Author Topic: 31/2" Tich  (Read 15020 times)

Offline samc88

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31/2" Tich
« on: April 15, 2020, 09:26:51 PM »
Attempting to break my track record with build logs with this and hope to keep it updated. I got an almost complete set of Tich castings for £60 a few years back (just missing 3 wheels and a couple of minor bits) and since I'm off work with this lock down due to medical reasons I thought why not get on with it.

Cut the frames and buffer beams out with hacksaw and files and upon test fitting all looks nice and square.

Cut out the corner angles ready for riveting and made a clamp for machining the hornblocks on my vertical slide. I've cut the hornblocks in half from the casting stick and marked them up as two pairs (would have liked to machine them together in the one stick but I don't think it would work well with the limitations of my machine)

Will be lots of questions I'm sure

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Offline crueby

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2020, 09:53:34 PM »
...

Will be lots of questions I'm sure

Heres a question: What the swarf is a Tich?   :headscratch:

Offline samc88

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2020, 10:06:17 PM »
...

Will be lots of questions I'm sure

Heres a question: What the swarf is a Tich?   :headscratch:
Little tank engine designed by LBSC in model engineer magazine years ago.

Here's one I found on YouTube
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUHigofV4fU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUHigofV4fU</a>

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Offline crueby

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2020, 10:52:37 PM »
Nice engine, should be a fun project!

Offline scc

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2020, 09:17:05 AM »
Lovely,  I will be following :popcorn:     "files and hacksaws"     my favourite system :LickLips:       Terry

Offline Firebird

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2020, 09:32:05 AM »
Hi Sam

I have a few bits of a Tich lurking in the rafters, another ebay purchase. I'll be following along with great interest  :popcorn:

Cheers

Rich

Offline samc88

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2020, 08:42:45 PM »
Not done much tonight other than sort out my metal stock and marked out the hornblocks. Set up the clamp and the first hornblock in the slide and squared it off ready for milling to size tomorrow. Put it on the table and used a square off the lathe bed against one side of the flange to set it up.
Once I adjusted everything it milled quite nicely for a small machine

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« Last Edit: April 16, 2020, 09:22:58 PM by samc88 »

Offline GWRdriver

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2020, 10:58:41 PM »
Heres a question: What the swarf is a Tich?   :headscratch:

According to the former AJReevesLtd, gleaned 20 years ago from their records of number of castings sets sold, the TICH is the single most-built live steam locomotive in history.  The #2 engine, at over 10,000 sets sold, is probably the 1/4" scale 4-8-4 offered beginning in the 1930s by the Little Engine Co. of Lomita California.

These rankings represent the number of castings sets sold, not locomotives completed, which I'm sure is a considerably different number, especially that of the LE 4-8-4.

Harry
(Builder of a 2X TICH)
« Last Edit: April 17, 2020, 11:07:30 PM by GWRdriver »
Cheers,
Harry

Offline Firebird

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2020, 01:16:42 PM »

Offline samc88

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2020, 10:03:51 PM »
More fun with hornblocks. First picture is how I set it up in the vertical slide against a square off the lathe bed and the second shows using the frame as a gauge for when it's a good tight fit, all fit nice and snug doing it this way I found and they all fit nicely.

Used the eyeball Mk. 1A to mark out the 6 holes in each hornblock and then drilled through these to mark the frames which were then drilled with a No. 41 drill and they all lined up nicely. Was getting a bit late to start hammering with the rivets so I've cut the rivets to length ready and cleaned and deburred everything ready for tomorrow. Once I've riveted these in place I'll machine the axle box to finished size so I can use them as a gauge for finishing the inside of the hornblocks

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« Last Edit: April 17, 2020, 10:39:23 PM by samc88 »

Offline crueby

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2020, 11:27:58 PM »
Nice work, following along.  :popcorn:

Offline samc88

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Re: 31/2&quot; Tich
« Reply #11 on: April 18, 2020, 07:39:24 PM »
Thanks Crueby :) Bit of a large learning curve for me, quite nice to be hand fitting again, doesn't come up very often these days in work with the maintenance work on police boats we do

Got the riveting done today, the side plates I'd countersunk a little deep so had to put a skim of filler over them, the buffer beams I'm much happier with. Did another test fit and all looking good, just had to fettle the slots ever so slightly to get it sitting properly square. Next task will be machine the axle boxes to size to use as a gauge for the inside of the hornblocks

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Offline samc88

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Re: 31/2&quot; Tich
« Reply #12 on: April 18, 2020, 08:35:37 PM »
Last thing I've done tonight is break out the trusty miluloyo (yes I know) finger DTI and clocked the vice properly. After a couple of goes with a small mallet making adjustments I got to within 0.01mm (under 0.4thou) so quite happy with that.

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Offline samc88

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Re: 31/2&quot; Tich
« Reply #13 on: April 18, 2020, 11:33:56 PM »
Test post to see if the file resize app I have downloaded works. If it does it'll save having massive attachments which is a pain with this phone

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Offline Trevorc

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Re: 31/2" Tich
« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2020, 02:52:09 PM »
I built a 71/4 inch gauge version of TICH many years ago, i simply scaled up the original LBSC 31/2 inch drawings and used judgement where things looked too chunky. One thing i remember is being told that there were errors in the LBSC drawings especially for the valve gear linkage. I checked using the available theory for  Walshearts   ( spelling?) gear and found one link was too short. I cant remember which or by how much. My loco ran well so i take this as confirmation that I had corrected error. It would therefore be wise to make your own check on valve gear dimensions.
Perhaps others have a view on this.
Trevorc


 

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