Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)

[Dave Otto]

Looks great Kim!

Dave

[zeeprogrammer]

and yes, I double-checked before sawing!).

Sigh. Just what I needed. A reminder. I trimmed two parts today only to discover I had read the dimension between holes rather than the outer dimension.
I don't think double-checking works for me. I'm not sure triple-checking is enough.

Great thread. As I said before, this will be a reference for other builders.

[Kim]

and yes, I double-checked before sawing!).

Sigh. Just what I needed. A reminder. I trimmed two parts today only to discover I had read the dimension between holes rather than the outer dimension.
I don't think double-checking works for me. I'm not sure triple-checking is enough.

Yes, I remembered to check THIS time - you know how many times I've done it backwards because I didn't remember to check?  Well, I don't.  Because it's such an embarrassingly large number that not only do I NOT want to remember, my subconscious actively works to keep me from remembering so that I won't get overly discouraged.  But if you want to know, read back through my builds and count the number of times.  Then multiply by 3.  Because sometimes I don't even mention it because its so embarrassing!

For example, just today, when I was drilling holes in the manhole flange, I carefully dialed everything in, then drilled the holes at the EXACT right spot.  But you know what?  its at a 15 degree angle!  And when I drilled them in the manhole plate, it was flat.  That made all the holes off by about 0.022" (Yes, I did the trig to figure it out).  So I went and widened the holes so they'd fit (using a 1/16" mill).  And guess what?  I made them farther apart - but they should have been 22 thou closer together!  So I did it one more time.  By this time, my tidy, carefully measured mounting holes were more like slots.  But it works.  And the screw heads MOSTLY cover up the oversized holes.  You can still see it if you look.  But I didn't point it out because I'd made such a point of saying (i my previous post) that as long as I use the DRO, my holes line up.  Which they would, if the operator didn't screw up!  (stupid operator).

Anyway, long story to prove my point.  So don't get too down on yourself, Zee.  There are others of us out here that sometimes remember to check, and double check. But then often forget to double check. And sometimes it accidentally works out OK. But most of the time, you find a way to work around it, or you start over.  At least, that's what I find.  I just take it as part of doing the work. I keep hoping I'll screw up less as I get more experience.  But I think its that I'm picking up more ways to 'make it work' when I screw up.

Kim

[Kim]

Thank you Dave!   
Kim

[Kim]

Chapter 6.3 – Manhole Cover

Yesterday’s shop time (brought to you by the Covid19 sequester) was spent making the Manhole Cover.

But first, I needed to even up and level the top of the manhole.  I want the top of the manhole to be parallel to the base of the tank car.  So I clamped the whole tank onto the mill and shaved a few thou off the top of the manhole.  The only trouble here was that while things were clamped well, the manhole itself is kind of suspended out in the middle of the tank, only supported by the sheet brass.  This made it chatter quite a bit.  And in chattering, it loosened the screws holding the manhole plate in place allowing it to raise up during one of the milling passes. After discovering this, I tightened things up again and did another pass to even things out again.  Other than being a few thou shorter than spec’d, nobody will be any the wiser.


Now for the manhole cover.   This was cut from 1/16” brass sheet.  It started as a square with the corners cut off (no pic).  I then used locktite to attach it to the end of a piece of 1” steel.  After the Locktite had set, I put it in the lathe and turned it to the specified diameter.


To help make sure Locktite didn’t let go while turning, I used the tail stock to hold a steel plug against the part.  You can see the steel plug in the above picture.  Below, you can see it removed and see the Manhole Cover turned to size.


Leaving the part glued to the Mandrel, I transferred it into the square collet block and held that in the vice in the mill.  Here I cut a short flat on one side of the cover:


Then drilled holes for the hinge and the handle.


I bent a length of 0.080” brass wire to shape for the handle:


Kozo says you can press fit or use soft solder.  But I wanted to use silver solder to attach the handle.  So I did.  Here’s the pre-solder shot:


And after soldering:


Then with some clean-up, the Manhole Cover is complete.


The hinge will be next up.

Thank you for stopping by!
Kim

[crueby]

Nice! Your shop elves will appreciate having a new cave to hide in...


 

[Kim]

Yeah, and this cave has a door!  Pretty up-town, don't you think? 

Kim

[Kim]

Chapter 6.4 – Hinges and Pin

This weekend's project was the hinge for the manhole cover.  The part was 5/32” thick, so I originally planned to use 3/16” brass.  However, I could find very limited supplies of 3/16” brass and I didn’t really need much of it anyway.  So, I opted to just use 1/4" bar stock.  I happened to use 1/4" x 3/4" because I had some.

So the first step was to whittle it down to size (5/32” thick) then to make it the right shape for the hinge pieces.


Then I sliced off an 11/16” chunk, and a 1/2" chunk on the band saw (leaving a little extra to even up the ends).


I squared up both ends and made them each the correct length.  Then I set it up vertically in the mill, found the center, and carefully drilled a center hole in the big end of each piece.


On the larger part, I milled out a 1/2" gap for the other half of the hinge (I made it a few thou over 0.5” so the other part would move easily.


Next, I rounded up the ends of the hinge pieces like so:


And finally, drilled and countersunk holes to mount it to the lid.


After mounting it, I cut a short length of 0.080” Brass wire (well, it is 12 GA which the charts show as 0.081”, but it was pretty close!) and coerced it in place to hold the two hinge pieces together.


This step was a little tricky because of the angles, but I carefully clamped the cover+hinge assembly to the spot where it needs to go, then equally carefully drilled holes to tap.  This is the second hole.  After I did the first one I put in a temporary screw in the first hole to help hold it in place – it wasn’t quite as fragile after I got that first screw in.


With the mounting holes done, the last thing I needed to do was knock off the extra length of hinge pin sticking out either side of the hinge.   I did this by removing the hinge and filing the hinge pin down flush (very carefully!)


The completed hinge!  And yes, it does bend back and forth, just like its supposed to


Here’s the beauty shot of the completed manhole with all parts in place.


And open so someone can get inside a do some repair work on the inside of the tank!


That completes the Manhole Assembly (Chapter 6).  It was a short one!

The next section will be Chapter 7 – Steps and Handrails.

See you all next week
Kim

[Steamer5]

Nice work Kim! Coming along very nicely.

Can just hear the elves singing....... hi ho hi ho it’s off to work we go........hang about they must have some ring ins visiting!

Stay safe.

Cheers Kerrin

[Kim]

Thanks Kerrin!
Well, we can't have the elves moving in till we get the stairs and railings in place.  Wouldn't want to get sued by the elf lawyers!  I hear they're pretty nasty!
Kim

[Firebird]

 

Cheers

Rich

[Kim]

Chapter 7.1 – Steps

The next thing to make are the Steps.  I presume these allow someone to safely climb up the back of the tank to access the manhole.  Not sure what you do there? Check the water depth?  Climb in and check the tank itself? Regardless, I’m making steps!

The steps are made from 0.040” brass sheet.  I cut a strip from the large sheet using the bandsaw then took that strip to the mill to make the edges straight, parallel, and exactly 3/4" of an inch apart.


Then I marked it up as best I could at the various places I would need to place a bend in order to make the stairs.  The shape of the steps can be seen below the ruler.


I annealed the brass which burnt off all the layout blue, but you could still see the light scribe lines.  So using those lines, the vice with soft jaws and a small array of pliers (needle nose, and some smooth jaw pliers of various sizes that I’ve collected over the years) I bent the steps to shape.


And here we have the steps:


Next, I laid out the locations for screw holes and drilled them, then used double-sided sticky tape to hold the steps in place on the tank:


With that, I drilled through the top of the tank at each spot and tapped all the holes (0-80).


And here are the steps attached and in place.


Next will be the handrails for the steps.
Kim

[kvom]

They had to walk up the tank to light the oil lamp.  And likely to guide the nozzle for the water fill.

[Kim]

Well, now, that makes a lot of sense, KVOM! 
Thanks!
Kim

[Kim]

Chapter 7.2 – Handrail

Next is the handrail that goes along by the steps.

First I made the mounting plates for the rail.  The stair rail requires 4, but I need two of the exact same piece for the handholds along the front side of the car, so I made six.

I wanted to make this out of stainless, so I used a short length of 1/2" 303 stainless steel rod.  I put this in the 5C collet holder and milled some off each side to get the desired width for the mounting plates.


Then I drilled the center hole for the rail and the two outside mounting holes. The center hole is a little trickier than you might think.  Most of the holes should be 3/32" straight up and down.  But ONE of them needs to be at an angle!  So what I did, was to drill a smaller hole all the way through the stack, but did a second drilling of 3/32" through about 75% of the length.  Just enough to leave at some length at the bottom that isn't a whole 3/32" (yet).


Next, I used a 1/32” slitting saw to slice 1/16” wide pieces off of this to make the supports.


For the center hole, I made sure five of them were drilled out to 3/16”.  But I left one with a smaller hole and use that one to drill at an angle to match the slope of the back of the tank.  Using a 3/16” mill, I supported it at an angle and drilled out the hole. The itty bitty plate with the 1/8” marked on it is just there to move the piece out so I didn’t drill into my angle block below.


And here’s all the mounting plates up to this point – the one on the right end is the one with the center hole drilled at an angle.


Next, I made some filing buttons and rounded off the ends of the mounting plates:


All rounded off:


For the rail itself, Kozo specifies 0.090” rod.  I don’t know where he sources that from.  I used 3/32”, which is mighty close at 0.093”.  So I bent a length of 3/32” stainless rod into shape for the handrail:


And drilled some tiny holes (#59, which is 0.041”) in the rail where I want the supports to go:


I cut a couple of supports to length, then used a tiny round file to make one end concave, to fit closely against the handrail. To make a center hole in these supports I took a scrap of aluminum, clamped it in the vice, then drilled a slightly oversized 3/32” hole.  I used this to hold the supports and it was already centered for the #59 hole in the end.


Then I cut a couple of short lengths of 0.040” stainless wire and used them to hold the supports in place on the rail, like so:


Now its silver solder time!
(before)


(after)


That worked out pretty well! Next, I’ll be soldering the mounting plates to the end of the four rail supports.

Thanks for taking a look,
Kim