Ohio Locomotive Crane

[gbritnell]

Outstanding as ever Chris!

[tghs]

looking great, but just a note of caution, through the shop elf/assistant  network Slim heard (he is an awfull snitch) that a large elf drinking, dancing and singing party went into the wee  hours of the morning in your shop!!! they played Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball over and over.. I think they are making plans!!!

[crueby]

Outstanding as ever Chris!

Thanks George!

[crueby]

looking great, but just a note of caution, through the shop elf/assistant  network Slim heard (he is an awfull snitch) that a large elf drinking, dancing and singing party went into the wee  hours of the morning in your shop!!! they played Miley Cyrus's Wrecking Ball over and over.. I think they are making plans!!!

That explains why I kept waking up all night - those little elfers!   

[crueby]

The clutches are next. I need six of them to drive the bevel gears for the wheels, derrick drum, and slew functions, and one to drive the hoist drum. Started out with stacks of slices off a stainless steel bar and a bronze bar. These completed the 'kit' of 'castings', along with the 5/8"x5 acme threaded rod and some smaller bronze bars...

Then had to remove the shafts from the gear train to get the small bevel gears off. This won't effect the timing work on the engine, since the eccentrics are attached to the shafts sticking out of the crank discs, and the crank discs are keyed to the shaft. Still, it looks a lot like one of the SpaceX rockets that 'acheived a rapid unplanned disassembly'!  The model has been hooked up to an electric cattle fence module to keep any stray shop gnomes from stealing any shiny bits!

The discs were taken to the lathe, and all of them trued up and taken to thickness. Then, six of the steel ones got a nub turned on one side to hole the gears centered so they can be silver soldered in place. The gears were made with a shallow cut on the outside end with this in mind. You can see the one disc with the gear off to the side, showing the nub.

I'll solder the gears in place, then come back and drill/bore the center holes out to size, and then set them up on an arbor for more shaping. These will become the cup shaped discs that the bronze plates engage against. Here is the CAD drawing again, showing the gears and the steel disc on the right end.

[cnr6400]

  Those castings you started with sure were clean! I didn't see any flash or gate marks at all. A fine job by Rolling Mill Foundry... 

The electric fencer is a great idea. 

Clutch CAD looks great!

[crueby]

Those castings you started with sure were clean! I didn't see any flash or gate marks at all. A fine job by Rolling Mill Foundry... 

The electric fencer is a great idea. 

Clutch CAD looks great!

Best castings I ever got!      Well, the ones for the little bench vise model from Martin Models was pretty terrific, as I recall!!

[Roger B]

I'm still following these clutches with great interest     

[crueby]

I'm still following these clutches with great interest 

Me too!  First time I've made clutches, hopefully they work and I don't have to redesign them!   

[crueby]

Got the gears silver soldered to the blanks for the clutch cup discs today...

With them joined, I can drill/bore the shaft bearing holes and start shaping the cup on the other sides of the steel discs...

[PaulR]

What pickle do you normally use?

[cnr6400]

  Looking great Chris! Silver soldering season is (nearly) here again.

Have the shop elves asked you to make the female / cavity side die to match these elf-size cupcake baking tin punches?  (I'd suggest locking up the pre-tinned .002" steel sheet stock in case they wing it and try making the die themselves) 

[crueby]

What pickle do you normally use?

For brass/copper/bronze, I like the Sparex pickle, comes as a powder that you mix with water. No where near as strong as other acids, so it wont dissolve you if you touch it (though you want to wash it off, it is still acidic). They used to make a version for use with steels, but that got discontinued. You can use the Sparex on steel, but once you use a container of it on brass or copper, a little of the copper goes into the solution and it will tint the steel to a copper color. So, I keep one container of each (I use PETG screw lid containers, do not use metal containers or lids). I suspend parts into the containers on wire - steel wire for the steel one, copper wire for the copper/brass one).


For some parts, I just use kitchen type white vinegar, 5% solution, from the grocery store. Works great, just slower, several hours vs about 1 hour for the sparex. Cheap, safe, easy to dispose of.

For all parts, after silver soldering, I rinse and wire brush them before pickling, to remove the worst of the soot/flux residues. Sometimes parts need another brushing/rinsing after a while in the pickle, if there was some flux stuck on. After pickling, a good water rinse, and brush or scrub with an abrasive pad.

[crueby]

Looking great Chris! Silver soldering season is (nearly) here again.

Have the shop elves asked you to make the female / cavity side die to match these elf-size cupcake baking tin punches?  (I'd suggest locking up the pre-tinned .002" steel sheet stock in case they wing it and try making the die themselves) 

Oh sure. Thanks. They didn't know about cupcakes yet!      They have been trained on mint chocolate chip cookies.

The weather here (not that far south of you, but far enough to make a difference) has changed from winter cycle to early spring, we have been swinging between 35 and 70 degrees, snow is gone for now. Always a chance of another blizzard this time of year though!