Member postings for Roy Birch

The main problem is that the lathe is slipping due to the wall of the drive pulley being cast into the part that is missing so even if I tried to make a new one it would be difficult on this lathe.

I suspect the problem is that someone either pushed the spindle lock in whilst the machine was running or a chuck got stuck and they used too much force with the spindle lock engaged, I dont have the facility to make a new one as I would want the main headstock pully out of the machine to make test fits and I dont have another lathe I could use.

Regards

Roy

The photos are in the wrong order, they start at the bottom

The delamination of the cast iron is at max 3mm deep where the drive pin is, the delamination travels 1/3 of the circumferance of the pulley and is exactly from jaw 1 to jaw 2 on the Chuck

The delamination of the cast iron is at max 3mm deep where the drive pin is, the delamination travels 1/3 of the circumferance of the pulley and is exactly from jaw 1 to jaw 2 on the chuck

I will get a picture, the problem is that the chunk of cast iron that is missing also forms the inside wall of the pulley.

Hello All

I have tried parting off a 95mm blank of en3b and I noticed that the chuck kept slipping, I looked at the belt and all seemed ok, I then took the top cover on the headstock off only to find that a section of the drive pulley had broken away as well as the body holding the pins, a repair had been done by a previous owner which was to put insulation tape around the pulley main body to hold the pins in. Does anyone have a idea of how to repair this or where I might find another pulley?
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regards

Roy

Hello

I have a Boxford VSL that I am looking to install this weekend but on another forum the subject of bed twist came up, I was planning to set this lathe up on machinery levelling pads the same way as my Myford Tri-Leva is set up, the forum suggests that this lathe should be bolted down, in my experience it is sometimes the bolting down that causes the twist. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what is correct?

I am going to try spring steel from a commercial provider, the only problem is 5 leaves from 20 gage spring steel will not quite fit the hole in which they are housed, I did see a picture of Polly in 3 1/2g with working springs and that one used leaves that were doubled up into pairs so each spring has 10 leaves in 5 matching pairs, perhaps the drawings are open to quite a bit of interpretation as they only show 5 single leaves per spring. I have tried to contact a gramophone restorer to see if they can tell me the gauge of steel on gramophone governors.

A quick search brings up an article from popular science from some years ago that indicates the gauge of steel as being 20g.

Hello Dieseldaz

I have learnt that there are errors in whatever you build and nothing is perfect in the Model steam loco builds, I am just going to plough on with help from the forum and post pictures of progress at each stage so that someone can spot an error before I move on and lets be honest by the questions I am asking there is bound to be errors, as long as these are not in expensive components I will be happy.

Kind Regards

Roy

I am going to change to working springs and dispense with the castings, does anyone know where I can get the steel to make the working springs?

Hello Phil H1

I do have a Rob Roy again with all of the castings,Drawings and book but as I remembered after starting some things did not line up so I shelved it, I may revisit that one day.

Hello Luker

I think I will carry on with this build as it is in its very early stages and I will strip it down and make good some of the poor finish, the springs and equaliser bar are all bronze or brass cast, see the images below, the countersunk is what it needs so that is a good solution. On the second photo the axle box just slides is that correct? and would you remake the axles to be a press fit rather than drilling for a pin? With yours and other comments I am beginning to get more confident about building this out, many thanks.

I suppose that it does not matter which UK drawn and designed model I build as I must assume they all have some sort of problem with the drawings and the finished model and I am trying to look at this through a perfectionist type eye which is completely wrong, 1 question for you guys on here is that you are all highly skilled in this hobby and you have all found the problems with the drawings, why have the problems never been updated by who ever owns the rights to the drawings? on Clubs does anyone know what happened to the Saffron Walden club that used to meet at Audley End?

Hello Baz, I did not think of that I am in the Newmarket Suffolk area.

Hello Phil

Thanks for the reply, I have all of the drawings and book which helped the decision as it was a complete kit ready to build, I will follow your advice and strip down as it is at such an early stage, also some of the bolts and nuts are untidy so it is a good opportunity to remake them, The problem with the book is that it does make a lot of asumptions about what you already know, I wish there was someone close to me who I could just show and ask, to be fair I just need to complete 1 Loco then I would be fine.

Many Thanks for the advice so far, I did not really give much thought to Kozos A3 being a slower build due to lack of castings and as I have all the castings book and drawings for Virginia I have decided to move on with that one, I can still use a lot of methods of work in Kozos book and I hope get help on here, also I am not keen on starting another project until I finish any of the others I have on hand.

So to Virginia and the problems so far, the build is in early stage so not too much has been done, the wheels are all ok. The suspension has been done but is not very neat with all of the hangers not being equal or looking the same so I will remake them. These are the problems so far

The frames are bronze or brass cast and have been just roughly filed, should I smoth these out or leave as is, the same goes for the cast springs and equalisers.

The frame which is now riveted together tapers by 1mm front to back, is this Ok?

The axles for the wheels have been made but the idea according to the person who I got this from was that instead of a press fit they were to have a pin inserted in the face of the wheel and end of the axle, should I just make new axles that would be a press fit?

The suspension has been fitted to the frame but there does not seem to be any form of springing where the axle blocks ride in the frame, if the frame presses fully down on the axle blocks the inside rims of the driving wheels hit the spring hangers, why is this? you can probably see this from the image I posted.

Finally because this loco has a cast frame and has all of the castings would this be a kit rather than individual items bought and if so does anyone know the kit maker, I know some kits need a lot of filing to make work.

I should point out that none of them are on the go at present, I am looking to get advise on which one I should go ahead with and finish before moving onto the next, the drawback with the part built ones is that I did not start them so I have missed out on the building that has been done to get them to the stage they are at.

Hello

Some general advice needed with regard to my first real project, I purchased a few years back a Virginia 440 part built, the frames were cast bronze as were a lot of the suspension. See below. The reason for purchase was that I wanted to build an American style loco and this one came up for £250, it does have all of the castings to complete the loco with it as well as the tender on wheels. It also has some problems but the first question I have is should I progress this loco at present or should I build one from scratch, I have the books by Kozo and I was thinking of the A3 switcher which he describes as a beginners loco, my concern is that I would then have nother project on the go, I already have a B2 and a maisie which were aquired cheaply after bereavements but both built much further on and I feel I need to do a quality job with these two to honour the memory of the previous builders. So the question is the loco above or a new build A3 switcher by Kozo? one final point is that the reason I am looking at the A3 by Kozo is because the quality of the instructions and I have learnt the hard way with some of the loco drawings here in the UK. Many Thanks in advance.