Member postings for Ron Laden

Thanks Dave,

Yes I am aware of the Project 22 site but must admit I havnt kept up with it. It seems to have more information now then when I first looked at it.

My N gauge model is by Dapol and I dont know where they got their details from but I wouldnt be surprised if it was from actual drawings as the detail is excellent and comparing it to a number of pictures of the actual loco,s it seems to be very accurate.

Ron

Vent grills added, 10 per side including the large one. I had them laser cut which I make no excuses for, they are far neater than I would have achieved from the methods I was considering plus they would have taken forever and a day.

Now it's 4 cab doors, 4 double engine access doors and 2 small panel doors. The doors I will be making and they are all glazed apart from the 2 small ones.

It's coming along, slowly.

Just in case it should be of interest to anyone with a small mill and is considering a rotary table here are the numbers from my mill with a 5 inch r/t.

Mill table to spindle 280mm

Top face of r/t above mill table 70mm

Face of r/t to spindle 210mm , (mounted horizontal)

Centre of r/t to spindle 137mm, (mounted vertical)

So it's not too bad for a small mill I haven't been caught out yet though I have been close with it in the vertical.

Ron

I have a Soba 5 inch table, it was the size that drew me to it as my mill (SX2P) is not that big. A 4 inch R/T seemed a bit too small and a 6 inch too big, I don't know if other manufacturers do a 5 inch but Soba do and I bought it as a set for £300 which is as much as I could afford at the time. It came with a dividing set, a chuck mounting plate and 80mm 4 jaw chuck and a tailstock.

In one or two places it is a bit rough around the edges but nothing much and overall it is good. Where it is very good is in its operation, I can't fault the table mount and the drive. It has no backlash, no play and the drive is very smooth and most importantly it is accurate.

So it may not look as well engineered or as pretty as the expensive tables but it more than makes up for it in its operation. So it met my budget came with extras and works very well, based on that I can't fault it.

Ron

Great work Jason, unless I have missed it what size is the engine..?

Ron

Most of the time my go to inserts are CCMT for steel and CCGT for non ferrous, I also use them on my boring bars trying to standardise where possible.

I think you will find there is Chinese tooling and there is Chinese tooling relevant to price. I buy all my cutting tools from one UK supplier, yes its Chinese but it is excellent quality, and reasonably priced. My experience of cheap as chips Chinese tooling (inserts) has not been good though some claim they buy the real cheap ones and they are fine but I haven't found that to be the case.

Ron

Thank you Paul, appreciated.

Just out of interest I have no drawings of the full size and no pictures showing much in the way of close detail so my main source of detail is a N gauge model which I have. Its only 3.5 inches long so a lot of it needs a magnifying glass to pull out the detail but it is amazing how much detail it has for such a tiny model. I think I would have been struggling for information in some areas without it.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 21/11/2020 20:47:42

Thanks guys it's obviously not a true scale model but if it turns out a reasonable representation of a class 22 then I will be happy. The main aim is to have a reliable good runner for the club track that looks half decent and doesn't need forever and a day to build.

I did think at one point that it would be nice to fabricate the whole body in aluminium but it would need a lot of sheet metal tooling and equipment which I don't have plus I don't have the skill, MDF and Ply I can just about cope with.

Ron

Not had too much time lately but managed to make up and fit the cab side window frames, the end plate access panels, the head code housings (still to be finished) and the head lights. Pictures show the lights on I have gone with 12 volt 10mm ultra bright led,s which really are bright when viewed square on (couldn't quite capture it on camera)

A pair of red rear lights at each end still to be added plus some more hand holds and a few other small bits of detail.

Also worth noting that the original J-B Weld also machines well, I have milled, turned, drilled and even tapped it and it was fine, a very good metal filled epoxy.

Still adding detail to the roof, I now owe our kitchen a new flour sieve ​​​​​​

Sorry, double post.

Edited By Ron Laden on 28/10/2020 17:06:28

Roof panels turned out quite well, just a couple of small adjustments needed for the fit to the body and then roof detail.

Yes the video works OK Jason.

Ron

Thank Robert

Bazyle I was considering pre fitting a support but I tried a dry fit and it seems fine, thanks anyway.

Ron

Great work Mal, looking excellent and so nice to see a different type of subject, great also that you have to design all of this from the full size.

Ron

Just the two lower rails to fair in and its ready for the 1mm birch roof skin. I am going with 3 x 12 inch long panels a single 36 inch would be difficult. The centre panel has a 90mm hole for the cooling fan just hope it doesn't distort or lift when I curve it over the frame.

It's like building a boat you never have enough clamps.

Philip when I said the heavier duty cross slide is a fairly serious upgrade what I meant is it is not a five minute job its quite a bit of machining to turn a large lump of cast iron into a cross slide with the T slots, dovetails and the stepped hole mount for the compound. The main reason I went down this path was wanting a rear tool post and T slots, there is not the space or more importantly the meat to achieve this on the smaller standard cross slide the lathe comes with.

I dont agree that the play in the slides is the only cause of flex in the mini lathe, others may disagree but the mini lathe lacks rigidity, thats just a fact. I,m not knocking the mini lathe I wouldnt do that as mine got me started and I managed to do some nice work on it. I would argue that you can fit good quality gibs correctly adjusted to eliminate any play but that wont cure the lack of rigidity, it will help but it wont cure it and yes the metal will flex as I know from experience.

I stalled my mini lathe whilst parting off (twice) and the second time broke the plastic high/low gears in the head, when it happened the amount of movement through the tool post/top slide was scary even though the top slide gib was very well adjusted and set up.

Ron

Philip, yes I did make the heavier duty cross slide but like I said it is quite a serious mod, picture below of finished item. You need a sizeable chunk of cast iron, a T slot cutter and a dove tail cutter, and a mill. Yes the cross slide is gib mounted with adjusting screws but I increased the screws from 3 to 5.

Before getting in to any serious mods and I am not suggesting for one minute that you make a new cross slide, I did but I wanted a rear tool post and T slots. Have you tried inverting the parting tool and running the lathe in reverse, quite a few people seem to get better results in parting this way on the mini lathe.