Member postings for David Leahy 1

Dear David,

I have been digging out old copies of ME to read up about Dean Single Build by Peter Rich. The serialisation comes to an end at Part 16 and I cannot find anything in future editions of ME magazine.

Having now seen this old thread am I to assume Peter passed before the serialisation was completed?

I had heard of Peter in various model engineering circles. What an amazing engineer he was.

Best regards,

David.

I am sure many of you like me are confined to their home and more interestingly the work-shop! I was very disappointed that the lock-down came into force before I ordered castings to continue a 7.25" Highlander! However I dropped an email to Owl Castings on the off chance to see what they had on the shelf! To my surprise the owners work form a home work-shop and are neighbour's so they are still making castings and CAD modelling patterns.

Now following ordering, on Wednesday yesterday the courier brought me a box load of castings in bronze 8 of which were shelf items and far cheaper than other suppliers offering the same castings. They have many castings ready to go, so if you are wanting to get into the workshop check them out. www.owlcastings.co.uk

Stay safe and lock yourself in the workshop!

Edited By David Leahy 1 on 29/03/2020 13:26:01

Dear All,

I was running a cut with the half nut engaged. On reaching the end of the cut I was late to disengage the drop worm finger before the apron hit the stop. This did dis-engage it but as a consequence I have not been able to engage it again. it seems to have stuck?

Does anyone have any idea as to how I can open up the front of the apron to see how to attempt a fix of the finger? There are hex bolts that seem to be holding on the front plate? These have all come out easily but I am not sure if I should force off the plate of not? Do I need to take off the hand-wheel etc?

Thanks in advance.

I have a Smart and Brown 1024 VSL square top lathe after cutting some threads and using the micrometer stop to dis-engage the lead screw I have found that on subsequent operations that the lead screw lever (round cooker type knob) will not engage either x or y feeds? Have I knocked something out of alignment that requires a total apron strip down or is there an easy fix?

Any fix suggestions will be greatly received.

Thankyou.

I am in the process of trying to build a small garden furnace to enable me to melt and cast iron. I would very much like to cast my own loco wheels from my own patterns along with other parts for my locomotive projects. I have cast non-ferrous metals on many occasions using lost wax and sand but never iron.

If any of you have any experience in making a home foundry for iron I would very much value your comments on whet I have done and how to improve it. If I have omitted anything or made a considerable error please do let me know.

In order to easily share this consruction I have made a series of videos that can be seen on YT. The first one can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoiysPpzbLs&t=52s

Any advice appreciated.

Does anyone know what thread type and size the bolts are for this Elliott 8" chuck?

I cant seem to get any metric thread to fit and I don't any other taps to test fit? Does anyone know what bolts I need to buy?

Thanks for your assistance in advance!

Edited By David Leahy 1 on 17/09/2018 22:51:06

I didn’t have a chance to list the other services he is currently involved with but he has also carried out the following for me and my son to a highly cost effective and professional manner:

1. laser cut my Jubilee Galatea main frames in 5" in 3mm mild (for less than the shop)
2. from drawings prepared the pattern and produced my 5” Jubilee cylinder blocks in CI
3. laser cut main frames for a 7.25” Highlander for my son
4. prepared patterns and cast all the 7.25” Highlander wheels again for my son (these turned up looking amazing!)

I think he has a great interest in steam himself possibly due to older relatives exposing him to such wonders from a young age. Whatever the case he is quite an asset to me and I am happy to shout his praises. Nothing is ever too much for him it seems.

Hi Phil,>>

I am sure he has a web-site but I am not a great mover on the internet. I just used his email which is:>>

[email protected]>>

He always responded within 24hrs maximum.>>

I hope he is of help to you he is a really knowledgeable your fellow.>>

Cheers.>>

Last year I picked up some drawings and parts for the GWR ‘Firefly’ by Martin Evans in 5” gauge. I have spent the last few months working through the drawings and the more I worked on the loco the more I was not happy with the slide bar brackets! In picking up the plans from the previous owner I also purchased at the same time as the drawings some semi-finished parts the owner had already purchased and or made for the model including wheels and some parts reasonably cut from MS plate, these included the slide bar brackets. Just cut from 3mm MS the slide bar brackets gave no feeling at all of the real thing, they looks very plain and flat with no fillets or cast edges as seen of the original full size castings. There was only so much I could do with a file and did not want to use car filler!

So where to start? I could not find any commercially available castings for these slide bar brackets so other than building out the mild steel by adding fillets and rounded edges in some way I was a little lost. Following speaking to another model engineer friend and ex-colleague who lives and works in Cornwall who builds beautiful steam powered model boats I was told about a young graduate engineer neighbour of his who he has used to make small castings in both ferrous and non-ferrous metals from drawings supplied to him.

Let me start by explaining that I have spent my working life in medicine and other than model engineering have no knowledge of commercial or industrial processes, however when I was at school I did learn that a ‘pattern’ of some form is required to successfully make a casting. With this knowledge I assumed that the cost of making my brackets would outweigh the entire cost of my small workshop! Following thanking my friend for his advice I put the ideas of improving my slide bar brackets to bed and considered turning both truck and main wheels to size.

Again though when I looked the brackets and how plain and boring they looked they sent a chill through me as they looked so out of place on what was a nicely proportioned loco. So retrieving the email my friend had sent me with the young chaps details on it I decided to drop said young engineer an email with what I wanted in the form of a pic of the loco and an explanation of what I wanted. Expecting the young chap to laugh at my ignorance and or quote me a ridiculous price for the pair I scuttled back to my work-bench and carried on with the wheels which machined well and were completed the same day.

To my surprise the following morning I had an email from ‘Sam’ who stated that the slide bar brackets would not be a problem at all and that I was to send him the relevant drawings so he could give me an accurate price for the pair! Following his receipt of the plans he said this would be a simple job and quoted me far less than I was expecting! Following sorting out the financials the items as seen in the attached image turned up securely wrapped in bubble-wrap in a box. They were perfect n every way. In fact I spent at least 1 hour measuring them and comparing to both the drawing and images of the real thing. All I need to do was drill and file off the casting evidance.

Suspecting this to be some form of which-craft or wizardry, I could not resist a call to him to ask him how this was achieved so cheaply, so with hesitance I picked up the phone and called him. I expected him to not disclose his practice or methods for reasons of industrial espionage or wichcraft secrecy but he was quite open and told me how it all works these days, laughter in his voice! The steps are as follows:

1. Receipt of drawings, pictures and dimensions in email or printed form.
2. The use of 3D CAD to turn the above data into a computer file of the object or part.
3. Use this file to make a 3D print of the item, it is this that forms the pattern. This was the whichcraft part, or so I thought!
4. Use a burn-out process which vaporises the 3D print and replaces with metal…further whichcraft!
5. Send parts to customer.

Sam did laugh at my ignorance to this relatively cheap process commonly used all over the world. Apparently it is used routinely now for many aspects of model engineering and commercial processes. In fact he has given up a career in a large company making jet planes to run this as a business which I understand is doing incredibly well. He employs 2 people (wizards) who spend all their days making these computer files. A further 2 to make these files into metal objects (including cast iron cylinders for 7.25 locos, iron wheels up to 13” in diameter and a raft of other cleaver stuff) and has many boxes going all over the UK, Europe and the USA every day! I was truly amazed by this so wanted to share this process with you all. I am happy to share exactly what I spent in a private email but putting it into perspective, the truck wheels for 1 truck, cost me more!

I hope this knowledge helps some of you that are not already using this amazing process.

Dear all,

Do any members to these forums have any experience of making foundry patterns from 3D printed materials? I am wanting to make a set of wheels for a loco I am currently working on and have read to a small degree the ability of 3D printing to make patterns that can be used in sand casting. I assume that the CAD files of the wheels can be sent to a 3D printer of the suitable size and a filament chosen that will be correct for this application?

Any pointers here will be much appreciated.

Best regards,

David.

Hi Nigel,

Many thanks for the reply. I think I will put that idea to bed then and get cracking on the flange plates this weekend!

I am a member of the local model engineering society and did discuss this with them but they to were not fully aware of what the latest situation was as the green book was last published 6 years ago, 2012.

Perhaps things will develop over the coming years so I can get my TIG welder doing something exciting!

Best regards,

David.

Dear All,

I will soon be at the stage in my loco build (GWR45) to start thinking of the boiler. I have the copper and will soon start the flange plates. However I have been interested in the various international reports especially from down under about the highly successful use of Duplex steels for boiler making. I am relatively competent at TIG welding so may use Duplex on another loco build at some stage if I know it can be approved?

There are also a number of posts on ME forums about the successful use of steel for boilers. However I am very unsure about the UK legislation on the use and approval of steel boilers.

Can anyone clarify in layman's terms as to what needs to be inspected and how, for the full approval of a steel boiler weather it be in Duplex stainless or another steel. Making the boiler is the easier part but getting it approved for track use seems the unknown 'black art'.

I am looking forward to your replies.

Thankyou all in advance.

That's good advise, I assume the red thermal overload button has some sort of bi-metallic assembly within it that releases the contact in response to increased heat. Yes I agree given it doesn't click when pressed, there is no sign of charring that the contact just has not popped.

I will send across images of the contactors if this is any help as advised by Clive.

I will order up a new cap to replace the burnt one and see how it functions from there.

I have checked out the red reset button. I push it down but it does not stay down, ie it does not clip and stay down? I assume it should?

Thankyou, I didnt see that but will look for it and try this when in the workshop next.

Dear All,

I have after 2 years of it being sat there in my garage finally connected up my Bridgeport mill. The spindle runs just fine from the rotary converter I have connected it to. However, no power feed? I looked across the internet and there are several reports on the motors flooding with oil from the small gearboxes they are sat beneath. I checked the motors and all is fine no signs of oil ingress. Brushes slightly oily but hardly any to worry about. I cleaned these and reassembled the motors. Wiring looked OK, I also do not have the coolant pump working it looks to come from the same board? Is this connected to the no-functioning power feeds? I am not much of an electrician but on visual inspection there is no burning visible on the boards? 

When I turn on the power feed switch I hear the realays click over but no activity to the motors? Both X and Y are non-functional?

Any advise here will be much appreciated.

Thankyou.

Edited By David Leahy 1 on 24/01/2018 10:22:22

Dear W,

I would love to get hold of a copy of those discs! Can I purchase them from you? My interest in particular is locomotives. If you get this post please do email me and let me know if the links are still live?

Regards,

David.

Dear David and Brian.

I have just purchased a set of drawings from for the 5" gauge Springbok. As as result I am looking for the Articles on the Springbok vols 121 - 123 , I would be extremely grateful if you were able to supply these on a pdf or something equally technically similar?

Regards

David