Member postings for Ron Laden

Thanks guys,

Seems there is a lot of bedtime reading coming along

Ron

Thanks guys for the pointers, I have just ordered Neil,s book as it is based on the mini lathe which is exactly what I want. I will look out the others though and check our library which has a good engineering section.

Regards

Ron

Morning,

I will shortly be ordering a mini lathe and wondered if you can recommend a good beginners guide to the lathe, preferably one that covers the mini lathe. My lathe experience is limited and what bit I did do many moons ago was very basic.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 04/06/2018 08:13:33

As I mentioned I,m a beginner and can appreciate someone wanting to remove material as quick as possible but I guess in this case I was thinking more of the mini lathe, but if it can cope with it then its fine.

Edited By Ron Laden on 03/06/2018 14:27:02

My experience with lathes is quite limited, I used an old Myford many moons ago but it was all very basic stuff.

In about a month when the shed is ready I will be getting myself a mini lathe and from what I,ve read and all the videos I,ve watched I thought of them as light duty hobby lathes that shouldnt be pushed or overloaded.

So I was quite surprised to see your approach to this job, I,m not criticising after all what do I know I,m a beginner but just wondered why you want to remove as much material as possible and in the shortest time.

Edited By Ron Laden on 02/06/2018 13:49:12

Well, having no machining facilities (except for a small pedestal drill) and having to wait for friends to produce parts for me really tested my patience. Of course I,m not complaining about my friends, it is good of them to offer to make the bits and I wasnt going to chase them. The frustration is not having the kit to make the parts myself and in particular turned parts. I have some of the parts but still need some more and I havnt troubled anyone for them.

So I have decided to get myself a small (mini) lathe. One of the reasons I dont have one is I havnt had a place to put it or at least a place where it could be set up and left. However we cleared out and emptied a small garden shed today and the wife suggested I used it as a workshop. Now it is small, 6 ft x 4 ft but standing in there I thought a bench down the long side and across one end, would easily take a mini lathe and my bench drill and leave some space for assembly. I will have to move the shed and it needs a new base, insulating and of course electric.

The lathe I am considering is the CJ18A 7 x 14 from Amadeal. They do it as a package for £785 with a 100mm - 3 jaw and a 100mm - 4 jaw, fixed and travelling steadies, quick change tool post with holders, face plate, live centre, tail stock chuck, measuring kit, lathe tool set and a few other bits. From what I,ve seen that seems quite good value.

I have watched a lot of youtube videos on how to set up and improve a mini lathe as they all seem to need some work to get the best out of them. Now I am never going to be trying to produce a scale steam locomotive but if I can produce the parts I need for simpler projects then I will be happy.

Ron

p.s. I forgot to say, the thought of getting a lathe.....well lets just say I,m a bit excited.

Edited By Ron Laden on 01/06/2018 19:46:01

Thanks Jeff, I have solid wheels so if the gear puller is needed it should be fine.

Ron

Would it be possible to fit 2 x 6 volt batteries wired in series to feed the 12 system and take the 6 volt ignition side off both the batteries but in parallel.....hmmm dont know..? that was straight off the top of my head.

Ron

I,m undecided at the moment but "if" I fixed the wheels to the axles using Loctite 603 retainer how difficult would they be to take apart should I need too.

I was thinking maybe some heat and a gear puller, would that work...?

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 26/05/2018 11:42:28

Thanks for those Jeff, I like the Ajax and I think it would house the battery ok.

I also found a Deeley 0-4-0 which could also work with the full depth tanks.

Brian,

Henderson bearings list it, I was on their website and had a look.

Also I have found Bearingboys to be excellent, whatever type you are looking for you can enter the dimensions and they list various sizes and options.

Ron

Thats a very good idea Jeff I never gave that a thought.

To be honest if I go with a steam outline something "cartoon scale" will be ok, as I mentioned the grand children will like it for sure. Since I posted though I googled images of small steam loco,s and there are a few which would probably house the battery and be in or near to scale, so those may be worth a look.

Thanks again for your suggestion.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 25/05/2018 13:31:28

One of the problems with producing a 5 inch single battery 0-4-0 or 0-6-0 loco is the dimensions of the battery which dictates the size of the loco body. My 12V - 75 amp leisure battery measures 260 mm long x 175 mm wide x 225 mm high. The length is not generally a problem but the width is and the height even more so. I guess thats why most of the small single battery loco,s you see are square boxy diesel types as the body can be modelled to something like the correct dimensions around the battery.

This is the way I have been thinking but yesterday I wondered if a lookalike steam type loco would be possible. I looked at the dimensions of one or two pannier types but there is no way you can get any where near correct dimensions when considering housing the battery.

So below is a rough sketch of what I came up with, its a millions miles from anything scale or realistic and looks more like something from the Thomas the Tank shed. The broken line around the centre is the area needed for the battery. I tried to visualise it finished and I think it could be fun. Seeing as my two main passengers will be our two great grand daughters, I think it could go down quite well with them. I have not decided on it and it may still be a diesel type but its food for thought.

Scale guys look away now...

Thank you Ian, Dave and Neil that is a lot of interesting information and certainly made things a lot clearer.

Dave, although the model will have a shunter type body it wont be operated as one. The track it will run on is elevated with no points and no sidings. This is my first scratch build and the aim is to produce a small run around loco which hopefully is capable of pulling myself and our two young grand daughters. The shunter type body is mainly due to it being quite easy to produce and with a bit of detail it should look half decent.

I appreciate that testing the motors with no-load doesnt really show much but I was interested how close they were and also to check that none were faulty.

Neil, thanks for the spring info, I have some springs but I think they may be a bit on the light side. Once I get the chassis built (still waiting for parts) I will be able to try the springs and go from there. I guess there is going to be some trial and error experimenting here.

Regards

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 23/05/2018 14:45:27

I agree Jason, "loctited" will do me fine, life is too short.

Just out of interest I located my digital tacho and did a non loaded check on the 4 motors.

The motors are rated at 5167 rpm, the readings came out at 5988, 5997, 6040 and the highest at 6235 rpm.

The motors are running a fair bit faster than the speed quoted in the spec but then I dont know how they test or arrive at that figure.

Three of the motors are very close considering they are just can motors with the fourth one a little higher. They will be running through a 6.25/1 reduction so they should be fine as a set.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 23/05/2018 07:42:46

I dont see how one-word helps and if you go with "bonded"... bonded with what...?

I am quite happy for someone to state "loctited"

Bazyle, bees are good so give them a bit of cover for when the rains come.

Last year we had a Hornets nest at the bottom of the garden and we just left them to it. They never bothered us, we would get the odd one land on a chair or the garden table where we sat but they were not aggressive. I even had one land on my arm, he had a walk around for half a minute and then flew off. Its when you mess with them or their nest when the trouble starts.

Ron

Thanks Tony, I will check the the rating figures to see if the springs are reference mm or cm.

I can well appreciate that this is only a starting point, I have watched a lot of youtube builds and some of them have started with a certain spring and then made 2 or 3 changes before getting it right and a lot of it was just trial and error.

Ron

Morning guys,

I am trying to get my head around choosing the correct compression springs for the loco. There will be 4 springs, one sitting vertically above each axle box. The loco and leisure battery will total 28kgs and I would like the 4 springs to be just starting to compress with that load, leaving the rest of the compression to deal with the humps and bumps of the track.

Is it as simple (doubt it) as 4 x 7kg springs or doesnt it work like that, I know nothing about the workings of compression springs...?

p.s. I guess my question is does a spring rated at 7kg support 7kg,s without compressing or is it fully compressed at 7 kg.

Regards

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 20/05/2018 09:30:15