses 5-40 and 5-44.  He uses 8-32 and 8-36.  I considered standardizing on taps I already had but decided it would be fun to get some new taps anyway.  And I figure he had some reason for using the finer pitched threads, so why not follow his lead, since I’m game for buying another half dozen taps and dies

Then one other thing I bought for this build, and am just a little too excited about, is a set of letter & number punches.  I have a very cheap set (cost $10 at a harbor-freight look-alike place) but they are so cheap that they make poor letters. And any of them I’ve used more than once are already getting so flat it's hard to read what gets punched.  This is a set of CH Hansen Letter and Number Punches.  It cost significantly more and had quite good reviews with people saying the punches held up under actual use.  And I’ll say they look much better than my cheapy punches.

Kozo recommends punching identifying numbers & marks into each piece so that you can get it re-assembled back into the same spot it was designed for. I'm going to try and do that too.


So, wish me well on my next multi-year voyage in the world of Steam Model Engineering!

Thanks,
Kim

[b.lindsey]

This is exciting Kim!!!  I am along for the ride as always!!

Bill

[crueby]

Ooohhh!  Excellent!!!


Great prep work, and nice pile of future swarf. These big projects seem too daunting at first, but one part at a time and its a lot of fun to see come together.


Really looking forward to seeing you go on this one.

[Flyboy Jim]

Kim..........this is going to be another great build thread to watch! 

Jim

[10KPete]

 

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.  I've had that book on the shelf right above my desk for over 10 years.

As I age I think of selling it on.

 

Pete

[Kim]

Thanks guys, it will be great having you along for the build!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.  I've had that book on the shelf right above my desk for over 10 years.

As I age I think of selling it on.

 

Pete

Pete,
You should start your own Pennsy Switcher now!  We could do parallel builds!  Wouldn't that be fun?
I'd love to see you do that  
Kim

[Ye-Ole Steam Dude]

Hello Kim,

Well I'm on board too, this should be another great ride. 

Have a great day,
Thomas

[Jo]

 

I do parts lists for my engine as well but I decided it was best not to write down how much it cost  I prefer to just tick that I have it available 

I also like to mark off the date I complete each part - it shows how quickly the engine came together (or how slowly/how long the build gaps were  )

Jo

[Admiral_dk]

Hello Kim

I must admit that I really haven't really commented much in your excellent tractor build (there has been plenty others, so not much need).

I do make BOM for the products we make at work, but - WOW - what a list and amount of work you have put into this one 

I will certainly follow this build too   

Best wishes

Per

[Dave Otto]

Very cool Kim, I will be looking forward to following your progress.


Dave

[Tennessee Whiskey]

Off to a great start Kim. I'll be riding along on this one also.

Whiskey

[Kim]

Thanks everyone!
Yeah, I'm pretty pumped about this one.   

I do parts lists for my engine as well but I decided it was best not to write down how much it cost  I prefer to just tick that I have it available 

I also like to mark off the date I complete each part - it shows how quickly the engine came together (or how slowly/how long the build gaps were  )

It did give me pause; putting the cost of materials in the sheet.  But it also helped me make some material trade-offs.  Some of the columns I've hidden were a comparison between a "Mostly Brass" model and my hodge-podge version. I hid the columns because I stopped keeping it up at some point and I didn't want to spend the time to fix it.  I figure I saved about 35-40% in cost by avoiding gratuitous use of brass .  Don't get me wrong - there will still be a lot of brass!  But dramatically less than Kozo uses!


Kim

[Florian Eberhard]

Hey Kim - i am checking in too! 

I imagine Kozo used brass because it is easier to machine than steel. Especially with small hobby machines. But there's nothing wrong about using other materials if it makes sense or if it doesn't need to be brass.

Now i guess we have to wait for your first swarf pictures. 

Florian

[Kim]

Thanks Florian!

Yeah, it shouldn't be too long before I start making Pennsy Switcher swarf.  Still a bit more on the steam tractor to finish up, but that's getting every so close!

Thanks,
Kim

[crueby]

Swarf!

Swarf!

Swarf!

And tractor running video too, of course!