Member postings for Ron Laden

A lot of those looked very expensive but what amazed me was the too long a piece of bar/tube sticking out of the machine. It wasn't that heavy size wise but the force it generated once bent out of shape and the way it shook that fair size machine about was scary.

Thanks Paul,

You are no doubt right as much as I like the thought of the drive coming from the cylinder it will be simpler and a more robust option to go with the drive from the firebox.

Ron

Having a day off from the 22 so have been giving a bit of thought to the drive on the electric T/E. I was planning on mounting the motor in the firebox and having a 12T gear driving the 80T which in turn drives back through the gears to the cylinder.

I though it would be great if it could be driven from the cylinder as per the norm but couldn't see how, until I had an idea last night. Now this a bit off the top of my head so feel free to jump in if I am missing something or whatever.

A picture below of the cylinder with an internal crank drive excuse the sketch on the end but it is just to give an idea. The black outline shows the cavity, the red the crank, the green plain bearings and the purple the toothed belt drive. It would mean the geared motor fitted in the boiler tube with the belt running through a slot in the tube up into the cylinder.

I must admit it looks a bit small when compared to the actual crank but the motor should be good as should the belt drive.

Don't know and as mentioned its off the top of my head so any thoughts welcome.

Edited By Ron Laden on 21/03/2021 11:05:47

I also agree that a Helicoil would be a better fix and I did also consider making a metal plug after drilling out the holes but the JB worked well on the small M2.5mm and considering the lawnmower holes only held a cover I thought I would give it a try.and it worked. I always have JB on the shelf and as you say Tug it saved the bother and expense of buying Helicoils and the appropriate tool.

If I had a part or repair that was built up with JB and that area required some threaded holes I would have no hesitation in drilling and tapping it providing the fixings were fairly permanent once fitted.

Ron

Hi Tug

I have repaired 3 threaded holes, the first was a M2.5 where I drilled clearance instead of tapping size, I opened up the hole (blind) to 3.0mm and packed it with JB making sure it was full with no trapped air. Let it cure for 48 hours and then drilled 2.1mm which is a tad over and tapped it clearing the tap regularly.

I used the same procedure repairing two stripped M4 holes in a friend's lawnmower casting which I opened up to 6mm before packing with the JB.

In both cases the screws tightened well though I was a bit cautious but I went with what I thought correct for the size and they were fine. It's also worth noting that in both cases the screws would seldom be removed. What the JB thread would be like with screws that are regularly removed and refitted I can't say but providing it's not a heavy duty job and the fixings are not over done it could be ok.

Ron

I have never considered model engineering to be a long painful experience, I,m afraid if I did I would be long gone. I think I have a reasonable level of patience but it's not unlimited.

I also have a DRO set on my mill, I have used laser cut parts and I use and am a big fan of JBWeld (original) but I don't think that means I am cheating. To date apart from flywheels I have not used castings but made parts from bar stock. Everyone to their own but for me producing quite complex parts from solid against machining a preshaped casting is far more satisfying and if that means a fillet of JB to give a cast look in places that's fine.

I have found JBWeld to be excellent, I have turned, it milled it, drilled and tapped it with no problems. I have used a couple of other metal filled epoxies but they were not as good as JB original. One of the things I also like about it, is its longer cure time I,m sure that gives a stronger joint/material than the rapid set types.

Edited By Ron Laden on 18/03/2021 05:52:03

Not to everyone's taste but it is to mine. ​​​​​​

Not too much more detail to add but the build is complete enough for a track test once the club opens up again. Electrics next and I had forgotten the front and rear side valances so some alu angle is on order.

Not too far away now and then onto other things, I am in need of a machining fix.

Spoke with our recycling centre and no they won't let me have a cylinder, a pity as they had at least 20 of the 4.5kg size and some looked like new. So onward with my search for a cylinder.

Thanks Jason

I,m sure they will be ok then.

Will now try and talk our recycling centre into letting me have an old bottle but maybe they won't, probably come down to health and safety.

I was pointed to the PYRTE which had the rear wheel rims cut out of a 240mm gas cylinder, they looked a bit thin 2.0 - 2.5mm maybe but a good starter.

Gerhard,

Can I suggest that the display is not in an ideal place fixed to the front face at the base of the column. It's in a direct firing line for swarf/cutting oil etc, ti's up to you of course.

Nice work Jason, is this an engine your refurbishing..?

I am probably pushing my luck now but has anyone cut one open and would happen to know the material thickness?

Could anyone with a 4.5kg butane cylinder confirm it's diameter at 240mm, I think it should be but it would be good to know for sure.

Thanks

Ron

I just took a simple approach for my class 22 suspension springs which copies how I sprung my 0-4-0 shunter. I use die springs and on the shunter I went with springs that are approx 30% pre loaded when the battery is fitted and ready to run. I have 12mm of travel in the suspension so the springs are compressed by 4mm leaving 8mm for operation.

The shunter has excellent traction, no spinning so I have based the 22 suspension on the same hoping it will run just as well. Obviously the 22 is bigger and heavier than the shunter so the spring strength is rated accordingly but still with the 30% pre load.

Edited By Ron Laden on 14/03/2021 06:51:24

The Dremel Speedclick mandrel and discs arrived and a quick test proved them to be very good, much better than what I have been using. A bit of an acid test more than what I would do with small discs but I cut through a 10mm round piece of EN8 and the disc reduced by just 0.6 mm, more than happy with that.

I must be naive I would never have imagined that to be happening, I am amazed it does. For me anyone found to be sending that type of personal message should be instantly banned from the forum for life.

Ron

Exciting Nick, your new mill on the way I don't think you will be disappointed it's a good machine and very capable for its size.

The mill is just the start of course you will gradually build up a lot of tooling and accessories for it. When I got mine I started a thread, if you do a search for New Mill - Starter Tooling you will see I was given a lot of good advice and you will probably have similar questions so may be worth a read.

There are a number of worthwhile mods/additions you can do to the machine but that can all come later.

Ron

Thanks guys,

Nick the ones I have are probably similar to your pack of 85 they came as part of a set I bought years ago but had not tried them until yesterday. I ran at 30,000 rpm and I am not heavy handed but I reduced the disc by more than half its diameter in reducing the length of thread on 8 x 6BA screws. I guess as part of a set they are probably the bottom end of quality but didn't quite expect them to be that bad. I will see what the Dremel ones perform like and report back.

I must admit, though I was told it could close the gaps I still machine oilites where needed and I have had no problems. My Shunter axle oilites I machined and they still seem fine plus my in build class 22 has some I,ve machined so fingers crossed.