Member postings for Michael Callaghan

Thanks will do, I must say I forgot about that site.

Hi, can anyone point me in the right direction to build up the motion and valve gear for a 5 inch gauge B1 locomotive. I have made the parts ( as far as the very dated drawings allow ) and now I need to know the best way to fit it all. Thanks

Hi, I have an old warco milling machine with the belt drive. Can anyone please give me the speeds of the mill in each belt position. Thanks

Hi Baz, I have made a few items with aluminium over the years and found that with all things to do with paint, good prep and good materials are the way to go. DUncan I have used fire blanket for the cladding and that’s in place. Ally dents no more or less then thin brass. I would like to use brass to be honest, but I have sheets of aluminium doing nothing.

Hi, I am ok with getting paint to stick to aluminium there are a few very good etch primers to aluminium these days.

All good ideas, I just found that the Amazon small parts envelope works very well. However I have a second question. I have lots of .9mm sheet aluminium, will that be ok to use. Thanks again

Good idea Clive. Thanks

Hi, what is the best way to mark out locomotive boiler wrap. With the price of even thin brass sheet now at very high prices I need to know the best way to make out the boiler wrap so I get the holes etc in the right places. I don’t think using paper would work as it tends not to keep a good shape. Thanks

Cnc, a nice thing to have in the workshop. I have a warco milling machine conversion and a Denford 2600 router which I converted to Mach3. But which machine is best, is a big question. Like all machines there are work arounds. But with cnc machines, some things are more important then others. What materials do you wish to machine. Spindle speed is important, high speeds are ok for small cutters, but not much good machining steel or hard materials with larger cutters. You need a rigid machine from the off. If you wish to machine names plates a small mill will do the job well. If motion parts for a 5 inch gauge loco a larger mill with a good spindle is needed and some form of coolant to keep the chips clear and the tool cool. You can still purchase Denford software, but it’s expensive and very limited as to the post processing it will import. Apart from the machine you will need the cad and cam software, fusion 360 is good and free, and the gcode software to run the machine like Mach3 or Linuxcnc. The conversations are not too expensive to do depending on the size of the motors needed. To my mind being able to run on newer pc,s then the older xp types is the way to go. Cnc is a lot of fun, but can get very troublesome at times.

Hi chaps, what thickness of boiler wrap do you use. And what’s the best place to buy the brass sheet from. Thanks

Thanks chaps. Had a look at a second bantam running off a transwave and the noice is the same. I think that part of the problem is I alway ran the lathe at low revs. With the transwave it’s a lot faster, so more noice. I think I will return to the German inverter if I can find one. Thanks again.

Hi, thanks for getting back. The transwave unit is rated at double the motor rating, so should be ok. It must be just me not ever hearing the motor not boxed in.

Hi, I have a Colchester bantam lathe, for years I have been running the 3phase motor with the German inverter that came with the lathe. However the inverter died and I needed to replace. I purchased a used 2kw transwave converter off eBay. The lathe motor is rated for 1kw. Today I hocked it all up, but the motor is making a lot of noise. And the transwave setting switch even at setting 1 shows a very high amp draw. Is my understanding of how these things wrong correct, ie the converter will only produce power related to motor demand, so over powering the motor can’t happen. I have not yet reinstalled the motor casing. But before ido it would be nice if someone can let me know if I am killing the motor or not. By using a larger converter then motor rating.