Author Topic: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)  (Read 327489 times)

Online crueby

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3060 on: May 27, 2023, 01:55:03 PM »
Excellent result! 

Offline RReid

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3061 on: May 27, 2023, 03:30:09 PM »
Nice job of working out the process, Kim! The (almost) finished stanchion looks great! :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:

You know, when taking a cut with a sharp tool and everything is going peachy, is just seems so effortless. It's only when things go wrong that I'm reminded how high the actual forces at play can be.
Regards,
Ron

Offline Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3062 on: May 28, 2023, 01:20:54 AM »
Thanks everyone!   :cheers:

Yes, it's easy to forget how much force is required to shear metal from metal!

Florian, I'm considering options on drilling.  I have thought about using the jig like I did the first time around, but making it a stepped hole; 0.200" for the first bit and 3/16" for the last part where the ball is though I worry about getting the hole lined up with the center of the ball.  When I did the hole first I could adjust the location of the ball slightly. But in this order, the hole has to line up correctly, so I'm leaning toward doing each part individually by making a flat spot on the ball and then using that to set the location of the hole.

Kim

Offline Roger B

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3063 on: May 28, 2023, 08:08:35 AM »
Those stanchions are proving quite a challenge however it looks like you have a solution  :ThumbsUp:  :ThumbsUp:  :wine1:
Best regards

Roger

Offline Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3064 on: May 29, 2023, 10:39:03 PM »
Thanks Roger!
Once I honed in on the correct order of operations it wasn't so bad! :)

Kim

Offline Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3065 on: May 29, 2023, 10:41:21 PM »
To finish up the handrail brackets I made two more of them using my latest greatest process which worked like a charm.

Then I moved the little threaded mandrel over to the mill and centered things on the round knob.  I did this by centering on the 1/4" mandrel for the Y-axis setting. And for the X-axis, I touched off the end of the mandrel and measured out from that the specified amount. That seemed to get me as close to center as I could have done visually (probably closer, truth be told).

Then I used a 1/8” end mill and shaved a few thou off the top of the ball to make a flat spot to start the drill.  And used a center drill to put a center mark in the right spot:


Finally, I drilled the hole for the handrail, remembering that two of them were blind holes and one was a through hole.  I used a #41 drill for this which is a few thou over the 3/32” size of the handrail.  I was afraid that a curved handrail wouldn’t fit through a tight-fitting hole very well since the holes are straight, not curved. Haven’t figured out how to drill a curved hole yet.  I’ll have to see if I can pick up that skill! :)


Here are the three handrail brackets, finally completed!


Kim

Offline Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3066 on: May 29, 2023, 10:45:28 PM »
Chapter 25.7 – Handrail

Next up was the handrail itself.

As I mentioned earlier, Kozo specifies 0.100” as the diameter of the rail.  But I’ve been using 3/32” 303 stainless instead (which is 0.09375”).

I started by taking a length of 3/32” rod and bending it around a 3” mandrel. It sprang back quite a bit.  So I annealed the stainless and tried again, but it still sprung out a lot. So I got a slightly smaller diameter mandrel to use (2.75”) and tried tightening the radius some.  That helped, though I should have probably tried 2.5” and that would have probably been better.  Regardless, I made this work.


After cutting off the tip end of the rod – the part that didn’t really get curved – I fit it in its place using two of the standoffs and marked the location where it should be cut.  I marked it a bit long for the initial cut.


I cut the rod with bolt cutters and used the belt sander to clean up the end.  Then I fit it in place and checked the length.  I did several iterations of sanding a bit off the end before I had it the right length.  I wanted to sneak up on it carefully so I didn’t get it too short.  But in the end, it fits and looks pretty good!


Here’s the back of the smokebox door. The three nuts are what’s holding the handrail brackets in place.


And here’s the completed smokebox door, in place, on the smokebox.


Didn’t turn out half bad!  I’m pretty pleased!


Thanks for following along and helping me out!
Kim

Offline cnr6400

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3067 on: May 29, 2023, 10:59:28 PM »
The railing and stanchions look great Kim!  :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

I did a double take when I saw the big bar of free cutting steel, after reading that you were going to make the railing 3/32" diameter - I thought "it's gonna take a while to turn that down to 3/32"!"  :Lol:  :cheers:
"I've cut that stock three times, and it's still too short!"

Online crueby

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3068 on: May 29, 2023, 11:16:12 PM »
Rail parts came out great!   Do the rail ends get soldered?  And are the slotted clamp screws going to be swapped with stud and nuts?  Looking forward to  seeing  what's  next. Wheres that popcorn bowl...

Offline Krypto

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3069 on: May 29, 2023, 11:32:14 PM »
That was a very interesting process just to make those little parts!  Definitely some handy tricks learned one can use on other parts.
My Workshop Blog:  https://doug.sdf.org/

Offline RReid

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3070 on: May 30, 2023, 12:25:20 AM »
Lookin' good Kim! :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:
Regards,
Ron

Offline Dave Otto

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3071 on: May 30, 2023, 12:37:07 AM »
Beautiful Kim!
That turned out great!

Dave

Offline Don1966

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3072 on: May 30, 2023, 02:27:07 AM »
Great results Kim….

 :cheers:
Don

Offline Firebird

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3073 on: May 30, 2023, 07:41:39 AM »
 :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp: :ThumbsUp:

Offline Kim

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Re: Pennsylvania A3 Switcher (Kozo)
« Reply #3074 on: May 30, 2023, 06:43:39 PM »
Thanks everyone!  :cheers:

I did a double take when I saw the big bar of free cutting steel, after reading that you were going to make the railing 3/32" diameter - I thought "it's gonna take a while to turn that down to 3/32"!"  :Lol:  :cheers:
Yeah, that would be quite an exercise in turning!  :Lol:

Do the rail ends get soldered?
No, doesn't show that in the instructions. But maybe I should.  It would make disassembly and reassembly easier.  Though I'd have to do it 'in place' on the door to hold everything in the correct alignment...   :thinking:

And are the slotted clamp screws going to be swapped with stud and nuts?
No plans to.  This is what Kozo shows for the clamp screws.  I don't know how prototypical it is though...

Kim

 

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