New build 5" Gauge 15xx class loco "Speedy"

[Dougs]

And just so you know, there is now a 9F on the GCR to live.

Now that's got my attention!! Time to nip over to Loughborough I am well over due

[Vulcan Bomber]

And just so you know, there is now a 9F on the GCR to live.

Now that's got my attention!! Time to nip over to Loughborough I am well over due

Same here! There having a weekend in feb dedicated to the standard class Loco with the 9F 92214, Oliver Cromwell and a BR standard class 2.

[Dougs]

Started the boring process on the axel blocks

The first one done

And the first set

It will be back on its wheels in no time

[34053]

Excellent work, Dougs. Well done!

PW

[Dougs]

on a side note I have updated the website for my trains quite a bit http://www.modelsteamloco.co.uka few more weeks and it should be up to date it basicly puts all of this lot in one place so you guys get to see it first before its on my site anyway.

[Dougs]

Ok been quite busy again this week got the axle boxes finished which as usual has raised more jobs that need completing. The bars that hold the springs are too long as are the springs themselves something I found on my other train when I got round to running is if they are too long then they rub on the track obviously not good
One of the finished axel boxes

All of them done

These are the bars that need a trim

While I have been using my mill a lot I have found a few problems so I set about fixing them
First one is the metric dial on the front to measure depth my train is imperial so it's slowing me down having to convert all the measurements so I wanted a digital readout that can swap between metric and imperial and I found a small digital depth gauge on Ebay for the princely sum of £3.60
The old next to the new it works very well indeed

The other modification is adding a power feed motor so I don't have to wind the handle back and forth for hours
The screw removed for modification

I had to drill the screw to make an extension which you can see in the photo below it's still in my lathe while the glue sets (lock tight to stop it falling out)and to make sure it sets parallel.

It all looks a little confusing but trust me it will all make seance on my next post.
Back to the loco,
I have got so much to do now it's great I feel like I am really getting somewhere I have got to put the wheels together next so I am getting very close to getting it back rolling again.

[Vulcan Bomber]

Nice bit of progress there again mate. You will find with a bit of practice that you can read an imperial measurement and convert it in your head, you'll be surprised by the amount of imperial conversions I've memorized.

I must admit I'm slightly jealous you have your lathe and Mill at home, I have to do all my bits at work after hours.

[34053]

Thank you for the Update, Dougs. (You got a bargain there with the digital 'depth gauge').

PW

[Dougs]

A quick mid week read
right first job the power feed on my mill, on my last report I showed the screw being extended well thats all glued up and back in I have also made a couple of bolt holes to hold the motor

the motor came yesterday so I got right on with fitting it, the extension shaft and the motor shafts are both 6mm in diameter so I got a 13mm brass bar and drilled it through 6mm this will be the dog clutch to dis engauge the motor I have already drilled the extension shaft 1.5mm and put a pin in it which will be driven by the brass bar which I will put a slot into. The motor shaft will also have a matching pin in it to drive the brass bush.

as for speedy I have cut all the springs and bars to the correct lenght and got the wheels and axles togeher ready for quartering again.(hopefully for the last time)

[Dougs]

Well what a productive day I got the wheels all set up and pinned and got the connecting rods in place

Couldn't help but put it on the show track just to see if it fits

And I have nearly finished the power feed to my mill just waiting for a switch to finish off

I am off down to the club tomorrow so I can test butch

[34053]

Good work, Dougs. Power feed is looking good. So does the 'Rolling Chassis' for 'Speedy'.

PW

[Dougs]

Slow but steady progress I have made the front fixings for the coupling rods, I have two nuts to make for the back and I can move on to the next big job, the cylinders

[34053]

Great shots of the coupling rods there, Dougs. I look forward to seeing your work on the cylinders.

PW

[Dougs]

Thanks PW going to be a slight delay on those I am afraid, as I have found more errors in the original parts. This gives me a point where I choose to make it work of remake the original parts. I have decided to redo the axle boxes again this time to account for errors in the connecting rods I have measured up all the bits and found 2mm of errors so I can't let it go as in full scale that would end up 5" out of position. It's all getting a bit messy but when I have all this lot sorted it should be fine anyway someone mentioned that my wheels were not correct so I did a bit of painting.

They are now correct as per the full size loco

[34053]

Yes, 'the Devil is in the detail', as they say! I'm sure that you will soon have it all rectified, Dougs. The wheels also look much better now.

PW

[Dougs]

Well I have been busy getting the axles sorted and fixing errors
The errors all measured up

A plan to modify the axle boxes to make them work I cut the brass bushes and pack them out to centralise them, I will need to remake them later out of a harder material as brass will wear out quite quickly

After getting the axles right I wanted to start the brakes so I fitted the brake bar

And I fitted the axle pump

Then both cylinders on ready to check the positions

And then on to the lathe to machine the brake shoes

Then test fit the ring on a wheel which is tapered so I Needed to check it fits snugly and it's spot on

Then back to the lathe again to make some nuts to hold the connecting rods on

And finally the con rod to the piston checking for position and fit

Lots of progress the cylinders need to be bored next which is going to be a massive challenge as they are too big for my machines so I have to come up with a way to machine them

[Vulcan Bomber]

Your Lathe will swing them wont it? The cylinders that is.

[Dougs]

Your Lathe will swing them wont it? The cylinders that is.

Nope I have been trying all day to get a setup that works on the mill and the lathe and it's just too big a job for both of them it's so far on the edge of what they are capable of doing, I can't machine them safely and with £500 plus at stake I am going to get them bored out proffesionally it's going to cost me £50 but I think it's worth it.
I would never shy away from a challenge but this is just too much.

[Vulcan Bomber]

Can you not nail them onto the lathes cross slide?

50quid however isnt bad going!

[Dougs]

Can you not nail them onto the lathes cross slide?

50quid however isnt bad going!

yes I tried that it would be better nothing but at £500+ for the castings i dont want to risk it the big problem is the cross slide slipping and my lathe has a fibre belt drive so its not got the torque i would need to do the bigger diameters
this job took two hours and you can see the depth of cut i could take

the depth of theat ring was about 1/4"
the bores on the cylinders are 3 1/8" long and i need to remove about 3/8" of material so i think its money well spent for a critical job like that.
I have done this job before when i made a mill engine (1/2" dia. bore) so i know its possible but for this its the scale (over 3 times the size) thats just too big for my machines.

[Spitfire]

I love this - the pictures are ace ... don't understand 80% of it ... but it's brilliant seeing what you are achieving

This is like a foreign language to me

Can you not nail them onto the lathes cross slide?

but fun nonetheless

I especially like that belt drive lathe - it looks like it's out of Fred Dibnah's back garden - everything there was like a Victorian cotton mill - one steam engine driving hundreds of belts

Keep on taking the pictures - love them ...

[34053]

Many thanks for your latest Update, Dougs. I think that you are very wise not to take unnecessary risks for the sake of £50, when you stand to 'lose' £500 worth of material!

PW

[Dougs]

I love this - the pictures are ace ... don't understand 80% of it ... but it's brilliant seeing what you are achieving

This is like a foreign language to me

Can you not nail them onto the lathes cross slide?

but fun nonetheless

I especially like that belt drive lathe - it looks like it's out of Fred Dibnah's back garden - everything there was like a Victorian cotton mill - one steam engine driving hundreds of belts

Keep on taking the pictures - love them ...

This is what VB was suggesting

Put the cylinder on on the lathe and mill it rather than hold it in the spiny end and turn it.
Lay men's engineering terms
Turning (spinning the work piece)
Milling (spinning the tool)

Thanks PW I am getting extra flak from SWMBO but I do feel like it the right thing to do

[Vulcan Bomber]

Thats a nice diagram Dougs!!! Better than I could of drawn.

I keep forgetting that most people reading these threads dont know much in the way of machining, I must use better English in future.

[Dougs]

Update time again
I have fitted the brake cylinder (steam powered brakes)


And fitted the valve frame ready for when the cylinders return

And I have the brake bars ready for machining

These will be fun to machine as they end up quite complex
However things have slowed down a bit as I am modifying my mill again this time I am fitting switches to the table that will stop the motor that moves the table so I can switch it on and it won't go too far.

The bar will hold a couple of sliding blocks these will set the limits the motor can power the table to. I then need to fit the measuring scale back on again. No work today as I am taking my loco to the track for some well needed practice driving