Ohio Locomotive Crane

[crueby]

Engine room sign, eh? "Make it so number one!"  As to Warp drive as Kim mentioned - I usually get about Warp factor 3 whenever I do any woodwork- it always warps !   

Does the Warp Factor take into account how warped the captain is?   

Wow, we've gotten a couple light years off course on this thread!   

[bent]

LOL.  I need to retire fully, so I can achieve maybe 1/10th of your output Chris!  Unfortunately, my replacement at work may not be working out, and they may want me to come back next year to train a second replacement.  It's nice to be wanted, but I've got other things I want to do...oh well.

Regarding the internal ring gear, looks like you have sorted it.  I was imagining the Ransome feller being repurposed as a steam driven shaper.  I'd order in a trailer load or two of popcorn, but will be on an outing with the better half, touring Japan.  So, will be gone most of October (but back to throw candy at the kids).  Fully expect this one built, on the tracks and repairing all those downed bridges back east by the time I'm back.

 

[Michael S.]

Do you also have collapsed bridges?
Our bridges also simply collapse.
A bridge collapsed in the middle of the night in Dresden. To remove the parts we also need Chris' crane 😉.

Michael

[kvom]

Speaking of cranes, one was next door yesterday taking down a large tree in my neighbor's yard.  We were very happy to see it as one of its large branches fell into our yard a couple of weeks ago.

[crueby]

LOL.  I need to retire fully, so I can achieve maybe 1/10th of your output Chris!  Unfortunately, my replacement at work may not be working out, and they may want me to come back next year to train a second replacement.  It's nice to be wanted, but I've got other things I want to do...oh well.

Regarding the internal ring gear, looks like you have sorted it.  I was imagining the Ransome feller being repurposed as a steam driven shaper.  I'd order in a trailer load or two of popcorn, but will be on an outing with the better half, touring Japan.  So, will be gone most of October (but back to throw candy at the kids).  Fully expect this one built, on the tracks and repairing all those downed bridges back east by the time I'm back.

 

Using the Ransome saw as a shaper is a clever idea! Might need some more parts added on, I'll distract the elves with work on that...   

This whole crane done in a month. Um. Err. Yeah. I'm just not saying WHICH month!   

Only bridge here in the east I'm aware of being down is the one in Baltimore that leapt out in front of that runaway cargo ship. I'll need to build this crane at a larger scale for that one. Though this model could probably lift the rivets in place, one by one!!

[crueby]

Do you also have collapsed bridges?
Our bridges also simply collapse.
A bridge collapsed in the middle of the night in Dresden. To remove the parts we also need Chris' crane 😉.

Michael

Oops!  Were your shop elves bringing too heavy a load of beer kegs over it?

[crueby]

Speaking of cranes, one was next door yesterday taking down a large tree in my neighbor's yard.  We were very happy to see it as one of its large branches fell into our yard a couple of weeks ago.

Hope they had a good operator on that crane. There was one a few years back across town from me, where they had a new, poorly trained, unqualified operator, and the crane fell over onto a garage next door...

[crueby]

Done with the really boring bit of turning eight wheel blanks down to thickness, and on to some shaping. Started turning in the recess on the outside face. The depth of the recess requires changing back and forth between center, left, right turning tools. The inside face gets a similar but narrower recess. Aside from being round, its not looking an awful lot like a wheel yet...

[crueby]

So far half the wheels have that first recess turned in to them (then lunch out with friends took priority, plus a trip to the local apple place for some fresh cider and donuts - yum!)   Then the track tie plates that I ordered arrived in the mail, so I got the other rail attached to the display base. Some wood blocks were cut to use as spacers between the rails, which have a slight curve for looks.

The 'Engine Room' sign that I printed the other day is visible in the background - the letters and adge were picked out in some gold paint. That will go over the door to the new room where this and other models will live (assuming the shop elves don't beat me to it and install their roller coaster and pub(s).   

[crueby]

When posting that previous picture, had a problem with the old Canon camera thats been getting more frequent - when the USB cable into the camera is touched or moved just a little, the connection to the PC drops. Not surprising in a old digtal camera, the connectors have very small pins onto the board and can break a solder joint from the cable movements. Its a great little camera, been using it in the shop for many years. I picked up a newer version last Christmas during the Black Friday sales to have a backup when this one finally goes - the shield thingy that comes over the lens when its turned off has gotten pretty worn, and sometimes sticks too.


So, got out the mini phillips screwdrivers and started figuring out how to get the top end of the case to get at the USB connector and its little board. Turns out about like I figured, a combination of tabs, tiny screws tucked under things, and all the case parts interlock so you have to strip it all off to get at this one corner.   

Once it was apart, checked under magnification and found that the connections holding it to the board are just fine, and its one of the teensy spring loaded pins inside the connector that was the issue, it was sitting too low, and not making good contact anymore. A little prying under it with a needle tip and its back where it belongs. Turns out I didn't need to take anything apart at all!   

So, got it all put back together, all 15 or so screws, that come in 4 barely different sizes and threads...     All back together, with only 2 screws left over! Oh boy, I got spares!  Err, um...     First thought, that I'm sticking with: They really didn't need those last two, and could have saved 1.27 millipennies on the cost! Followed with: I am NOT taking it all apart again to find where they went!   

All functions well, took it back to the PC, plugged it in, connected there too. Wiggled, waggled, and twisted on the USB cord, and it stays connected, so I found the problem!   

Now, back to our regularly (well, sorta) scheduled build process!   

[cnr6400]

 

[Kim]

Good start on the wheels, Chris. And excellent camera technician skills too!  Well done! 

Kim

[ShopShoe]

Some History  -  Parenthetical Information Post - Slightly OT

Crueby,

Your start on building a railroad crane brought to mind an historical article I read that talked about building a high trestle here in Iowa that stated that tracks were laid across the valley in preparation for the construction to allow tracked cranes to assist the process.

Because this bridge is famous I began looking for documentation of that. I found a local history site that has a 1901 photo of the trestle under construction which shows a crane in use from the partially-built railbed on the trestle. Possibly there are traces of a grade at the base of the bridge towers visible in the photo.

Unfortunately the crane shown in the photo is not like your model, but it is interesting none-the-less.  I think a diorama built like the bridge project in the photo would be a fantastic display, but maybe not because the whole thing would then become big and heavy.

https://history.iowa.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/industrial-revolution/building-boone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Shelley_High_Bridge

https://books.google.com/books?id=aAwAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false

Regarding the bridge in question’s fame, you can read what is posted on the second link.  (The third link includes information about the “travelers” that were used on the trestle rails.)

I have probably let my rambling on sidetrack the discussion too far by now….

Regards,


—ShopShoe

[crueby]

Neat bridge! Hmmm, a diorama of that whole bridge at the scale of my crane, carry the 3, um, it wouldnt fit in my neighborhood!! I love the picture on page 14 of that book, looks like jousting cranes!


 

[crueby]

The recesses on the front have been finished up, and did the ones on the back side of each wheel next. Slightly different size and placement than the ones on the front.

Then switched back to the taper locks. I want them all made so I can use them to check the openings when turning in the tapered openings in the wheels. So, chucked up the first of the blanks for the taper locks, set the compound slide to 5 degrees, and took the outside down till the narrow end was the diameter I wanted - a bit larger than the 5/8" axle rod they will fit on, but still a relatively thin shell so they can flex to grip down on the axle when tightened into the holes in the wheel. In this picture, a starter hole has been drilled in the block, but not yet bored out to fit the axle stock. I want to do both operations in one chucking so that the axle hole and the taper are concentric. After the taper/boring is done, I'll move the chuck over to the rotary table on the mill to drill the screw holes in the flange, then will part off the lock from the longer bar. The bar is long enough that I can get one pair of locks out of it. Eight needed total.