Member postings for Ron Laden

Thanks Dave but I,m not too concerned, I put just a small spot of solder on the crimp to make sure it didnt work loose and I couldnt see any sign that the solder had wicked up into the braid.

Ron

The motors have had the brush wires soldered, they were crimped but whilst I had the motors apart I thought belt and braces and soldered the connections. I have also added the M5 mounting studs to the rear cover, the covers are cast aluminium and quite soft. The front cover is 4mm thick and comes with 3 x M5 tapped holes, the rear though is only 2mm thick with no holes. With only 2mm of soft material I thought it stronger to fit the screws from the inside and use retainer to lock them in place. The front motor mount plate will be fixed with hex screws and the rear mount plate with nuts.

Jason, that was just two crankcase halves five minutes ago, you really do get a move on..

Great stuff.

Thanks Jason thats helpful.

Ron

Thanks guys for all the advice, much appreciated

A couple of questions: How clean is the cut edge when using the router on MDF, also how small do the bits go, is it possible to get a 2mm straight bit for instance.

Many moons ago I sprayed a Morris Minor with a spray gun connected to a vacuum cleaner, it did a half reasonable job, a bit orange peel here and there but stand back 10 feet and it looked quite presentable.

Thanks Phil, the one I have my eye on has soft start and variable speed. I am assuming of course that routers with a suitable bit cut MDF ok and dont leave a bad edge..?

I have never owned or used a router but for the class 22 loco body I can see that having one would make life a lot easier. The body will be a mix of MDF, ply and aluminium. The main body sides will be MDF and there is a lot of vented panels which need to be recessed plus some panels with radiused edges.

I see on Ebay palm routers for around £25 to £30 obviously cheap brands but I dont need anything heavy duty plus it wont be used very often and unless anyone tells me otherwise I was thinking one of those could be ok..?

Is there anything to be aware of before getting one, for instance will a palm type be ok or would a full size one be easier or better to use, as I mentioned I have no experience with them at all.

Ron

p.s. just seen the other thread, must be a day for routers..lol

Edited By Ron Laden on 11/08/2019 10:30:40

Apart from slotting the motor fixing holes for belt adjustment (awaiting a 5mm end mill) the motor plates are finished with the bearings fitted. I loosely put an assy together to see how things were looking and it seems ok.

The only mistake I can see at the moment is the tie bar fixing holes at the end of the plates next to the bearing. I had it in mind to use hex head screws to mount the tie bar but as you can see there is no space for a hex head, dont know what I was thinking there. All is not lost though as I can csk the plates and use csk screws.

I also have to spot through the 3 holes from the plate to the motor rear end casting then drill and tap M5 for fixing, the motor front end comes with M5 mounting holes.

So its coming along and although I had it worked out on paper its always a relief when it comes together in the flesh.

A bonus in having a full set of ER25 collets which came with the 918 lathe means I can now get myself a R8 chuck for the mill, I see that ARC do one which I,m sure will come in very handy.

What about trying string..? something like a good quality thick parcel string. Heat the horn and then work along its length tightly coiling the string, leave to cool, remove the string and then repeat the process. It would probably mean a good number of repeats as it would be gradual but it may work.

May also be a daft idea.

Ron

Edited By Ron Laden on 10/08/2019 09:07:17

Jason, I have not turned any long tapers so was interested in the method you used on the columns, especially using the boring head for the offset. Unless I,m missing something the method must rely on flex in the spigot which is held in the collet..? I see the tapers are shallow at 2mm over the column length but there must obviously be a limit to how much offset can be applied relative to the spigot diameter..?

What a difference DRO,s make to using the mill, may seem obvious but when you have never used them before I am surprised what a bonus it is having them, well worth fitting and at £120 from ARC for a 3 axis set, hardly expensive.

Ron

I put in the spring slots on a couple of the motor plates to see how it was looking, the gap between the plates will be 3mm when the axles are mounted in the bogie. The usual is to slot the plates and locate them onto a tie bar but I thought I would give the springs a try. I think it should work ok, I cant envisage any problems with it but if there is I still have space to add a tie bar.

p.s. The blue springs fitted here are what I consider medium strength but I will fit the green heavy springs on final assembly, picture of the different strength springs on a previous post.

Edited By Ron Laden on 09/08/2019 08:47:27

Not building this engine Jason but I always learn and pick up ideas and "how to do" from your build threads, would never have thought of using a boring head to offset the centre.

Great stuff.

Hopefully things should speed up now as I have the bogie side plates and the motor mounting plates. Laser cut which I make no excuses for, my right arm will no longer allow me to carry out any serious hacksawing otherwise I would have cut them manually. I am very fortunate in that I have a friend who cut them for me FOC plus they were cut on a new machine that had only been commissioned 2 weeks ago, the edges are very clean indeed which is a bonus. I still have work to do on the plates so I do have to put some effort in.

Final job, mount the displays. DRO,s all done and dusted..

Edited By Ron Laden on 05/08/2019 15:06:50

I only have the one model to date, the 0-4-0 and I started with the wheels and worked up, just seemed logical that way and I am doing the same with the class 22, bogies and chassis first.

I do make myself a list of parts/jobs in sequence but some items jump the queue if I already have material on the shelf etc. If I had a part to produce which I knew was going to be difficult or I had some doubts over it I would definitely begin with that.

Ron

Fitted the Y axis DRO this morning though I didnt follow the norm, I fixed the sensor head to the base casting and the beam travels with Y carriage. A couple of reasons, the fixed sensor means no cable sliding back and forth plus easy to fit the swarf guard behind the beam. Doing it this way means the beam needs to extend 40mm forward of the carriage in fact the alu angle swarf guard becomes the mount for the beam.

So all 3 axis now have a DRO, just need to make a mounting board for the displays.