Upper Trunk Timber and Logging Company

Switcheroo Dec. 2010

2011-03-04T22:41:00.002-05:00

During the December public run, I brought the Switcheroo out for a little test run. I wasn't sure if the siderods were going to be flexible enough and yet not bind, but as it turns out, the drive line worked fine, except for; set screws on the chain sprocktes came loose, the red link belt kept slipping and the linkage to the throttle was way too sensitive. It was either all or nothing. Other than that, it ran fine. I even took off down through a section of track that was not cleared off at all. I was very surprised how far I actually got. And if you look real close at the loco's wheels, you can actually see snow packed in between the spokes. After the run, I sprayed the entire loco with WD-40 and after setting under the back patio (not enclosed) all winter, there is only a slight trace of flash rust on the wheels and that rubs right off with a rag. Gotta love that fish oil.

The making of a real steam locomotive.

2010-12-14T21:03:00.001-05:00

Hello,
Take a minute and check out the 1928 black and white silent movie on the manufacturing of a full size steam locomotive.
http://www.cinemamuetquebec.ca/content/movies/23?lang=en

Switcheroo

2010-12-12T16:37:00.013-05:00

Shortly after our club's Halloween run, I was on Craig's list and found a hydraulic drive unit. This unit was originally on a 16hp Lesco self propelled leaf blower. Someone had removed the engine and impeller unit and left the carcass and drive unit. I couldn't pass it up. I then found a 5.5hp Honda engine which was once use on a gocart in one of those amusement parks. The only issue with the engine was that it had a 20mm output shaft. That was easy enough to fix because Tractor Supply has hubs that you can weld onto any size pulley you may need. The nice thing about that is you can chuck the entire hub up in the lathe and not have to worry about the vee belt pulley portion. Since 20mm is just over 3/4" ( .787) I just picked up a 3/4" hub and bored it out to 20mm. And the key way in the hub was a little deeper than necessary so by the time all was done, the key fit right in. Next I picked up a 3/4" thick plate for the chassis and sill plates. A piece of 1/2" for the sides and I was ready to start squaring up stock and drilling holes. Before long I was bolting parts together. I wanted to keep things as compact as possible so the short wheel base (18") would not look out of place. When the weather cooperated with a little sun, I decided to fab up a manifold and muffler that resided below deck and since is was going on a Honda engine I called it a Hondafone. My good friend, Richard, suggested an bolt up style manifold with a male and female taper fit in the pipe so a gasket could be avoided. That was also much easier than I imagined. I disconnected the governor from the throttle and made up a quick and dirty, temporary linkage from an old bicycle brake handle. I used all the original hoses and just sort of "stuck" things where I could just so I could get an idea about the belt and sprocket ratios. Apparently this unit is about 10 years old or so and Danfoss, the maker of the pump and orbital mini motor, no longer make pumps. I could find all kinds of info on the OMM (orbital mini motor) but nothing on the pump. Finally, after much prodding from Richard, I got on the phone and after a few hours, I ended up talking to a guy in PA, who knows a few things about hydraulic pumps. I found out that this pump is only a 1.5 gpm and in order to make this OMM move like I need it to, a 5 gpm is what's needed. However, he told that I could spin this pump up to 4000 rpm which would give me about 3 gpm. After another hour of crunching numbers on ratios, I only needed two sprockets and one pulley.
After a couple late night marathons, I was ready to load up and head out to the track for a test run. Saturday the 11th was our "Christmas" run for the public and it was a beautiful day. Sun shinning and about 40 degrees. Other than the throttle being a little too sensitive and set screws backing out or just plain slipping, the engine really was a lot of fun and performed very well. The suspension was right on and never even thought about jumping off, even after plowing through snow and sticks on the rails.

Lesco unit, or what's left of it. There was a crack in the frame just behind the front wheel mount plate. Drive line: Pump, pulleys, OMM, filter, valve, reservoir and hoses.

Home made muffler: AKA Hondafone.

Below deck: Exhaust manifold coming down from above. Lining up Hondafone for fit.

Manifold flange config.

Right side: The engine is up front. Pump is directly over the OMM with less than an inch between them. Oil filter is just setting there for now. And a better look at the manifold.

The underside: Jack shaft assembly. Completely adjustable up and down and front to back. Oil lite bushing instead of bearings.

Top view: pump is right on top of the OMM. Tightening bolts is a challenge.

Sadly, I did not take any pictures during the run, but I am hoping our club photographer did. So I will have to check with him for a couple to post on here.

Cast iron trucks gets new shoes.

2010-10-03T22:22:00.005-04:00

I decided to install a brake system on these trucks because there has been times when I really wished I had a little more stopping power. I went through some magazine articles, specifically the articles on the Fitchburg Northern. As some of you may be aware of, that was the first loco I built. I sold it on e-bay and shipped it out to New Mexico. Anyway, I still have most of the articles from that project and I really liked the tender's brake set up. So, for the most part, here it is.

This first pic is of the bronze ring I turned and then segmented out for the shoes. Yes, I did match the tread taper on the bore of the ring. I use J-B Weld to glue the friction material to the bronze shoe. The non-metalic friction material came from McMaster-Carr.

Here are all the brake components. It took some time to figure out the first set, but once all the dimensions were established, the second truck went fast.

Orginally, the friction material was 1" wide. I used a utility knife to score and split the material into two 1/2" widths. The material was 3/16" thick and a little stiff to bend around the contour of the wheel, but two sided tape and masking tape helped hold things in place while the epoxy cured.

The effort to apply the brakes is so minimal that you can't roll the truck by gently pulling it by the brake lever.

There are extra holes at the bottom of the hangers for springs to help keep shoes from dragging on the wheels. I know, I know, I gotta get that paint off the tires contact patch.

2010-09-17T20:52:00.002-04:00

Today all the tires got faced to approx. thickness leaving .025 per side, which will come off after being fit to the rims.

Then all the rims got turned to finish size which is .oo5 over the ID of the tire.

Then the bolsters got finished and are ready to slide into the side frames....after a little filing....

Truck castings

2010-09-16T14:07:00.004-04:00

Picked up a set of cast truck frames at a swap meet. I have always hesitated in purchasing a set just due to the fact that the bearing boxes are one with the frames. This puts a serious damper on the flexibility factor. There is enough meat to put in ball bearings, but that means that either the O.D. or the I.D. has to be a press fit, which removes one more factor in the flexibility department. So I set out to figure a way to use oil lite bushings and keep them from spinning in the bearing boxes.

I wanted to avoid using a pin or a bolt and after my usual "I'll just sleep on it routine." I came up with trimming the flange portion of the bushing and milling a pocket in the frame. I just drilled a 3/4" hole, milled the pocket and dropped the bushing in place. There is plenty of flexibility and the bushing won't spin.

I will drill a small oil hole in the fake bearing box cover, pack felt in the bottom of the drilled hole and drop in the bushing. This will keep the bushing well lubricated and allow for easy bushing replacement when the time comes. I am also intent on putting manual brakes on these trucks.

Besides the truck frames I picked up this year, last year I picked up a good number of cast wheels. Now I just think spoked wheels look fantastic, but on my orginal engineer's car, the wheels were steel and in just four years, I have wore a slight groove in the tread. So, I know that a set of cast iron wheels on an engineer's car won't last very long. What to do ? What to do ?

Do what the real manufactures did, put a steel tire on the cast wheel. I pulled out my 1940 machinist hand book which has all kinds of railroad standards and looked up shrink fits for steel tires on cast iron wheels and sure enough it was in there. The cast iron wheel needs to be .005 larger than the bore of the tire. I'm going to use a propane turkey broiler burner to heat the tire up and then drop the cast iron wheel into place.

So, stand by for updates of this adventure.....

Steam Camp @ NOELS track 2010

2010-08-09T21:04:00.009-04:00

This was the lucky group attending an informal class. There was alot of hands on projects.

And the best (bias opinion) part of all was the steamers.

There was three of us. John Murray with his 0-4-0 switcher; George Santin with his Heisler: and I with my Clishay.

George was the first one out of the steaming bay, he got swarmed.

And here's Mr. Motion, a.k.a. Richard Sales with his easy to run, Shifter.

The campers really enjoyed running the Shifter.

And of course, A Grand Time Was Had By All.

Discover Live Steam Convention @ Mill Creek Central RR.

2010-08-08T21:55:00.010-04:00

In the above photo: I don't know how many times I have seen this gentleman in magazine pictures or on someones website running this Clishay. I never thought I would see him in person. But there he was at the Discover Live Steam Convention at Mill Creek Central Rail Road.

Here is an O.S. Locomotive. The craftsmanship is very good. Ran on propane and first time out on the track, I did not hear any complaints or issues come up. Personally, I did not care for the roar of the burner, only because you couldn't hear the "bark" of the engine working.

Then there was this derailment which occured right in front of Vendor's Row. I heard it as it was happening and I went over to lend a hand. I could not help but take these two pics before helping out. My caption for the last picture would read something like;

"Derailment...What derailment..?"

Back at the campsite, we were right beside a mainline, so in the evening we would sit and watch the locos go by. I downloaded this app for my phone which does some interesting things with pictures. Here are a few examples.

And as a side note, I don't think wearing clothes that match your engine is always a good thing.

A rolling chassis

2010-05-18T16:53:00.004-04:00

As I had mentioned in my last podcast, I was having some modem issues. The cable guy came out and got things going this morning so I'm playing "catch up" on my blog stuff.

As of 5-10-10 the Heisler has been up on the trucks with drive shafts, gearboxes and cylinders / crankcase in place and linked up.

Everybody is also up on the new engine stand, but I don't have pictures of that yet, but I will soon.

I am trying to use my spare time to get ready for the club meet next month so I can at least have the Heisler out at the track in good rolling order. I should have it at one of the steaming bays, provided they are not all full.

Could'a been worse...

2010-05-18T16:28:00.005-04:00

While working on a revision to the Clishay's "tender / support vehicle" I had to remove the old coupler pockets and incorporate a spine to the car. This spine would also serve as the coupler pockets. I tried using my disc grinder but even with a 6" cut off wheel, I couldn't reach the welds holding the existing coupler pocket to the truck's bolster. So I decided to let the Bridgeport do the work. And as you can see in the pictures, it worked, and then some.

I was lucky.

During the first cut I was conventional milling on the back side of this coupler pocket. I did not have very much to clamp on. Yes, I realize that taking the truck apart would have given me more material to clamp against, but where's the fun in that ? Anyway, I was taking a good bit of material off and the end mill grabbed and sucked the whole truck up into the quill. The end mill exploded and before I could shut the motor off, it stalled. It was in back gear and that's the first time I ever heard that phase converter grunt that hard.

Other than destroying a 3/4" 4 flute end mill and contorting the truck into a very un-natural position, I fared well.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it jacked the vise out of indication and the mill head needed swept back in on both axis.

I have to say that this is probably one of the worst crashes, second only to that big horizontal G&L I crashed back in "88". I told them not to put me on that machine...

Starting to look like something...

2010-04-28T22:59:00.005-04:00

I think I'm beginning to recognize what this is suppose to be...

Orginally, I wasn't too happy with the blue, but once the brass pieces and stainless screws were added, it sort of grew on me.

Cross Heads

2010-04-24T22:08:00.002-04:00

I had this piece of sawn bronze stock which was cut out from a larger piece. It took me a while to figure out how to hold a square piece in a six jaw chuck. I indicated it in within .010 and figured that was close enough. As you can see in the pic below, I had plenty of stock.
I don't know why, but I only took a couple of pics while turning the cross heads, but none of the finished pieces or while milling them. I guess that happens when you get too caught up in the job.
I'll take a pic of the finished pieces and post them.

A little clarification on the back door.

2010-04-23T21:43:00.007-04:00

This is the back door to the trailer I use to transport my train stuff in. At the top it has my blog addy. People have asked me what the web site is about. I don't have any problem sharing my passion for steam, but I figured something else was needed.

Besides, I had all this space that just looked too blank. So, I turned up the "artsie / craftsie" knob and came up with this. I use some bright gold vinyl pin striping left over from my motorcycle days. It has a narrow line and a wide line side by side. So I had two different weight of lines to work with. Took about 7 hours to complete. I think the only other detail I would add would be a coupler.

The loss of a fellow train enthusiast.

2010-04-13T14:31:00.003-04:00

George W. : Active Lake Shore Live Steamers member. Long time Civil War Re-enactor. Historian buff. May God bless you and keep you.
Anytime George introduced one of his friends to me, he always told them that I was the Great, Great Grandson of Gen. George McClellen, which I am. Somehow that always impressed George, which always impressed me.
George, I will never forget your mild manner and humble nature. And even during your battle with cancer, you maintained an even temper and steady aire. That is what impressed me the most about George. You shall be greatly missed and we are less without you here.

Cylinder end pieces.

2010-03-31T23:10:00.004-04:00

I just thought this pic looked kind of cool. Nothing special.

I really don't know what happened, but I missed finishing a critical dimension and had to change set up at the end and re-cut the small diameter. Tell me that ain't close. I was waiting for sparks to fly any second.

Now that all the machining is done to the cylinders, it's time to hone them.

Can't wait to hear it bark.

2010-03-21T20:03:00.002-04:00

After this pic was taken I milled out the web of the crank and faced the bushings to fit the crank shaft. Installed the crank and it moves so easily. And only about .005 end play on the drive shaft.

Later this afternoon I roughed out and finished the steam chests. There is a decorative brass cover that goes on the chest covers, but I think I'll just make the covers out of brass, fasten it with stainless screws and leave it at that.

Cylinders

2010-03-21T19:52:00.004-04:00

Yea, I've been a little busy. Seems like I just can't get enough done. But at least the power plant is starting to take shape. Here the cylinders are on a turn table and the excess stock is being milled off. Yes, I realize that the endmill is sticking out of the collet way too far, but since I didn't have much of a choice, one must make due. The cylinders started off as a 4 inch round stock, the bore was machined in on the lathe and then the three flat sides milled on. I did use a cobb style rougher mill to remove most of the material.

You can also see the steam ports. The plans called for one hole, about .050 larger than the one I used. I could just see that not allowing enough steam in or out of the cylinders.

Cylinder frames

2010-03-21T19:46:00.003-04:00

These are the cylinder frames. Both ends get the bolt hole pattern that matches into the crank case. My biggest problem was to figure out how to orientate the hole and slot into the correct position to the crank case. As you can see in the other pic the solution was not that difficult. The frames get a slot and hole machined in each and in keeping the hole to a nice size, the 7/8" TGP rod made a perfect orienting device.

Finishing the motor mounts

2010-03-21T19:42:00.003-04:00

Here the motor mounts are roughed out and mounted to the crank case.

Then the cut outs for the frame are carved into each mount. Doing it this way takes the guess work out of making sure all dimensions are right.

Crank case with mounts and Cylinder frames

2010-03-08T21:12:00.002-05:00

Just finished up the motor mounts. The Cylinder frames need to be drilled for mounting holes. I'll either start on the cylinders or the crank next.

And eventhough it looks like the motor mounts are touching the cylinder frames, there is actually about .010. The plans actually allowed for more space between the two, but I left a little more meat on the body of the cylinder frames. About .030 more. And the fit to the frame is right on the money. No slop and I don't have to spring the frame to wedge it in place.

Finishing Heisler's Crank Case

2010-02-08T18:09:00.001-05:00

Finishing the Crank Case

2010-02-08T17:40:00.002-05:00

Crankcase in process

2010-02-02T10:57:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pics of the crankcase being machined. This started out as a solid piece of Durabar.
Roughed and finished the ID and OD on the lathe and then made the back cover. Then the cover was Locktite in place. The assembly was then returned to the lathe and the back cover was faced to finish. The rest was just simple mill work. Here the cylinder frame locations are being machined and bolt holes being located.

Boiler mock-up

2010-01-12T15:59:00.006-05:00

A facit of my old radio controlled airplane days pays off in making a mock-up boiler. Not only did I want to see if a larger diameter boiler body could be used. For example, this body starts with a 7 1/2" diameter and tapers down to a 6 1/2" diameter. And by the looks of things I can start out with an 8" diameter and taper down to a 7".
Don't know if I will or not, but the option does exist. I also wanted to be able to get a pattern for the transition piece. I know the book tells you how to figure this out, but that is for the 3/4" scale. And doubling the numbers will probably work, but this is much closer.

How Train Wheels are Made.

2010-01-09T23:20:00.003-05:00

2009-11-24T22:00:00.002-05:00

Here are a couple of short video clips from my very first test run on the Linux EMC2 CNC controller. The next step will be to pull the guts out of the old black box and get the drive cards and hook them up to the computer.

This first video is just a screen shot of my CAD with a very small toolpath run on top of the shape. Sort of like a roughing program.

This second video is a screen shot at the tool path is being cut. This CNC program shows you the tool path prior to it actually being cut and then it shows the toolpath actually being cut in real time and if I had my mini mill hooked up the tool in the machine would be at the same location as the tool on the screen. The program also puts dimensions on the screen so you know just how big a piece a material you're gonna need.., Now that's slick.

So enjoy and watch for future progress of the transformation.

Vise is nice.....

2009-11-19T22:18:00.004-05:00

I have got to stay away from Craig's List....

Here is my latest acquisition. An older Kurt D60 vise.

The seller had a 6" and a 7" for sale. I couldn't decide so I took both.

Cosmetically it was a little on the rough side so I took everything apart and cleaned it up real well, put it all back together after going over all the surfaces with a stone to knock off all the high spots. Bolted it up on my mill and cleaned up the top surfaces.

I will work on the 7" vise later.

Dude...now I can finish my gearbox parts and I have a vise to hold the 6" crankcase body while carving on it.

Vise is nice...

Cheap Pretzel Drill

2009-11-17T18:36:00.004-05:00

This is one of those fance Titanium coated drills you use to drill around corners.

They are very rare to find and I was only allowed to buy just this one.

I have finished using it and was going to put it on E-Bay or Craigs List.

As you can see it has very little wear. It comes with a 200 page instruction manual, but I can't seem to find that so it will have to be sold as is.

Squared out and fitt'in nice.

2009-11-14T10:56:00.002-05:00

Again, after some serious filling and fitting the test piece fits snuggly in the socket. Next a round hole for the pinion shaft will go in the other end with a set screw or two Or maybe just pinned, I havn't decided yet.

Squaring out a round hole.

2009-11-13T22:56:00.005-05:00

The first thing that came to my mind when faced with squaring out a round hole was, "How ???"

And now that the first one is done, the only thing I can think of is, "Two more to go...Lord help me !!!"

A fellow club member donated some steam related magazines and other machine shop related manuals. While flipping through one of them, I spotted an article on how to square out a round hole. I have been looking all over the place for different ideas on how to do this because the Heislers drive shafts/universal joints require one for each truck. I thought about having them EDM'd out, but I didn't want to expose the assembled universals to the EDM oil which has microscopic steel and carbon particles floating in it. So when I read about using the lathe as a shaper and how to make the tool to do it with, I was sold.

So the first order was to make the tool. The first tool was too large and it could not be driven into the work piece properly. This is a 1/4" sq lathe bit ground on the bias at about a 30 deg angle off the perpendicular. I took a stone to the three working sides and brought up a nice finish.

Next was to set up the piece and keep the forces being applied off the universal joint's pins. So an Allen wrench was passed through and used as support. Next the tool was lined up with the hole. and the chuck was marked off on 4 equally spaced locations.

This is a top view of the set up. I also set up a magnetic base with a pointer to mark reference for the 4 locations on the chuck.

This last pic is when the process is about half way done. It took about 4 hours to get it close to size...and that was the easy part. Next came the almost 6 hours of filing and fitting and keeping the hole square and true. It's been almost 20 years since I pushed a file that long and brother do I feel it.

Nice shiney scrap

2009-11-04T22:16:00.003-05:00

As with a lot of things in life, one does not like to admit that they make mistakes....
Well, here is photographic documented evidence that I too create some nice looking scrap. And if you can't see it, the holes are broken through to an area they can not be in.
Now where did I put that other piece of brass I set aside to make one for John ???

Sight glass/ Water gauge

2009-11-02T21:23:00.002-05:00

This is the initial cut to check out and tweek the program so I can get the correct size slot for the O-ring.

After I got the O-ring sized, next was the sight glass pocket.

In this last pic you can see all three tiers in this half of the body. Next it will be flipped over and cut from the other side and the deepest groove will meet and open up in the middle.

Took a day break from working on the Heisler's parts becaues I love to cut brass and I was really itching to see how this was going to turn out. John M.-a steam engine buddy, gave me plans to this and I modified them slightly to make a longer body. The orginal body had a 1.5" window and with a boiler the size of the Heisler's, in my book, that was a short sight gauge. This one is twice that long.

Finishing the wheels.....well, almost

2009-11-02T21:04:00.003-05:00

Here the tread profile is being cut. The tan colored "stuff" on the wheel is cutting compound. Does great for keeping the chatter down on this old lathe.

Here is the start of the quartering fixture. Flats will be cut on the large diameter at 45 degrees and then the keyway for the broach will be cut in the large diameter. This fixture will be use for all 12 wheels. Six of them will be broached from the front and six from the back. The keyways will be cut on the axle along one single line.

Heisler Gearbox Nightmare

2009-10-27T21:03:00.008-04:00

In the fabrication of the gearbox, I figured there would be some difficulty in getting the gears to line up and mesh correctly so all the shafts would run smoothly, but I did not figure on this.....

This is the middle gearbox. It receives power from the engine and uses it to turn the middle truck in the drive line. It also sends power out the back to the third truck under the tender.

The problem is that the two smaller shafts are tilted up at 4.5 degrees this is to allow the drive shaft to come into the box after passing over the other axle in the truck. The rear shaft comes straight out the back and back to the third tender truck. The small pinion gears must be positioned exactally in order to line up with the shafts as do the large gears.

In this second pic you can see that the two large gears are lined up close to the bores but the two small gears are no where close. And take my word for it, you can get three gears to line, but that fourth is just not getting in there.

It took me about 15 minutes of trying to get them to line up before I realized that I had "painted myself into a very tight spot."

Just when I thought I was going to need to turn this into a two piece gearbox housing, I got an idea.

What IF.....

What if I make a holding fixture which would hold all four gears in their correct location and then maybe....just maybe.

I won't have to scrap this one piece box idea.

So here's the "solution". It took about 2 hours to make. The small gear's saddle is cut on a 4.5 degree angle and all gears are setting at their correct heigth. There is just enough room to place all the gears in the fixture and orient them independently.

Once oriented correctly each gear can then be slid in toward the center to mesh correctly with the other gears.

Then the gearbox can be lowered down over the fixture and the shafts can be slid in.

Once the shafts are all in place, the fixture can be removed.

And there you have it.

Don't you wish all problems in life were this easy to fix.

Golden Spike Ceremony @ John Murry's RR.

2009-10-27T08:41:00.003-04:00

Bushing bosses welded and machined

2009-10-22T23:48:00.000-04:00

Here the gearbox has the driveshaft bosses pressed in and ready to be welded.

A little preheat with the cutting torch and they are ready to weld.

Center drill, drill and Jig bore each bushing location.

boring for the bushing retainer.

2009-10-21T21:27:00.000-04:00

Here the welded gearboxs are up on a 4.5 degree angle. They get a hole bored in to receive a steel bushing which will be welded in place and then bored out to receive the oil lite bushing for the driveshaft.

Heisler gearbox progression

2009-10-20T20:12:00.000-04:00

I have to appoligize for the quality of the pictures, not all of them came out as hoped. But in this pic you can see where I grooved out the joints prior to welding. The assembly was clamped and the joints were heated with a cutting torch. Then I used my MIG welder to weld the joint.

I wish this pic had come out better, and by the time I loaded these pic onto the computer I had already dressed off all the weld. Next will be putting the driveshaft bosses in location and welding them.

Heisler gear box fabrication

2009-10-18T23:48:00.000-04:00

Here I am playing on the Bridgeport. I know it looks like a rock in the vise but it really a piece of cast iron drop off a large round bar. When my friend, Richard ( a.k.a. Mr. Motion ) took this picture, he started to ask why I was using such a large piece of solid material to make the gearbox for the Heisler...

He says, "That looks like a lot of work, just to make a box." "Have you though about making it out of 4 pieces of steel bar welded together to form a box?"
Now at this point I turn the machine off, take a step back and start to consider the options. With the factors of; it was getting late, I was tired and had enough for one day, I figured, why not think on it for a while...

So in about 3 1/2 hours I have the basic structure for all three gearboxes. There is no way I could have even had the one box roughed out in that amount of time. I will weld these together and then machine in the bores for the shafts.
In the box with the 4 gears in place, this is the middle gearbox and one of the large gears is going to float on the axle. I did this with the hopes that it will help balance out the load on the pinions. We'll see how it works.

"Daddy-O" goes up and comes back down on his own.

2009-10-12T22:09:00.000-04:00

It took a year to work most all the bugs out, but it was worth it. This year at the Logging Meet, my Clishay made it completely around the track 3 and a half times without having to stop and punch out the tubes. Had I not built a 7.5 gallon water tank and carried a large bucket of coal, I would have needed to stop to take on fuel and water...but I didn't. Each lap around the entire circuit took me just over an hour. So after about 210 minutes of running the Clishay, I almost needed assistance to get off. It was cold enough that even with shop rags wrapped around the lines, I still had to leave the cylinder drain cocks cracked open. But I still had plenty of power and steam.

Nelson's Heisler engine

2009-10-12T21:49:00.003-04:00

This is Nelson's Heisler engine. He is working on a "Kit" locomotive to sell once he gets all the patterns and castings worked out. I think it will be an awesome kit to build and very unique.

This is a short video clip of his engine and mine will look very similiar. I won't start on my engine until my trucks and frame are finished. Trucks are almost done and I have already started the frame.

John Huizenga's 2.5" Heisler at MCCRR 09 Logging Meet

2009-10-12T20:47:00.002-04:00

On of the big attractions at this year's Mill Creek Central RR, 2009 Logging meet was John Huizenga's 2.5" narrow gauge Heisler. Always ran like a champ and never missed a lick. That whistle was said to be heard 3 miles away. The only down side was that I never did hear it "bark" very hard, because it had way more power than tractive force. but, that's o.k. cause it was still very impressive.

Heisler's truck side frames.

2009-09-27T22:09:00.002-04:00

2009-09-02T21:25:00.001-04:00

PA Ramble, Day One

2009-07-25T19:22:00.003-04:00

Light weight riding car for Disconnects

2009-07-11T19:02:00.005-04:00

Started with a concept of what I would like to see atop the disconnects.Granted this is by no stretch anything you would actually see disconnects used for.But, what inspired me was the desire to try and continue with the lines and forms found in the disconnect trucks themselves. Plus I wanted something that was light and easy to carry and store.I dubbed it the V-3 riding car.Here with the decks on the disconnects, it looks like a section of a bridge.Maybe if I painted it a different color, but the silver is what I have alot of.

Disconnects Done Video

2009-07-07T22:37:00.003-04:00

Feeling a little "Disconnected".....

2009-06-16T00:31:00.003-04:00

I've had this idea running around in my mind for a few weeks now. And it all started with a magazine geared toward HO scale layouts and it had a few logging engines pulling some
Disconnects. Up until I seen that magazine, I had never heard of a Disconnect But once I looked through it, I did a little more searching for various types and styles of disconnects.
Then I thought about their uses and versitile they really are.
Say for example you have three or four sets of these disconnects. Now I make a couple of gondola bodies, a couple of flat car bodies, a couple of riding car bodies. Each one of those bodies is able to plug into a king pin receiver in the center of the disconnect. Now you have the flexibility of all those bodies but the reduced cost of only three or four sets of trucks. Makes it easier to transport and store when not in use. Now this may not appeal to some but the configuration of the truck design is easily changed to whatever style you like. It's the idea of having fewer trucks to maintain. And since this is a project in process, I do plan on putting on some form of braking system.

Just a little carried away with the H2O

2009-06-16T00:05:00.006-04:00

Had a little left over copper sheet and a big need for a little extra water carring capicity. Cut out a few pieces and bent them over the edge of the table with a piece of 1/4" flat stock. Soldered it all together and realized that the weight of the water was going to bust the whole thing apart. Fortunately I had left enough space to fab up an exoskelton for the tank.

My buddy, Richard, a.k.a. Mr. Motion, gave me a fuel pump that he had laying around.

The only space left is for the 12 V battery.

Ended up with a 7.25 gallon tank.

Now all I need is a gondola car up front full of coal.

Transfer ladder

2009-06-15T08:04:00.007-04:00

Prior to building "something" the equipment had to be carried, by hand, from carbarn to vehicle. Engines always requiring at least 2 people. So out of neccessity a transfer ladder was built. Figuring out how to get the cars / engine from the upper level was easy, but figuring out how to still use the same device to get them from the lower level up to the bed of the truck was a slightly bigger challenge. I did not want to be playing around with locking pins or clevices. Those just get lost. So it had to be some kind of a inter-locking system

So, here it is. So far it has worked flawlessly. The interlocking pieces fit nice and snug, but I hope the humidity doesn't make the joints swell.

2009-06-03T19:44:00.002-04:00

2009-06-03T19:31:00.001-04:00

2009-06-03T18:50:00.001-04:00

Run #2 with new boiler.

2009-06-03T18:23:00.005-04:00

Boiler refit

2009-05-06T10:26:00.003-04:00

The lagging and outter jacket are in place. Those are real strips of white oak and nothing but the bands are holding them in place. Just keeping it real...Here you can see the inlet and outlet of the preheater. The tubing just takes one loop around the bottom of the fire box. All water coming from the front tank to either the pump or the rear tank must pass through this preheater.

I changed the intake and exhaust manifolds to a much sturdier set up. With all those Gremlins hanging around nowadays, it just wasn't going to last long with the old version. The original set up is pictured below.

This may not be the prettiest looking unit, but at least I now have my exhaust proportions set up correctly. And yes, the stack is going to be sticking out much further.

2009-04-08T19:28:00.004-04:00

In an earlier post there is 4 pieces of paper cut out to look something like the picture below.
After a little filing, fitting and fussing, the end result looks like this.

Yepper, that's your's truely, welding....or should I say, trying to weld.

My youngest son, Justin is taking the pics here.

My initial thought was that this 4 piece ring assembly was going to be easily turned or dislocated.

Much to my surprise, this is not the case. It will not rotate and only rises up less than a half inch.

Another great Saturday well spent.

2009-04-04T21:52:00.005-04:00

Today John Murray came down to lend a hand with placing and flaring tubes. My youngest son, Justin also decided to join the fun.
The picture below is of my Clishay with the new boiler setting in place, just to get an idea of how things will look.; Setting on a digital bathroom scale, this boiler weights 42 pounds.

This pic was put in just the for the fun of it. (from below the engine looking up through the firebox and through the boiler.)John kept having to coax his tubes in place. Had I not drilled and reamed all four tube sheets at the same time, I would have thought I might have grabbed an undersized reamer for his sheets.

It tooks us a while to conclude that his tighter tubes was because he got his tubes at his local Home Depot and I got mine near me, which was two different stores. We could only figure that two different suppliers had provided two different size tubes. Now we are only talking about .001 - .002. John's tubes measured .626 and mine measured .624 and the holes were reamed with an on size .625 reamer, which gave a .6265 hole. That's really why John is standing like that....
He almost get that one stuck and had to use a wire wheel to clean up an end. He had to do that to almost everyone of his tubes.

Eventhough he does not look too thrilled about cutting out the 8 pieces for the "riser wings", I kept telling Justin that he was really having fun. I told him that I took this picture so I could later bring it out and show him just how much fun he was really having. Besides, the apprentice has to start somewhere.
The final result of today's efforts. They're flared. Next, they get swedged. Now, the boiler weights 51 pounds. That translates into 6.25 pounds more tractive force per wheel. Dry weight.

Amazing what you can do with one nice day.

2009-04-01T20:16:00.003-04:00

Again, you're not seeing double. The bushing are all welded in place. I'm using a mig unit with a mix gas. It's sort of strange. There's really not much difference in making two boilers or if you're making one.
The tube sheets were machined about .015 under size for the ID of the tube. When it came to putting them in the boiler shell, a slight coaxing with the hammer handle is all it took.
Both boilers are finished welding. Next will be the support pads in the riser.

Supports welded in place and boiler resting atop. When I stood back and realized just how many tubes are needing to be cut, I decided to express it a little differently, just because I hate production work. So actually there are only 20 tubes each for the top and bottom, times two boilers. See, doesn't that sound better than saying 80 tubes need to be cut. For me, anything over 5 or 6 pieces, constitutes production work. (don't ask how the 12 Heisler wheels are going)

Here you can see the three pads that support the boiler. There will also be at least 3 bolts, but those will not bare any weight.

Boiler - from concept to reality

2009-03-30T20:03:00.002-04:00

After ordering and picking up the steel, which was already cut to length, the first base goes up on the lathe. I really didn't need the ratchet strap, but I just felt a little more comfortable with the strap holding the "T" nuts in position on the edge of the tube. The face plate is a table off of a floor model drill press.

Nope, you're not seeing double...There are two units here. The one on the left belongs to a member of the Northeast Ohio Live Steamers. His boiler was much older than mine but gave up the ghost on the same day and same track. With the slight (.032) bore on the inside of this tube, the boiler slips right down inside.

This is the top tube sheet. Shown with steel bushing and brass steam dome. This boiler design has 40 tubes and the volume is twice that of the original boiler.

Boiler refit for No5.

2009-03-21T14:43:00.007-04:00

If you recall last fall while at Mill Creek RR, the Clishay had a gear in the transmission gall and sieze up. Well, the boiler had always been an issue from the first firing. Basically because I can't silver solder very well; at least not on a really complex piece. So once I tore down the engine to repair the trany, I also tore into the boiler and found the inner jacket almost burnt through. Admittedly, I had some very hot fires in that little box. Plus there was some pooling of silver solder on the lower crown sheet as well as some bulging of both the main tube caps. On top of the fact that I had at least one leak which block sealer or ginger could not keep in check. Having inquired on some steam related e-mail lists, a fine sole sent me a rough sketch of a steel boiler which was designed to replace the original one. Now the funny thing is that another Clishay owner, who was also at Mill Creek also had a major boiler failure. Only his boiler is over 20 years old. So now two boilers are being fabricated.

I called a local steel tube supplier ( Industrial Tube and Steel ) and ordered the required materials. I did do some revisions to the original sketches and hopefully things will work out well. But not being a boiler designer or engineer of any kind, we'll keep our fingers crossed and "shields up." I don't have any way of scanning and putting the sketches on here or I would, but I did snap some pics of my CAD screen showing my revisions. So enjoy.

One of the biggest clean up problems with the original design was that a lot of ash, clinkers and even unburnt coal would drop between the fire box and the inner jacket and it was almost impossible to get it out. What you see here is four yellow "wings" setting on top of the red fire box. This closes off the gap and will hopefully minimize the amount of material getting down where you can't get to it. (the yellow piece in the middle of the coal chute will not be a part of the finished product) { it's just too difficult to delete.}

I decided to print and cut out the 4 yellow pieces and see just how they will fit. I just think this CAD system is the kitty's britches.

Spindle on / Spindle off relay

2009-03-08T15:28:00.003-04:00

Had no way to automatically turn the spindle on or off. Always had to use the manual switch. The controller is an old Centroid and it has about 4 electrical connection posts on the back and next to each one is an "M" code which corresponds to that terminals operation. After contacting Centroid to find out the amperage rating for the controllers terminals I stopped by my favorite electronics house in Akron, Philcap Electronics and after explaining my project, I had a relay and mount in hand. Stopped by the local Lowe's and picked up a nice electrical box and within an hour it was up and running on the first try. I used a male plug for the one end and a female outlet on the face of the box. That way I can run and extension cord if needed.

2009-03-07T19:01:00.003-05:00

8 Drivers ready for the tread profile to be turned on. With a break in the cold weather, 4 more driver blanks were made and one is now up on the mill being carved.

Revised GearBox CAD DWG

2009-03-07T18:27:00.005-05:00

Tried to replicate the bevel gears as much as possible and draw the box in which they would have to go. The gear are Browning's # YSBS14F16LH-20X1/2 and YSBS14F32RH-20X7/8.

In this pic you can see the cursor arrow pointing at a "red" colored bushing. This gear will actually be idoling / running in the reverse rotation of the axle. In this other pic you can see the gear and special bushing . Had considered using needle bearings, but the axle is not hardened and in order to use needle bearings, the shaft needs to be at least case hardened, or have a sleeve pressed on for the needles to run on. The only other problem was by the time I used an inner sleeve, that brought the OD of the needle bearing housing so large that it removed most all the gears collar, so a bushing it is. These bushing come from a company called GGB.

Their web site is www.ggbearings.com. Their phone number is 856-848-3200. Amy in the Sales department has some insight to the Live Steam applications. We talked for quite some time about the enviroment we run in.

Moore's Totes and Hats

2009-03-07T14:13:00.006-05:00

This is a brochure I received from Ann Moore, of Moore's Totes and Hats. I ordered two hats and they are awesome. This is not a "one size fit's all, Made in China" hat.

These are Hand Made and Made in the United States. You need to know your hat size or the circumfrence of you head. Ann has no internet access and no credit card processing capibilities. So, just pick your style, size and mail off your order with a check.

And if you have any questions, you can call the number on the brochure.

I ordered two and I am very happy with both, I will be ordering a couple more.

# 7 on the mill & 5 more to go...Yee Ha !

2009-02-09T10:35:00.002-05:00

In going with the Three Truck Heisler, I have to make 12 wheels.

In this picture, wheel # 7 is on the mill being cut. Wheel #1 has just had about 3 hours of grinding with 3/16 mounted stone in my Dumore ( foreground ) and wheel #6 is in the background, having just come off the mill Saturday night.

Librarian

2009-01-18T19:48:00.002-05:00

This last Saturday, (17th) we had our train club meeting and I volunteered to take on the task of Club Librarian. We have a Historian, who deals with info related to the history of our club.
Speaking of which, this is our 40th Anniversary as the Lake Shore Live Steamers, and one of our Charter members will be celebrating his 100th birthday, early this summer.
So, If you have any magazines which are related to steam or machining, and you would like to see them go to a good cause, just let me know.
You can also check out our club at

www.lakeshorelivesteamers.com

Thanks,
Martin

This A.M. 1-11-09

2009-01-11T21:13:00.002-05:00

2 Truck or 3 truck...Decisions, decisions....

2009-01-10T14:10:00.002-05:00

Having called around for pricing on the bevel gears, I have found them for $150.00 per set.
If I go with the two truck version, I only need two sets.
If I go with the three truck version, I will need 4 (four) sets. The rear truck will have two sets within that gearbox plus the forth set for the tender.
In going with the three truck design, I wanted the option of running with or without that third tender truck attached. Which means I have to design a removable driveshaft , leaving the truck under the cab with just a spinning stub sticking out the back of the gearbox.
I am beginning to feel that if I don't go with the third truck option, I will really kick myself in the very near future.

Let me know what you think. Two truck or Three truck ?

Thanks

Heisler Frame and Trucks

2009-01-06T12:14:00.003-05:00

Positioned the frame geometry in place and located the trucks on the frame just to get a look-see on the relationship. Remember, Kozo's plans are in 3/4" scale and mine is twice that size, 1-1/2 scale. But, there are items called out in the book which require a bit more than just simply doubling original dimensions. And putting them in place with each other helps one to wrap the mind around the project.

Heisler Rear Truck w/ variations

2009-01-04T21:02:00.004-05:00

Spent some time on the CAD system and decided to put in some pieces of the truck. The book in which I am working through to make the Heisler is by Kozo Hiraoka and the Heisler he made is of the two truck version. And that's what I plan on building; however, a few of my train pals keep telling me to make the three truck version. I keep putting up all kinds of lame excuses for not doing it, when in fact the only real reason is that I don't want to spend the extra time in doing a third truck. There are a couple of ways of putting a third truck in line and I did not like the idea of a transfer case in front of the rear truck. After looking at Kozo's drawings, it looks like there will be enough room to enlarge the current gearbox design just about a half inch on the width. This will allow a second "ring gear" and a second pinion gear to come out the rear of the case and run straight back to the front axle of the tender truck. The second ring gear would float on a needle bearing because it has to turn in the opposite direction as the axle. The more I tossed this gearbox arrangement around, the more I liked it. The second set of gears in the box helps stablize the input shaft from pushing to one side and with that stabilization you get reduced friction.

So, I included a couple of screen shots from my CAD program. You can see in the second pic that I added the second set of gears but left the original size of the gearcase intact.

Enjoy.

New Red Shoes

2008-12-27T22:34:00.000-05:00

While in the middle of running the last tool path for the Rod Side of the Heisler's 3rd wheel, three age cracks developed in the primary belt. I did not want to replace with a same style of belt. I have used these style of belts before with really nice results. My first encounter with Power Twist was with my dad's old Craftsman table saw. I was a teenager and had read about Power Twist just after they came onto the market. The belt on dad's table saw broke and I was able to talk him into trying a Power Twist. Once the belt was on a nagging vibration which had plagued that saw since he bought it was gone. I was sold. I have used Power Twists on a 48" Woods brush hog with very good results as well. The only negative aspect with using Power Twist is that they really sing at high speed. Now, if you spend much time near the MiniMill while at high speed, ear plugs are a must. But they also run cooler. So, I can live with that.

Rod Side of the Heisler's wheel

2008-12-25T21:37:00.001-05:00

Over here -> the 3/8 Ball End mill is roughing out the Rod side of the driver.

And Below, a 3/8 Flat Bottom End mill is getting the tire to thickness and cleaning up the edges of the Hub, Crank Pin Boss, and the Counter Balance.

With this being wheel number 3, I'm about half way through with the wheels so I figured I would scale up the gearbox to see what it looks like.

So the last picture here is a photo of the CAD screen showing the gearbox with drive shaft and axle represented.

First toolpath

2008-12-20T18:35:00.000-05:00

This is the flange side of the Heisler's driver. Actually this is driver number 3. I was able to eliminate a couple of toolpaths and this is the first toolpath, 3/8 ball endmill, first pass at .400 deep, second pass .150 up from full depth and the last pass at .800 deep. I do not do any pre-drilling as previously done on the first driver. Each pass takes about 4 hours.

Here is the same piece with the second toolpath completed. This one uses a 3/16" BEM to detail out the corners and finish the vertical walls inbetween the spokes, center hub and rim.

Heisler's First Wheel

2008-12-02T11:20:00.000-05:00

The Heisler project has it's first driver. Cut from a solid piece of steel and milled out on the Mini Mill. About 35 hours of DNC from programs containing over 20,000 lines of code. The front and back of the driver had 4 to 5 different programs each. And since this was the first one, a learning curve is considerable. So each one after should require less time. Seven to go and counting down.

Mini Mill moved to the Man Cave

2008-12-02T11:08:00.000-05:00

I got tired of going between two different rooms in the house, because my CAD system is in the Man Cave and the mini mill was in a spare bedroom. So I pulled up the carpet in the den and put down a hard rubber interlocking tile. The tile is about 3/8 thick, but the only down side is that it's black. Light gray or a pale blue would have been a nicer lighting senario. But, since these tiles are made from old tires, black it is. So, now I have the mini mill and my CAD system in the same room and if I need revisions of a toolpath I just turn around and make it so.

Hurco Relo

2008-12-02T10:39:00.000-05:00

This is the story of the relocation of a Hurco CNC mill from a local high school to a transition site.
The Hurco is about 5500 lbs on the hook and prior to hiring the work to be done for me I had tried to coordinate this move myself. Renting the equipment was not a problem, but having the 3/4 ton truck was a minumin requirement for being able to pull the equipment out of the rental lot. I do not have a 3/4 ton truck and locating two of them (one for the forklift and one for the mill's trailer) within my circle of friends and getting them on the same day was not going to happen any time soon and the school was asking for the mill to be out ASAP.
Mr. Waddington came highly recommended and did an awesome job.

After offloading the mill and setting it into location the forklift sank into the gravel floor of the pole barn. However, Dave was ready and played out the cable from the wench and pulled the towmotor right up onto the flatbed. I have to say that I really enjoyed watching Dave make this move look so easy.

Afterwards, I spent the rest of the evening cleaning and greasing up the ways for the winter.

At this time my plans are to build a small workshop in my backyard and set up all my machines in there.

So stay tuned as the project begins...hopefully this spring. Then I get to move the mill again.

Warther Wood Carver Museum

2008-10-15T16:03:00.000-04:00

On our way down to the Mill Creek Logging Meet, we stopped at the Famous Wood Carver Museum. This was a most awesome and impressive museum and more than worth the admission. In and of itself, it was worth the trip. This was my third visit to the museum. My first trip was when the founder was still alive. I was about 8 or 9 years old and I recall setting on the old man's lap as he carved out those famous pliers. My second trip down was when my younger brother and sister were old enough to enjoy the trip. There were no guided tours and the old man answered questions as he walked around and carved out pliers. Truely an amazing and gifted person.

Mill Creek Run 08

2008-10-07T14:54:00.001-04:00

I finally located the rest of the video from the Mill Creek run....enjoy!

This is the tressel which I am about to go over. Shortly after crossing, the transmission siezed up. It was determined that it seized because I did not use Oil Lite bearings in the gearbox and eventhough I kept the spindles well oiled, the increased pressure from the climb to the tressel wrung out all lubrication and galled the forward gear to the spindle causing the transmission to lock up.
The train trailing me up to and across the tressel came to my rescue. Once my transmission locked up and I realized that even putting the trany into neutral was not going to allow me to freewheel in any direction, I dumped the fire. Then we rearranged some logs and loaded my engine and riding car onto the logging train which had followed me.

This is part B of the same event.

This is Nelson with his original design Shay.
Oil fired and running just a tad rich.
Somewhere in all these videos you can find one of Nelson's Shay blowing smoke rings on a relight.

9-20-08 Club Run @ Lake Shore Live Steamers

2008-09-23T08:47:00.000-04:00

On the weekend of 9-20-08, we had a club run. I arrived very early, steamed up and hit the road. Over the past 4 or 5 firings, I have learned how to steam up this engine without the assistance of any kind of draft inducing hardware. Starting off with 4 charcoal bricketts soaked in K-1, I give the fire about 5 minutes and when the pressure gauge starts to rise, I crack open the blower and add a little bit of coal. Once that takes off, about another 5 minutes, I can hear the pressure start to come up on the blower. As the blower increases, so does the fire and I add a little more coal and stir things around in the firebox. Within about 15 to 20 minutes, pressure is over 80 psi and rises very quickly to lift the pop-offs. I open the cylinder cocks and warm up the cylinders and pump a little water into to boiler for a few minutes, throw in some more coal and once the pop-off lifts again, I close the blower and cylinder cocks and head for the main line. This is still a learning process and I learn something new each time I fire #5.

Enjoy the video and let me know what you think. And if you decide that you would like to come out and check out the facility, just let me know, because I would like to meet you.

Car Barn / pallet recycle project.

2008-09-15T16:40:00.000-04:00

Got the windows in and then installed the upper bays.
I still haven't decided on an outside covering yet.
Still partial to the Cedar shingles, but we'll see.

I know it's not the best looking structure in the world, but considering the fact that I'm more a machinist than a carpenter. I do plan on putting some kind of covering on the outside. I just haven't dicided on the cedar shingles or something else.

Official first run at LSLS

2008-08-06T14:12:00.000-04:00

25th Anniversary

2008-08-01T11:54:00.000-04:00

On July 27th The Lake Shore Live Steamers Celebrated 25 wonderful years at this location.

We are so fortunate to have such a great relationship with the Lake Metro Parks Staff.

Thank You.

You can also check out other pictures from this event at www.lakeshorelivesteamers.com

First jaunt on the track under his own steam

2008-07-24T14:34:00.000-04:00

Second steaming

2008-07-18T13:38:00.000-04:00

The first steaming did not go so well, because there were more small fitting leaks and a couple of plumbing / silver solder joint leaks and the smoke stack was about twice as long as it should have been. And thanks to Keith, who responded to my inquest on a live steam e-mail list group, he gave the two formulas for determining what size the stack should be and location from the nozzle it should be. The formula is 6:1 for the size and length of the stack and 3:1 for the petticoat to nozzle location.

After that, #5 fired much easier, even with the leaks. And here is some video and pics of that second steaming.

Since then, I silver soldered a couple more small leaks and then a club member told me about block sealant and using that product finished off the rest.

Yesterday evening I brought #5 up to 105 to 110 psi and everything looked good. The block sealer did the job on the little weepers. I found some stuff called Blue Devil sealer. Put about 200cc in the boiler and filled the rest with regular water to where I would if I were getting ready to run. Fired "Daddy-O" up and watched the little weepers eventually stop. All of a sudden the pressure started to climb. Once it got to about 90psi, I turned off the draft inducing "J" tube and just let it cook for a short time. I did not add any more coal and just let the fire die out and cool down slowly. I dumped the fire and opened the blow downs.

Tomorrow, Saturday is our club run and I can't wait.

Initial Firing

2008-07-14T13:52:00.000-04:00

Sunday afternoon, "Daddy-O", #5, was fired up for the first time. After the fire went out a couple of times, and some head scratching it was determined that the smoke stack was too small in diameter. It was suppose to be 2-1/8" diameter and I had a 1-1/4" diameter. So now I get to make a new one.

Almost Ready to Fire...

2008-07-11T13:00:00.000-04:00

If someone would have told me that there was this much plumbing in this thing, I don't think I would have believed them.
So, 40 + compression fittings later, it's all plumbed but the whistle, which I have yet to make.

I know that it does not look like it, but is places where I did not have to make a 90 degree turn I did solder in "T" s and make bends.
There was suppose to be 4 lines coming to and from the rear tank but I was able to par it down to just three.

The sight glass is about two inches longer than what the plans called for, but I wanted to get a good view of the water level. The glass was made for me by a friend at the local University.

The only system left to finish is the brake. I just need to make the rod and handle and pivot.

Other than that, the smoke stack and some roof pieces, "Daddy-O" is about ready to fire.

I will put the Dyno and a second water pump on during the late fall or winter.

Progressing Clishay

2008-07-02T14:23:00.001-04:00

Not progressing quite as quickly as I had hoped, but such is life.
The first pic is of the front water tank before cleaning up the oxidation and stains.
With the help of some various grits of Scotch Brite and some 600 wet/dry paper and a little dab of Flitz, it only took a few minutes to do this one panel.
At that rate, it will only take about 8 hours to polish up all the copper.
Sounds like a winter's day project to me....

Clishay at the LSLS 08 open.

2008-06-20T13:40:00.001-04:00

Here are some pics of the Clishay at the Lake Shore Live Steamers Open Run.

I missed boiler testing on Friday but on Saturday morning #5 was tested and failed. It had one pin hole near an elbow joint. Apparently, I missed silver soldering that spot. But that was easy to fix.

The drive line was a little snug, so #5, spent the weekend getting aquanted to the track. No formal introduction was needed. No problems came up and the only derail was from a switch with the points stuck open from a twig.

The video is not the best work I've ever done, but I was trying to get a shot of how the trucks and wheels looked while running.

"08" Lake Shore Live Steamers Open Meet

2008-06-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

As the Clishay turns

2008-06-10T11:45:00.000-04:00

After the new firebox and boiler platform was re-manufactured out of stainless steel, the inner boiler jacket was mounted.

This other pic is of the valve eccentric followers.

The square looking ones are of cast iron and when it came time to consider painting, I removed them and proceeded to mark them with a 1/16" number stamp. My first strike broke the cap of one. Needless to say, I was in total shock. I didn't like them much to begin with, but I certainly did not need to totally re-manufacture these as well, but I did. And this time they are bronze.

In the process, I broke a 10-32 tap off in one of the caps. I was able to mill it out with a 3/32" carbide ball tool. I then made sure all the tap was out and ran another tap in to finish up the threads. I broke that one off too. I know I jenx'd myself when I mentioned to my buddy that it's been years since I've broken a tap. And then I do two in the same hole within 15 minutes of each other. I took the follower to a mold shop here in Kent that I use to work at. I met up with an old friend of mine Eric, who is now the Vice President of Sales. After catching up on old times, I shared with him what I was working on and asked if someone there in the shop would like to make a little money on their lunch time and see if they can get that tap out. He took it back to the welder and came back in a couple of minutes and said, "No problem. We'll have it ready by mid afternoon." Eric called me at about 12:30 and said it was done. Apparently the welder attached a small rod to the tip of the tap and backed it out the way it went in. I hope he framed that trophy. My deepest heart felt "Thanks".

My hats off to the guys at Colonial Machine in Kent. And here's to good friends. I owe a couple people lunch.

This is what the engine now looks like with parts painted and new bronze followers in.

Loco Badge

2008-05-23T13:04:00.000-04:00

Since I got my CAD CAM system I have been tring to make a logo badge for the front or sides of my Clishay under construction. There is a web site called CNC Zone.com and they have a number of different forums for those interested in or having problems with anything related to CNC. I was able to locate a forum with the topic of my CAD CAM system and started asking some questions. I have to admit that everyone was helpful. Finally I was able to get the SW to do what I wanted.

I know that this is not something most people would get tickled about and I would have been embarrassed for anyone to have seem me, but I was tickled.

So here are a few pics of what I wanted and how I got there.

The top two pics is actual screen shot of what is cut in the wood.

I missed one section right over the letter "R" in "works". This is because my little Centroid controller have a very small memory and this block had to be cut in 15 degree increments with a spacing of 1.5 degrees. So about 10 radial cut passes was all the memory could handle.

The last pic is my next attempt because as you may be able to see the letters in the cut block is a little hard to make out because the 1/16" tool can not get down into the needed spaces to make a decent detail, so simpler letter spaced farther apart should do the trick.

The next step will be the brass blank. This is going to be KEWL.....

Firebox revisions

2008-04-14T11:04:00.000-04:00

Originally, I made the firebox of CRS, but on my way to the club track, I stopped by one of my "haunts" to rummage through their scrap bin. An employee was there, so I open the back of my truck and rolled out my electric switcher. I spent a little time sharing the passion of this hobby with him. He then directed me around to the other side of the building where there was a much better selection of scrap. I was able to locate enough 300 series stainless to RE-make my firebox and base plate.
Pictures of the RE-make will be posted shortly.

Lake Shore Live Steamers website & club info

2008-04-10T12:42:00.000-04:00

www.lakeshorelivesteamers.com

Take a look at the club info and run schedule.
And when you show up, please let me know that you found this on my blog.
It helps me to determine how effective my blog is and by all means give me suggestions and feedback on any improvements I can provide.

Research and Development of a Turbine

2008-03-24T12:51:00.000-04:00

This is the core half of the die for the turbine blade being profiled on the little CNC.

The other pic is of the two die halves and the first two blades to be produced.

Below is my set up for milling / sawing the vein slots into the hub. The print called for 40 blades, I put in 36, which worked out to an even 10 degrees.
It only took a few minutes to get all the slots put into the hub.

The saw arbor was made by my friend, Mr. Motion.

With all the blades / veins pressed out and fitted snuggly in place, it was time to solder it all in place....and as the afternoon would prove, it was easier said than done.

As this picture shows, the results of the attempt to solder the veins to the hub were disasterous at best. The heat melted some of the veins and the solder would not stick. After that I decided to put the hub on the drill shank and see how fast it would spin with a air nozzle pointed at it. It was a very high pitch scream. I became concerned that one of the blades would spin out of the hub so I turned it from a vertical plane to a horizontal plane and the hub came off the drill shank, hit the floor and took off. Oh, did I mention that it was still a little hot. So now we have a hot, screaming chunck of spinning brass with 36 sharp little blades, on the floor, looking to chew someone's ankles.

So it was back to the drawing board. And I figured that since I had a saw that was .032 thick, maybe I could just cut the veins into the hub.

My first pass around produced 36 very thick veins, so I offset the index head by 30 minutes and ran the pass again which produced 72 veins, each .024 thick. I feel much more comfortable with this unit and this one screams as well if not better. Plus the issue of balance is not really an issue as it could have been with the soldered unit.

Reversing mechanism

2008-03-17T10:57:00.001-04:00

With the linkage installed this is what the unit looks like. And in the adjacent pic my pencil is pointing to an area that was interfering and contacting the main crank shaft, so I had to mill in a relief area.

A friend of mine sent me a pic of someone's Clishay that utilized a system similar to this in order to shift his gearbox into forward or reverse. I really liked the idea and since I had a very small "X" "Y" drill table with these really nice Acme lead screws I decided to put it to good use.

Steam Turbine Stator

2008-03-03T11:29:00.000-05:00

In the above picture you can see the stator windings and the four magnets pressed into the rotor shaft.

The pockets for the magnets were cut in on my little benchtop CNC and utilizing a new index fixture I just got off e-bay.

This is the stator core being profiled out on the one half. The program I wrote for this operation had about 6 lines of code, going from the 12:00 position to the 6:00 position in .007 steps.

The original magazine article called for these laminates to be backed by thin plates. The only problem I had with this is that most small endmill cutting lengths are only 3/8" unless you start ordering special tooling.

For the past few months I have been searching for plans to scratch build a steam dynamo. I came up with some rough ideas but it just so happened that in this issue of Live Steam there was an article/ project of a Pyle turbine. So here are some pics of my version of this project. Of the changes I made was to the number of fields and magnets. Instead of two magnet positions, I made four and instead of two windings I put in four. I'm hoping for a little more output with less steam input. I appoligize in advance for some of the pics. They were taken with my cell phone because I was just too lazy to fire up the good camera.

I know...lesson learned.

A little background...

2008-02-20T15:04:00.000-05:00

After High School, I went to machinist trade school and started an Apprenticeship as a Mold Maker. Got my Journeyman's papers and spent about 15 years in the trade. NAFTA put a huge hurt on the machine trades, at least in the Cleveland, Akron, Canton area and shops started folding. Decided to go back to school and got a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing. Spent about 15 years in the Nursing field and got my license in Real Estate. So now I do Real Estate full time and a little occasional Hospice Nursing on the side.
I still like to make / fabricate things, mostly from scratch.
During the time when machine shops were folding up, I attended some auctions and picked up some manual machines and I am about to obtain my second CNC mill. This one's just a little larger than a Bridgeport knee mill.
I have always had a soft spot for trains and steam engines. Currently I have a 1.5" scale, 7.5 gauge Clishay in the making. The Clishay ( No 5) is about half completed and should be ready to run by early Summer. It will be coal fired and weigh about 300 lbs.
Other pictures will follow.

Top picture description

2008-02-20T14:13:00.000-05:00

This is an electric switcher, patterned after a late 1880's B&O inner city steam switcher. Scratch built from an old electric wheel chair. I utilized the motors, controller and joystick. Gross weight 295 lbs. Top speed is 10 mph with just my riding car and myself. Phil. Mahogany cab. with fiberglassed roof. Seperate battery for lights and horn. A very strong puller.